Page 6 of When the Weaver Met the Gargoyle (Leafshire Cove Monsters #1)

Chapter 6

Romulus

L aini, looking every inch like the Dark Mountain Spirit created her just for me, brings the steaming teapot to the small table near her hearth. Spark is snoring on the pile of quilts, and the fire is snapping. I could stay here for the rest of my life.

If I weren’t a dangerous monster.

The tea gurgles into our two fine porcelain cups. The tea set looks to be the most expensive thing in Laini’s home besides her loom and wool. I smile, enjoying the fact that I’m getting to know what is important to her. She grins back at me, a dimple showing on her full cheek. Warmth travels swiftly to my cock, and I shift on my chair to get comfortable. The soft slopes of her breasts peek above the ruffled edge of her dress, and my fingers ache to curl under that fabric to feel the flushed skin there. A lock of her sunshine-hued hair slips from the knot at the back of her neck and brushes her collarbone. I lick my lips and swallow, forcing myself to lift the teacup and drink.

“Thank you again for agreeing to do all of this with me. The party,” she says. “The clothing. All of it.”

“I hope it helps you get the contract with Rustion. I’m sure you’ll win it.”

She sits and offers me the cream, but I hold up a hand. Pouring some into her tea, she stirs her serving with a tiny bronze spoon. “Why is Rustion so insistent on you attending the party?”

“He wants me to meet people in town in a relaxed atmosphere. Plus, you know how he is.”

“I do. He’s a joiner, and he wants everyone else to be a joiner too.” Her eyes dance as she speaks, her affection for the old guy obvious.

I love that look in her eye. I refuse to bring up why we had to leave the bakery and turn that grin the wrong way, so I drum up ideas on what we can talk about while we finish the tea. I could ask her more about Spark, but I talked about him already, and she might start to think I’m oddly obsessed with her pet. I chew the inside of my cheek, my mind too full of how her lips look on that cup to think of anything good to say.

She lowers her cup, and her bottom lip glistens with the moisture from the tea. “It tastes like honey and licorice. I’m not sure I love it.”

I hadn’t honestly even noticed the taste. “Oh, well, we don’t need to drink it. I can go.” I start to get up, but she reaches for my wrist.

“Please, not yet. I do think it’s calming me down.” Darkness flashes through those pretty eyes, and I know she’s thinking of that jerk, Leo.

Smiling at her, I sit back down and shuffle my wings behind me. They are tingling and sensitive, as if I’m about to do something specifically pleasurable. It’s probably just Laini’s proximity and the fact that I’ve grown to know her so well in the last two days. It’s odd. I feel as though I’ve known her for far longer.

Lifting my cup, I finish my tea and meet her gaze. The darkness in her eyes is gone, replaced by a serious look that seems a lot like… Desire? No, she doesn’t want me. She’s been clear about not wanting a relationship with anyone. She likes her single life and focusing on her work. And that’s the wa y things should be, between us at least. I’m bad news.

Her cup knocks against the wooden grain of the table as she sets it down. “Rom, I really enjoyed today.” Her focus shifts to my mouth, and I part my lips, my fangs showing as if I’m trying to show her my ability to be lethal in more than one way—this movement is a traditional part of the gargoyle mating ritual, and I can’t seem to stop my body from going along with it. My skin feels sensitive now, too, and heat is pooling low in my body. I’m hard as stone. No way I can stand up and leave now. I have to calm down.

“It was a fun day,” I say, my voice lower than it should be for such a simple statement. “Thanks for the help with the cloak situation at the tailor’s.”

“Of course. But I do wonder if you should consider showing your true self to more people. You’re wonderful.” Her apple cheeks go red, and she stammers. “I, I mean, you are so kind. No one is going to think you’re a danger once they get to know you. It seems wrong to hide your gorgeousness from the world too…” She puts a hand to her mouth. “Oh, I don’t know why I said that. I just… I feel…”

The hot sensation of want crashes through me, and my cock throbs, my gaze focusing on hers. I must have her. Now. My thoughts are a magical storm of sorts—sparkling, dangerous, inescapable.

She pushes away from the table, her chest heaving, and she stands, her hands fisted at her sides. Before I can stop myself, I’m standing and stepping right up to her. Her body brushes mine, and our breaths mingle. The rose and dew scent of her skin rises and taunts me, and I can’t take a full breath. She tips her chin up and gazes at me, her eyes half-lidded.

“Rom, kiss me. Please, just this once.”

My mind is a whirlwind. My body is on fire. I close the distance between us, slip a hand around the back of her head, and drag the talon on my thumb down the side of her jaw. She takes a stuttering breath, those marvelous breasts rising and begging to be grabbed. I lean down and take her mouth with mine. Desire crashes through every inch of me, and I thrust my forked tongue into her mouth. She pulls away.

“A forked tongue?” Her eyes are glassy and beautiful and happy.

“Aye.”

Her throat moves in a swallow. “I like that.”

Growling lightly with satisfaction, I lower my head to nibble along the soft skin there. I kiss my way back to her mouth, and she opens up for me. Her little tongue tangles with mine, and her small gasps nearly make me come right here, right now. She tastes like honey, licorice, and her own sweet flavor, and I cannot get enough. I slip a hand down to her lower back and pull her against me.

