Stone Passions Trilogy (58 page)

The thought of Armand unbending enough to have a tea party with an almost six year old girl made her smile. She could just picture the grimace he’d wear as he sat in a chair that was too small for him and drank from a cup that disappeared in his grip. As amusing as it was to imagine such a thing, she doubted he would ever unbend enough to play with a little girl. If he was truly a teddy bear beneath his cold exterior Jenna had seen no proof of it.

Of course, the man had healed Melanie so he couldn’t have been a total dick, just an over-protective older brother who couldn’t protect his brothers from themselves. She could sympathize with him knowing how hard it was to watch a sibling rush head long into heartache and disaster.

The door to the cabin opened up and all of the oxygen suddenly disappeared as Rhys entered the aircraft. A suit jacket of dark gray hugged his broad shoulders, his muscled arms and matching pants caressed his long legs, ending just above a pair of shiny black Italian loafers. His shirt was a softer gray and the tie around his neck was a blend of blues and gold swirls. He was sexy as sin even though he seemed to be more of a jeans and t-shirt kind of guy. Her gaze drifted upwards and her brows pulled together in a frown.

His long hair was… gone and the waist length mass of hair had vanished. Though it was a few inches long on top and in the front, it was cropped close on the sides making the angular planes of his face even more defined and gorgeous. Without his hair there was nothing to detract the eye from his sheer, masculine beauty and he was breathtaking. She could only gape at how much more mature the new length made him. Admittedly, he was a little pale as he caught her eye and offered a slight smile.

Automatically, she stood up and as she held his gaze, she had to swallow. The heated look he sent her way was making her knees wobble. It was hard to think straight when one look from him had her brain cells clamoring for his attention. Her body also responded, with peaked nipples and a trembling belly. She was a grown woman, a mother, and yet she felt like a brainless nympho as soon as she saw him. “Rhys.”

“Jenna,” he returned, taking her hands in his as he reached her side. The low light in the cabin was perfect for creating a sense of privacy, giving the illusion that nothing existed beyond their little world. Kissing each finger as he held her eyes, he murmured, “Forgive me for not being here sooner.”

Feeling suddenly shy in the presence of the man who was going to be her lover, she shrugged her shoulders and forced her lips to curve upwards into a smile, “Well, you are a gargoyle.”

He was a gargoyle. What the hell was she thinking? She couldn’t get involved with a man that wasn’t human….

“I am,” he murmured, lightly trailing his fingers over her arms, making her skin tingle pleasurably and making her dismiss her concerns regarding his lack of humanness. Rolling his shoulders, getting the kinks out, he smiled his dazzling smile, “I have been looking forward to seeing you for days and it just feels so good to be here, with you. I just wish we didn’t have to take the plane. I hate flying in a metal box.”

“How do you prefer to fly?” Perhaps he liked hot air balloons or hang gliding….

“I love stretching out my wings and just soaring,” he said, a wistful expression softening his face. “There’s nothing like the feel of the wind against your face when you’re flying with the eagles. I swear, if I didn’t live in the city I would fly all of the time.”

Frowning, trying to figure out how he was able to hide wings that were capable of flight, she asked, “Why not fly at night when no one would be able to see you?”

He chuckled, pulling her into his arms and hugging her. Surreptitiously she ran her hands over his muscled back and could find no evidence of wings. “I only have wings during the day.”

“Ah,” she nodded, not taking her hands from his back, enjoying the feel of his heated skin through the soft material of his jacket.

Oh, she longed to see him fly, to see his gargoyle body rise up and soar, to see the living stone shift and move. She yearned to touch the stone flesh, to discover if it was as hot as she remembered. Last time she didn’t take the time to really explore his stone body and after some of the things Melanie had told her…. Well, she was curious. “When there is a chance will you take me flying with you?”

“Of course,” he said it as if it were a foregone conclusion, making her smile.

“I want to watch you transform from a man to a gargoyle,” she blurted. “And I really want to see your transformation from gargoyle to man.”

He hugged her closer, his laughter filling the cabin and her soul. “I’m sure something can be arranged. We are, after all, together for the next couple of weeks.”

“What happened to your hair?” she blurted, surprising herself with her lack of tact.

