When I was young, my mother made a point to have me write every lesson down. Unfortunately, that meant lots of journals.
“Your mom took your education seriously,” Ranulf announced. The others nodded.
I looked around the room. It was strange. I had gone from being alone most of the time to being surrounded by gargoyles who cared about me. I smiled to myself. I liked it. I liked having Atticus around like this, I even liked the others being around all the time.
I was still smiling when someone pounded on the door. Did Astrid lose her key again?
I got off the couch and went to answer. Matthew was standing there in the same suit as earlier, only now he looked furious.
“What the hell, Evie?” he shouted. “I told you I needed answers and you just bailed!”
“You don’t like the answers you get,” I reminded him as I stood in the doorway.
“Are you going to let me in?” he snapped.
“No,” I said as I stepped out into the hall and mostly closed the door for at least the illusion of privacy. They would be able to hear even if the door was closed.
“I need real answers, not some bullshit,” he yelled.
“Stop yelling, Matt,” I warned. If he went on much longer Atticus might decide to do something about it. Or one of the others.
“I’m gonna yell, Evie, because you need to talk to me,” he snapped.
“I’ll talk to you when you stop yelling,” I countered calmly.
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I need to know what you know about these deaths,” he said calmly.
“I told you the truth once and you didn’t like it. You said I was crazy, if I remember correctly,” I reminded him.
“I want the killer, Evie,” he repeated, stepping closer until I had to look up at him. He was frowning, his brow furrowed. He wasn’t going to go away without something. I sighed.
“There are eight,” I said. “Each victim was from a different killer.”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “And how did you figure that out?”
“Different wounds, different cause of death and if you looked at the files, you’d know it’s estimated that they all died within the same hour. The timing alone says multiple killers,” I pointed out.
“Yeah, I saw all that,” he said. “What did you see that I didn’t?”
I met his eyes. “Absolutely nothing,” I said quietly.
He cursed. “I knew you wouldn’t tell me.”
“Then what are you doing here? You already know you have eight killers, so go. Find them,” I suggested dryly.
He didn’t move. I waited as his eyes grew warm and curious.
“When did you get engaged?” He asked.
Oh, for crying out loud.
“How is that any of your business?” I asked, my voice tired. He reached out and grabbed my left hand. I could have dodged him, but I had always played the human with him.
“Let go,” I demanded quietly.
He held up my hand. “No ring.” He let me go. I clenched my jaw as he continued. “You’re not the kind of woman who gets engaged without a ring.”
I straightened my shoulders and lifted my chin. “You really don’t know what kind of woman I am.”
His eyes ran over my face. “I know you miss me,” he said softly.
Oh, God.
“No, Matt. I really don’t,” I assured him. “I answered your questions-”
The door behind me opened. I looked over my shoulder to find Atticus stepping out of the doorway to stand close behind me. He didn’t even spare Matthew a glance as he wrapped one arm around my waist, his hand resting on my hip. Then the other hand brought something around for me to see.
“Stop leaving this on the window sill over the sink or it’s going to end up down the drain.” His voice was warm as he lectured me. My heart stopped.
In his hand was a stunning ring. It was Victorian, the open gold filigree was delicately woven around the ruby and two small diamonds. “She’s always taking it off when she washes her hands.” Atticus’s voice stopped me from going into shock. I held out my hand and he slipped the ring on my finger. It fit perfectly. How did he…? Not now. I can panic later.
“Sorry, I forgot,” I muttered.
He kissed my hair. “It’s alright, I’ll just keep reminding you.” He straightened to his full height. “And you are?”
Matt eyed him. “Detective Green. We were just discussing a case-”
“And she’s told you everything she knows, correct?” he countered, his voice hard.
Matt straightened to his full height. “No, she hasn’t.”
Seeing my chance, I took it. “Actually, I have.” I looked up at Matt. “So please leave.”
