Page 27 of Monster Mate

She blinked down at him. “What the hell did you study? Porn?”

He grimaced. “I didn’t care for porn. The way the women were treated wasn’t…to my liking.”

“So, what did you study?”

“Anatomy texts and…romance novels.”

Another record scratch. “You learned how to fuck like a god…from romance novels?”

He had a deceptively innocent look on his face for someone who’d called her a good girl, bound her hands with his tail, and pounded her while he told her that her cunt belonged to him. “They’re very informative.”

Now that he mentioned it, he did have an impressive amount of romance novels in the library. Good ones, too. So, it all made a strange kind of sense.

The whole thing did make her wonder, though…

“Well,” she began casually, “what else did you learn from romance novels?”

His eyes darkened as he shot her an evil smile. “You’re ready for more?”

No. Maybe. Well… “Yes.”

She squealed in surprise when he grabbed her and hefted her up so that she straddled him. The squeal turned into a gasp/moan combo as he slid back into her. His tail tickled her backside in a spot no one had ever tickled before.

She might’ve objected…had always objected when anyone had suggested butt stuff in the past. Except that’s when he brushed his thumb over her clit and gave her the dirtiest grin she’d ever seen in her life.

She suddenly had the feeling he was about to ruin her for all other men. And monsters.

“Then hang on,” he said. “This could get rough.”

Well, when he put it that way…sure? Why the hell not.

“Bring it on.”

CHAPTER 17

An hour later, Roxie flopped down, limbs akimbo and completely limp, at Riordan’s side, struggling to catch her breath. When she finally regained her ability to, um, brain, she said, “I can’t believe we did that. Is that even legal?”

He gave a lazy, one-shoulder shrug. “The legality is probably…a gray area. And who cares? I’d do it again, regardless. You came.”

She came four times. And they’d sure as hell be doing it again. But still…damn. When Riordan said he’d studied romance novels, he’d really studied them. “Can I ask you a question? I mean a real one, not a sex one.”

He rolled over on his side to face her. “You can ask me anything. You know that.”

Yeah. She imagined after everything they’d been through (and everything they’d done…geez…they’d done a lot of kinky shit so far), there weren’t many topics that were off limits. “I’m curious—and I’m not saying I’m ready for anything yet—about what the mating bond entails?”

The flames in his eyes flared. “You’re asking what, if anything, changes between us once you accept my mating bond?”

“Well…yeah. Is there, like, a bite or something?”

He smirked at her. “Now it sounds like you’re the one who’s been studying romance novels. No, my queen, there is no mating bite. If you accept me as your mate, for the rest of our lives, all you need to do is tell me. I’ve already expressed my intentions, but where I’m from, it’s really all about the female’s vocal consent.”

Well, that sure was a pleasant change from the human world, wasn’t it? Maybe human men could learn a thing or two (or ten) from demons. “Then what?”

“As a mated pair, our emotional bond would match our physical bond, and we would share in each other’s genetic gifts.”

“OK, I’m going to need some clarification on that, because I’m fairly certain I don’t have any genetic gifts.”

Riordan idly ran one taloned fingertip up the length of her arm. “You definitely have genetic gifts. Your empathy—the care you show for the less fortunate—is a gift that I’ve seen in very few humans. And your strength. I wish you would’ve had an easier childhood, but the strength you developed is a gift you can pass on to future generations.”

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