Page 19 of Bumpy, the Gargoyle Slayer

“No.” I cut off her words. “I can’t have a real relationship with you. I can’t have a real relationship with anyone. You need to know that up front. It would just be physical.”

She tries to hide the blow… I think. Maybe I’m just seeing what I want to see.

“Why?”

“First, we’re different species. It’s… forbidden.” Though that’s not exactly true. Only the making of children is forbidden. I could marry her. I could plough into her soft depths and make her mine for as long as she lives.

“Oh.” She nods. “Right.” But she doesn’t move away.

And damn me for a thousand fools, but I want her so much, I have to stop my breath and half turn to stone to arrest my arms from dragging her into and under me.

“So, you’ve never, um, fucked before?” she asks, before biting her lip.

“I’ve fucked.” But honestly compels me to admit, “I haven’t truly kissed. Fucking is one thing. Kissing is… transcendent. A good kiss can steal your soul and wed you before you’re even aware of it.”

“I don’t understand.” She lays her hand against my chest again. “You’re so hard. There’s no give in your skin at all. You really haven’t ever kissed anyone?”

And her lips, they’re right there, practically begging me to lean into her, to touch mine to hers, to open her wide to me so I can taste her essence and touch her spirit.

Instead, I clear my throat. “Not happening, Bumps.”

“Why not? I mean, I’m not going to fuck you, but a little kiss…” Instantly, she pouts again, and I swear…

This is my trial. This is my Hell. This is… impossible.

“If I kiss you, when I kiss you,” I add, though I shouldn’t, and I don’t even understand why I do, “you’re mine forever. I won’t let you leave me. I won’t let you run away. I’ll haunt you for the rest of your days, and I’ll chase away every male that comes sniffing after you. I’m a gargoyle. I’m forged in holy water, fire, and the bones of the earth. I’m ancient magick, created to be dedicated, possessive, protective, and unsleeping. Do you really think I’m something you could deal with for the rest of your life? Because that’s what will happen if I kiss you.”

And I hold my breath again, hoping she’ll say yes, sure, of course, so that I can kiss her as I long to do, before slipping my aching cock between her beautiful thighs and up into the furnace of her core.

“But it doesn’t have to be like that.”

“Unfortunately, it does.”

“Alain…”

But she’s so close, and the little mewl she utters at the end of my name, that plaintive cry, tells me that she’s as hungry for a union as I am. I think.

I hope—because I’m about to become some sort of predator if I’m wrong.

In a quick movement, I cover her so that she lies caged between my elbows, the mattress, and my legs. “But there’s a game we can play, if you like. A different sort of kiss that will make you feel better.”

“L-like?” But her hips cycle beneath me, sending my cock into a stratosphere of need.

“Like,” I whisper, leaning in to brush my lips along the soft skin of her neck, “I can kiss you in other places. I can make you see Heaven.”

She answers with another small mewl and a roll of her hips, but her hands lift higher on my chest, stroking rather than pushing me off. “Won’t that be too relationshippy?”

“Oh, no. Not at all. This is just what friends do to help each other out. And we’re friends now, aren’t we?” And my lips fall to her skin again. I suck the soft flesh between my teeth. She’ll bear a mark later. A hickey, they call it now.

The idea is thrilling. Marked, by me.

Mine.

No. I need to stop this madness. She’s too young. I could hurt her. Twenty-seven is just a baby.

But I make not a single move to leave her. “Say yes,” I growl, popping off to layer more kisses along her throat and shoulder blade before lowering to the restraint of her low-cut dress. “Tell me yes, or I’ll stop.”

This time, she whines. “I can’t…” But her hands clutch into my hair, pulling me into her.