“Evie-”
“My fiancée just asked you to leave.” Atticus stepped around me to stand in front of me, and for once I was grateful. I didn’t want to deal with Matt’s ego today.
“Don’t interfere in a police investigation.” Matt’s voice was furious.
“Investigation my ass,” Atticus growled. I rested my hand on the middle of his back to calm him down. “She’s answered your questions and now you’re just harassing her. Get out of here before you leave the building bleeding.”
Matt’s eyes ran over both of us, accessing the situation as if he was at a crime scene. After several long heartbeats of silence, he turned then walked down the steps and out the door on the first floor.
Atticus’s shoulders tensed as he turned around to face me. I gaped at him. He scratched his left eyebrow. “I know you probably wanted to handle him yourself-”
“I don’t care about that,” I told him, slightly in shock. I held my left hand up. “What is this?”
He looked away from me, his gaze darting around the hallway, clearly uncomfortable. “It’s a ring.”
“I-I-I grasped that,” I assured him, still in a daze. “Wh-why do you have it?” He looked anywhere but at me, his cheeks pink. Was he going to propose? Was this….? My brain felt like it was going to explode. I… I couldn’t even try to understand this right now. “You know what, don’t answer that.” His eyes shot to mine. “I… I can’t even process this right now.” I went to pull off the ring. His hand stopped me. I met his eyes.
“Keep it,” he said, his voice had an edge I’d never heard before. I left the ring on as I looked up at him, confused.
“Let’s… let’s go back to work.” I turned and walked back into the apartment, acutely aware of the ring on my hand.
I rolled over in bed again. I was exhausted but I still couldn’t fall asleep. The demons worried me. How many more bodies would there be in the morning? The store weighed heavily on my mind. I didn’t have long to get everything sold and out of the building. Then there was the new Treaty to make as soon as Rowena died. The witch probably couldn’t hold out much longer. And then there was Atticus. I held up my hand and looked at the ring.
It was gorgeous. And perfect. I dropped my hand to my chest. But what did he mean by it?
By the time we had finished going through the journals everyone was exhausted. When I came to bed he was already asleep. I didn’t mind, I didn’t know what to say to him.
His deep, even breathing told me he was sleeping heavily. And I couldn’t.
Giving up, I got up carefully. I didn’t bother with slippers or a robe as I went into the living room. I went to my storage closet and pulled out a couple of boxes then walked to the bookcase. I sighed. It wasn’t going to get any easier later.
I started putting the books into the box. The faster I went, the less time I had to think about it.
I was on my second box when the bedroom door opened. Atticus came into the living room in his navy pajama bottoms and nothing else. His eyes were confused as they swept over the boxes and books.
“What are you doing, Eve?” he asked.
“Um… I… I couldn’t sleep,” I muttered as I turned away, more for my own sanity than to stack books. “I figured I’d get sta
rted on taking the books down to the store.”
He moved to stand in front of me. “Luv, when was the last time you checked your auctions?” His gentle voice had me looking up to meet warm eyes.
“I haven’t really been looking, just printing out the orders,” I admitted. I didn’t want to know how little the books were going for. It was hard enough.
He picked my phone up off the coffee table and handed it to me. “Check.”
Not understanding, I went to my website and logged in to check the sales sheet. I almost dropped my phone. “What…?” I ran through the lists of books that went out yesterday, and how much they went for. Tens of thousands over what they were worth. Every book on the site was sold, and the total was way over what I needed. “Who…?” I looked up and met his eyes. “You did this?”
He looked down at my phone. “It wasn’t just me. The guys got in on it and it might have become a game.”
I looked up at him, shocked. “I told you I didn’t want your money.”
His eyes flashed as they met mine. “You didn’t want me to give you money. Those books are mine. They are going straight to my own collection.”
I gaped up at him. “I… I don’t understand you sometimes,” I admitted. “The books… the ring…” I swallowed hard as he looked away at the word ring. “I don’t know how to talk to you. Especially about us.” My eyes burned.
