“I shall.”
She looked down, pushing her long hair behind her ear in a nervous gesture. “Next time you come, you don’t have to wait for an invitation. I wouldn’t mind if I saw you knocking on the door.” Without waiting to see his reaction to those words, she entered her home, turning off lights as she made her way to her bedroom.
Terak leaned against the wall. If he quieted his breathing he could hear her going about her nightly rituals, hear the splash of water and the soft music she used as a background noise to lull her to sleep.
Did he imagine it, or could he hear the graze of her shirt as it slipped from her shoulders and fell to her feet? The rasp of the pull of a zipper, and then those nimble little fingers tugging the coarse denim over the lushness of her hips, over the round swell of her backside, down those long legs.
His groan resounded through the otherwise quiet night.
Chapter Ten
‡
Running in the middle of the day sucked.
Early morning, great. Early evening, even better. In the middle of the day, she was a little too much white girl to enjoy the sun beating hard down at her.
It must not be an issue for gargoyles. It wasn’t as though they were pasty like her, and the odds were good sunburn was an unknown to them.
That in a nutshell was why she had not been able to convince Terak to let her run at her usual times. He look mystified she would equate something as insignificant as turning as red as a lobster to the possible danger from attack, and since she would be safest from attacks in the middle of the day, that was when she would run. So sayeth from on high.
Damn stubborn gargoyle. The only thing she had to fear was heatstroke.
It was a gorgeous day, and in good news for her skin, there was a decent amount of cloud cover, though not enough to lose the cheer of the day. She was running on her favorite trail through the largest wooded park to be enjoyed while still within the city’s limits. She might not have left the city, but darned if she didn’t feel like she was in her own woodland habitat.
Two men came from behind and sped past her, both at a pace much faster than her own ten-minute mile time. One turned and ran backward for a couple of moments, smiling and winking at her before turning around and catching up with his friend.
Ha, ha! Still got it. Nice to know she could get a glance or two, being an old maid and all.
Up ahead a tall woman in a red running bra and matching spandex shorts came running toward them, jogging in the other direction. Both men slowed as they stared at her, eventually tripping over each other’s feet.
Larissa half expected to see their tongues in that mass of body parts. The men righted themselves and took off at top speed to finish their run.
Her own oversize shirt and baggy shorts were a hell of a lot more comfortable than that red number. Who put lace edging on anything you were supposed to exercise in? That had to chafe.
Who cared what those guys thought anyway. Neither of them were built. Compared to Terak they were pubescent boys, and no doubt Terak could bench press both of them with his tail.
Terak…urgh.
The last two weeks were the most disturbing of her life, and yes, she was including the week when she first got her period. She had been attacked by zombies, kidnapped by a gargoyle, had both a brother and a best friend who were acting suspicious, and a father who was still upset at her for asking questions about the security of the city.
And she had a gargoyle protector she was starting to care about, maybe even like.
Out of all the above, that last one kicked her hardest in the solar plexus.
He had wings. And a tail. A tail.
How the hell did this happen? Stockholm syndrome? Some power dynamic because she was the helpless little woman and he was the big, powerful gargoyle?
No, it was because of his chest. No male should have a chest like that, and he never wore a shirt. Never, like they offended him or something. Maybe she should be grateful that at least he wore pants.
No, she shouldn’t be.
Yes, she should.
Well…
Back to chests. Terak’s was so broad it might take hours to explore every inch exposed. And that chest tapered to that stomach, which was not a six-pack but an eight-pack. What human had an eight-pack? How could a human guy compete?
Gargoyles were very unfair to humans. Maybe she wasn’t right to help them become friendly with other races. All the other females of the various species would jump them on sight.
But if any of them jumped on Terak, she’d have to tear the female’s hair out. To protect inter-races relationships.
Was inter-races a word? Well, it was now.
Sweat soaked hair fell into her eyes, and Larissa pushed the damp tendrils that clung to her forehead back into the mass of hair knotted on top of her head.
Heatstroke. Had to be heatstroke causing these freaking thoughts. No matter how much Terak complained, she was never running in the afternoon again.