“Rom, yes. Rom…”

The way she says my name, like I’m exactly what she wants, makes my head spin even more. She reaches back to grab my hand. I let her. I want to do whatever she wants me to do. She presses my palm against her chest and looks up at me with wide eyes.

My balls clench as I try to control myself, to go slow as I hook the ruffled edge of her dress. I tug the neckline down to reveal one of her perfectly round breasts. I cup her, running a talon over her peaked nipple, and then lift her breast. She gasps and leans into me. The weight of her breast in my hand is un-fucking-believable. I don’t know why. My body shudders, and I shut my eyes to keep from finishing far too soon.

When I open my eyes, she is smoothing her hand down my stomach to my cock.

“Laini,” I choke out. “I can’t…”

The heel of her hand drives down along my length, and my head falls back. I groan, and my blood pulses hard in my groin.

“This will be over in seconds if you continue.”

She gives me a wicked grin that would show fangs if she was a gargoyle. Thank the Dark Mountain, she stops what she’s doing, and her hands slither up my body. But then she is curling her slender fingers over the top edge of my wing. Heat pours through me, and I want, want, want…

I grab her breast hard and smash my lips into hers. Using my free wing, I tuck up her dress until her thigh and underclothes show. Her curves are the most lovely sight. I slip my hand under her dress until the front of my forefinger talon sits on the heat emanating from her most sensitive spot. She shivers in my arms, and the tea’s licorice and honey scent swirls around us.

“Rom, yes. Please.”

Even through her little shorts, she is so hot and wet. The ache in my cock is maddening, and I want to throw her on the table and drive into her heat until I find release for both of us, but not yet. Not yet. Instead, I press my talon against her core. I hate the fabric between us, but she seems to be enjoying this, so I won’t do more. Yet. I stroke her with my talon, slowly, softly. She is practically mewling, her fingers digging into my shoulders. I use my other wing to lift one of her legs and allow me better access. I ease her back until she is leaning on the edge of the table, then I drop to my knees. I smooth my hands up her shapely thighs and whisper against her skin.

“You’re a masterpiece, Laini.”

She grips my hair with one hand and clasps my wing with the other. Desire jolts through me.

“Your wings are sensitive, yes?”

“Yes,” I say against her thigh as I stroke her again, harder this time.

She moans and works her fingers along my wing. My cock trembles, and my body makes it very clear that it’s more than ready to fully mate with this female. I drive my tongue into her heat, and she calls out, falling back a bit against the table but still gripping my wing. The taste of her in my mouth and the feel of her hand on my wing… Gods, I can’t hang on much longer.

She rolls her hips against my mouth, and I grip handfuls of her dress to pull the ruffled fabric farther up and out of our way. I devour her, feasting, loving every second. Her scent is my entire world, that and the perfume of the tea. I flick my tongue around her clit, teasing and not quite touching.

“Rom, please…” Her voice is low and raspy, and I can’t get enough.

I flick both ends of my tongue over her center, and she rocks hard against my mouth. Curving my forefinger in a particular way, I press my knuckle and talon into her.

“Gods, yes!” She grips me harder and pants as she gets closer to release.

I work my talon and tongue in tandem as instinct drives me like I was born for this very moment. She bumps against my jaw and moves faster, and I take up her pace.

“Rom!”

Shivering, she comes in a shuddering movement, and I free my cock. I have no choice here. I grip myself. I stroke myself hard and inhale her scent, and then I’m coming all over her leg. I pant with her, her breath stirring my hair and dusting over my horns.

She drapes her arms around my shoulders and collapses against me. “That was incredible…”

“I…” Speech is impossible. I still long to drive myself into her, but we just met, and she…

My thoughts clear like fog dissolving in the wind. I use the end of my tunic to clean her soft skin as my brain whips into a frenzy .

What did we just do? My stone magic rumbles inside me, but it isn’t going mad like I’d have thought it would be. Closing my eyes for a brief moment, I try to calm my racing heart. I didn’t realize…

My heart constricts, and I look up at Laini. “Are you all right?”

“I’m very all right.”

I help her off the table. Her knees seem shaky, and she blinks like she is experiencing the same disorientation as I am. Her face is pink, and she puts a hand on her chest. I adjust my trousers and then fix the neckline of her dress.

What have we done? Is she upset? I scan the room to check for stone magic I might have performed when my emotions were out of control. Spark is still snoozing, although he has turned onto his side, facing the hearth now. The loom looks fine. No sign of stone. I exhale, relieved beyond measure.

When I force myself to look at Laini again, anger burns in her gaze.

“I’m so sorry,” I say. I bow my head. “I don’t know what came over me, Laini. I’ve never done that with someone I just met. I don’t know what happened. ”

“I do.” She crosses her arms and looks out the window like the answer is there.

So she is mad at me. Totally understandable. I told her a relationship with me wasn’t safe, and then I basically attacked her.

“Tully’s tea was a love potion,” she says.

Oh. OH. I shut my eyes and growl. “Of course.”