Page 3 of The Rhino’s Rose: Fate’s Falls (Mated to the Monster: Season 3)

Two

CORNELIUS

One more look I shouldn’t have taken, but couldn’t resist, and now I’m making eye contact with Rose. And she’s headed right for me. Carrying two drinks, one of which is a familiar green, removing any doubt that I’m her target.

“How’s sweet little Rose doing today?” I ask while picking up a rock large enough to block the front of my pants. My cock doesn’t care that Rose is off-limits; it always stands up to greet her when she’s within reach. The rock will hide the monster straining against the inside of my fly. It’ll keep my hands busy too, so I don’t give in to temptation and tuck that fluttering lock of long, red hair behind her ear.

She’s not mine. Never will be. No matter how much everything in me insists otherwise.

As usual, she gets red in the face and shifts on her feet, her full lips parted in a soft little O that I know can make all kinds of erotic noises.

Rhinos don’t have the best eyesight, but our hearing is exceptional, and Rose likes to keep her bedroom window open in the summer months. The sound of her soft moans and sharp gasps of pleasure?—

“Watching you work all morning made me hot and thirsty.” Her answer breaks through my inappropriate thoughts.

My thoughts aren’t unusual. Her manner of speaking is . She usually gets tongue-tied around me. Not only has she found her voice today, she’s using it with confidence. Based on her suggestive tone, the shimmer in her eyes, and flirty smile on her lips, her comments aren’t entirely about general temperature and feeling parched.

I’m aware of Rose’s crush, but this is the first time she’s been outgoing toward me, and it makes resisting her that much more difficult. All I can do is silently stare and hope she gets flustered and walks away.

Instead, she smiles and holds out a green drink. “I got this for you. Can you take a break?”

The thick fabric of my work pants isn’t enough to compress my erection. As soon as I put the rock down, it’ll be impossible to miss, and while Rose hasn’t said much to me in the past, she has always openly checked me out, head to toe. She’ll see the bulge of my hard cock and know she caused it. The part of me that insists on claiming my mate is all for that big reveal. But it’s not going to happen.

“That’s very thoughtful, thanks. You can set it on the window ledge,” I tip my head in the direction of the storefront, “I’ll enjoy it when I get a chance.”

“Oh.” The smile fades from her pretty face. “Okay. Sure.”

Once again, brushing her off has hurt her feelings. And that thing inside me that knows she’s meant to be mine to cherish roars its dissent, making my guts knot to the point of physical pain.

“Cornelius?” Worry furrows her russet brows when my jaw clenches involuntarily at the internal assault. “Are you okay?”

When I fail to tamp down the discomfort enough to lie convincingly, Rose moves closer. The rock separates us, but her breasts brush against the backs of my fingers. That’s all it takes for a rough groan to escape my mouth. My grip on the rock is firm enough to make my fingertips ache, but even that sensation isn’t enough to distract me from the tease of her soft curves against my skin.

“You don’t look well. I think you should take a break now, not later.”

“I can’t,” I say, after clearing my throat. I even manage to give a casual, neutral smile. The kind a neighbor gives the off-limits young woman who lives next door to him. “The client needs this stonework completed. The next contractor is scheduled to begin the underground integration on Monday.”

Rose’s blue eyes open wide. “Underground integration?”

It’s more information than I should’ve shared, but I had to give a reason, and rejecting her again wasn’t an option. Not sure I even could, with the mating pull hitting me hard.

Now I have her full attention for a subject that isn’t about our never-to-be-resolved mutual attraction. A safe distraction. Everyone in town will know about the new store and its owner soon anyway, and when will I get another opportunity to spend innocent time with Rose? Possibly never, since I make a conscious effort to keep physical distance between us.

“Connection to a natural underground water supply,” I answer, keeping it vague as possible.

“Different from regular plumbing?”

“Vastly. That’s probably all I should say. Don’t want to ruin the grand opening surprise.”

Continuing to stand as close as the rock I’m holding lets her, she blinks her big blue eyes up at me. Eyes that are so innocent, yet swimming with desire that’s anything but. “Do you know when that’ll be?”

“I don’t.” I also don’t know how much longer I can endure her lush breasts grazing my hands before I turn this rock into rubble. “But I better get back to work.” Taking a step back, I tip my head toward the cups she’s holding, and call up the general friendly tone I use for clients. “Thanks for the drink. Very considerate.” My experience with human women is limited, and none of it has been personal, but I’ve spent five years obsessing over the young woman in front of me. I know what disappointment looks like on her face. In her posture. And I know I’m often the reason for it, including in this moment .

Defeated frown in place, she turns and moves to the window ledge I indicated earlier. The sill is low, requiring she bend over to set down my cup. The above-the-knee pink dress she’s wearing slides up the back of her shapely legs, stopping just shy of her round bottom.

Gods, what I wouldn’t do for a gust of wind right now.

The air has been still all day, but my silent prayer is answered with a sudden breeze that catches the edge of Rose’s dress and lifts it high enough to give me a view of her full hips and juicy ass, barely covered by a pair of tiny, pale-pink panties.

Fuck me. That vision is getting pinned to the top of my memories, to be replayed on a loop, especially when I’m alone in my bedroom tonight.

The show ends as quickly as it began, her dress dropping naturally into place as she reaches around to reclaim her modesty.