He was looking over my shoulder at the bookcase as he answered. “You’re not alone on that one.” He let out a breath and met my gaze. “Right now, your private collection is safe. You can pay the landlord and not go out of business. He took my arm and brought me back to the bedroom. “That’s enough for now, you need to get some sleep.” He closed the door behind him.
I stepped further into my bedroom then turned around. “The ring.” His shoulders grew rigid as he looked at it on my hand. My voice was quiet. “I need to know what it means.”
He took a deep breath then met my eyes. “It means I’m staying.” My heart pounded, the world faded as he continued. “I wasn’t even going to give it to you until we figured this out. But what that dick said… I couldn’t stop myself.”
“What do you mean, you’re staying?” I asked, telling myself not to hope. “Your whole life is back there.”
He moved closer until I could feel the heat coming off his body, my senses full of parchment. His eyes stayed on mine. “My life is here,” he whispered softly. His fingers held my chin, his thumb ran over my bottom lip. “I know I have more to learn about you, about how a relationship even works. And we have time to decide if we want to be Mated. But I want to find out.” He swallowed hard as his eyes grew shadowed. “If you want me, that is.”
My eyes burned as warmth poured through me. He was staying. That part of me that had been holding out broke right there. I went to my toes and kissed him deeply. His arms held me tightly against him as his mouth moved hungrily with mine. My body instantly caught fire, my core throbbing. Before I knew it, my arms were around his neck, my body melting against his. His tongue caressed my lower lip. I opened my lips and lost the ability to think. His hands moved down my hips to my legs. He lifted me and I wrapped my legs around his waist as his mouth drove me out of my mind. He lowered me to the bed beneath him, his weight going to his elbows, his hips forcing my thighs wider. His hard cock rubbed against me through our clothes. I gasped as my body clenched. His hot mouth trailed down my neck to my breast bone as I ran my hands over his back, needing to feel him. My skin was too tight, too sensitive. I needed him. He shifted his hands to my cami, pushing it up and pulling it off me. Cold air brushed over my breasts making my nipples ache, then his hard chest was against me, stoking the flames higher. His hands ran over me, his mouth taking my nipple, his tongue dancing along my skin. Lightning streaked from my breast to my core, I whimpered as the fire between my legs grew. I moved my hips against him and he groaned against my skin, making me shiver. He moved further down my body, his mouth and hands leaving fire in his wake. My body throbbed as he kissed low on my belly. His hands pulled my panties down my legs. He moved back, his hands running up my thighs. Unable to catch my breath, I looked down the line of my body. My fingers moved into his hair as he met my eyes a second before his mouth buried between my legs. I cried out and threw my head back as every nerve I had came alive. His tongue teased my clit, his lips taking it. His fingers found my core as he groaned against me, sending a bone deep shudder through me. He slipped a finger inside. Gasping, I started to tremble as my body coiled tighter. I cried out as he added another. So. Freaking. Good! It had been too damn long. His mouth worked as he stroked me, forcing me higher and higher. He shifted, then moved my knees to hang over his shoulders. His fingers thrust deeper.
“Atty…,” I moaned as my hips moved against him. His tongue worked faster, with harder strokes that left me blind. He slid another finger inside me, stretching me. Flames streaked through my body, over my breasts and through my legs. “Oh, God… I’m…,” I whimpered. It was too much but at the same time exactly what I craved. He picked up the pace, not letting me catch my breath. Wave after wave of pleasure poured over me. I cried out, my hands in his hair, holding his mouth to me as I came.
When it was over he kissed his way up my body. I convulsed as sparks shot through me with every touch.
He leaned back on his knees, his hands going to the strings on his bottoms. My body throbbed hard.
I sat up to help him undo the drawstring and shoved his pants down his hips. He was bare to me, his large dick was heavy with a pearl of liquid already on his tip. I reached out and stroked him. He growled and pulled my hand away. “If you keep doing that, we’ll both be disappointed,” he warned through heavy breathing. Oh, yes. Yes please.
