Accidentaly Divine by Dakota Cassidy (best large ereader .TXT) 📗

Dex took her hand from Marty’s and smiled his gorgeously handsome smile. The smile that had, at one time, made her shiver, until she thought he wasn’t available. The one she’d fought hard not to tingle about. The one with the deep grooves on either side of his face that made his ruddy skin crinkle up at the corners of his eyes.

“George, I told you why we’re here. Because these ladies are my friends and they have paranormal abilities just like I do…like we do. I thought if you saw you’re not alone, it might help with the transition. Also, they’re women who can understand the emotional upheaval I might not be sensitive enough to pick up on, because I’m a clunky man who wants to cover all the bases and assure you I’ll do whatever it takes to make you feel safe but, above all, heard.”

Yeah. He’d been saying that since she’d woken up on her couch, too. He was a man, and sometimes men weren’t the best gauges for such a life-altering experience. He’d said, his experience told him men tended to bottle up their fears because of societal pressure, but women were much better at talking about their feelings.

So between his otherworldly magic tricks and explaining what happened the night he alleged she fell off the rooftop at Sherry O’Tay’s New Year’s Eve party, he’d suggested they visit this group of women who called themselves OOPS.

And even though George didn’t remember tripping, she’d sat quietly and listened to him, absorbing and then listening some more. But she still wasn’t quite sure how this outlandish story had anything to do with her being an angel—which she still wasn’t sure she believed anyway.

Though, if she were honest with herself, small bits and pieces of the details of their conversation at her house were coming back to her now. As a for instance, this bit about how she’d fallen off the roof and he’d swooped in to catch her and had grazed her shoulder with his wings. Dex said that was what had turned her into an angel. His wing nicking her shoulder. That did sound a little outlandish, didn’t it?

But all the women sitting here in front of her had said similar things. Marty was bitten, Nina was, too, and Wanda…well, she was still a little hazy on how Wanda’d been turned, but they all had similar stories.

Cautiously side-eyeing her shoulder, she lifted her sweater and noticed a purplish bruise. But so what? That proved she’d been sideswiped, not turned into an angel.

Holding up a hand, she said, “Let me get this straight one more time so I’m super clear. I tripped and fell off the roof and you caught me before I hit the ground. Like total splat, right?” She ran a finger across her neck to mimic death.

Dex nodded his dark head, his face grim. “Yep. That’s exactly how it happened.”

Squinting her eyes, she asked, “And because you grazed me with your angel wings, you turned me into an angel, too.”

“Also correct,” he said in his deep, rumbly voice.

“But you claim I’m not actually dead-dead, right?”

He obviously paused to give that thought before he said, “Technically, I don’t think so.”

“But if you saved me and I’m not dead, problem solved, right? How can I be an angel if I’m not dead?” Come to think of it, how could he be an angel and still wandering around down here? Wasn’t he dead, too?

“Wrong,” Nina barked with a cackle. “You’re in no matter what, little lady. That option’s off the table. You’re half angel now, like it the fuck or not. That means half of you gets a halo and wings and who the fuck knows, maybe even a goddamn cloud.”

“Nina’s right,” Dex confirmed. “While you might not technically be dead because I saved you, I nicked you with my wing—a wing full of magic, if you will—and therein lies the rub. I turned you into an angel by accident, George, and I can’t take it back.”

Frowning, George hugged the pillow tighter against her middle. “So big deal. Because you nicked me with your magic wing, I have a bruise that will fade. What does that mean? I don’t feel any different. Not at all.”

Wanda patted her hand and smiled her pretty smile. “It means you have to become a guardian angel, George, honey. You don’t have a choice. Or wait. You do have a choice, but…” She paused and looked to Dex for clarification.

Dex leaned forward, his eyes direct. “Wanda’s right. You do have a choice. Sort of.”

She gulped a swallow, hard and full of trepidation. “Sort of?”

Dex let out a bit of a sigh—not one of exasperation, mind. One that said maybe he’d given this speech often. “Uh-huh. As I explained, you can opt out and go upstairs and work in one of many different departments after someone chooses what best fits you and your skill level.”

Now some of this was starting to hit her, coming back in waves. Still without much impact, but she did feel a little twitch of electricity slither through her veins when he said she could opt to go upstairs.

“By upstairs you mean Heaven, right?”

He looked at her for what felt like forever before he nodded, a lock of his dark hair falling rakishly across his forehead. “Right.”

Yep. Now this was starting to sound nutty. There really was a place called Heaven? Really and truly? How could she even begin to come to terms with an age-old question finally answered, let alone believe she was a part of the inner workings?

But that also meant there was a Hell…

George shook her head. That was too deep to delve into for the moment.

“What’s my other choice?” she coaxed on a dry squeak.

“Or you can stay here and be a guardian angel like me.”

Interesting… “How does that work? What do I do?”

“You’re assigned cases and you help guide people to a satisfactory conclusion.”

That sounded like something that