Scrubbing his hands through the shorn locks, he smiled ruefully, “Every couple of years I donate my hair and with Vaughn and the trip….”

She fell a little bit in love with him at his admission and his kindness. Reaching up, she ran her fingers through the silken mass. She held his eyes and watched him suck in a breath and hold it. “I love it, Rhys. You look so incredible but I think you’d look amazing even if you shaved off all of your hair.”

He smiled slightly, “I don’t have plans on doing that just yet.”

Resting her cheek against his chest, feeling the warmth of his hard body and the steady beat of his heart reminded her once again why she agreed to the crazy scheme. Rhys. “I can’t believe I’m here.” She was still awed by the whole situation, excited and grateful. “With you. It’s so fantastical and I’m afraid I’ll wake up and find that it is all just a dream.”

“My dreams have never been this good.” Pulling back, he looked down at her with that sensual half-grin but his hooded eyes weren’t dancing with amusement; they were steady and sure. He lightly drew his knuckles over the tip of her breast and she inhaled sharply as her nipple promptly hardened. As he continued to lightly abrade the stiff peak his eyes darkened and he murmured huskily, “You look beautiful tonight.”

She had dressed very carefully, going through a dozen outfits before she settled on a simple, pale blue sheath dress made of lightweight cotton. She had nearly frozen her ass off on the way to the airport but she wanted to look good for Rhys. Lowering her lashes, she murmured, “Thank you.”

His masculine scent shrouded her and she closed her eyes to simply breathe him in. All of her nerves were alive, sparkling with sexual awareness and excitement and just a hint of unease. It had been so long and she had only ever been with one other man and Rhys wasn’t human, no matter how very human and very delicious he looked and felt and smelled.

“You two need to take your seats,” a high-pitched voice said, interrupting their reunion. Coming out of her haze, Jenna looked down and saw Garyn standing there as he scolded them, his orange and green eyes sparkling with laughter or annoyance, she wasn’t sure. “The plane is ready to take off and the other passengers are eager to leave.”

Laughing softly, she glanced around the cabin and saw three enormous… men staring at her. The one in the right seat directly behind her had the head of a bull, his nostrils enormous and flaring, his horns deadly looking. His body was that of an obsessively fanatic but hairy muscle-builder. His arms and legs bulged with rippling, veined muscles, his stomach was etched into eight massive sections, his pectorals were solid slabs of meat and the muscles bulged, bigger than her breasts. His tail swished next to the seat and his legs ended in hooves. A minotaur.

The second man watched her with a naughty smile. His legs were those of a goat, bending backwards at the knee and covered in a thick brown pelt. His torso was clearly defined but lacked the bulk and the hair of the minotaur. He wore his beard in a goatee and two horns curled from his head. The satyr waggled his eyebrows at her, “Like what you see, human?”

Blushing, she averted her eyes and her gaze crashed into the brilliant gold eyes of an impossibly attractive male. Something about him made her uneasy, though she couldn’t quite discern what it was even if she thought she could almost put her finger on it. He was angelic in looks with his glossy, pale gold curls and his perfect face but he was definitely no angel. His eyes darkened as they continued to hold her gaze and his lips curled upwards in a leering smile, showing sharp, white teeth. “I think the human prefers me, Rahan.”

“What are you?” she asked hesitantly.

His grin widened, “I should think it was obvious, no?”

She shook her head, stilling when she felt Rhys’s lips against her ear, “Kiltes is an incubus, sweetheart. But you needn’t worry about him; he’s neutered in my presence. Unless you choose to be with him?”

“Are you insane?” she asked, expecting a quick retraction but none came. Disconcerted, she turned back and saw that the color had leeched from Rhys’s face. Her annoyance vanished as she took him by the arm and led him to their seats, sitting down next to him. All thoughts of the other three passengers sitting behind her were thrust aside as she fretted over Rhys. “Are you all right?”

He offered her a smile but it wavered and sweat beaded on his brow. He held himself stiffly, his hands clenched into tight fists in his lap. “I
really
hate flying.”

Sliding her hand beneath his, she pried his grip open and weaved her fingers through his. “I’m with you now. Just close your eyes and concentrate on breathing.”

