He stretched down off his perch at the topmost part of the house and flexed his wings back, grateful for the overcast day. Just enough of a breeze to make him comfortable in his gargoyle form but not too much. Grayson glided down to the yard, nodding at the housekeeper as she played with Gabby in between her other duties. She tossed a ball toward the patch of woods nearby and the girl shot after it like a rocket. He stared off in the distance after her, lifting his nose to the sky. Scenting nothing amiss, he made his way around to the door, his talons sinking into the soft grass.
“Hello, Mr. Grayson. A bit of mischief on the horizon today?”
He smiled and a sharp laugh left his lips. “No, ma’am. But I’ll be sure to let you know as soon as I hear of anything.” She always knew the right thing to say and he loved that about her.
The older woman smiled, her grandmotherly face sliding into an easy smile. “You do that, dear.”
Grayson had to admit the girl needed someone to help her grow into an educated young woman, especially with her father keeping her at home. It would have been nice to be able to assure Carrick and Thomas that the family would be safe first and foremost and the collection being restored was free from threat. Walking inside, he went straight to his bedroom to shift and pull on some clothes. He went in search of his client trying to find the words to ask him what the hell he was thinking without coming right out and saying it.
He turned to glance at Thomas calmly reading his magazine and wanted to strangle the man. In the year since his wife had left, he’d withdrawn further into himself and nothing Grayson or Gabby did shook him out of his shell. The promise for better had kept him here just as sure as the shackles Thomas had placed around his heart. Not that he was aware he’d done it, of course. But he had just the same. Out of respect for Thomas he’d kept his distance, but it was getting harder and harder to do.
Harder.
Shit.
That was not the word he should be using right now.
And damned if he didn’t try to ignore it. From the second he met the man, the stone beneath his skin quickened in lust. Thomas was his mate, as much as his wife Katie had been. But he was also something more. An equal. God, but he wanted to sink inside of him and never let him go. Those lips, the well-trimmed beard along his powerful jaw and God, his muscular abs. And if he got out of the shower one more time without a towel while Grayson was outside he was going to go quietly and utterly mad.
He knew Thomas wanted him. That much had been clear, even when they first met. But with the trauma of his divorce he couldn’t bring himself to push anything. How did you compete with a shadow? Especially when the shadow was a woman who hated him? No matter that she was still alive. Sometimes it seemed as if she’d never left. Grayson tried to keep doing his job and stop thinking about the way Thomas’s lips pursed when he was thinking about an issue with a project or the animated way he spoke about his work at dinner. Grayson’s life consisted primarily of watching. On odd shifts, he’d find himself rooted to the side of the building, especially when he knew Thomas would be in the studio working or in his private chambers. Last week he’d almost gotten himself caught. Gargoyles protected and they observed. Unlike Thomas, he didn’t get the artistic genes, but what he could do was keep his chosen family safe. So he did. Carrick would kill him if something happened to the collection, but this was more than that. Thomas and Gabby had his heart, the former whether he wanted it or not.
Once in a while he felt Thomas’s eyes on him when he thought Grayson was otherwise occupied. He had his attention. That was a start. But he also knew grief had its own way of working through a person’s system. Even if it was for a woman who wasn’t worth the effort. She couldn’t wait to get away from him fast enough. And to try and take her own life in front of her child? Monstrous. He would have killed to save his family and she was ready to throw it all away. Some things he would never understand.
So he waited.
He patrolled the grounds mercilessly, inspecting as deliveries of paintings and supplies came and went. He checked and rechecked security measures and cameras he’d had installed around the old gothic style manor, never leaving anything to chance. He helped Mrs. Talbot with Gabby’s schoolwork and taught her how to use her fledgling wings.
“Pull up, Gabby!” Grayson caught her as she fell, a crestfallen expression on her face. She’d been working at it for hours, not quite mastering the dive and land move without falling. He couldn’t stand to watch, so he grabbed her before she tumbled headlong into the grass for the tenth time that morning.
