Rocked by Love (Gargoyles Series) (20 page)

In Connecticut.

“Hush,” Dag said, hugging her to his naked body. “It is just me.”

Kylie pressed both palms against his forearm and shoved. “Well,
just you
wasn’t invited, bub, so get out of my shower!”

“No. You are angry with me,” he said, “and while I deserve some of your ire for not protecting you better, I will not allow others to come between us. We must discuss what was said.”

“I’m not interested in a discussion,” Kylie said through clenched teeth. Not only did his arm refuse to budge, but the baseball bat pressing against her lower back told her the rest of him didn’t want to go anywhere, either. “I’m also not interested in anything else you might be thinking about, so I repeat,
get. Out
.”

“I do not believe that statement to be entirely truthful,” he purred into her ear. His second arm snaked around, and he laid his hand against her belly just above her mound. “Shall I show you why, little human?”

“If you think seducing me is going to do anything but make me
more
eager to rip your balls off, I have some very important information to share,” she ground out, her teeth clenched together at least as hard as her thighs.

Dag’s hands didn’t move, but then, neither did the rest of him. Well, part of him twitched against her skin, but she didn’t think he could help that. Those things tended to have minds of their own.

“If you will not be seduced, yet you will also not talk with me, what other choices have you left us? I will not allow you to think ill of me forever without allowing me the chance to explain my own actions. It would be unfair to expect as much.”

Kylie tried again to push him away. He didn’t tighten his hold, but he didn’t budge, either. Maybe he really was made of granite. “Fine, you can explain all you want, but you’ll have to do it later. Outside the shower. After we’re both fully clothed.”

One long finger tapped thoughtfully against her skin, low on her belly. Whether the gesture was deliberate or unconscious, it made Kylie’s belly clench and her mouth go dry. She deliberately failed to take stock of any effect it might have between her legs.

“That seems inefficient.” Dag leaned down to rest his chin on the top of her wet hair so that she felt entirely surrounded by him, yet curiously she felt more protected than threatened. “We are both here, and the nature of bathing ensures us of adequate privacy. Also, we should have nothing to hide from each other. We have been skin to skin already, so modesty is not necessary between us.”

“Says you.”

“What is the purpose of hiding from one another what has already been seen and felt by us both?” When Kylie didn’t answer, Dag’s hands gently urged her around to face him. “Do you feel there is some indecency in your lack of clothing? Because you cannot think that the sight of your body would do anything but give me pleasure.”

Okay, so despite her embarrassment and lingering irritation, Kylie couldn’t deny a surge of pleasure at hearing that. Still, a girl had to make a stand from time to time. “This is not about whether or not we’ve had sex.”

“Is it not? That was what you and your friend discussed when you were alone, is it not? And it made you angry. Even before Knox and I joined you in the kitchen, you had begun to grow upset with me. In fact, you were upset before you even left the bed we shared.”

Given the way she’d jumped off said bed, muttering to herself in Yiddish, she supposed a denial would prove pointless. “I was … at myself. At my own behavior. I don’t usually act like that.” She looked down at herself and grimaced. “And I don’t usually have conversations while I’m standing around in nothing but my business.”

Dag’s eyes twinkled. “What is the human saying? Ah, business is good, yes?” When she just rolled her eyes, he sighed and pulled her tight against him, so not even the water rolled between them. “There. Now I cannot see that you are naked, so now may we talk?”

“Oh, sure, because that”—Kylie wiggled her belly against his erect penis—“is not at all distracting.”

“If I can ignore it, I do not see why you cannot.”

“It keeps poking me!”

“It consumes blood supply meant for my brain. On whom, then, does it have a greater effect?”

“I can’t believe I’m standing in the shower arguing about your dick.” Kylie gave up and let her forehead smack against his hard chest. Almost as good as a brick wall. “Fine. Say whatever you think you have to say, then get out. Go.”

At least she’d had the foresight to ensure the house had on-demand hot water, since the only thing that would make this discussion more fun would be the shower turning into an ice bath in the middle of it.