I avert my gaze before she turns to face me, acting as if I’ve been contemplating the rock pile the entire time. “Heading back to Rose’s Garden now?” I ask, looking at her when she moves toward me.

“I guess I am.” More disappointment laces her soft voice, and again, I’m the one who put it there.

Can’t be helped. As her adoptive father has said many times, his sweet little Rose deserves a full, happy, human life. I’d give her the world, but I can’t give her that.

ROSE

By the time I step inside the flower shop, I’m stomping rather than walking, and the heat in my cheeks has as much to do with angry frustration as it does embarrassment. Fortunately, the only person in the store is the woman who sent me on the ridiculous mission.

“Whatever spell you put on me forced me to make a total fool of myself. The worst ever. At least when I clam up around him, I’m not making humiliating comments like I did just now, before he politely dismissed me. At least he didn’t laugh in my face. Though I’m sure he was busting a gut internally.”

From her position near the window, Lexi tilts her head to one side, then the next, her black eyebrows pulling toward the bridge of her nose. “First of all, I did not put a spell on you that forced you to do anything. Goodwin witches may play loose with the old-school rules of magic, but there are lines we never cross, and restricting or influencing free will is one of them. And you’ve known me long enough to be very aware that I am all about consent. So, whatever you said to Cornelius, it was entirely because you wanted to.”

“Then what was that swirly woo-woo thing you did in front of my open mouth, if not a spell to loosen my tongue?”

Lexi’s eyebrows dart up so fast and high, it’s a wonder they don’t shoot right off of her face. “That was a breath-freshening spell!” First, she snorts, then full-out laughs, the kind that comes from the belly, which she holds with one arm while rocking with unbridled delight.

“You’re kidding, right?”

“I do love a good teasing, but I never twist the truth.”

“Ugh, I know,” I say, sighing. “Want this? My stomach is so twisted up, I don’t think I could keep it down.” I hand her the untouched drink, then drop into a chair behind the counter and lean forward, burying my face in my dress. “Hey!” I jolt upright and point at her. “What about that out-of-nowhere wind that whipped my dress up? Did you do that?”

Leaning on the opposite side of the counter and toying with the drink straw, she shakes her head. “I had nothing to do with it. Could’ve been someone else’s magic, or just nature’s perfect timing. Either way, it definitely worked in your favor. Cornelius’s tiny eyes nearly popped right out of his head. He couldn’t stop staring at your ass!”

“He did not stare at it.”

“Oh, he most certainly did, Rose. I was watching the whole time. That big hunk is definitely attracted to you. Now tell me—what delicious things did you say to that horny man? ”

“Lexi! You do not know he’s… horny.” The last word comes out as a squeak.

Once again, Lexi’s free-spirited laughter fills the store, then she makes a hand-job type gesture in front of her nose. “Does he not have a big, thick horn protruding from the middle of his face?”

“Oh, well, yes.” Pretty sure my face couldn’t get any hotter. I’m probably as red as the romantic long-stem roses in the cooler behind me.

“But don’t doubt that he was the other type of horny for you, too. Did you not notice how he used that rock for groin cover the whole time he was near you?”

“It was not for cover,” I say, rolling my eyes. “He was carrying it inside the building and I interrupted him.”

Lexi makes a noncommittal sound before wrapping her deep-purple lips around the straw and taking a long sip that ends with puckered lips and a wrinkled nose. “Do you want any of this?” When I shake my head, she waves her hand above the cup, incanting a short string of words that change the liquid to a red so dark it’s almost black. And there’s a wisp of smoke coming out of the straw, as if it were a little stovepipe. “That’s better. Now, tell me what you said that you’re embarrassed about.”

“Why?”

“So I can tell you why you shouldn’t be.”

“Good luck with that. He asked me how I’m doing today, the only thing he ever says to me. And usually, I choke, and I’m lucky to squeak out a single word answer. But this time, because I thought you’d bespelled me, I said exactly what came to mind—I told him that watching him work made me hot and thirsty.”

“Ooh, that is delicious!”

“Not really, since he just stared at me. Then I asked him to take a break and have his drink and he declined. He said he’s on a time limit to get the stonework done for the new owner, but I know he was just being polite. I need to get over him because he’s not interested in me.”

“He is always courteous and good-natured, and it’s true that Delphine has everyone on a strict timeline over there to get the grotto ready, but I’d bet the profit margins of my bestselling dildo that Cornelius has it bad for you. And let me tell you, that model is a big moneymaker. Emphasis on big .” She raises her hands and spreads them apart, then farther apart.

There’s no point continuing to discuss Cornelius. Lexi is a fun cheerleader, but she’s reading him wrong. And, as intrigued as I am to know which monster-molded, magically infused dildo she’s referring to with her frighteningly far-apart hands, the other nugget of information interests me more. “Who is Delphine? And what kind of business is a grotto?”

Eyes glimmering with signature Lexi playfulness, she taps one long, purple-lacquered nail against her smiling lips. “I only know her first name, and she wiggled her way out of answering the business question when I asked,” she says, picking up the dark drink and sashaying her way toward the door. “But I’m sure her grotto will be swimming with delight!” With a wink and a wave, Lexi exits the flower shop, leaving me alone with my curiosity, embarrassment, frustration, and the view of Cornelius and his bulging muscles as he lugs huge rocks into the store across the street.