Page 28 of Never Been Gargoyled (Harmony Glen #4)

Dazy

T he conservatory glowed around us like something out of a fairy tale, and I was still wrapped around Feydin like a koala, my legs locked around his waist and my arms circling his neck. His wings had flared out when I'd kissed him, making me feel like we were the only two people in the world.

“Always,” he'd promised, and the way he said it, like a vow, like something sacred, made my heart flip over.

I pulled back to look at his face, searching those gorgeous gray eyes that always seemed to see right through me. “You know what scares me most about loving you?”

His brow furrowed. “What?”

“That I might wake up tomorrow and find out this is all a dream. That you're too good to be true.”

Something flickered across his expression, surprise, maybe, or disbelief. “I'm not good, Dazy. I'm awkward and out of practice with everything. I don't understand human customs half the time, and I constantly worry that I'm doing everything wrong.”

“You built me a secret garden room,” I said, gesturing around us. “You noticed every little thing I liked and created the most beautiful space I've ever seen. How is that doing something wrong?”

The spikes on the top of his wings shifted. “You're certain you like it? You're not being polite?”

I laughed, unable to help myself. “Feydin, I literally launched myself at you and wrapped myself around you like a monkey. Does that seem polite to you?”

“I'm still learning your signals,” he said seriously, which only made me love him more.

“Well, let me give you a very clear signal.” I unwound my legs from his waist and slid down his body until my feet touched the floor, then took his hand and led him toward the reading nook. “I want to show you how much I love what you've created. How much I love you.”

He sucked in a breath. “Dazy.”

“Unless you don't want to?” I paused, suddenly uncertain. We’d slept together the past few nights. Made love. But that was at night and in my bedroom. Maybe I was being too forward thinking we could be together here. Gargoyles could have different ideas about intimacy and timing.

“I want to,” he said quickly. “I always want to be with you. But are you sure? Here?”

I looked around the conservatory, at the plants and flowers he'd chosen with such care, at the soft cushions and the gentle trickle of the fountain. Late-day sunlight streamed through the glass ceiling, and the air smelled like flowers and possibility.

“It's so beautiful.” I squeezed his hand. “So are you.”

This time when I kissed him, I put everything I had into it. All my love, all my gratitude, all my desperate hope that we'd figure out a way to keep the estate and the life we were building here.

He responded, his hands coming up to cup my face as he kissed me back with an intensity that made my knees quiver. When his tongue swept against mine, I made a sound that was half-moan, half-sigh.

“The cushions,” I gasped against his lips.

“Right. Cushions.” He scooped me up, carrying me the few steps to the reading nook and settling me gently on the soft fabric.

I tugged him down beside me, my hands already working on the buttons of his shirt. “I need to touch you.”

“You’re touching me.”

“More.” I got his shirt open and ran my hands over his chest, marveling at the warm gray skin and the definition of muscle beneath. “I need more.”

He shrugged out of his shirt while I did the same. When he saw me in my bra, his eyes went dark and his wings fluttered.

“Beautiful.” He leaned down to press kisses along my collarbone.

I arched against him, tangling my hand in his hair. Everything felt heightened here, from the scent of flowers, to the soft cushions beneath us, to the way the sunlight painted golden streaks across his skin.

When he reached behind me to unhook my bra, his fingers fumbled with the clasp. I bit back a smile at his obvious nerves.

“Having trouble?” I asked.

“Human undergarments are unnecessarily complicated,” he grumbled, which made me laugh.

“Here, let me.” I undid the clasp myself, letting the fabric fall away.

The look on his face when he saw my breasts made heat pool low in my belly.

“Amazing,” he breathed, his hands hovering over my skin.

“I won't break. Touch me.”

He stroked down my chest and cupped my breasts, watching my face as he ran his calloused thumbs across my nipples. When his mouth followed the path his hands had traced, I gasped and pressed closer.

“I love how you respond to me,” he said against my skin. “The sounds you make, the way you move.”

“Then keep doing what you're doing.”

He chuckled, the vibration sending shivers through me. “As you wish.”

We took our time undressing each other. I wanted to memorize everything. His tail curled around my ankle, and he made such a sweet sound when I kissed the spot where his wing met his shoulder.

