by Susan Hayes
She stiffened when he picked her up and the moment she landed in his lap she tried to leave. “No. Please. I’m too heavy.”
“Too heavy? Sweetling, you’re not even close to being too heavy, and I’m a little insulted you would think so. I’m a man, not a milksop.”
She shook her head, lips pursed and her eyes shadowed with worry. “You should let me up.”
“Not happening. At least not until you give me a better reason.” He reached up to tuck an errant curl behind her ear and followed it with a kiss to her cheek. He wanted to do so much more, but now wasn’t the time to rush.
“Please?” was all she said.
“I’m a gargoyle, remember? Even if you were too heavy for a normal man, there is nothing normal about me. I could lift you over my head with one hand if I wanted to. Care for a demonstration?”
“No, I believe you. No need for a demonstration. You’re sure I’m not too much? I mean, none of this is because I’m your owner and you have to please me, right?”
“Protect you, yes. Please you? No. That’s not what I was created for. In fact, I annoyed more than one master by doing things they didn’t appreciate to keep them safe from harm. Anything I do to please you is done purely because I want to.”
She uttered a soft sigh of relief. “Good to know. I want to hear about what you did to annoy your former masters, but first, I need to know what you meant when you talked about me being in your dreams.”
“I was rather hoping you had forgotten I mentioned that. You’ve had a rather strange and trying day. Are you sure you want me to add to it?”
“It’s been an interesting day, yes. But, it seems to be turning out rather well. At least, I think it is.” She gifted him with a shy smile and he felt her relax back into his embrace.
“It’s turning out better than I could have imagined. I like the real you far better than the dream version.” He paused to kiss her forehead before continuing his explanation. “I started dreaming of you after my old master died and I was trapped in stone. Visions of you were all I had to keep the darkness at bay. I was on the edge of madness more than once. You kept me sane and helped me to hang on. When you walked into view today, I had hope again. Hope that I would get to hold you like this in the real world and not only in my dreams.”
She was silent for a moment, her lower lip tucked between her teeth as she considered what he told her. Then she said something surprising.
“I’ve been dreaming of you, too. Not recently, but you have been in my dreams for years. I recognized you the moment I saw your human face.”
“What do you think it means? I may be a creature of magic, but I have little understanding of how it all works.”
“What does it mean that we dreamed of each other? Until today, I didn’t know if you were real or not. Now that I know you are, I know my dreams were prophetic. I get those sometimes because I have a trace of my mother’s gift of sight. I don’t know why you dreamed of me. Have you ever dreamed of a future owner before now?” she asked.
“I haven’t. In fact, I rarely dream at all. I don’t sleep often. It’s part of who and what I am. I wouldn’t be much of a protector if I had to lapse into unconsciousness for hours at a time.”
Adina made a soft, sympathetic sound and raised a hand to stroke his forehead. Her touch was gentle, but her fingers were strong and roughened by her work. Stone caught himself wondering what it would feel like to have her caress him in other, more sensitive places.
“You don’t sleep? So, what do you do all night when everyone else goes to bed? Weren’t you bored?”
“I kept watch. For years, I stayed up nights devouring every text and document I could get my hands on. I had so much to learn. Later, I spent the time mastering different skills, learning new things, and managing the family’s fortune.” He remembered those days fondly. He had decided that his duty to protect the family didn’t have to be purely physical. He took on the duties of management and brought to the Drummond family, stability and wealth that had lasted for generations.
“All those years working for those ungrateful bastards. I’m sorry you had to live that way, Stone. I swear we’ll find a way to free you from all this.”
“They weren’t all bad. There was a time when they treated me like family or at least as a valued and trusted retainer. You must remember, sweetling, that I never knew anything else. I was conjured into existence with a rudimentary understanding of the world. I had no childhood, no dreams to let go of, and no understanding of what freedom could even feel like.”
“You said you hadn’t been in human form for more than a century and that you were nothing more than a ghost story to the people you served, so what happened? What changed to make you lose all that?”
He settled her soft body deeper in his lap and stole a soft kiss from her lips before answering. “In the late eighteen hundreds, not long after my master of the time immigrated to the United States, he took a young woman from the local gentry to be his second wife. John Drummond was always a stubborn, prideful man, but after his marriage, he became distrustful and jealous as well. His wife was young, quite pretty, and held no real affection for her husband. She quickly grew bored of married life, and over time, that boredom grew into resentment. She began acting quite scandalously.”
“Did you and she…” Adina asked softly.
“No. Though, she did try to flirt with me to the point that even her husband took notice. When he did, he ordered me to stay away from her. When she continued to seek out my company, he blamed me and demanded I give up my human form and appear only as the gargoyle. He took over managing the finances and other concerns, convinced that he could do it as well as I could. That was when the Drummond family started their centuries-long decline into poverty.”
“He punished you for his wife’s behavior? That’s hardly fair,” Adina muttered, her expression turning stormy.
