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She gives me a little smile. “No, but I don’t mind.”
Unable to speak, I shake my head and turn away again. This feels important. I’m determined to treat my beautiful girl like the treasure she is.
A few moments later, I hear the patter of water in the bathroom and dig my claws into my palms to hold firm to my resolve. It doesn’t stop me picturing the way the hot water would sluice down her perfect curves, washing over the smooth skin I long to caress. I palm down my swelling cock beneath my loincloth and jump when Jessie calls to me from the bathroom. “Oh crap. Hey, William, will you look and see if you can find some soap for me?”
I squeeze my eyes closed and pray for strength before I enter the steamy room and hunt around in the drawers of the cabinet doing my best not to notice the naked flesh I see from the corner of my eye through the misted glass. But that’s all it takes to have me semi-hard and dreaming of more. I find a small white square of soap and open the shower door, thrusting my hand inside while averting my eyes.
“Thanks.”
When I step out of the bathroom, I slump back against the door, ignoring the way it presses my wings against my back. The devil, if he really exists, surely knows he owns my miserable soul already. It’s beyond me why he still needs to send such temptation to me as if there’s any chance I could redeem myself.
The door opens and I jump aside. Thank heavens, when she steps out of the bathroom, she has one towel wrapped around her hair like a turban and one wrapped around her luscious body. She wrinkles her nose. “I still feel dirty. I don’t know if I’ll ever feel clean again.”
My tipping point is when her wry smile flips into a frown and a tear trickles down her cheek. I gather her into my arms and press a kiss to the towel. “Princess, you are perfect. No matter what anyone does. Some gems are too bright to tarnish.”
It near wrenches my heart from my ribcage when I feel her tremble and hear her quiet sniff. “Hold me for a while?”
As if I have any choice. I’d do anything she asked. Well, anything except leave her, let her go. That I can’t do. I was a fool to think I could push her away and somehow forget her. There’s no question in my mind now that she’s mine. Or rather, I’m hers. I’m bound to her as surely as if I’ve taken a vow of service. I’ll love her until my body turns to dust.
I lead her gently to the room Maurice said was the spare room and we lay on the bed. It’s too small for me. My wings and tail and legs hang over the edge. But I tuck myself into the smallest shape I can manage and cradle her in my arms, thankful for the chance to be what she needs.
After a while, she snuggles closer and sighs. “We should probably talk.”
I repress a groan. Here is the part where she tells me to keep away from her and I have to let her down. To my surprise, she tips her chin to look up at me and gives me a shy smile. “I don’t suppose you’d be prepared to revisit the whole stay away thing?”
I flounder with my answer and she looks down, her lashes shielding her eyes, but not the hurt. Using my finger, I gently lift her chin until she’s looking at me again. “You know it doesn’t have anything to do with you, angel? You know that, don’t you?”
The lance twists in my gut when the sparkle of moisture beneath her lashes tells me she doesn’t. “Princess, it’s me. I don’t know how to make you believe. Well, I do, but I don’t want to do it...”
She looks up at me and I sigh.
“Listen. If me being a monster isn’t enough to put you off, I should tell you what I did to get myself in this state.”
“OK.” She just looks at me as if what I’m about to say won’t send her running.
Running a hand over my hair, I try to gather the words. “I’m a thief. That’s what it boils down to. I was traveling a long way from home. The trip had cost me more than I anticipated and I was running low on funds. Originally, I traveled with a large group. An army, I suppose. Eventually a few of us broke away from the main group and we came across a family. They were traveling in the same direction we were. They begged us to protect them. So we said we would. They said they didn’t have much to give, but they promised to share what they had with us and they shared their food. But, when one of the other knights I was with found their stash of jewelry, he accused them of lying. It was late in the night. They pleaded with us to leave them their treasure. It was all they had. I fought the others and promised to protect them.”
I can’t look at her when I tell the next part.
“But while they were sleeping the next night, I took their treasure and left them there. I didn’t get far.” I spread my arms wide to remind her of my monstrous form. “Turns out there was a curse laid on the treasure. I tried to go back the night I found out I was cursed. But when I found them, someone else had got there first. It wasn’t pretty. I’d left them with no protection and no money. So I was never able to return the treasure. And here I am.”
I wince, imagining a look of disdain on her pretty features in the silence. But when I look, her expression is harder to read than that.
“Do you regret it?”
I nod. “With every fiber of my being. I’ve had many years to think about how wrong it was to take advantage of the vulnerable like that.”
She nods. “We all make mistakes. I guess most of us are lucky those mistakes don’t stain us forever.” There’s a pause and it feels heavy. “I hope mine don’t. I hope I’m not just that filthy slut to assholes like that forever.”
I shake my head again, reaching for her. “What you do with your body is not a mistake. It’s your choice. It was a mistake of those bastards to think they had any right to what doesn’t belong to them.”
She smiles. “Well you certainly came to my rescue when I needed it. Protected me and asked nothing in return.”
Her words lighten my heart just a little. Perhaps she’s right. Perhaps I have improved.
She moves closer still and my heart practically floats out of my chest. I stop her when she leans in to kiss me. “Jessie, are you sure? Because I promise you, there’s nothing I want more. Nothing would make me happier than to be near you.”
Her frown turns into a grin. “Really?”
