Ben caught movement from the top of the cottage, so he poised himself to move. Jacinda caught them all off guard when she screamed in rage and turned on Tavis, clawing at his face. “Murderer!” The knife Tavis held dropped, forgotten on the ground while he fought off an enraged Jacinda.
“Now, Hollis,” Ben yelled while he reached to pull Jacinda away from Tavis and safely in his arms. Hollis swooped down and started peeking relentlessly at Tavis’s eyes.
Tavis stumbled back … screaming and swatting at Hollis, but Hollis was relentless. Once swatted away, he would quickly return to peck and peck. Within seconds, blood poured down Tavis’s face from what had been his eyes. Hollis didn’t let up. He continued to fly and peck viciously, sending Tavis staggering further and further back to the edge of the mountain.
His scream as he tumbled from the top of the mountain echoed down the ragged cliff and those on the outskirts of town raised their heads and crossed themselves in fear.
Jacinda buried her face into Ben’s chest. He pulled her to him tightly and ran a hand down her head to her back. “It’s over, my dove. It’s over and he’ll never bother you again.”
“He killed my mother. I had no idea he set the fire. He killed them because of me, all because he wanted me.” She sobbed against his chest.
Ben tilted her chin up so she’d look at him, and it broke his heart to see the tears she shed. “Nay, Jacinda. He killed them because he was filled with evil. His mind was twisted to the point of madness. This was not your fault. It’s a tragedy, but only Tavis was to blame.”
Hollis appeared before them. He had changed back into man form. “My apologies, sire. I should have been expecting a sneak attack from the rear. He took me by surprise. You are well, ma’am?”
“Aye, Hollis. I am unhurt. Thank you, and believe me when I say there is nothing to apologize for. A wise man told me that this wasn’t our fault, only the fault of a madman.”
Jacki wrapped her arms around Ben and hugged tightly. Ben grunted and Jacki pulled her hand back and looked down on blood. “I forgot you were injured. Quick, come inside so I can tend to your wounds.”
“It’s not but a flesh wound or two. I will be fine.”
“I will be the judge of that, now inside.” Jacki put her hands on her hips and quirked up an eyebrow, daring him to argue.
“Go inside. I need to speak with Hollis and I will be right in.”
Jacinda looked like she was going to argue but only nodded, turned, and went into the cottage. Ben watched her walk and said a silent prayer that she hadn’t been injured and taken from him. He could no longer imagine his life without her in it and now soon-to-be their son.
When he was sure she couldn’t hear him, he turned to Hollis. “We will toss the other man’s body over the mountain too. When the villagers find what remains of them, they will get the message loud and clear.”
“What message is that, sire?”
Ben grabbed the legs of the headless man and dragged him to the mountains edge and hurled his remains over before turning to look back at Hollis. “To not ever mess with the giant on the mountain, or his family, least you will meet your end.”
Hollis grabbed the man’s severed head and pitched it off the edge. The two of them stood and listened as it bounced its way down the craggy mountain. “A very well-delivered message it will be, sire.”
Chapter Twenty-One
“Hold still, I’m almost finished.” Jacki bit off the last stitch she had put in Ben’s cut flesh and went about binding it up. Thankfully, the arrow he’d taken to the shoulder hadn’t gone in too deep. It had been easily removed and the hole it had made was seared closed. The sword slash down the right hip had been a little deep and long in length. It had required several stitches.
Ben had sat quietly in the chair throughout all her ministrations while she had fussed and worried over him. She stepped back and eyed her handiwork. “Okay, I’m finished. How are you feeling?”
Ben looked up at her. “I’m feeling blessed and loved and mostly I’m feeling like I want to be buried deep inside the woman I adore. Come here, wife.”
“Ben, no, you’ve been injured. You need to rest.” Jacki noticed his eyes search her face and she knew what he would see there. Despite her protests, how could she not want him? She bit her bottom lip and eyed his shirtless form.
“I’ll need to be dead to not be able to perform my husbandly duties. Come sit on my lap.”
Jacki took a step closer. “Ben, you could tear the stitches I just put in.”
“Then you will have to do the work. Ben reached up and tugged at the ribbons holding her dress on, and it fell to the floor. Jacki stepped out of her bloomers and stood in front of him totally naked. Ben’s finger traced her skin from her collarbone to a rose-tipped breast. He sent gooseflesh along her spine. “You take my breath away, wife.”
“I don’t know what to do,” Jacki whispered. “I want to please you.”
“You, my dove, please me in every way possible.” His hands wrapped around her hips and he urged her forward to straddle his lap.
His lips were but a breath from her own. She looked deeply into his eyes, her words but a whisper that he strained to hear. “I was so afraid, but not for myself, but for you and our babe. I couldn’t bear it if something happened to you when I’ve just found you.”
Ben’s forehead touched hers. “You’ll not be rid of me so easily. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but giants are notoriously hard to kill.” A single tear slipped down her face and Ben caught it on his thumb. “Jacinda, I need you. I need to be inside of your warmth.” His lips captured hers, slowly, sweetly at first, but she raised her arms around his neck and pulled him to her. Her full, sensitive breasts flattened against his chest and she gasped at the contact.