“His pride wouldn’t allow him to consider that it was his choice in brides that might be at fault, or that he was failing to make his wife happy. It was easier to blame me. Even after her indiscretions grew so bold that he could no longer pretend she was true to him, he refused to forgive me or release me from his earlier orders. I think he might have, given time, but then I had to give him some unwelcome news, and that was the end of any chance of forgiveness for me.”
“What did you have to tell him that was so bad he never released you? What could possibly have been so terrible?”
“I was bound to protect the Drummond family line and no other. When John’s first child was born, I knew that the boy was not a Drummond. He was fathered by another man.” Stone didn’t allow himself to dwell on what happened that dark day. There had been no other choice, but he would forever regret what came about because of his revelation.
“Oh man, he could not have been happy to hear that. But none of that was your fault. That was his wife’s doing, not yours. I take it he never lifted the order and died knowing you would never be able to become human again?”
“My master was furious. The child was sent away to be raised in secret. Pearl spent the rest of her life confined to the house. She died giving birth to their third child, a little girl who died only a few days after her mother did. Years later John died without ever telling his son that I existed. It was one final act of revenge against the one he blamed for all his life’s failings. “
“That bastard. He screwed you over royally because his wife was a hussy? What the hell kind of logic is that? He ruined his own family’s future because of his stupid pride.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him.
“Aye. He was the last member of the family to practice magic, too. Not that he was overly skilled at it. He couldn’t do more than simple parlor tricks and a few basic incantations. He didn’t bother teaching even that much to his son. I suppose in some ways, the family was already in decline. He simply set the stage for the final act.” Stone pressed a kiss to the soft skin of Adina’s throat as she held and comforted him.
It was the first time he could remember anyone holding him like this, and he never wanted it to end. If this were to be his future, then he would gladly take every second he was given.
“We’ll find a way to free you. Then you can decide where you want to live and what you want to do with your life. It might be safer for you here in Magic. We have spells protecting the town and the residents. Visitors can’t see the truth of this place, and we look out for each other,” she said.
“I have no intention of leaving Magic unless you do, Adina.” Maybe one day he would travel and see the changes to the world, but it would be with Adina at his side. He already knew she was special. Whether he was freed from the spells that bound him or not, he had no intention of leaving her alone. He believed that she was his to protect, now and always.
CHAPTER FOUR
Adina couldn’t remember having a better date. Not that what she and Stone were doing was a date, exactly. She had started the evening with a vague plan to feed her new houseguest and get to know him better. Somehow that evolved into sitting in his lap, kissing, talking, and laughing until she felt like they had known each other forever instead of a few short hours. When she said as much, he nodded in agreement.
“I feel it too. Maybe that’s the effect of the dreams. I feel like I already know you. I can remember what you smell like and what you taste like.” He nuzzled her cheek and uttered a low groan. “Only everything is better now that it’s real. I want to know everything about you, Adina. I want to replace every dream memory with the real thing.”
“I’m still not entirely convinced this isn’t a dream. If I wake up tomorrow and you’re gone, I’ll be deeply disappointed.”
“I can think of a way to make sure that doesn’t happen,” he murmured.
“Hmm? What would that be?”
He lifted his head to stare into her eyes. “Let me love you tonight and I promise that when you wake tomorrow morn, I’ll still be there, holding you in my arms.”
Her heart stuttered, and her tongue tied itself in knots, leaving her speechless. All Adina could do was nod in agreement, but that was enough for Stone. He gathered her into his arms and stood, lifting her with ease.
“Where?” he asked in a voice that was low and gruff with need.
“My room is down the hall, second door on the left,” she told him, pointing him in the right direction. Thankfully, she actually did some housework this week, so her surprise guest wasn’t about to walk into a room full of unfolded laundry and chaos.
In seconds, his long strides brought them to her bedroom door. After he walked in, he kicked the door shut behind them. He turned on the light before setting her on her feet. The moment she was down, Adina reached past him to flick the lights off again.
“It’s more romantic in the dark,” she said, hoping he bought her explanation. The moonlight shining through her window provided enough illumination.
“As you wish.” Stone tugged her back into his arms and kissed her. With one broad hand splayed across her back, he held her close as he kissed her with a single-minded hunger that left her breathless.
She gave in to her need to touch him, letting her hands move over the hard planes of his chest and up to the powerful span of his shoulders. He was all muscle, with a body any linebacker would envy. One day she would capture all this male beauty in stone; that way even after he was gone she would have something to remember him by. When she pulled his shirt up to place her hands on bare skin, Stone lifted his head to grin at her.
“One second,” he said, and then his shirt vanished. She could see that in his human form, her name was still visible over his heart, but now it looked like a tattoo instead of a carving or a scar.
“That really is a handy skill,” she murmured.
“If only I could make it work on other people’s clothing,” he said and tweaked at the hem of her shirt. “How fond are you of this garment?”
“It’s only a t-shirt, I have plenty—” The rest of what she was going say was lost in the sound of tearing fabric. She glanced down to see that Stone’s hands had shifted to talons, and he was using them to carefully shred her shirt. “You’re like some sort of walking Swiss Army knife.”
