by A C Warneke
Blinking, he looked at her and returned to the present, “For a long time I was so mad but now I think that it was for the best. If it hadn’t been for that one fleeting moment that we connected I would have been relieved that she had not accepted.”
“Would you ever give up your nights again?” she asked, trying to keep the hope out of her voice.
“Hell, no,” he vowed vehemently. “Hell, no.”
She tried to laugh but it sounded forced so she ended up clearing her throat instead as she captured the intensity in his eyes. “So you plan on never falling in love again?”
“Naturally,” he said, the arrogance oozing in his voice.
Laughing uneasily, she shook her head in wonder, “How do you plan on preventing it?”
“It’s not that difficult, Ferris,” he claimed matter-of-factly. “I don’t allow anyone to get close enough and I keep things simple: it’s only ever about the sex.”
Wow, her quest to seduce him into offering her his nights was suddenly exponentially more difficult. Well, she didn’t have to have his nights. She could have a lifetime with him, grow old while he stayed young. It wasn’t what she wanted but it was better than nothing. Or maybe she could find the wizard that helped her mother and aunt and buy enough time to make Armand see that what he needed was right in front of his eyes.
There was time.
Chapter 3
Pushing the Boundaries
A few minutes before the sun was set to rise, Armand tied the belt of his robe around his waist before he stood up, leaving his torso naked and nearly bringing Ferris to her knees with the sheer beauty of his body. His muscles gleamed beneath the bright, artificial light, flexing and bunching as he untwisted the material of his robe and slid his arms into the sleeves. He had devised the system on the third day, keeping the robe on until he was seated and then letting the material drape the chair beneath his body and denying her the pleasure of catching a glimpse of his gorgeous backside.
The material gaped open and even though she had spent the past couple of hours ogling his chest, the peek-a-boo effect was still incredibly erotic. Her grip on the palette tightened until it felt on the verge of cracking and she had to forcibly set it down.
“It’s much easier to sit in one position when I’m stone,” he said with a wry smile, twisting his torso first one direction and then the other, stretching the stiff muscles
As his bones popped and cracked, Ferris grimaced. It was unfair of her to keep Armand sitting in her studio when he didn’t really have to be there. She could have taken a photograph and worked from the image. Hell, she probably could have done the entire painting from memory. Of course, it also would have gone quicker if she didn’t keep getting sidetracked by their conversations – or his jade green eyes or his occasional smile or his naked flesh… In actuality, she simply enjoyed spending time with the taciturn man who rarely grinned, chatting with him about anything and everything, even if he was oblivious to her seduction attempts. “It shouldn’t be too much longer.”
He chuckled, the sound teasing her senses as if he was lightly drawing his fingers along her bare spine. “Nod would never have been able to sit still for so long and you know for damn sure the incubus would have seduced you long before now.”
Her brows drew together in consternation at that statement. She had no problems resisting the considerable charms of Corvyn because she was in love with Armand. “I doubt it. He’s… well, he's Corvyn.”
Her statement only made him laugh harder and her frown deepened. “Only you, Ferris.”
With those odd words, he turned around and started walking away, leaving Ferris to chase after him. She caught up to him as he pulled open the door that led to the roof top and without a second thought she chased after him. “Only me what, Armand? You can’t say something like that and then just… leave.”
He looked over his shoulder and smiled at her, his green eyes twinkling in a way that she had rarely seen before and she had to remind herself to breathe. “You’re the only human I know that willingly befriends an incubus and does not worry about the repercussions of being friends with a creature that seduces women in their sleep. Hell, you threatened to paint him.”
“I would have been wide awake if I painted him,” she protested, following him as he stepped through the exterior door and onto the roof. Planting her hands on her hips, she frowned at him, “And Corvyn knows that if he so much as tasted my essence as I slept you would castrate him in a heartbeat. He remembers the talk you had with him when I was eighteen, all because he smiled at me as we rode the elevator with him.”
