Page 31 of The Gargoyle's Gift
“Always,” I answered, sighing as he moved on to my ankles and calves.
“I wouldn’t have thought so,” he said. “Before.”
“Before?” I nearly moaned as he released the stress from the muscle along the back of my thigh.
“Before I realized how much you carry around. For you, your family. Me. If I’m to let go of my past, you need to learn to let go of your need to think about everyone before yourself.”
I made a noise of agreement, but my thoughts were already melted, especially because his wicked fingers had pulled me to the very edge of my seat. My feet touched the back of his chair, my rear barely hanging on to the edge of my seat.
“Lovette.”
“Mmm?”
“I’m going to take you to my bed. If you object to this, speak your piece. Otherwise, I’m going to claim you as my mate, once and for all. You will be mine, and I will be yours, until the fates see fit to call us to the great beyond. If you don’t want that, now is the time to say so.” There were shadows in his eyes. Fear that I was going to say no, even still.
I found I could no longer breathe. “Yes, Gaius. I want that.”
“Praise the saints and devils alike, and let them all forgive me for being selfish when it comes to you,” he sighed as he scooped me up.
My legs locked around his waist as he stood with me in his arms. It was a stilted walk to the bed, but he got us there without incident. Leaning over, he pressed me into the mattress as he nipped at my mouth, teasing me with kisses that were neither long enough nor deep enough for my liking.
“What if I had said no?” I whispered, making sure there was a teasing tone to my words, a soft lift to my smile.
“I am not above begging,” he smirked, fingertips grazing the sensitive tips of my breasts as they traveled the length of my torso. “I might not deserve you, Little Dove, but I sure as hell want you. I'm too far gone to let go of you now. I would have gotten on my knees every single day for the rest of eternity and pleaded with each and every deity individually, as long as it meant I got to keep you.” He kissed me again, stealing my very breath with the passion he infused into those words.
“Good thing I was never going to say anything but yes, then,” I panted. “I spared both your knees and your pride.”
He coughed a rough laugh. “You left your scent in my sheets,” he complained, but there was no fire to his accusations. “I couldn’t sleep with your smell all around me. I had to stone sleep or go without rest.”
His hands pushed my skirts put to my waist and pulled my undergarments down my thighs. I unlocked my ankles so he could remove them completely and sat up, reaching for the lashings on his trousers. “I’m not apologizing. And I still haven’t gotten a turn.”
He pushed my hands away gently. “And you still aren’t getting one, Little Dove. I wouldn’t last a moment. I’m already only existing on the thinnest thread of control where you’re concerned.”
I cared about nothing the moment his heated skin was on mine. His mouth removed any lingering thought as it worked mine with pure need. There was nothing but desire there, anache that echoed behind my ribs as a hot, hollow throb. Clothing littered the floor, the bedding crumpled beneath my back as he ran his hand up the length of my thigh.
“I don’t know if I can?—”
“I’m not making requests or demands, Gaius. I need you. However you’re ready to give of yourself, I’ll take it.” He shuddered, pressing his thumb against my folds and finding me already wet. He circled my clit as his hot length notched against me. “No going back.” My tone was light, but the last thing I wanted was for him to change his mind or regret or resent this down the line.
“Never. You will be my peace for eternity, Little Dove. And I will do my best to be yours.” He grunted as he surged forward, my body accepting him readily but not without a pinching, stretching sensation that made me moan. “Lovette?” he asked, panting into the curve of my neck.
“I’m fine.” To prove it, I canted my hips upward, forcing him deeper. He swore an incoherent word, his breath hot against my skin.
As he slowly began to move, the mate bond expanded inside my chest like a star preparing to explode. I clawed at his chest with my fingernails, leaving behind faint red streaks over the place I imagined his bond would be. He flattened my hand under his, pressing my palm against the beat of his heart as he increased his tempo. Everywhere his skin met mine left behind a sharp tingle as an ache began to grow deep in my gut. Need and satisfaction warred, the bond growing impossibly large as my pleasure followed right behind.
My hips lifted to meet his thrusts, his one hand holding mine over his heart and the other squeezing my thigh where it rested against his hip.
“Lovette, I cannot—” His head fell back, the ends of his long hair brushing against my ankle, his throat bared to me. HisAdam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed, the moan he let out as his rhythm became erratic pushing me over the edge.
My own wordless cry seemed to assuage his worry. My body clenched around his as the bond expanded so far it had to have gone beyond the bounds of my flesh. Gaius surged forward one final time, collapsing over the top of me in a flurry of kisses pressed to my face, my chest, my shoulders.
“Mine,” he declared, our hands trapped between us.
His pulse raced under my hand, the beat the same frantic one as mine. All at once, the heat and pressure of the bond disappeared, leaving behind what felt like a thread between us. It gave a gentle pull as Gaius carried me to the bathroom and lavished me with a thorough wash under the spray of the shower.
After, as we lay in his bed together under the sheets, my head propped on his chest and his arms around me, a chill crept through me. It was a rude interruption to the warm, peaceful bubble I was in.
“We have to tell everyone soon,” I whispered. No matter how sure I was that it would all be fine, a creeping doubt that there would be objections to our coupling dampened my joy.