When we were both naked, he pulled back to look at me, his gaze traveling over my body with an intensity that should have made me self-conscious. Instead, it made me feel powerful. As beautiful as he’d called me.

I stroked his face. “I love you.”

“Show me.” Rough want grated through his voice.

I pushed him back against the cushions and kissed my way down his body, learning the taste of his skin and the sounds that meant I was doing something right. When I took his cock into my mouth, he groaned and his wings spread wide, knocking over a small potted plant.

“Sorry,” he groaned.

“No apologies for us. I want all of you. Even the parts that knock things over.” I returned to his cock, loving how big it was, how tiny numbs along the sides quivered. I’d felt them when he moved inside me and now they teased across my tongue.

Feydin’s breath snagged, his hands clutching the cushions. “Hells, Dazy…”

I hummed, dragging my tongue along those ridged, sensitive places that made his hips stutter up.

His tail curled around my thigh in a tight spiral, practically vibrating with tension, and the tip.

.. This male knew very well what to do to keep me with him.

It stroked between my legs, making me ache to feel everything.

“You’re going to make me embarrass myself,” he growled, his voice gravel-rough and barely restrained.

“Relax.” I dragged my lips slowly up his length. “Enjoy. We’re surrounded by plants and love. It’s the safest space in the world. Embarrass away.”

“You say that like it's romantic.” His abs flexed as I dipped again to take him deeper .

Groaning, he ran his fingers through my hair.

He tasted like heat and old magic. Like everything I’d always known and hadn’t dared to hope for.

When I pulled back with a satisfied little pop, he looked on the verge of exploding.

“I was supposed to be worshipping you,” he rasped.

“We’ll worship each other.”

Climbing up over him, I spread my legs, looking down at his tail still gliding across my clit.

“You’re going to make me come too fast,” I said with a huff. But I followed it up with a smile. “Then you’ll have to do it all over again because I doubt we’ll both be finished by then.”

“Then fall, mate,” he growled, his hands settling on my hips. “I’ll catch you.”

I shook my finger in his face. “Uh-uh. Not yet. Make that thing go away for now.”

It glided faster, driving me too close to the edge.

Leaning close, he kissed his way along my jaw to my ear. “You’re sure?”

“Feydin,” I whined, doing all I could to hold myself back. “I want you inside me. Now.”

“I’m yours.” He gave me a satisfied smile while his tail…

This male was an expert with tail-play, and he knew it.

I centered his cock at my entrance and took my time, moving slowly down until he was fully seated inside me.

“Alright?” he asked, his hands tightening on my hips .

“More than alright.” I began to move, setting a rhythm that made us both gasp. “This feels good.”

His eyes locked on mine, pure heat and wonder tangled behind every shade of gray. “You feel like you were made just for me.”

“Maybe I was.” I rocked my hips with a steady rhythm. The stretch of him inside me was wonderful, just enough to tease the edge of pain into pleasure. His grip on my hips grew firmer.

With the sunlight gliding across his dark hair and shoulders, I wanted to etch this image into my memory.

His chest rose when I clenched around him. “Hells,” he gasped, his brows pulling together. “You’re going to end me.”

I leaned forward, cupping his cheeks in my hands. “Then die impressed.”

He groaned, but his smile twitched upward, crooked and dazzled. “You’re dangerous.”

“And you love it.”

“I really, really do.”

I kissed him, rolling my hips, each movement drawing out a breathy sound from us both. Straightening, I dug my nails into his shoulders and lost track of everything except the way he filled me, the way we moved together as if there wasn’t a single space between our souls that hadn’t already fused.

He sat up, taking me with him, adjusting our angle so he could drive deeper, every push and slide a shockwave of heat curling from the tips of my toes .

“I had more plans,” he said against my throat. “More charts. A thoroughly outlined oral reenactment.”

I laughed, breathless, as I traced his lower lip with my thumb. “We’ll call this improv. You’re a natural.”

He thrust up hard enough to make my head tilt back with a moan. “I do love extra credit.”

I clutched at him while he orchestrated slow, deep glides that left little sparks in the space around us. His tail, still misbehaving, stroked my clit, driving me even higher.

