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She snorted. "You haven't met Octavia or Callie, then. The things they get up to...I mean, summoning you was Callie's idea. I never would have even considered it if I'd known the spell would summon an actual monster."
"Yet it is you, and not one of the other women, who is standing here now, with your arms about a monster's neck, asking him to take you flying. You trusted me with your daughter, the most precious person in the world to you, even though you know I am a monster." He leaned in, pressing his face to her throat, and growled, "Aren't you afraid of me, Tacey?"
A shiver darted through her body, yet her grip around his neck only tightened. "I should be."
Her voice was throaty, huskier than normal. He raised his head to meet her gaze and he was lost.
An eternity later, he surfaced, his lips pressed against her mouth, his tongue entwined with hers...and his hands gripping her hips so firmly it was a mercy there was so much clothing between them, or he might have ravished her.
She broke the kiss, for he was powerless to resist. "I'm sorry. I need to...goodnight." And then she was gone, locking the door behind her.
Damn and blast and...why were the pants of this time so damn tight?
Grumbling, Wystan headed up to the roof, where the night breeze could cool his ardour and clear his head, so that he could focus on keeping her safe.
And most definitely not think about what she might wear to bed tonight, in her bedchamber below.
No, not thinking about her at all.
TWENTY-SEVEN
"Aren't you afraid of me?"
Half the night, she couldn't help but rehash those moments in her head. The way he'd growled against her neck, sending a shiver right down her spine into her core, heating her whole body from the inside out. And then she'd kissed him, god only knew why, and it had been the hottest, most perfect kiss of her life.
She'd come to her senses when she'd realised the hard length pressing against her belly was as eager for her as she was for him, and she'd been a hair's breadth from wrapping her legs around him and impaling herself on him, clothing be damned.
Crazy monkey sex with a monster on her veranda in winter, for fuck's sake. Was there anything more insane? If anyone knew she'd even thought about it, they'd take Rory away from her for sure, and they'd be right to, because her mental state right now did not resemble that of a responsible parent at all.
Three times she'd had to take care of herself, she'd been so hot just thinking about it. Better than inviting the monster into her bed, no matter how much she wanted to.
So it was no wonder she felt like absolute shit the next morning when she opened her eyes in the predawn darkness.
"Mummy! Can we go flying again tonight?" Rory burst into the room and bounced on the bed, so full of energy it was obscene.
"We'll see," Tacey said, as she forced herself out of bed. She had a health inspector to convince, and a café to open.
She wasn't sure what to say to Wystan this morning. That kiss and what had almost happened between them...no, Rory did not need to know any of it. Tacey wished she didn't remember it.
Wystan appeared supremely unruffled, as though last night's kiss had meant nothing to him. The guy was made out of stone – maybe he didn't feel lust, or love, or...anything at all. Lucky.
Tacey's morning passed in a haze of coffee, and a few more muffins than were good for her. Rachael the health inspector and Dave the pest control guy turned out to be colleagues who'd worked together in Esperance a while back, and when he explained the roach situation, she took him at his word, not only happy to let the café open as normal that day, but to accept coffee and a muffin so she could catch up with Dave at a table in the corner before she was due in the office.
Shaking her head at the weirdness of her world, Tacey tried to concentrate on the cappuccino she was supposed to be drawing art on. Maybe she should just stick to using stencils with cocoa powder today, because abstract art was definitely not one of her strengths.
If Ben and Rochelle saw the bird that was supposed to be a rabbit on the last coffee, they'd have laughed themselves sick, and rightly so.
Good thing Ben wasn't in the café during the day. Definitely a night owl, that boy.
TWENTY-EIGHT
"Will you save me from the monster that tried to kill my mummy, Mr Monster?" Rory asked, not looking up from her drawing. "He has lots of bugs, Mummy said, because he brought a whole bag of them here and they went everywhere. I don't like bugs, and I especially don't like them if Mummy isn't there to smack them." She clapped her hands as if to demonstrate her mother's bug-smacking technique.
Wystan winced. It smote his heart to think of a girl growing up, believing her father to be a monster. Yet the more he saw and heard about the man, the more he was inclined to believe Tacey was right.
"You have to save me. I heard Mummy talking to Grandma on the phone last night, when I was supposed to be asleep, and she said if the lawyer wouldn't help her, she'd have to give me to him. I don't want to go. I want to stay with Mummy. And you."
His heart, if he still had one, was getting a workout today. The little girl didn't know what she was asking, but it was sweet that she liked him enough to want him to stay. Heaven knew he wanted to, but he wasn't sure how much time he had. He was here to protect Rory and Tacey, but he had no idea if that meant forever or just for a short time, the duration of a current threat. When he was done, perhaps he'd be allowed to die again, for surely he had already, to have woken in a grave, and he'd be reunited with Effie and the baby.
