Page 21 of Little Bite of Bliss

“I am a city boy, through and through. But I still appreciate places like this, and honestly would happily live far away from a city one day . . .” he trailed off. “I think I’ve always dreamed about living in a cottage somewhere quiet.”

“What about your friends?” I asked.

It was easier for me since I’d lived here for ages. All my friends knew I would visit them when I wished to see them. But for Archer, it was different. Would he want to leave his home and live here too?

“Well, of course I would miss them. I would miss my family. But I’d rather live somewhere nice and make time to visit them. Plus, with how easy it is to talk to people online, long distance friendships aren’t hard. You do know what the Internet is, don't you?”

“Hey,” I quipped. “I’m not that out of touch. Don’t make me punish you again.”

His laugh chased after me, and I grinned as we started down the stone staircase. The air was salty, the sun was nice and warm, and everything felt like a dream. I shook my wings, enjoying the feeling of being outside. Especially after rolling around in bed all morning.

We made it to the bottom steps, and I led him to my favorite spot to sit and have a picnic.

When I turned to face him, my heart melted. His eyes glimmered with excitement, his attention focused on something else. I followed his gaze and grinned—he’d spotted one of the cats.

“That’s Pepper,” I said. “Then there’s Carrot, who’s an orange cat that thinks he has more than nine lives. You’ll see him at some point.”

“Oh my gods,” he whispered. “I want to pet them.”

Pepper licked her paw as she lounged in a shadow beneath a shrub, her eyes flickering over to us.

“If you chase after her, she will surely run away,” I said. “You have to let her come to you.”

He blew out a breath. “Okay. Okay. I can be patient. Probably. Sort of.”

I wrestled with a smile as I watched him. “Maybe you should get a kitten.”

“No,” he groaned. “Plus, there’s already two here. They’ll love me eventually.”

Without a doubt, they would. I snorted and pointed at the sand. “All right, little demon. Open our basket and put out the blanket for us. Let’s eat.”

He drew in a deep breath, pulled his attention from Pepper, and did exactly as I asked. He knelt down in the sand, opened up the basket, and rummaged around as he pulled out a giant blanket.

I couldn't help but admire Archer. Hours of making love with him, and I still couldn’t get enough. He was shirtless, and I was able to admire every muscle in this light. Dark hair fell to his shoulders, and his eyes were a beautiful shade of brown—mahogany and oak with a golden ring around his pupils. Freckles dusted his nose, and they turned him from devastatingly handsome to endearingly cute.

That was the thing about Archer. I couldn't help but think about how damn cute he was all of the time. I just wanted to smother him. I wanted to bite him. He gave me cuteness aggression, which was a term I’d learned from one of my friends who kept up with modern language.

The perplexing thing was that I'd never found someone I wanted to fuck so badly all that cute. Sexy? Yes. Hot? Yes. But cute? Never. It wasn’t a word I thought I would use to describe someone I was so hungry for.

First time for everything, even for a monster who’d been alive as long as I had.

Everything I learned about him only made me want more. I wanted to know his hobbies and what he did with his time. I wanted to know about his job and his daily routines, and everything else in between.

Hopefully, we’d both be satiated at least for a couple hours before wanting to fuck again.

Right.

We’d see. The thought had already crossed my mind about riding his face into the ground.

Butterflies erupted in my stomach the longer I watched him. A purring sound hummed in my chest, my tail flicking behind me.

He was getting the sand off the blanket. Making sure that it was clean, and there were no wrinkles.

Archer looked up at me once he finished. “Can I make you a plate, Mistress? Especially since you're the one who prepped all the food. You know I can cook, right? I’m actually very good. You’ll have to tell me what you like to eat.”

I thought about it for a moment, deciding it would be good to have a more in-depth discussion about our dynamic. Everything was happening so fast, and I wanted him to understand my thoughts.

“Here’s the thing. You will learn all of that about me, and I do love the idea of you taking care of me that way. But outside of the bedroom, we don’t have to have a full-time dynamic, unless that’s something you are interested in.”