Feydin rumbled deep in his chest as he bit down gently on the curve of my shoulder. My cry was an answer, a plea, a command to never stop. His hands gripped tighter, lifting me, settling me down again on his cock so deep I could feel him in places I never even knew could ache like this.

His wings flexed behind him, throwing shadows across the walls with each thrust. His tail didn’t relent. It flicked and curled, stroking fast circles across my clit, matching the rhythm he pushed between my thighs. Everything in me sparked, overloaded, begging for release.

I couldn’t take it. Couldn’t keep still.

I dug my feet into the cushions and rode him harder, chasing the rush that had begun building when I first slipped him inside me.

I arched my spine, and he followed the curve, his fingers worshipping the sweat-slick path from my shoulder down to the base of my spine.

His breath rushed in, and he stilled, before he went faster, driving up into me with such force, his wings smacked against the walls of the conservatory. A cascade of petals rained down from above. He was losing himself, and with each pitch, he drove me closer to the edge with him.

The sound of us filled the space—wet, reckless, and hungry. Cushions flew in all directions. Pots were knocked over. To my left, a small table tipped onto its side. None of it mattered.

I threw my head back and cried out as I came, the orgasm tearing through me with a sharp, electric ache. My body spasmed around him, dragging him deeper, holding him captive in the flood of release.

Feydin bellowed, following, thrusting up so deep my vision went white. His jaw clenched, and he threw his head back, his wings locking in place as he spilled into me, pumping through it with small, deep thrusts that chased every last tremor.

I collapsed onto his chest, and we stayed tangled together, our bodies still quivering.

The last of the sun dipped behind the vines tangled overhead.

He draped his wings over us like a blanket while the fountain bubbled peacefully nearby, and the scent of flowers filled the air.

“I could stay here forever,” I said against his skin.

“Good.” His wings tightened around me. “Because I'm never letting you go.”

The next morning brought reality crashing back down around us.

I was in the kitchen making coffee when someone knocked on the front door. I strode out into the foyer, and through the window, I could see a woman in a black suit standing on the front porch.

“Feydin,” I called, but he was already striding from the front parlor where he’d been tapping on floorboards, looking for a hidden compartment.

His grim gaze met mine.

I opened the door.

“Ms. Osborne?” She cracked a brief smile that didn’t reach her eyes.

I nodded.

“I’m Patricia Wells, from Rebecca’s attorney’s office. I have some documents for you.” She thrust a thick envelope my way. “A temporary injunction from the court. You're to cease all renovation work on the property immediately.”

My stomach dropped. “What does that mean?”

“No more gardening, no more repairs, no modifications to the building or grounds. The property must remain in its current state until the court makes a final determination.”

“But I live here,” I said. “I have to maintain basic things.”

“Basic maintenance for habitability is allowed. Everything else stops.” Her gaze grew sharper. “My client is being generous in allowing you to remain in residence for now. ”

Generous. Like Rebecca was doing me some huge favor by not throwing me out of my own home.

Feydin stepped closer to me. “We'll need time to review these documents.”

“Of course. But the injunction is effective immediately.” She turned to go, then paused on the top step. “Oh, and Ms. Osborne? The DNA results came back. Rebecca Hartwell is indeed Helga Morrison's biological daughter. I thought you should know.”

She left us standing in the doorway, the envelope heavy in my hands.

“DNA results,” I said numbly. “She truly is Helga's daughter.”

“We knew that was likely.”

“But knowing and having scientific proof are different things.” I slumped against the doorframe. “A judge is going to look at this and see a biological daughter being denied her inheritance by a distant relative. How do we fight that?”

“We find out why Helga made the choice she did. There has to be a reason.”

I wanted to believe him, but everything felt like it was slipping away from me. The estate, the botanical garden I'd dreamed of creating, the life Feydin and I were building together.

“What if we can't find a reason? The will could be wrong. She may have meant to leave everything to her daughter.”

Feydin's hands settled on my shoulders. “Do you believe that? ”

“I don't know what to believe anymore.”

“Then believe in us. Believe that we'll figure this out together.”

I looked up at him, at the fierce determination in his gray eyes, and felt some of my despair ease. Whatever happened, I wasn't facing it alone.

But as I stared at the injunction in my hands, I couldn't shake the feeling that time was running out.

All the love in the world might not be enough to save the home we'd built here with each other.