“Can’t see the view when you’re asleep,” she teased.
“Gargoyles don’t sleep. We might be frozen in the daylight, but we’re always awake. Always watching.” The way he’d watched her touch his face before she left his nest the last time. He would never forget it.
She propped up on an elbow and frowned. “What is the nest for, then, if you don’t sleep in it?”
“What do youthinka nest is for, human?” He leaned toward her, nipping her ear with a growl. “It’s for raising our young.”
“Ouryoung?” Idabel looked up at him, eyes wide and lips parted invitingly. Or at least, his poor, hungry cock thought so.
He took her hand and brought it to his lips, kissing her palm and then the inside of her wrist where her blood skittered close to the surface, begging him to bite. He lifted his head, running his tongue over the points of his incisors. “If you were my mate, I’d give you as many hatchlings to raise as you liked. Do you want children?”
“Yes. Someday. I raised my younger brothers and sister after my parents died. I miss them.” She sounded wistful and a little bit sad, so he kissed her until she was pink-cheeked and moaning again. Much better.
Then he shifted his arm so he could reach the pins still holding half her hair. One by one, he removed them and loosened her braids. Her locks spilled down, thick and shining in the candlelight, cascading over her like a length of silk fabric.
“I’ve thought about this too much,” he murmured, combing his claws gently through the fine strands. “About touching your hair. Grooming you.”
“Like a horse?” she giggled.
“Like family.”
Her breath caught at the word, but she relaxed beneath his hands. He worked slowly, delicately picking out every tangle, until she sighed and leaned into his touch. She was soft everywhere, from her hair to the curve of her chest to the warmth of her small hand resting against his thigh.
When he was finished, he leaned in and kissed her neck right over her dreamy pulse. She blinked at him with heavy lids. He’d forgotten that humans usually slept at this time. “Are you tired? I can hold you while you rest.”
She rolled from her back to face him, amusement sparking in her eyes. “I’m nottootired, if that’s what you’re asking. What we did on the balcony didn’t satisfy my—”
“What?!” He was sure she’d peaked. He’d felt her quiver and spasm beneath his tongue. Seen her eyes roll back and felt her clutch the sensitive bases of his horns. Surely he had not left her wanting on their very first encounter.
“—curiosity,” she finished, giggling at his horrified expression. “I want to know more. Show me more. Please?”
“I’ll show you anything you want to know.” Brandt lifted her hair away from her bodice lacing with the back of his hand. He kept his eyes locked to hers as he loosened the snug strings. She lifted her arms so he could tug the bodice over her head. Then, he reached around to untie her skirts and petticoats. She kicked them off.
Without the structure of the clothing, her linen chemise was a creamy cloud, drifting around her. He wanted to lick it up. He reached for the hem, and she tensed.
“You can trust me,” he murmured, pausing until she relaxed again.
“I know,” she whispered. “I want this. I do. I just…I’ve never…I don’t know what comes next. I’m bracing for a surprise.”
“Shall I tell you everything I plan to do?” He dropped down so his mouth was very close to her ear, and he could feel the rise and fall of her chest against his chin. “Does my little rabbit want the story of her own seduction?”
“Yes, please.” She gave an eager wriggle of her hips that made him want to purr.
“Very well. First, I will rid you of this silly human undergarment.” He fisted her chemise so it snugged around the shape of her body. “And then, when you’re bare, I will look at you.”
“That’s all? Just looking?” Idabel grinned at him.
He growled playfully at her. “I will look as long as I please, at every part of you, especially at the parts you always hide. And then…”
“You’ll put your cock inside me?”
“Always in a rush,” he chuckled, shaking his head. No, he wouldn’t hurry their first mating. They had all night, and she was new to this. Perhaps he shouldn’t feel so solemn in his duty, but he wanted her introduction to the pleasures of mating to be a good one. It should be unforgettable for the right reasons, for memories were all they would have of each other after he deployed.
But when she lifted her hips slightly, a wordless invitation, and he couldn’t resist divesting her of the chemise. She lay there glowing in the candlelight like precious metal, the tiny hairs onher skin rising as the seconds stretched. He sat back on his heels, drinking her in her lush little figure.
She was a slight female, with muscled arms and legs from her daily labor, but her breasts were delightfully plump, tipped with nipples like brown berries, and her hips flared in a way that made his cock twitch with anticipation at the prospect of seeding her.
And her mouth…
