“Haley,” I growled, determined to make her listen. To make her believe it. “I’ve never seen anything so fucking remarkable as you and your black-magick roses. So whatever worries you got about that? Squash it, babygirl. You’ve got nothing to be ashamed of.”
“Do you mean it?” she whispered, the sweetest little smile curving her mouth.
“Wouldn’t say it if I didn’t. Figured you knew that about me by now.”
“Hmm. Maybe I just like hearing you talk.”
“That so?” I pulled her close to me again, running my nose down along hers and dusting her lips with another kiss. Damn, one kiss and I was already addicted to her. “What else you like?”
My wings hovered over us, fluttering in the breeze, and she glanced up at them and smiled even bigger. “I like the wings, Gargs. A lot.”
I stretched them out, giving her a show.
“Can I touch them?” she asked. “Or is that… not a thing you’re supposed to ask? I’m sorry. You’re my first gargoyle.”
“And you’re my first little monster girl,” I said with a wink, “so I guess I’ll allow it.”
I kissed her forehead, tucked my wings in close, then turned and got down on my knees, giving her unrestricted access.
She ran her fingertips along the edges, then flattened her hands, stroking me with her palms.
I shuddered in the wake of her touch.
“What does it feel like when I touch you?” she asked.
“It feels…” My words trailed off into a groan of pleasure. “Goddamn. Do that again.”
With a soft laugh that whispered across my skin, she stroked the edge of one wing, then the other, back and forth with the gentle touch of her fingertips, then the soft scrape of her nails, her every movement driving me wild.
I had no idea how long she stood there mapping my skin with her fingers, but it felt like hours. Hours and hours of sheer bliss as I lost myself to her sweet caress, every stroke sizzling with the magick of our bond.
By the time she came around and knelt down in front of me, I was so hard for her it hurt, no way to hide it. She continued her soft strokes, grazing my chest, my abs, lower, fuckinglower, until my little monster girl finally wrapped those fingers around my cock.
I hissed through my teeth. Fucking hell, her touch was like living fire. It’d been so long since anyone had touched me—centuries. And Haley? She was in a league of her own. Just being near her made it hard to breathe. Now she had her hand on my cock, her wet mouth parted, her eyes blazing with a fire that seemed to bedaringme to cross that final line with her…
How had I not dropped dead of a fucking heart attack yet?
How had Jax and Saint survived her?
“Hudson,” she whispered, her voice turning shy, that fire in her eyes dimming a little, though she didn’t let go of my cock—a thing I wassupremelygrateful for. “Is this really happening?”
Everything was so oversensitive, so hot for her, all my wires felt like they were short-circuiting. I couldthinkthe words, but couldn’t seem to make my lips move.
Once again, I’d forgotten how to fucking talk. But this time it wasn’t because of some unspeakable trauma.
It was because she’d left me tongue-tied, my nerves buzzing, my muscles trembling for more.
Damn it. Much as I loved the feel of her touch on my wings, I needed to be a man for this.Allman, or I wouldn’t be able to concentrate long enough to find those words I so badly needed to find.
I flexed my shoulders and shifted the rest of the way into my human form, no trace of the warrior left, other than the heart jackhammering inside my chest. A warrior’s heart that’d somehow never beat as hard in battle as it was beating right now, all for this woman. This witch. My mate.
“I’m… sorry,” she whispered as my wings vanished, confusion smothering the last of the fire in her eyes. “Did I… did I hurt you? I thought… Maybe I was too rough? I wasn’t sure if—”
I pressed my fingertips to her lips and shook my head. It was all I could manage in the moment, but I needed her to know it was okay. More than okay.
She smiled softly, and I knew she understood me, just like always.
“I’ll give you a minute to find the words,” she said. “But I’ve got some for you first, if you don’t mind?”