Armand’s jaw tightened slightly at the reminder of his high-handed behavior but he didn’t reply. If she was being honest, she would admit that it had been thrilling seeing Armand’s demonstration of protectiveness towards her. But then he had ruined it by telling Corvyn that she was practically a baby and as an infant she was off limits. Ferris wasted no time in telling Armand where to stuff his pompous self, storming off the elevator before she could scream at him and do something stupid to prove she was a woman grown. Of course, at eighteen, she was still so dreadfully young and terrified of her attraction to the gargoyle who was beyond her reach.
As Ferris continued to stand there, waiting for him to do something, say something, she grew a little concerned: the sky was brightening and the sun was going to be up soon yet Armand hadn’t removed his robe and gotten into his gargoyle position on the edge of the roof overlooking the city. “Um, Armand? Aren’t you forgetting something?”
“Yes,” he said solemnly, his green eyes glowing mischievously. “What it was like before three intrepid humans descended upon my life and caused such pandemonium.”
“Ha ha,” she dead-panned, smiling slightly. Nodding her head towards the silky material, she held his eyes as she murmured, “I was talking about the robe.”
The laughter faded from his eyes and a muscle ticked furiously in his jaw. His fingers curled around the belt, as if he could protect himself by holding on to the material tight enough. “It’s not appropriate for me to strip in front of you.”
She couldn’t stop the smile from forming as she arched an eyebrow at him and smirked, “You have been sitting in my studio for the past week naked as the day you were born, Armand. I’m okay with you taking your robe off in front of me.”
Color burnished his cheekbones and Ferris was momentarily stunned. She didn’t think Armand even knew how to blush. “It’s not the same thing, Ferris. Now, turn around.”
She flashed him a grin before she turned her back towards him, crossing her arms over her breasts and feeling the hard points of her nipples. Perhaps it was a better idea to be facing away from him. He would probably just assume her nipples were hard because of the cold, even though it was late spring and the roof was always warm. Unable to resist, she teased, “You’re such a prude, Armand.”
She heard his muffled chuckle and the rustling of material as he slid the silky robe off his luscious body. Trying to keep herself distracted so she wouldn’t accidently turn around and catch him in all of his naked glory, she glanced around, catching a flash of movement in the reflection of the small window next to the door. There was just enough pre-dawn light to let her be able to make out the form of Armand and the expanse of gleaming skin as he stripped.
Though the image was blurry and a little distorted, she knew his body well enough to fill in the blanks and a little sigh of appreciation escaped before she could prevent it. With a flurry of movement, Armand gathered up the discarded robe and held it in front of his body, covering the uniquely male part that she very much wanted to see. “Ferris!”
“Armand!” she returned, mimicking his scandalized tone. Turning around, she faced him, knowing her face was as red as his. Her heart was thudding wildly out of control in her chest, threatening to crack her ribs, but she gave him what she hoped was a neutral expression, “Really, Armand, it’s not like I could see anything interesting. The window makes a very poor mirror.”
He huffed out a reluctant, embarrassed laugh before glancing eastwards towards the rising sun. To her disappointment, he didn’t lower the gathered material. “The sun is about to rise.”
“Yes,” she nodded, slightly confused by his statement of the obvious. “I know.”
He took a step backwards, unwilling to turn around and let her see his butt. Emotion played out over his face as he stared at her, as if she should know what he was trying to say so he wouldn’t have to say it out loud. Of course she knew he wanted her to leave because when he changed from a man to a gargoyle there was a period when he would be unable to hide his penis, either his large human penis or the massive gargoyle penis. For as long as she could remember he had taken great pains to hide his male-ness from her, protecting her even when he resented her being there.
But now she wanted to see him as he was, not as he made himself to be. She was no longer a six year old child climbing onto a gargoyle's lap, seeking a safe haven from the big scary world. She was twenty-one and madly in love with the man. Leaning against the wall, her arms still crossed over her betraying nipples, she grinned, “Wouldn’t it be nice to no longer have to hide your stone penis from my poor, virginal eyes?”
