Page 32 of The Gargoyle and the Songbird

I lean in close, lips brushing the shell of Ecco’s ear as I murmur, “But you’re my client, Ecco. I don’t mix business with pleasure. Plus, you’ve been drinking.”

Her body reacting to my closeness, her fingertips digging into my shoulders, and it goes straight to my cock. I swallow, willing myself to have control.

“I’ve only had a couple of drinks,” she insists, her hands roaming over my chest in a way that makes my blood burn. “And I’m not going to be your client forever. Once the stalker is gone, we can walk away from each other for good. I want this. I wantyou.”

I can’t help myself—I inhale deeply, letting her scent wash over me.

“Believe me, I’m aware.” My voice comes out low, dangerous. “I can smell your want all over you. But that doesn’t change my answer.”

Ecco flushes an even deeper shade of red, clearly taken aback by this revelation of my gargoyle abilities. She opens her mouth to respond, but then something over my shoulder catches her gaze.

She drops her hands from my body and steps back.

“Oh, wow,” she says, eyes lit with wonder. “It’s snowing!”

I turn around. The sudden blizzard outside is unmissable through the windows, snow lit by the glowing lights strung outside.

“Is that normal? Does it usually snow here in July?” I ask, looking back to catch the confusion dawning on Ecco’s face.

“Uh… no,” she says, her head tilting quizzically.

Around us, the other wedding guests are starting to take notice, excited murmurs turning to concerned whispers as the snow picks up intensity.

I happen to catch Mariah’s eye across the room, her worried expression mirroring my own unease.

Something’s not right here.

“We should go back to the inn,” I rumble, my hand finding the small of Ecco’s back, the instinct to protect her overriding the lingering sexual tension. “Until we know what’s going on, I’d feel better if you were somewhere secure.”

Ecco looks like she wants to protest, but she must know it’s a lost cause. With a sigh, she nods, allowing me to guide her through the crowd and out of the ballroom.

The pale lightof dawn lights up glittering lines of frost on the windows, casting an ethereal glow over Ecco’s sleeping form and the absurd trappings of the honeymoon suite we’re in.

I sit up with a groan and stretch my wings, my body protesting the long night spent on the unforgiving hardwood floor. Not that I could’ve slept well anyway, with the object of my frustrated desires lying mere feet away, taunting me with her presence.

I roll my neck, trying to ease the stiffness, but the moment my gaze lands on Ecco, every muscle in my body goes taut. Her nightgown has ridden up during the night, exposing the smooth expanse of her thighs, the tantalizing curve of her sizable ass.

It takes every ounce of my self-control not to reach out and run my hands over her skin, to wake her with my touch and finally give in to the hunger that’s been consuming me for days.

Fuck.

My cock throbs insistently, straining against the confines of my sweatpants as I drink in the sight of her. The way her blue hair fans out across the pillow, the gentle rise and fall of her chest with each breath.

She’s a fucking vision, and it’s killing me not to act on my desires.

Ecco came so close to wearing down my control last night. If we hadn’t been interrupted by the snowfall, I’m not sure what I would’ve done.

Right… the snowfall.

Averting my eyes from the tempting view, I push myself to my feet and stalk over to the window, desperate for some distance. Some clarity. But what I see outside only makes the knot in my gut tighten further.

Snow, real snow.

At least three feet of it, blanketing the picturesque town square and turning Elderberry Falls into a goddamn winter wonderland.

InJuly.

So it wasn’t just an aberration last night. How the hell is all this snow not melting?

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