“I’ll never get it. Momma was right. I am stupid.” She jumped down to the ground and bolted toward stone wall at the edge of the yard overlooking the same cliffs that had almost been her mother’s demise the year before.
“I don’t want to hear you say that ever again.” Grayson rounded on her, grabbing her by the shoulders and giving her a shake. “You are a clever girl. You can’t help it. You’ve got your father’s genes. Hell, you can outmaneuver me when you’re bounding around the kitchen hunting for cookies and let me tell you, honey. That takes skill.”
The seven-year-old nodded, her solemn eyes watching his face for any sign of lying. God if he could reach Candice wherever she was and throttle that woman for what she did to Gabby he would. Some people didn’t deserve to be parents and she was one.
“He’s right, you know.” Thomas appeared in the doorway from the kitchen. “You do have my genes and that means you’re going to be too smart for the both of us one day.”
“Daddy!” Gabby’s face lit up like the sun had come out. “I missed you!” She ran to him, her wings flaring out and she took flight midway.
“Umph!” Thomas caught her and he grinned, the first smile Grayson had seen on his face since before the incident. “My God. What is he teaching you?”
“To be the fastest gargoyle ever!” Gabby crowed and bounded from his arms, beaming in the sudden attention. “Daddy, you need to shave. Your face is really scratchy.”
He lifted a hand and rubbed along his jaw. “True enough and you might just be, sweetheart. Why don’t you go inside and find Mrs. Talbot? I think I heard her mention something about making cupcakes.”
“Cupcakes!” Gabby squealed and took off through the kitchen doorway, the glass storm door slamming behind her.
“She loves it when you come down.” Grayson took in Thomas’s unshaven face and longed to press his own cheek against him just to feel the roughness against his skin. His jeans grew tight and he had to angle himself against the wall so Thomas wouldn’t see.
“I’m sorry I’ve been so uninvolved. It…it seemed easier.” The other man looked out to the ocean, his attention far away.
“I know.” And he did. There were reasons why he wasn’t with his own family on the east coast. Too many memories and too much loss. His wife and child died from a fire in a building he’d sworn to protect. He’d been knocked unconscious by falling rubble, only to wake and discover his life was over. His daughter would have been Gabby’s age, had she lived.
Thomas turned to him. “You do, don’t you? I can see it in your eyes.”
The lump in his throat grew and he simply nodded, afraid to speak. There wasn’t a day that went by when he didn’t hear their laughter on the wind or catch a glimpse of something that reminded him of a memory of their life together.
“What Candice said, before she left…” Thomas took a breath and pressed his lips together. “I…”
Here it comes.
“You don’t have to say it.” Grayson tried to move away, but Thomas stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.
Thomas shook his head, his eyes boring holes into Grayson’s. “I do. She saw what I was struggling with internally myself. That I wanted more than…” Thomas raised his hand and touched his cheek, a soft expression coming over his face. “I knew it from the first moment I saw you, but I couldn’t act on it. Not then.”
“And now?”
“Now, I have to figure thin
gs out. There have to be some changes.”
Grayson’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. He looked down at Thomas’s fingers gripping his shirt and felt the last vestiges of resistance start to crumble. “Maybe we should take this conversation indoors.”
A fleck of a smile turned up the corner of Thomas’s lips. “I think perhaps you’re right.”
They had a lot to discuss and it wasn’t just about Gabby. He needed to know where he stood. Once and for all.
They went around the long way to the front door, entering quietly. Up the stairs and past Thomas’s art room, the scent of oil paints and chemicals tickling his nose. Following Thomas down the hall, they reached his den. The sweet sound of Gabby’s laughter could be heard in the kitchen. Holding open the door, Thomas waited for Grayson to pass and shut it behind him. The lock clicked and Grayson hardened once more.
“I know you think it’s foolish for me to bring in someone to tutor Gabby, but it’s either do that or send her to a boarding school.” Thomas went to the bar and poured himself a scotch. He looked over his shoulder at Grayson. “Would you like one?”
“No. Why would you even consider that?”