He stared at her for a moment, uncertainty plainly written on his face. But as she watched, his lashes slid down, hiding the chocolate depths from her view, his lips parted as he released a long breath and his body visibly relaxed. With her free hand, she dragged her fingers through the thick silk of hair near his temples, massaging the tender area until he relaxed further. She was using her coping techniques to help ease him through his fears. “That’s it, Rhys, just breathe. I’ve got you.”

His lips quirked up in a wry smile, “This is humiliating, Jenna. I don’t know why Omari simply didn’t send us on the yacht.”

Leaning closer, she pressed a kiss against his jaw line, loving the feel of his heated skin against her lips. “That would have taken too long.”

Turning his head until his mouth was against hers, his breathe mingled with hers as he spoke, “But think of all we could have done with nothing but time.”

Letting out a light laugh, unwilling to move away from the temptation of his lips, she murmured, “I can’t leave Ferris for such a long time. Plus, it’s coming up on the busiest part of the year for me. Even this trip is pushing it.”

“I know,” he murmured, surprising her with a swift kiss to her lips. Sensation shot through her, heating her and making her wish they would have taken the boat if for no other reason than to have the chance to explore his lips in greater depth.

The plane lurched forward and all of the progress they had made vanished in an instant. His hold on her hand tightened into a white-knuckled vice grip and it felt as if he was crushing her bones to dust. But she held on, rubbing his arm, his cheek, anything she could reach, and trying to offer comfort. “Shh, it’s all right.”

He squeezed his eyes shut and his teeth ground together as he smiled, “Talk to me, Jenna.”

“What do you want me to talk about?” Ignoring her throbbing fingers, she smoothed her other hand over the front of his chest, rubbing his sternum to keep his breathing regulated.

“I don’t care,” he managed through clenched teeth. “Just talk to me.”

Catching her lower lip between her teeth, she desperately tried to come up with a topic but with Rhys so close all she could think about was him; all she wanted to talk about was him. “What’s it like being a gargoyle?”

“You’re supposed to be talking to me,” he chuckled.

“If I can get you to talk it will take your mind off the fact that we’re flying,” she countered. “So tell me, what’s it like?”

He was quiet for a long time, his breathing labored as he struggled to find his voice. “It’s… incredible but at times it can be tedious. Living in the city makes it nearly impossible to stretch one’s wings, though my brothers and I have done so on occasion. It’s also a lot of responsibility because my brothers and I are the Guardians of the two worlds.”

“Huh?”

“It simply means that we protect the humans and the supernatural, keeping the supernatural world hidden.” He shrugged his broad shoulders, the material of his jacket stretching tautly over the muscles. “The castle is a sanctuary for any paranormal creature that wants or needs it.”

“Are you ever in danger?” she asked, concerned for his safety despite his obvious strength. “With all of the magical creatures living together?”

“For the most part, the creatures living in our building behave.” He paused a moment, his eyes sparkling with his irrepressible humor, “Though they are not above getting into a little mischief.”

“And I’m sure you never succumb to the temptation to misbehave.” She pressed a soft kiss over his heart, smiling as she pictured Rhys at the center of pandemonium.

“I’ve been known to flirt with the line,” he said evasively. “Once or twice.”

She giggled, “I didn’t know there was a line.”

“It’s more of a suggestion,” he said solemnly, his eyes dancing.

“But what do you do?”

With a resigned smile, he shook his head. “We protect humans from the supernatural. We straddle the line between the two worlds in order to protect our secrecy and preserve humanity’s sanity. They have such a fragile hold on it and they don’t even realize how easily it can be broken.”

“So you hide to protect us,” she shook her head and scowled, irritated on his behalf. “That hardly seems fair to you and the others.”

“Sweetheart,” he grinned, the mischievous spark flaring even brighter in his eyes. “You have no idea how tempting humans are to supernatural creatures. We eat, breathe, fuck humans for all sorts of reasons, both good and bad, and it’s better if most of you remain blissfully ignorant of what’s out there.”

“But vampires and werewolves are so popular right now,” she pressed.

“Until you actually meet one;” he grinned. “Most of the others would just as soon fuck a human as kill them and not necessarily in that order.