Page 101 of Married to the Devil

This is more than the denial of this morning. This is rejection on a soul-deep level.

Tears start to gather in my eyes. Ben shushes me, trying to avert the crash of my reaction with soft kisses on my cheeks. At my sob, he changes tactics. The world turns as I’m flipped onto my back.

Ben’s flushed face is determined and takes up all of my vision. “Stay with me, love.”

The tears in my eyes start to pool, but Ben’s warm body above mine shifts. I feel the brush of his fingers on my inner thigh before his hard knuckles press against my messy pussy.

“Oh!” Surprise is a flash but disappears into a heavy sensation as his too-wide fist grinds against me. My head falls back on a groan, but I keep my gaze on his.

Ben rumbles in satisfaction. “That’s it. Relax for me.”

It’s not a knot, but with each rotation of his wrist he stretches me. I only feel his first two knuckles, but it’s enough to give my body the pressure it’s begging for. The crushed part of my soul that needed the intimacy of Stoneheart’s body being locked inside mine is being fed. Each moment brings soothing mini orgasms flowing over my body and allowing the tension drawing me tight to ease.

After a few minutes the worst of it is gone, and embarrassment rushes to the surface.

“I don’t know what happened,” I say, my cheeks burning.

Talons comb through my hair, and I let my eyes flutter shut to avoid looking at the gargoyle just yet. “Just some haywire instincts that I didn’t realize would affect you quite so strongly. My apologies, firefly. You’re taking him so well.”

I peek down my body and moan at the sight of Ben’s fist pressing against me. The driving need to want him deeper dissipates. I start to relax just as I register the flush in Ben’s cheeks and the clench of his jaw as he watches his fist massage me.

There’s movement, and Ben makes a surprised sound. Stoneheart wraps his hand around Ben’s cock, stroking the demon.

“Such a good demon doing exacting what she needs,” he says. “He surely deserves a prize, doesn’t he?”

I nod, floaty and satisfied as Ben’s body strings even tighter above me. My hands stroke his face and until the moment he breaks.

“Stella,” he gasps, before crashing his lips down on mine and muffling his shout with our kiss, the splash of his release on my stomach further soothing me for some reason.Maybe because no matter what happens in this bed or outside of it, there’s a comforting truth that we’re in this together.

33

BEN

My fingers strokethe white keys of the piano without pressing down. The room is dim with the light of dawn. I should go. I should have left last night after Stoneheart cleaned us up with a washcloth while Stella and I were in a post orgasm stupor, but Stella’s hand had found mine as I was pulling away to leave the bed, and I could no more ignore her whispered pleas for me stay than the beating of my own heart.

So, I stayed, and we all showered together. We ordered takeout and discussed nothing more consequential than our favorite movies. The interaction felt needed after the intensity of the sex.

Stoneheart had been quiet for much of the odd date, adding a sly quip or suggestive turn of phrase here and there, obviously not used to keeping conversations from becoming work related, but his touches sang of satisfaction. And those he freely bestowed.

The shower had been the most challenging to keep from rising to all the affectionate touches, but by the time we’d pulled up a movie on a tablet in bed together, my skin was humming with delayed need.

The urgency of needing to breed Stella had taken a backseat now that Stoneheart had fucked her properly without the presence of the charm, but that didn’t stop us from tossing the movie away halfway through to do the dance again.

And here I sit in a bedroom that’s not mine wearing nothing but boxer briefs in front of a piano that neither of the inhabitants play after spending the night in a married couple’s bed.

Stella’s still asleep, but Stoneheart was gone before I woke. It should have been difficult to sleep with him on the other side of Stella, to have his wing draped over the two of us, but it wasn’t.

It felt like home.

“You’ll always have a place with us.” Is what Stella had said, but it’s not a sentiment I can afford. Even if it feels like with each moment together, the two of them dip their fingers into the inkwell of my heart and leave smudgy fingerprints on my soul.

“You never did thank me for the piano,” Stoneheart says softly from behind, and I start with surprise. I’m truly a terrible bodyguard that I didn’t notice him entering from the balcony.

“It’s not mine,” I say back just as softly. I turn in my seat and look to the bed. Stella still lays there, sleeping deep.

“It could be.” It’s hard to see him in the low light, his features are in shadow with the windows behind him even as he nears, but his nature is clear in his movements.

I clear my throat and ignore the statement, moving on to a different thought I’ve been pondering.

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