8. Tuvid

8

TUVID

S he slept in my arms, and there wasn't anything more wonderful than that.

The floor was hard. The room was cold. But my heart was on fire, and there was no place I'd rather be than right here and right now, with Angie.

I dozed myself, and I woke to us lying beside the door, her on top of me with my wings and arms wrapping her up tight.

Her head lifted, and she stared down at me. I marveled at how gorgeous she was with her red hair tousled, her right cheek pink from laying on my chest, and a sultry early morning look in her eyes.

"Your nipples are erect," she said in a husky voice that rocked through my bones.

"They enjoy being touched." Especially with her palms splayed over one and her fingertips rolling the other.

"Oh, shit, sorry." Her hands shifted away from my nipples .

"No problem." If we were lying in my bed, I'd roll her over, brace myself above her, and . . .

"Whoa," she said, her eyes widening. "Smolder alert."

"Smolder alert?"

"You're looking at me like . . ." Color rose into her left cheek to make it match the right.

I loved how this woman's face revealed all her emotions. "Like I want to eat you?"

"Pretty much, Investigator Elresh."

"Are you using my title and last name to put distance between us?"

"That would be hard to do when I'm lying across your body with my hands splayed out on your chest, and my fingertips . . ." Her hand snapped away from my nipple again.

"It likes it. Keep touching it."

"You, you, you."

"Yes, me." I grinned.

"Stop it."

"You can tell my nipple to behave, but I never will."

She wiggled. Boy, did I enjoy when she wiggled. "You're sporting a decent-sized erection in your pants, Investigator."

"I'm more than decent-sized."

"That's what all the guys say." She levered herself off me, and stood beside me, staring at my mouth. "I've rarely found their boasting to be true."

I got up and loomed over her. Gargoyles had perfected the art of looming, and I used it to my advantage. "I could show you. Prove my point."

"Show and tell at this time of the morning?" Her gaze locked on my groin, and she pulled her phone from her pocket. I watched the swallow slowly work its way down her throat. "It's . . . I'm not staring at your cock."

"You are."

"Am not. I'm looking at my phone." She shifted her gaze over to actually study her phone. "Jeez, it's only six. I never get up before eight."

"You, a business owner?"

"We don't open until eleven." She huffed. "That's why I hire good managers."

"I was only teasing."

She crinkled her face as she gazed up at me. "Give me a warning before you do it next time."

"Do you enjoy teasing?"

Tapping her chin, she gave me a sweet smile. "I guess it depends on who's doing it."

"What if it was—"

"Angie? Angie!" someone called out from beyond the chiller. "Where are you?"

"That's my mom." Angie bounced around, clinging to her phone. "That's my mom. Mom! She's amazing, though a tad controlling."

"In what way?"

"She runs the new matchmaking service in town, Monster Cupid, and keeps offering to fix me up for free."

"You'll date anyone for free?"

She shot a scowl my way. "Talk about ick. Who'd let their mom fix them up on a date? She sure does keep trying, however." She hefted a small keg and started banging it on the door by her knees. "We're in here, Mom. Open the door. "

I grabbed a larger keg and started smacking it against the panel along with Angie.

A few beeps from the keypad outside punctuated the clunks of our kegs.

The door made a whoosh as it cracked open, and heat poured inside.

Angie tossed her keg onto the floor with a clang and shoved the door open all the way. We stumbled out to find a middle-aged human woman standing outside with her hands on her hips.

And my mom behind her. My old-fashioned, stuck-on-gargoyle-tradition mom.

My mom gasped. "Have you two . . ." She cupped her blue face, her eyes widening above them. "Please tell me you two didn't spend the night together."

"We had no choice," Angie said, hugging her mother. "I'm so glad you showed up. Tuvid wrapped me in his wings all night. He's hot all the time, so we were nice and toasty."

"You spent the night together?" my mother gasped out, her jaw working along with her throat.

"It's not what you think, Mom."

"This is your mother?" Angie asked, and I nodded. Introductions would have to come later, because—

"You're . . . You're . . ." My mother tipped her head back and shrieked, her voice echoing in the big room. She pinned me in place with her dark eyes, making me suddenly feel as if I was three, and I'd eaten the entire batch of concrete cookies she'd baked for the community function. "If this gets out, your reputation in the gargoyle community will be ruined . "

She was right.

There was only one thing I could do to save the situation. "Angie?"

She backed away from her mother and turned toward me, a frown blooming on her face. "What's going on, Tuvid?"

I dropped to one knee and took her hands. "Angie, please. Would you be my gargoyle bride?"