Stone Passions Trilogy (71 page)

“Never.”

Her robe fluttered uselessly around her, wavering in the wind and exposing her naked limbs, her naked sex, to the birds that flew as high as they did. In truth, she barely had any concept of up or down as she twisted downward so her watering mouth was next to his cock and her sex was next to his face. His massive hands were wrapped around her waist, holding her securely, as she took the massive penis in her hands, ravenous for the unbelievably delectable fluid that was oozing out of its tip and then vanishing.

With a ravenous sigh, she began licking the marble flesh, lapping up the fluid before it could disappear and experiencing mini orgasms with each drop. The more she drank, the deeper the orgasms became, spreading outwards in rapid succession. In the thin atmosphere the taste of his stone skin was even more potent, the chocolate-infused seminal fluid as addicting as heroin. She didn’t even care that she was addicted to him, willing to do anything to have just one more drop.

It was a fantasy. When she returned to the real world she would put her addiction away and pray that she was able to keep it there. But for now…. She twirled her tongue around the marble flange, dipping her tongue into the smooth slit, losing herself in decadent pleasure.

“Wrap your legs around my neck,” he growled and she did, bringing the swollen folds of her sex against his mouth. Something hot and wicked probed her flesh and her eyes rolled back beneath her closed eyelids.

She could hear his wings gently flapping, holding them steady, but the world was a million miles away as she disappeared into a gluttony of sensation. His tongue was smooth and heavy, filling her almost as much as a normal penis, pushing in and out of her tight sheath in a slow, unhurried rhythm. A smooth, heated stone finger caressed the curve of her bottom, sliding between her butt cheeks and lightly touching the puckered mouth of her ass.

Her body stiffened at the unfamiliar touch but when he didn’t press any further she began to relax, caressing his cock and drinking from the tip. More and more fluid escaped until she was practically vibrating in continual orgasms, his tongue enhancing the pleasure of each one. They spun gracefully as his body and tongue moved in rhythm to her oral attentions, his fingers continuously caressing her ass.

When he slowly rubbed his finger into the tight orifice she felt it throughout her entire body, the sensation of it dark and overwhelming. Beyond the intensity of feeling, she felt the heavy ache of completeness, never wanting it to end. Holding her tight, he did things to her she had never imagined and she loved it. He changed his rhythm slightly, working his tongue deeper and deeper until she was burning up. As she edged closer and closer to a cataclysmic orgasm, he came, flooding her mouth with the heated, disappearing fluid and sending her soaring into the stratosphere as she imploded, all of her muscles and tendons convulsing in orgasm.

Rhys’s body remained stiff as his penis pulsed in ecstasy. Waves of pleasure crashed over her as her orgasm went on and on, as they fell from the sky. Wind rushed past her, cooling her overheated skin only slightly as Rhys maneuvered her body so her cheek was against his chest, hugging her to his stone body. He rolled over until the wind had to rush around him to reach her, heightening the sensation of crashing through the sky.

She was still lost in orgasm as his stone body crashed into the water and they were swallowed whole. Coldness engulfed her, the salty water enhancing the last vestiges of orgasm until she was sure she had died. The sun vanished as they sank deeper and deeper into the frigid, watery depths and her lungs began to burn. The urge to breathe was killing her.

Rhys’s stone mouth covered hers and oxygen was forced into her lungs as he began to swim upwards. Even with the ocean surrounding her she could taste herself on his lips and the breath he was giving her turned into a kiss. It kept her mind off of the fact that she was in the sea, her silk robe no barrier against the cold water. She didn’t want to think about what was in the water with them, from a large pod of whales to a prehistoric monster squid.

She wrapped her arms around his thick neck, gasping when he broke the surface and continued his flight towards the boat, which was only a mile or so away. Kissing a gargoyle was never something she had imagined doing yet kissing Rhys was all she could imagine doing for the rest of her life, no matter what his form.

Little aftershocks of pleasure still wracked her body even as the wind plastered the wet material against her skin, chilling her to the bone. Her eyes were wide as she stared at the carved monkey who had stolen her mind, her soul. He was so beautifully formed and he was hers. She wasn’t sure how she got to be so lucky to love and be loved by such an amazing man but she wasn’t going to invite trouble. She was going to enjoy every moment with him. To do otherwise would be foolish since she didn’t know how much time they would have together.

All of his talk about giving up his nights and her becoming a gargoyle was thrilling and terrifying. But what if he decided he didn’t want her when she was forty, that she was too old for him? It didn’t matter that he was nearly five hundred years older than her, not when he looked to be in his early twenties. Even if she wanted a lifetime there were so many other things she had to consider, her daughter, her family, Jeremy's family.

He had told her he would give her the world. Didn’t he know that he already had?

“Rhys,” she whispered as they lay beneath the velvet blackness of a nearly moonless night, the stars twinkling overhead in brilliant display. There were so many and she could almost reach out and touch them, bringing one back to earth to make a wish. Only she wasn’t sure whether she would wish for a lifetime with Rhys or the strength to live without him. She knew what she wanted – him – but she didn’t know how realistic it was to love a gargoyle while she was still human. And she couldn’t even think about accepting his gift until Ferris was old enough to no longer need a flesh and blood mother throughout the day.

As she lay beneath the blanket of night next to the man that had become so important to her in such a short amount of time, Jenna felt like a fraud. She had been living a dream the past week or so, pretending to be young and carefree and exciting and adventurous. But she wasn’t any of those things, not any longer. She was a mother, she had responsibilities and it wasn’t fair to Rhys to give him only a part of who she was. If she loved him, she owed it to him to share everything, even the parts that she kept hidden away.

