Page 82 of Howl for the Gargoyle

Rafe's lips pressed flat and his cheeks turned warm even as stone. And then he let out a sharp bark of laughter, and I rolled my eyes.

"Sorry! Sorry, that just…doesn't sound like you," he said.

I sighed and softened into the bed, reaching a hand up to pet at his smooth chest. He'd told me once he was more sensitive as stone. It meant he'd felt those chisel marks even more intensely, which made me queasy to think about. It also meant…

I stretched up, kissing his shoulder as Rafe hummed and sighed.

"I love you," I said, brushing my lips over the same spot again and again until I thought Rafe's stone was starting to prickle with goosebumps. I shimmied down into the sheets, giving myself access to more of his chest to touch and kiss. "You are the tastiest, sweetest, funniest, sexiest part of my life now, Rafe."

And maybe I wished Fincher hadn't attacked me, but I wouldn't have turned back time to change it either.

I licked over Rafe's nipple, humming as his cock stiffened against my side. "How do we make this work so I don't hurt you?" I asked, tilting my head back to find his soft and hungry gaze on mine.

Rafe blinked slowly, smile crooked. He shook his head. "I don't know. But you've always managed it before." There was something secret in those words that I would ask the meaning of later. For now…

I slithered back up, pushing pillows out of my way and raising my arms up over my head to grab onto the iron bars of my headboard. "I think you'd better hold me down."

Rafe's eyes widened. "Really? You don't want…you don't want to be in charge?"

I blushed. "We haven't really had time to get to know each other's tastes, I guess. I…I'm only a control freak when a full moon's coming up. The rest of the time, I kind of like when…" I glanced over at my posed arms and back at Rafe, strangely shy of what I was asking for.

But Rafe looked like a kid who'd just been told to pick out everything he wanted at the toy store. He sat up on his knees, now fully erect, and stared down at the bare stretch of me. His eyes were on mine as he scooped up my right ankle, swinging it around his hips to hold me open. I hummed and rocked my hips up in invitation as Rafe laughed.

"Huh. Now I'm the one nervous about hurting you. I'm…heavy like this," he said.

"I love it," I said, smiling. "I have since that first night."

He licked his lips and then leaned forward, his hands cupping around my wrists, pushing them down into the mattress. I sighed at his grip, firm and immovable.

"I'm stronger too," he said, staring at his hands on me.

I curled one leg, rubbing it against his hips. "That just means I can struggle and still not get my way," I said, arching my back to show him how tight my nipples were at the thought.

He swallowed hard, voice dropping. "And if I get too rough?"

I bit my lip at that. "We should be careful till you're healed. But…I dare you to try."

Rafe groaned, and then he gifted me with that weight and strength, with a rough and hungry kiss, tongue plunging in to stroke against mine. His hips landed between my legs, cock stroking against my sex, slow and careful. I moaned when I tried to pull my hands free and found them thoroughly cuffed in his grasp, and Rafe pulled away, beaming in response.

"Oh, Hannah…I have a lot I want to do," Rafe murmured, nuzzling our noses together.

"I'm yours to play with then," I said, nipping at his lips. He bucked against me, breaths huffing. "Your toy. Your mate."

Rafe let out an uncharacteristic growl, and I yelped as he plunged inside of me with one deep thrust. I was wet, and he was gloriously polished, but the demand of the stretch and depth was enough to wipe all teasing from my mind.

"Mine," Rafe snarled, baring his teeth, gaze glowing down on me. He moaned as he pulled out, grunted and winced as he slammed back in.

I wanted to tell him to be careful, to consider his injuries, but I'd offered him the reins and he'd looked too thrilled for me to take them back now. Also his rhythm was robbing me of speech and thought—rough and heavy and briefly brutal, sure to leave bruises on the inside of my thighs.

I gasped, my hand twisting to grip the headboard, eyes wide at his force, and Rafe paused, staring down at me, his hunger fracturing.

"My love," he whispered. I relaxed and arched my neck for his kiss.

Rafe's hands swept mine together, and then his newly freed arm banded under my chest, holding me closer as he took my mouth in a feasting kiss, biting my lips and laving the bruises with his tongue. His cock surged and stroked, buried deep, and my legs twined around his hips.

"I love you," we gasped out together—a panting, pleading, praising refrain as fire lit in my veins. "I love you."

His hands grew too greedy, unsatisfied with binding mine any longer, and then he touched and gripped and stroked me everywhere. I took his face in my palms, afraid to touch his wings, and sealed our lips together in rich and messy kisses that muffled my cries as I came in bursts of heat and clinging trembles.

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