The silent pause told her he hadn’t really expected to win that argument. She just hoped he was enjoying it, because from now on, she’d be taking no prisoners.

“I failed to properly protect you, and there is no apology sufficient for that oversight. I can only admit to my own deficiency and vow to you that I will not again forget my duty or my purpose. I swear to you that I will keep you safe.”

Kylie shook her head without bothering to lift it. She didn’t need to be distracted by the sight of his nudity. It was bad enough that she should feel it. Every glorious, muscular, rock-hard inch of it.

Down,
she mentally scolded.
Bad hormones! Sit!

“I already told you that wasn’t a big deal,” she mumbled. “You didn’t fail to protect me from a threat, you just didn’t answer the door when someone knocked. Big difference. I think we can both just forget about that.”

She felt him stiffen—
his muscles, you damned endocrine system!
—before he spoke with obvious caution in his tone. “But if you were not upset by my lack of readiness to protect you, then your argument with the witch implies you regret our mating for other reasons.”

“That’s just the problem,” she said, finally tipping her head back to meet his gaze. “When exactly did we mate? Because I don’t recall that happening, or ever being put out on the table. Then all of a sudden everyone is just moving forward as if it’s a done deal. What’s up with that?”

His chest rumbled, enough that she could feel it against her skin. “The answer to that question would depend on one’s definition of ‘mating,’ in order to determine what did and did not happen.”

“When did you appear before a House subcommittee?” she snapped. “How about we stick to the communal definition everyone except for me seems to be going with? Because the only definition I’m familiar with is the one from
Wild Kingdom
. And there’s no mistaking that
that
happened.”

Still, he hedged. “That definition requires that I tell you another story of the origin of the Guardians and the Wardens Guild.”

“I’m wet, and I’m naked. Do I look like I’m going anywhere?”

Dag sighed so hard she thought he might turn inside out. Seriously, it gave her grandmother a run for her money.

“Wynn told you of how the first Guardians were summoned to battle the Seven and to defend the human world from the Darkness.”

Kylie nodded for him to continue.

“For hundreds of years they did this. Ages passed as they woke and slept and woke again, each time answering the summons of the Wardens and battling to defeat the enemy so that the human world could remain untouched. But the Guardians are not of this world, and as warriors, they felt little emotion toward it. They lacked a connection to give their duty a higher purpose. Over time, they began to wonder why they should continue to fight and bleed for a world they cared nothing for. And so, the next time the Wardens called them from sleep, the Guardians failed to respond. They ignored the summons and remained locked in their stone forms, eternally slumbering.”

When she thought about that, Kylie couldn’t say that she blamed them. Even to her, this whole nightmare of demons and Guardians,
nocturnis
and Wardens, it all felt like someone else’s war to wage, even after she had personally been attacked. Twice. Honestly, the reason she had let herself get sucked in had been Wynn’s end-of-the-world comment, because she lived in the world. If it ended, so did she. But for the Guardians, what did it matter if the human world kept on ticking? They only saw it when they had to risk their lives for it. After a few centuries, she imagined she’d be over that kind of system, too.

“The Guild panicked,” Dag continued. “The threat of the Darkness had risen, and with no Guardians to battle the Seven, it appeared all hope of life was lost. They began to prepare for the worst. But then something happened they had not planned on. A woman appeared before them, a woman of power whose magic rivaled that of any of the Wardens but who had been turned away from a position in the Guild. She refused to believe that the Guardians would permanently desert mankind, and so she knelt before the statue form of a Guardian and she prayed that he would wake and stand against the Darkness.

“The woman called to him, and to the astonishment of the Wardens, the Guardian heard her call and answered. He woke and seized the woman, claiming her as his mate. He vowed she had been destined for him, and that for her sake and the sake of her people, he would again take up the struggle against the Seven.”

Uh-oh. Suddenly Kylie forgot all about
Wild Kingdom
and started to feel a lot more
eHarmony
. Did he think this was Girl Scout camp? Because this was turning into the scariest story Kylie had ever heard.