“Dear gods, Ferris,” he sighed in exasperation, his voice getting rougher as he began to transition with the rising of the sun. “Is it your goal in life to be as big a pain in my ass as possible?”
She laughed softly at his harsh words, knowing he wasn’t entirely serious. “Only on Wednesdays.”
“Then thank the gods it’s only Friday,” he said, the corners of his mouth quirking upwards in a half-smile. Shaking his head, the color of his skin already fading to gray, he turned around and stepped up onto the ledge, allowing Ferris the joy of seeing his gorgeous butt.
“You really do have a nice ass, Armand,” she murmured, laughing when he grumbled something not very flattering about her tenacity under his breath. She didn’t care because she was finally going to see him change from man to gargoyle. His sleek muscles grew, his entire body grew, until his six foot three of solid man became nearly eight feet of stone gargoyle with a pair of wings that curved around his large body.
Moving until she could see his profile, she watched as his straight nose and full lips elongated into a deadly-looking beak. His body was still human, more or less, though his feet and hands had a talon-like quality to them. Despite his best effort to shield her from the most interesting parts of his body, it was impossible to hide the mammoth penis that thrust out from between his rock-hard thighs. “Jesus Christ, how in the world are you able to hide that thing?”
Astonishingly, she was pretty sure he blushed; the color on his cheeks was just a hint darker than usual. As she stared at the unwieldy stone penis, there was a shimmer and then it simply vanished from her sight. “Go inside and get some sleep, Ferris. You’re delirious with exhaustion.”
She giggled a little madly at those words since she was exhausted. But she was insanely curious as well and since the other gargoyles weren’t up there yet…. She frowned at that realization, “Where are your brothers?”
He let out a long-suffering sigh, “Vaughn probably screwed your aunt and is remaining human for the day to help take care of the baby and Rhys is probably spending the day with your mom doing whatever they do during the day with him as a gargoyle.”
“Don’t you think it would be worth giving up your nights again to have the chance of spending time in the sun as a man?” she asked, cocking her head to the side, trying not to get distracted by the muscled stone gargoyle, trying to keep her hands to herself.
“The risk is too great,” he said softly, holding her eyes as he spoke. “Most humans wouldn't survive drinking the blood of Medusa and the blood is what makes it possible for Vaughn to walk beneath the sun.”
“But it also lets them have children,” she persisted, wanting some indication that he might be willing to take a chance, some day. “Don’t you want…”
Suddenly he laughed, his massive shoulders heaving, “Let it go, Fer. It’s simply not going to happen. Now, go inside and get some sleep.”
The overwhelming urge to climb into his lap and sleep in his arms filled her and she remained rooted to the spot, unable to walk away, unable to give in to her desire. When she had been a little girl, she had climbed into his lap all of the time, using him as her own personal jungle gym as she told him about her day. But when she turned sixteen or seventeen, around the time she realized she was in love with him, she stopped touching him altogether when he was in his gargoyle form. At first she didn’t touch him because she knew how foolish it was to love Armand. And then it became a habit to keep her distance during the day when it would have been so easy to let her guard down.
Now, the urge to touch him was irresistible and, almost hesitantly, she lightly ran her hand down the middle of his back, between his wings. The stone flesh was so warm beneath her palm and she pressed harder, loving the feel of his hard muscles. Through half-lowered lids she saw a shimmer, and her heart kicked up its pace in her chest.
Without warning, his body stiffened and his wings thrust outwards, expanding to their full span and quivering as if they were made of feathers and not stone. His head whipped around and his gray eyes bore into her, hard with accusation and bewilderment, “What the fuck was that?”
She snatched her hand back and held it against her chest, staring at Armand’s face in wide-eyed fascination and shock. Her eyes dipped down and the hidden penis was no longer hidden. It stood out proudly between his thighs, lengthening and thickening as she watched. Slowly, she reached out her hand to touch the swollen stone only to have her fingers slapped away by a hand with deadly looking talons for nails. Letting out a surprised yelp at the painless but unexpected rebuke, she faltered a step backwards as her eyes flew to his face.