Stone’s eyes glittered with amusement as he pulled the remnants of her top away and dropped them on the floor. “You have no idea.”
“Not yet. But I’m hoping you’re about to show me,’ she said. It was easier to undress when she knew he couldn’t see her. She quickly took off her bra while Stone shifted his hands back to normal and unfastened her jeans. She helped him take them off, but when it came time to remove her underwear she hesitated. Not because she didn’t want this, but because of her own self-consciousness.
“I want to see you, Adina. All of you,” he said.
“And I want to see you. I already know which one of us is the beauty in this relationship. You are…you’re perfect, Stone.”
“And so are you.” He dropped to his knees in front of her. He leaned in to nuzzle her, placing several light kisses to the soft mound of her stomach before hooking a finger into her cotton and lace briefs. “I hope you aren’t fond of these, either, because they’re about to meet the same fate as your shirt.”
“Not really,” she whispered, her words barely making it through her suddenly narrowed throat.
“Good.” He had them off of her in less than a heartbeat.
She dropped her hands to cover herself but he caught her wrists in his hands and held on. “I thought you were beautiful in my dreams but this…you...you’re stunning, Adina.”
“You’re only saying that because there is hardly any light in here,” she argued.
Stone pressed one last kiss to her tummy before raising his gaze to hers. “Actually, I have very acute night-vision. I can see you perfectly, and I like what I see.”
“Cheater!” she said, feeling her cheeks heat as a blush raced over her skin.
“Never. I will never cheat or leave you, Adina.” He tapped a finger to his heart, right over her name. “I’m yours, and you are mine.”
She opened her mouth to speak but whatever she intended to say came out as a gasp as he slipped a thick finger into her folds and began to gently stroke the swollen nub of her clitoris. She dropped her hands to his shoulders to steady herself against the onslaught of sensation his touch triggered. He worked the delicate pearl with one hand while the other stroked up her body to cup one breast. His caresses were a form of worship, his gaze rapt as he watched her respond. When her hands were shaking and her breath was coming in soft pants and gasps, he rose to his feet. He guided her backward until she was pressed up against the bedroom door.
“The bed’s the other way.”
“I know, but right now it seems too far away,” he said before leaning down to kiss her hotly. His tongue slipped past her lips to dance with hers and the world seemed to spin a little faster. Stone lifted her arms and drew them around his neck without breaking their kiss. His bare skin was hot where they touched, and she belatedly realized that he was as naked as she was. The hard length of his erection was pressed to her stomach, clear evidence of his desire. He reached down to cup her bottom in his hands, lifting her with surprising ease. When she was eye-to-eye with him, she daringly wrapped her legs around his waist so that his cock was tantalizingly close to her soaking wet folds.
“You make me feel tiny when you hold me like this,” she whispered against his lips. She tangled her fingers in his black hair, loving the way it felt wrapped around her hands. A rush of need hit her and she kissed him again, nipping at his lower lip as passion overruled every other thought in her head.
“You are so perfect and I need you so much. Tell me you’re ready for me,” He whispered against her mouth.
“Yes. And Stone, I’m on the pill, so we don’t need a condom,” she whispered back and he uttered a low, shuddering groan and raised her higher in his arms.
“That’s fortunate, since I have no idea how to use one.”
The tip of h
is cock rubbed back and forth along her clit in the last aching moments before they came together, and then he was at her entrance, his thick shaft filling her slowly. He kissed her, tongues dueling, and mouths mated so that his next groan vibrated over her tongue, and his breath was in her lungs. He held her easily, using his body to keep her pinned to the door as he buried himself to the hilt inside her.
Being with Stone was like nothing she had ever experienced before. He was bigger and far stronger than any other man she had known, but it was more than that. The bonds that were forged in her dreams became real the moment he claimed her and something clicked deep in her heart. Swept away by feelings beyond her understanding, Adina kissed him hard, and then flexed her inner walls around him, encouraging him to move. He did so, slowly at first but growing faster with each thrust of his hips. When her orgasm began to build she found herself chanting his name in time to his thrusts, her soft words blending with his ragged breathing as he chased her up the scales of pleasure.
She tightened her legs around his waist and gasped as he started moving faster, his pace uneven and his eyes ablaze with primal need. She came first, riding him as she lost herself in a tempest of passion that carried her away into a place of pleasure. Stone kept going, his control breaking a little more with every thrust. Soon enough, he was groaning her name, his head thrown back as he emptied himself inside of her with one final, shuddering pump of his hips.
She let her head fall to his shoulder, her fingers stroking the back of his neck as he rode out his orgasm and then went still.
“Better than any dream I’ve ever had,” he murmured.
“For me, too. The next time I dream of you I’m going to wake up and reach for the real thing instead.”
Stone chuckled. “Anytime, sweetling. I’m glad you’re finally coming to accept the fact that I’ll be there whenever you reach for me. I’m not going anywhere.”
She raised her head to smile at him. “I’m starting to hope that’s true. But, accepting that all this is real and that you want to stay with me, might take a little longer.”
