Page 163 of Married to the Devil

Stoneheart merely nods. It does feel different. To proclaim our relationship publicly after beginning in shadows makes this feel more permanent. I see why he was so insistent that we do the ceremony.

“And I didn’t even have to fight a dragon for you,” Stoneheart says.

I huff a laugh. “Kalos once teased that he’d charge a bride price for you to have me.”

“Ah,” he says in understanding. “Fortunately for me, Kalos knows demanding one now would be unsportsmanlike.”

I frown in confusion.

Stoneheart smiles. “Because I’d pay any price to have you.”

I blink in amazement as he continues, “And that’s no fun for an old lizard like Kalos.”

The song ends while I’m still trying to form words. Stoneheart kisses me, and Stella cuts in like we’d planned.

“Did he scramble your brain?” she asks. Her much smaller hand in mine helps bring me back from gargoyle husbands and sweeping declarations.

“I forget how much he devastates me with the simplest words.” I clear my throat. “And you too, but you’re much more efficient at making me want to fall to my knees with a single glance.”

My eyes drag down the dress. It looks exactly the same despite the damage Stoneheart did to it, and that makes me want to be the one to rip it off her this time.

“You’re too beautiful for words, mate,” I say, testing the term out with her. I like it.

Her blush has my breath catching. When can we start the wedding night?

Stoneheart crowds in, his wings wrapping around the two of us as his lips run over her shoulder.

“You can’t have too much fun yet. We have the rest of the night before I can get the two of you into bed. If your scent gets much more delectable, I don’t know if I’ll be nearly as patient,” he says to Stella.

Her smile is sly. “Sorry. I’ve been wearing something special to prepare for Ben’s courting gift,” she says with a wink that I feel in my gut. “It’s very distracting.”

Both Stoneheart’s and my body tightens when her meaning becomes known. She’s wearing a plug in her ass.

I curse as my cheeks become hot, and Stoneheart’s eyes glitter evilly.

His voice is all gravel. “I’ll make you pay for that, firefly. We have at least an hour yet.”

She shrugs. Not bothered that I might have to hide behind the refreshments to wait for my erection to subside. If it does, now that I know she’s planning on letting me claim her ass tonight.

“I didn’t want to take any chances of your tender care later,” she teases. “You’re both much too rough with each other for my liking.”

I inhale at the memory of how Stoneheart feels inside me. He’d done that just last night, as hard as I needed it to dissipate my nerves about today.

Fuck. It’s going to be torture if we can’t get away soon.

STELLA

I don’t predictthat it’s Ben who breaks first. One minute I’m speaking to Ariel and wishing her well before she departs, and the next, arms wrap around me and the world lurches through shadows.

I squeak. We discovered that I can see the in-between that Ben can travel through when he teleports now that we’re bonded, but I still prefer to close my eyes.

I only have time to see the familiar shapes of our bedroom before he turns me around and silences my laugh with a kiss.

When it breaks, his forehead presses against mine.

“I couldn’t wait another minute to do this,” he says and his hands grip on either side of the line of buttons down my back and rips my dress apart. The buttons snap and fly off with my gasp.

I’m left in my bridal lingerie which his dark eyes feast on while he’s discarding his own clothing as quickly as he can.

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