Thomas stood watching the ocean through the windows and took a sip of his drink. “I can’t be all of what she needs. Neither can you or Mrs. Talbot. You have your own work.” He turned to Grayson, the conflict visible in the strained lines his face. “Do you think I want to send her away? Is that it?”
“I don’t know. Do you?” Anger spiked and Grayson heard his voice deepen. “That girl needs you. She didn’t have her mother, even when she was here. If you ship her off, she’ll think you’ve abandoned her too.”
Thomas gave a low growl and set his drink down on the table with a crack. “What I want is a family, but what I have is a fragmented shell of what used to be a life.” His voice broke and he turned back to the window. “And you…she was right. I was almost ready to…”
“To what?”
“Are you going to make me say it?” He responded in a raw whisper.
Grayson stalked toward Thomas and swung him around to face him. “You’re damned right I am. I’ve, all of us, waited on tenterhooks for you to get past your loss. She left you and I’m sorry. More sorry than you can ever know. At least we were able to save her life. She didn’t die and you need to stop acting as if you did.”
Thomas blinked at him with wide eyes. “I…”
Grayson gave him a tender smile. “You’re here. Now. And so is Gabby. She needs you to be too.”
Thomas swallowed, his lips parting. “And you? Will you be here?”
“I never fucking left.” Grayson made a low noise in his throat and tugged Thomas forward into his embrace. His lips grazed Thomas’s first in question and when he felt the other man soften almost unperceptively, he ground his lips against him, tasting the ghost of the scotch on his lips. “You’re my mate, damn it. I’ll wait for you forever if I have to. But if you keep doing that thing you do in the shower, I may just lose my mind.”
A smile played across Thomas’s lips.
“No more waiting. I’m tired of trying to make sense of the past. I want a future. With you. With Gabby.” Thomas’s thick erection pressed against him and Grayson groaned, the confines of his jeans way too fucking tight. This is what he’d been waiting for since he first laid eyes on the man back at Carrick’s estate. The fine curve of his ass. The way his eyes twinkled when he was making a joke. But he couldn’t give him what he wanted. Not until Thomas was free of whatever bonds held him fast. Now it looked like they were finally loosening and he almost wanted to weep for joy.
Thomas’s hands ran along his back and slid down his ass. Grayson pulled back, a wry smile on his lips. “Before you ask, I’m not exactly vanilla.” Thomas’s eyes glowed with the hint of his gargoyle.
“Dominant?”
“Switch.”
Grayson’s cock got even harder. Christmas morning had nothing on this. This was his fucking birthday. “Good. Then I want you to strip. Now.”
****
“As you wish.” Thomas looked into Grayson’s eyes and for the first time in a long while felt like someone saw him for what and who he was. Not just a father or an art restorer, but a man with needs of his own. He’d waited too long to start living again. He loved this man with his enduring gray eyes. His patience with Gabby had been only the first chink in his armor. The rest had been a gentle wearing away of his walls until there was no way to keep him out anymore. This. This was his family. Perhaps not entirely what he intended, but a mate nonetheless. Because that is who stood in front of him now. His mate. The rock in the midst of his internal chaos, Grayson had been here to tether him to what mattered. He just wished he would have read the signs sooner.
His stone beast raged in his chest and he wanted to reach out and take what was his. Too many nights pretending he hadn’t noticed the lonely figure perched near his window and many more after where he’d stroked himself to completion, thinking of his mate sitting just outside.
He wanted his marriage to work and it devastated him that he couldn’t make Candice love him. He’d done everything for her and still she tried her best to destroy him, using his love as a weapon. His self-loathing knew no bounds. Especially when she threw herself off the balcony, ready to face death than to find a future together with him and their daughter.
Was he that unlovable?
He’d thought so until he read the unspoken words in Grayson’s eyes. Over and over he’d stated his devotion through actions more than empty words and promises. His attentiveness with Gabby was as near to devotion as if she were his own daughter.
