“Ronan and I are two very different gargoyles. I stayed by myself for a while, but in the end I craved any kind of interaction. That forced me to talk with other supes and eventually make a lot of friends. I think that’s what kept me sane. Ronan, on the other hand, kept almost completely to himself until we stumbled across one another. It took several decades for him to trust me, and even longer for him to learn any kind of technology,” Cash explained.
All of that made perfect sense, but for some reason I still wanted to pick a fight. Maybe it was immature of me, but him knowing that I was his heart song and not telling me made anger fizzle just under the surface of my skin.
“And when were you planning on telling me that I was your heart song?” I finally asked, addressing the elephant taking up more space than it had any right to in the cab of the truck.
Cash looked away, his silver eyes watching the horizon.
“I couldn’t…” he began, his mouth opening and closing like he was trying to formulate a response. “I couldn’t tell you when I wasn’t sure how anything would work. I was so young when I was banished from my clan that I never learned about mates in any meaningful way.”
“So, had Ronan told you that I would die an early death, would you have ever told me?” That was the question that had been rattling around in my head ever since Ronan had spilled Cash’s secret.
The muscle in Cash’s jaw jumped. “I hadn’t gotten that far yet, but if I had to I would have found a vamp or other immortal to turn you so that we could be together forever.”
“But it wouldn’t be forever,” I pointed out. “Then I would outlive you. Not to mention you were thinking about all of this on your own while pretending that I was nothing more than the down-on-her-luck human that you were just helping out.”
“It wasn’t like that, dragonfly…” he began, but I cut him off.
“I wasn’t finished. Do you know how confusing it’s been for me over the past couple of weeks? Strange touches that set my skin on fire one second, and then completely platonic words in the next? I thought I was losing my mind, Cash.” My words were verging on scolding at this point, but I didn’t care.
“How can you be sure you even like me like that? Weird gargoyle mates thing aside, I’m a mess. I have no money, a soon-to-be-ex-husband who fucked my head up for years, and I’m human,” I glanced down at my clenched fists. All of the emotions that I’d been carefully picking through were pulled tight like guitar strings, ready to be plucked by my overstimulated mind at any given moment.
There was a growl from Cash’s side of the car and suddenly I was being pulled across the bench seat until our chests were pressed against one another.
Cash’s lips crashed into mine. His fingers cradled my face roughly, but not hard enough to actually hurt me.
Prior to this kiss, every touch had felt electric, like a shock of static after rubbing your feet on the carpet for too long. But this? This was like touching a livewire.
My heart sped up for just a breath before Cash’s innate magic began to slow it down, and just for a second, I could hear the distant hum of music.
A groan left my body, muffled by his soft, seeking lips as I settled deeper into the kiss.
This was the kind of kiss that girls in my dorm used to gush about. The kind that I never understood because kissing Mike was comfortable at best, even when he was hiding his true self from me.
But now I got it. This was the kind of kissing that I never wanted to end.
Without thinking, my hands began to slip under the hem of the dark shirt he was wearing. His skin was cool to the touch and it jumped from the sudden assault of my warm fingers before calming under the flat of my palms.
A tongue that was sharper and more pointed than my own slipped into my mouth, reminding me of Cash’s inhuman nature. His hips rolled against mine and I could feel something hard in his jeans that was definitely not his tail. No, that had wrapped around my wrist as if it had a mind of its own, keeping me from exploring any further underneath his shirt.
Cash was definitely all gargoyle and instead of scaring me, it just excited me more, sending a thrill straight to my core.
Then Cash’s cell began to ring.
He begrudgingly broke away from the kiss, resting his forehead against mine.
“Do you get it now?” he rasped, his silver eyes on mine as his tail finally released its grip on my wrist.
I nodded silently, touching my lips with the tips of my fingers like I could contain the bolts of sensation in them even though we weren’t kissing anymore.
“Got it,” was all I could manage to say.
Cash pulled his cell out of his pocket and grumbled to himself before answering. “Art, this had better be real fucking important.”
He listened to whatever the, his lips turning down into a frown.
“Got it,” he said before hanging up and looking over at me. “We’ve got to get back to Port Haven as soon as possible, dragonfly.”
“Why?” I asked, a sneaking suspicion that I wasn’t going to like whatever he had to say next settling deep in my gut.