His lips took mine. Hunger took over. I pulled him over me, his arms wrapped around me as his mouth devoured mine. His weight settled over me. His hand brushed my sweaty hair back from my face. He kissed me deeply as his hands moved over my body; my breast, hip, thigh, it didn’t matter. As long as he kept touching me I burned.
He pressed himself against me, the heavy weight of his dick moving through my folds and over my clit making me whimper. I wrapped my legs around his waist, pressing harder against him. His hands slid up my arms to hold my hands above my head. His fingers tangled with mine. He pulled back to look in my eyes, his eyes asking.
“Yes,” I breathed. His mouth took mine again as he shifted his hips then slid inside in one long stroke. Lightning streaked through every nerve I had. I cried out as he filled me, my body clamping down around him, my nails biting into his hands. He went still, lifted his head, his eyes stunned.
“Eve? Are you-”
“Not my first time,” I gasped. His eyes closed as his forehead touched mine.
“Fuck, you’re tight,” he growled. I moaned as he settled his weight against me, pressing me into the bed. He took me at my word and moved. Flames licked my skin as he pulled almost all the way out of me. I cried out as he slid back inside, filling me slowly, driving me crazy. His mouth found mine again and he kissed me hard. He started making long, deep thrusts that had him stroking every already sensitive spot I possessed. My hips moved with his, my body tightening around him even more as he drove me higher.
He kissed me hard, hungrily. Wanting to touch him, I tugged my hands free before he shifted me a little. I wrapped my arms around him as he almost pulled out then thrust deeply again.
I cried out as he buried himself as deep inside me as he could. He growled against my mouth before he lifted his head and met my eyes, then he pumped into me, harder, faster. The new angle helping me take all of him. Everything I was trembled as he pounded me into the bed. “Don’t stop…” The noises I was making in the back of my throat were getting louder, I knew, but I didn’t care. It didn’t matter. All that mattered was his body in mine, his skin touching mine, his breath against my neck.
As long as he kept touching me, we were all that mattered. My body coiled tighter and tighter. Oh God… Flames
burned every part of me. My body moved with his. He growled. I shattered into a million pieces. Ecstasy ripped through me, his body still moving. I cried out as I was torn apart by the waves of pleasure tearing through me.
His breathing turned ragged, desperate as he joined me. “Eve…” He gave a guttural groan, my name on his lips as his body became rigid against me. It was perfect.
We both laid there, trying to catch our breath. He stayed still inside me as aftershocks kept hitting me, making me shiver and shake. His forehead rested on mine as we tried to catch our breath. My legs dropped to the bed, my knees still bent and resting against his hips.
“Did I hurt you?” he asked, his accent thick as he lifted himself off me a little so he could meet my eyes. His shifting sent shivers through me.
Still flying and limp, I shook my head.
His hand cupped my face gently. “Answer me, luv.”
I opened my eyes and looked up at him. His face was lined with worry.
“I’m more than alright,” I mumbled as I tried to get my mind working.
His thumb ran over my bottom lip, grabbing my attention. I kissed it, then met his eyes. Keeping skin contact with me, he shifted, gently pulling himself from me. I caught my breath and shivered. Oh, God… even that was toe curling.
He hesitated to lay on me again. “Am I too heavy?”
I shook my head and ran my fingers over his face. “No, you’re perfect.”
He smiled down at me before kissing me softly. “You’re lying.”
I chuckled as he moved beside me, then off the bed to pull the blankets down and out from underneath me.
“You know, you’re seriously killing my post orgasmic bliss here,” I grumbled as he had me move up the bed.
“I’m just taking care of you,” he said quietly.
He pulled the blankets over me, then disappeared into the bathroom. I took stock of how I felt. My body was sore; it had been a few years after all. So many muscles not used… My groin was a little sore from how rough we were, but I didn’t mind. All in all, I was extremely good.
Found (Books of Stone Book 1) Page 23