Page 51 of Fated to the Gargoyle

“Order what you wish tomorrow. We will make this cabin ours,” he says, and the gold in his eyes goes warm.

I smile up at him. He stares until it turns into a groan, then makes himself go for the door.

I wait until he’s halfway out the door, then I sweeten my voice up nice. “Baby? Don’t forget my hair supplies. I’m doing another silk press soon, and I’m real curious how fast you’ll sweat this one out of me.”

He groans from the porch loud enough to scare something off in the woods.

He stops with one claw on the door frame. “Do not tempt me, Treasure. I will snatch you off that sofa and put my tongue where it wants to be.”

I scoff and clutch my invisible pearls all over again.

He steps out. When he lifts off from the porch, I curl up and point the remote at the television.

The TV can’t keep my attention tonight. I keep thinking about how he protected me without one single question, and how he loved on me after.

I pull the blanket up, and that tongue threat has me kicking my feet under it. When we settle in for good, I’m gonna mess with him.

21

TREASURE

Iwake up warm and stretched out comfortable, which is exactly how I know something’s off. I fell asleep on the sofa, and this is the bed.

The sun is sitting way up in that window already. I groan and rub my face. Sun up means my gargoyle is gone into his stone.

My shoulders slump. “I didn’t even get to kiss you before the stone took you,” I murmur to myself.

Then I spot my old moving boxes stacked neat against the wall, handwriting still on the sides. I sit all the way up. Bags sit lined up beside the bed, and I know that hair bag anywhere.

He’s in the corner, stone gray and still facing the bed. Back in LA, a man watching me sleep meant changing my locks. Up here it means I’m loved.

I smile at him. “How did you get all of this in here? And how did you get ME in here? I don’t even remember you picking me up.”

“You will grow accustomed to the quiet of my movements.” His voice rolls in warm through the mark on my neck. “Even at my size, I am silent. It has kept me alive a long time.”

I roll to my side and scoot toward the far edge of the bed. The big chest is sitting right where a nightstand ought to be. Most women get a lamp.

I brush my fingers over the iron bands and wonder how one gargoyle hauled my whole life up a mountain by himself. “Where’s Sable?”

“He is guarding Stanley’s,” he answers.

I frown at the corner. “Why? I’m not there.”

“He is not guarding the diner, Treasure. He is guarding Devon.”

I prop up on my elbow. “Ohhh.”

“I watched you protect the young one at that diner,” he says. “The boy loves you for it. He will stay guarded until he finds his match.”

I bite down on a smile. “My sweet monster.”

It was difficult, not touching her while she slept. I stole one lick. She was delicious.

“SOREN.” I snatch the covers up to my chin.

He groans, long and miserable. “Forgive me. I cannot control my thoughts.”

“Don’t apologize.” I settle back against the headboard, grinning at him. “But I’m probably gonna torture you for the rest of the day.”