A kind word from him on a day when Thomas’s soul felt the blackest. A simple glass of iced tea when he was pouring over a project, or his favorite meal prepared just when he was done for the day or a blanket laid out on his bed on a chilly evening. He’d assumed Mrs. Talbot had been behind some of it but Grayson’s scent lingered and he came to know the truth. It was Grayson. The thought of the man filled him with warmth…and something else.
Desire.
He wanted the man.
No. Grayson was more than just an object of lust. Thomas wanted to explore every part of his body and bury his face in the long sweeping strands of his hair. To hear him cry out in passion and know his family was becoming whole once more.
Mate.
Grayson was their mate.
His stone beast grumbled in agreement, staid and solid beneath his human exterior. Patient and ever observant he sensed his satisfaction at finally acknowledging what he had known all along.
So much wasted time.
His gargoyle knew it before he did, but for propriety’s sake, he’d withheld his desires, thinking it for the best. Claws scraping down the insides of his fragile human flesh, he shivered. His stone beast wanted this and so did he. No more waiting. He wanted to claim and be claimed, and to mark this man as his own.
With trembling hands Thomas divested himself of his shoes and clothes until he stood before Grayson, naked. He should be the dominant here, but not today. Today he wanted to feel. To have Grayson take charge and make him bend to his will. To give him all of what he was and never stop.
And those lips. God. He wanted more. Reaching out, he slid his fingers into Grayson’s hair and pressed his lips against him for another kiss. The warm, spicy cinnamon scent of his hair made him groan.
“You aren’t undressing?”
“Yes.” The other man’s lips formed a lazy half smile. “But you’re going to do it for me.” He raised his chin and waited, his eyes snapping with fire.
Thomas reached down to loosen Grayson’s belt, the bulge between his legs beckoning him closer. With shaking fingers, he unzipped the jeans and Grayson’s cock sprang free.
“She’ll be here anytime.” He didn’t want to be distracted by thoughts of anything else but the man in front of him but reality was about to descend, whether he wanted it or not. “We have to hurry.”
“I don’t c
are. I’ve waited long enough and I’m going to fuck you till you scream my name.”
Thomas closed his eyes, his breath hitching.
“Take me in your mouth.” Grayson’s breathing was erratic. “I’m not going to be gentle.”
Thomas’s fingers curled around his shaft. Thomas met his eyes, warmth curling through his body. “I don’t want you to be.”
“Good.”
His girth was wide and for a moment his knees grew weak at the thought of tasting him. Thomas knelt down in front of Grayson, the tip of him poised in front of his mouth. The salty sweetness flooded his senses as Grayson tilted his hips and slipped inside.
The musky male scent of him infiltrated Thomas’s senses. Grayson wound his fingers in Thomas hair and gripped him tight, the motion of his hips going faster and faster. The tip of his cock slammed against the back of his throat and he had to blink back tears as he fought the gag reflex struggling to take over.
Willing himself to breathe through his nose, he took every stroke as Grayson fucked his face. Over and over, Grayson plunged his thick cock into his mouth. Hips moving forward, he held on to his jeans and with a yank, pulled them down to run his hands along his muscular buttocks. Thomas caught him mid stroke, gripping his ass and swallowing as Grayson bucked, hot seed spilling down his throat.
He groaned, shuddering against him and Grayson pulled away.
“God. That was…”
“Incredible.” Thomas reached for Grayson’s tee shirt and eased it over his head, freeing his muscular chest and ripped stomach to his gaze. He helped him out of his jeans, until Grayson too stood naked, his eyes aglow with lust. “But I want more. To mark you with my teeth so everyone knows you’re mine.”
Thomas drew him up and crushed him to him, pressing a kiss to his lips.
“My turn.” Grayson reached between their bodies and wrapped his hand around Thomas’s cock. His own already hard, he guided his shaft against him, stroking their lengths together. He forced him back on the window ledge and knelt between his legs, enveloping Thomas’s cock in his mouth.
Westmore Wolves Series: Shapesifter Collection Bks 1-5 Page 9