Warning and something slightly dangerous burned in his piercing, gray stone eyes and she was unable to look away. She didn’t see the lethal beak or the gray stone or the magnificent wings, she simply saw Armand. Her lips spoke his name but no sound came out. Silence surrounded them, shutting out the world until all that remained was her and the gargoyle. Still holding his eyes, she tentatively, carefully, reached out her hand, as if any quick movement on her part would spook him.
Her fingertips brushed the tip of his stone erection, slowly moving across the blistering hot surface. His chest rose and fell with each panted breath he took and his eyes squeezed shut in tortured pleasure as his beak fell open. A warm talon covered her hand, holding it in place.
The sound of heavy footsteps intruded into the bubble that had been surrounding them, bursting it and bringing them crashing back to reality. Just as the door swung open, she jumped backwards as Armand shifted to hide the state of his stone body.
Tearing her gaze from his, Ferris watched as two hulking gargoyles stepped out onto the roof: Vaughn in his lion gargoyle form and Rhys in his monkey form. They were laughing about whatever they had been talking about, oblivious to the cataclysmic event that had just happened. She forced a smile to her trembling lips and tried to pretend her heart wasn’t close to bursting apart in her chest. “Hey, you two are later than usual. Where are the three terrors?”
“They’ll be up soon,” Rhys answered, his monkey face in a perpetual grin as he stepped up onto the edge and squatted down. “We were helping Melanie with the baby and things got a little out of hand.”
“Uh oh,” Ferris grinned, unable to imagine what sorts of mischief the three younger gargoyles could get into since her brain was stuck on Armand. “That can’t be good.”
Rhys smirked, clapping Vaughn on the back as the lion squatted down next to him, “It kept Vaughn from remaining human for the day.”
“Yeah, nothing like hearing, ‘Oh, shit! Get the baby down from the chandelier,’ to kill a wife’s mood,” Vaughn said, shaking his head in amused frustration. “Melanie’s eyes nearly popped out of her head as she scrambled off the bed and ran into the fray without thinki
ng twice. I had to chase after her with her robe. Luckily I managed to get her covered before she got out of the room.”
“Yeah, but you gave us all quite the eye full when you stormed out after her,” Rhys chuckled. “Jenna was kind enough to point out that she would be able to tell we were brothers even if our heads were covered.”
Ferris blushed, understanding what similarity Rhys was referring to. Her eyes flicked back to Armand but he stood there, unmoving, the formidable Armand once again. Powerlessly, her eyes dropped to his waist, knowing what she wasn’t going to see since his stone erection was safely hidden away once again. She thought it was so cool how he did that.
Rhys’s chuckle interrupted her wayward thoughts and her head whipped around to discover that he had seen where her gaze had been. “He’s definitely our brother, too, Ferris.”
“I didn’t… I wasn’t....” she stammered, feeling the prickly heat spreading upwards along her neck and into her cheeks. “I mean….”
“Leave her be,” Armand growled, staring straight ahead and not looking at any of them. “She’s too young for you to be teasing her like that.”
Was it her imagination or did he over-emphasize the word young? Shooting a frown at Armand before smiling at Vaughn, she asked, “Will Alex be joining you guys up here today?”
“Yeah,” Vaughn beamed, a father’s pride apparent in his expression even in his stone form. Alex had been the most adorable little lion cub gargoyle imaginable, with the exception of his little sister, who was equally adorable. But now that he was a teenager he was becoming a very handsome young gargoyle, nearly the spitting image of his gorgeous father with one exception: he had Melanie’s summer sky blue eyes. “He's getting too big to be able to fly inside but he’s still small enough to spread his wings a bit out here.”
“Uh oh,” Rhys chuckled. “That means Lenni will be up here, too, freaking out.”