“One by one, women of power appeared, and one by one each Guardian found his destined mate. Each fought for her sake to banish the Darkness once more from the world, and when the threat had passed, each one demanded that the Guild release him from his duty so that he could spend the rest of his existence with his chosen mate.

“From that time forward, my kind has whispered, but only a handful of additional Guardians have ever been said to have found their true mates. It has become a kind of legend among us, a fairy tale each of us has heard and yet none of us truly believed. Until now.”

Kylie really wanted to blame the steam for the way her head was spinning and her heart had suddenly decided to sprint a hundred meters in 0.7 seconds. Oh, if only she could. “I—you—but what—”

Oy.

She took a deep breath and tried again. “Are you trying to tell me that you think I am some kind of sent-from-heaven perfect girlfriend, and we’re going to live happily ever after together for the rest of eternity?”

Dag scowled down at her. “You do not believe me.”

“Right now, I don’t believe I’m not lying in a bed at Mass General in a drug-induced coma, so don’t take it personally.” Desperate for clothing and a little bit of personal space, Kylie finally succeeded in pulling out of Dag’s embrace and shutting off the water. Hurrying from the enormous shower enclosure, she wrapped herself in a short, fuzzy bathrobe (okay, on her, it wasn’t really that short) and bundled her hair into a towel with shaking hands. She wished it was from cold.

She also wished her
farkakta
hormones weren’t pouting about the lack of shower sex. As if there weren’t one or two things in this world just a teeny bit more important than orgasms. And no, she was not asking for a vote.

Dag followed her into her bedroom, hiking a towel of his own around his hips. “Why do you doubt what is between us?” he demanded, looking distractingly hot in the plush gray towel with droplets of warm water beading his skin. “Do not tell me that you felt nothing when we joined, because I will call you a liar if you make the attempt.”

“Of course I felt something,” she snapped. “I’m not dead. But hot sex is a long way from predestined mates, so don’t look at me like I’m the jerk because your train left without me.”

He blinked at her, dark lashes spiky with moisture, and she saw his frustration in the way his skin wanted to bleed from tan to gray. “Once again you try to confuse me with your speech. I thought we had gotten past such juvenile tactics.”

“Juvenile? Just who do you think—” Kylie cut herself off and bit back what she had intended to say. “No, you know what? I am done having this discussion. I said we should wait, and that’s what I’m going to do. We both need a little bit of time to step back and figure out where we stand. And don’t tell me that you don’t,” she said, raising a hand to ward off his protest. “No. I don’t care if you think you’re fine just the way you are, because
I
need some time to think, and I’m darned well going to take it.”

She stomped over to her closet and gave him her back as she flung open the door. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to ask you to go get yourself dressed and meet me downstairs with the others, where we will behave like civilized Jews, gentiles, and Guardians, order Chinese food, and do what we all came here to do.”

Behind her, she could almost feel him vibrating with frustration, but when she finally gave in to the urge to peek, he had disappeared through the door to the second floor. When she heard that telltale step squeak, she threw herself back onto her bed and took a deep breath.

She had no idea what she was going to do. The word “confused” didn’t even begin to describe her current mental state. She’d felt off-kilter since the first moment Dag lifted her off the ground, and it had nothing to do with being flown over the rooftops of Boston and deposited in a church belfry. No, the huge gargoyle’s effect on her had nothing to do with gravity and everything to do with chemistry.

Yes, fine, she could admit it. They had something between them, something Kylie had never felt the likes of in her entire twenty-three (almost twenty-four) years. Oh, she had been in lust before, had even thought she was in love a time or two, but nothing compared to the feelings Dag stirred in her heart, her stomach, and in a host of other places she swore not to think about just now.

Maybe that was half her problem. Whatever Dag made her feel, she couldn’t find the right thing to call it, not in English or Yiddish. And she suspected that if she spoke another language, she wouldn’t find it in that vocabulary, either. All she knew was that the man drove her crazy in more ways than she wanted to count. That didn’t mean she believed in the “destined mates” story; it just meant she didn’t know what to believe.