Page 36 of The Neighborly Thing To Do
I thought tonight would end with sex, but I’m not upset that it hasn’t. If anything, I’m glad we got all of this out between us. I don’t want there to be any confusion between us when we start this. And we are starting something. Something wonderful, and something that’s going to last if I have anything to say about it.
She nestles deeper into my chest, and I drape my wing more firmly over her. “You can sleep, you know,” I murmur. “I promise I’ll be here in the morning.”
She presses the softest, sweetest little kiss into my chest, and my skin tingles long after she falls asleep.
Chapter 18
Finn
Iwake up with something stroking my wing. It’s so light it tickles, and I twitch, the sensations running through my whole body. I crack open one eye to see Cassidy, curiously stroking over the thin underside of my wing.
“It’s almost see-through in the sunlight,” she muses, clearly having noticed I’m awake. “It’s beautiful.”
My throat feels tight. “Thank you.”
Last night, Cassidy was worried I wouldn’t want her because she’s human, and maybe I had in the back of my mind a worry that she wouldn’t want me because I’m a gargoyle. I know I look different to what a human is used to, what their mind is trained to expect. But the way she stares at the thin skin of my wing, the way she won’t stop touching, settles any reservations I may have had.
I clear my throat when she doesn’t stop. “Cassidy,” I warn, my voice rough with sleep, “I told you my wings are sensitive.”
“You did,” she agrees, but doesn’t stop touching. When I don’t say anything else, too busy fighting for my life over here, she pauses and glances at me. “It doesn’t hurt, right?”
“Hurt’s not the word I’d use.” I’m naked. She can look down and see exactly what it does to me.
To be fair, it’s not only her fingers on my wing. It’s waking up with her under my wing and protection, completely naked, warm from sleep and pressed up against me. That’s enough to make a man lose his mind.
I don’t say anything, though. Last night, she clearly needed something other than sex, no matter what kind of front she put on. I’m more than happy with where we’re at. I don’t need to push for more.
Cassidy didn’t get that memo, though. She looks up at me, smirking slightly. “You’ll have to tell me what I can do,” she murmurs. “I’m tempted to push you onto your back and straddle you, but I don’t want to hurt your wings.”
It takes me a second to process that as all the blood in my body rushes to my cock. “Oh, I—fuck,” I manage to say, oh-so-eloquently. “Give me a moment.”
Pushing me onto my backwouldcause my other wing to bend the wrong way, so I sit up and re-settle myself on my back for her without crushing my wing. I can’t lie this way for long, butif she wants to straddle me? Fuck it, I’m there. A little cramping in my wing muscles is absolutely a cost I’ll pay.
True to her word, Cassidy straddles my hips and I look up at her like the work of art she is. Her hair is still sleep-mussed. She must do something during the day to tame it, because right now, it’s a frizzy halo, and I want to touch it. I want to watch her. I want to worship her.
“Sorry I fell asleep early last night,” she says.
“I’m not,” I tell her immediately. “We needed to talk, baby. I’m glad we did.”
She gives me a shy smile. “Me too. But now—you promised me the night wasn’t over, and I figure, better late than never, right?”
I trace along her hips, fingers pressing into her flesh, watching it dent under my hands. Fuck, she’s so beautiful.
“Believe me,” I say, my voice coming out hoarse as I watch my hands on her, “any time with you is a good time. I don’t really care about when, you know? Just you.”
She leans forward, that hair coming down like a curtain around us. Her breasts brush my chest, and I groan. She presses the lightest kiss to my lips. “Smooth-talker,” she accuses again.
“All truth,” I promise her. My hands slide up from her hips, spanning her waist, moving toward her breasts, still going slow. I’m pretty positive I know where this is headed, but I’m waiting for confirmation from her.
She wiggles, and then her mouth is level with my neck. I’m about to ask what she wants, and then shebitesme, sharp little teeth digging into my skin.
I groan, “Fuck, Cassidy.”
She picks up her head and grins at me. “That’s the idea, Finn. You up for that?”
She’s a menace to society. “Is that what you’re after, wife?”
“About time we actually consummated our marriage, hm?” she asks. “People might suspect we’refaking itotherwise.”