She wasn’t like Melanie or Ferris. She couldn’t step into a world of magic and accept it with the greatest of ease. At first she thought she could but there hadn’t been any time to consider the ramifications of the veil being lifted from her eyes. It had been one thing when she first stepped onto the plane, when she had had no time to think, when there was an adventure ahead, when she would be seeing Rhys. But after a week of a constant barrage of meeting gargoyles and fairies and pixies and demons, of listening to Rhys talk about his family, about Medusa, it was starting to hit her: magic was real, mythological creatures were real.

As long as she didn’t talk about it, didn’t think about it, she was okay. But the moment a stray thought wandered into her head her heart began to race and she became light headed, slightly disoriented. Whenever Rhys tried to ask her about it she panicked, falling back onto the lust that simmered so close to the surface between them. She just wanted oblivion. She wanted to be tied to his bed because then she wouldn’t have to think, wouldn’t have to be responsible. She could just surrender and enjoy the experience, enjoy Rhys.

She was a coward pretending to be brave, only the mask was slipping and it was getting harder and harder to act like she was the same old Jenna that she had been before. She had been forced to grow up after Jeremy was taken from her and for so long she had resented it without even realizing it. But somewhere along the way she
had
grown up and she found that she actually liked some aspects of the new Jenna. Now she was having difficulty finding the balance. She didn’t want to give anything up and she knew she’d have to give up something when she finally chose which direction she wanted to go.

Out on an island in the middle of the Mediterranean, Jenna could almost believe she and Rhys were the only two people left in the world, the universe. Keeping her eyes determinedly on the pinpoints of light overhead, she cleared her throat, “Why would you ever even consider giving up your nights for me?”

“You laugh at my jokes,” he deadpanned, making her smile in spite of the seriousness of her thoughts. His fingers curled around hers, the strength a comfort to her weary soul. How could she choose a life without him? How could she give up humanity to be with him?

“Well, that’s good because you make me laugh,” she teased, turning her head to the side and catching the depth of empathy in his dark eyes despite the dim light. In the darkness, his fingers lightly moved across her face, from her temple to the curve of her jaw. His thumb moved over her lower lip and the sense that he saw her, that he understood her so clearly, caused her blood to freeze and then boil. He knew her hopes, her fears… her weaknesses….

“I’m with you because there is no other place I’d rather be,” he said softly, his voice rough with emotion. “You’re part of my soul, Jenna, and there is no me without you.”

“How can you be so sure?” she asked, her eyes welling with tears as she reached up and rested her hand against his cheek, the soft bristle of his day-old beard tickling her palm. “As wonderful as this adventure has been so far, as fantastic, you’ve never met the real me, Rhys.” Sweeping her arm to encompass the boat, the setting, the black night, she shook her head, “This isn’t who I am. I am not spontaneous, Rhys. I’m not adventurous in the bedroom, and yet with you, in this place, I get to pretend I am all of those things I could have been.”

“You
are
all of those things, Jenna,” he told her, turning his head and pressing a kiss to the inside of her palm. “You are a strong, courageous, beautiful woman and I adore you.”

“I’m the opposite of courageous,” she huffed out a laugh at the very idea. “I’m so afraid of getting hurt that I closed myself off for years. It’s a miracle that I’m even here with you.”

“It’s fate.” She felt him shift and then his large, warm hand was wrapped around her waist, gently rolling her over to face him in the darkness. Bringing her body flush against his, the hard muscles of his body unyielding, he held her tight and she took comfort in his strength. “You’re mine, Jenna, just as I am yours. Fate brought us to this point because we are meant to be together.”

She laughed without humor, the sound desolate and hollow, “It’s so easy for you to believe. You’re a gargoyle and you eat, live and breathe magic. You haven’t had to hold the hand of your fiancé long after he has taken his last breath.”

“No, I haven’t,” he whispered solemnly. “But I have lived for hundreds of years while humans come into my life and are gone in the blink of an eye. I have loved some of them and yet you’re the only one I have wanted to spend eternity with. I’ve waited almost five hundred years for you, Jenna, and if you decide becoming a gargoyle to be with me is not something you want I will still love you and hold you in my arms until the day you are taken from me.”

“And then you will mourn for me and move on,” she said softly, staring out into space.

“I would have no choice. I’m a Guardian and it’s my duty to endure, just as Armand has and just as Vaughn will,” he said softly, his eyes glittering in the darkness. “Do you think Jeremy would want you to mourn him forever?”

“No,” she said softly, knowing that Jeremy wouldn’t even recognize the woman she had become after his death.

“It may sound cruel, and it kills me to think of you not being a part of my life, but life goes on,” he whispered gravely. He laughed without humor, his fingers entwining with hers. “I am selfish enough to be grateful that he is no longer here because had he lived then I would never have discovered my heart and soul and not knowing you would be a tragedy.”

“But you wouldn’t know what you were missing.”

“I’d know,” he said softly, a hint of amusement in the serious words. “Deep down, I would know that something was missing.

“I pray that you find a way to be with me but if you don’t then I will have to learn to live again, just as you have learned to live again,” he rasped, sliding his hand up her arm and around her neck. “I will celebrate the life you had lived, loving you for eternity. But life is for the living, Jenna, and I want you to come wholly back to life.”

A tear slid down her cheek at his brutal honesty. He was supposed to be light-hearted and amusing and he was slaying her with the truth. And she loved him all the more for it because it
was
the truth: life was for the living. She had buried herself with Jeremy when she should have been celebrating his life, the child he gave her.

His fingers curled into her hair as he cradled the back of her head, placing gentle kisses along her brow, her cheeks, her lips, “I want to be a part of your life, Jenna, in whatever role you’ll have me. I want to share my life with the you; I want to help you raise your daughter.