Ben took the chance to slip his tongue inside her mouth and he tangled it with hers until they were both left gasping for air. Breaking the kiss out of need, Ben roamed his hands down her sides and he cupped both breasts, rubbing the puckered nubs. He bent his head and captured one in his hot mouth. Jacki leaned back to give him better access and his arm went around her waist to hold her secure.
He left her nipple wet and aching and moved up to her long neck, sucking and nipping as he went.
Jacki moaned. “Please…”
Ben dropped his hand to his lap, undid his laces, and released his member. It stood throbbing between their bodies. He slipped a finger into her wetness. She was ready. “Stand up and take me inside of you. Slide down slowly.”
Jacki stood and with a sly smile, she did as instructed.
****
Ben gripped himself and held his cock steady. He placed himself at Jacki’s opening and watched her face as she bit her bottom lip and ever so slowly slid down his length until she was seated once again in his lap. Her tight wetness gripped him, sucking him in, and he knew he was home. The place he never wanted to leave. Nothing had ever felt as good or ever would as Jacinda in his arms.
She allowed her head to fall back and her long hair brushed against his thigh as he gripped her hips. His jaw tightened at the control it took to not drop her on the table and pound his cock into her magic until they were both spent and satisfied. “You can start moving, up and down when you can.”
She placed her cool hands on top of his shoulders and levered herself up to his tip. Ever so slowly, she slipped back down. “Like this?”
“Yes,” he hissed out. My God, how had he lived four and twenty years without her and her love? She caught a rhythm and rocked up and down on his cock, her head thrown back. Her full, luscious breasts bounced against his chest. She panted and groaned in pleasure. Ben kept one arm wrapped around her waist and used the other to grip a breast. He rolled a nipple between his thumb and finger and she moaned louder. Fuck, it was incredible the noises she made when he was inside her.
“Ben … Ben, it’s happening,” she said and gasped, wonder lacing her words.
“Let it happen, my dove.”
H
er movements became quicker, jerky, less-controlled, and her pants louder. Ben gripped her harder. Despite the cool air, both their bodies were wet with sweat from the exertion. When Jacinda cried out and stilled her movements, she buried her face on his chest. Ben allowed her a moment to catch her breath before he stood with her still wrapped around his body.
“Ben, your stitches,” she cried out.
Ben swiped the table clean and didn’t even flinch when the items hit the floor with a clang. He laid Jacinda on the table and began moving inside of her. He pulled out to his bulbous head and slipped back in balls deep. She was so tight and incredibly wet. He wanted to last long enough for her to peak again, but hell’s bells, when it came to his wife, he had little to no control.
He increased his speed, careful to watch her face to ensure he wasn’t causing her pain. Their bodies slapped together and the scent of their loving permeated the air around them and helped to fuel his actions. His balls tightened and heat raced through his body, all pooling at his throbbing cock. He also felt the subtle change in Jacinda’s body. When she suddenly cried out her pleasure, Ben threw his head back with relief and roared his release. His seed spurted from his body.
Tenderly, he picked Jacinda’s limp body up and carried her to the bed. He went back to the fire and pitched some logs on it before joining his wife. He pulled her into his arms and she settled gingerly on his chest. “Are you okay? Did I hurt you?” she asked.
“Isn’t that supposed to be my line?” Ben chuckled.
“Ben, I’m serious. I’m fine, but did we open your wounds?”
Ben leaned down and kissed the top of her head. “You have opened a wound that will never close or heal. I never thought, once my father died, that anyone would care enough to ask.”
“Hollis cares.”
Ben grinned. “Yeah, somehow not what I had in mind.” His face grew serious. “Before you came, my dove, I had resigned myself to living in solitude. I thought I would never know love or be blessed with a family. I owe you everything. I look forward to spending my life making love to you, going to sleep with you in my arms. Seeing you ripen with our children and growing old hand-and-hand with our grandchildren by our side. Thank you for being fearless and taking a chance on loving a scarred, growling giant.”
Tears sparkled in Jacki’s eyes as she reached to caress his cheek. “A giant with a heart as big as the mountain he lives on. How could I not love you?”
Epilogue
“Okay, children, time for bed.” Ben pulled Jacinda closer to him on the sofa. He had plans for his wife and those plans involved being in their bedroom … alone. Jacinda had wanted to keep their cottage, so he had built out around it, adding bedrooms for their rapidly growing family. The main cottage had been turned into a sitting room and the kitchen and dining area, with the large stone fireplace as the center.
“But, Papa, Uncle Hollis has to tell us a story.”
Ben sighed. His three-year-old daughter, Rosalind, or Rosie, so named for Jacinda’s mother, sat on Hollis’s lap by the fire. Her red curls, blue eyes, and chubby cheeks had him wrapped around her little finger. He could deny her nothing and she already knew it.
His five-year-old son, Benji, sat at Hollis’s feet. A content Puss Puss curled up in his lap. He was dark-haired and serious, much like Ben himself. He turned to look at him with eyes as green as his mother’s. “Please, Papa, Uncle Hollis has the best stories to tell.”
He could feel Jacinda’s body shake with suppressed mirth. “By summer, my love, we will be outnumbered.” She dropped her hand to her barely-there bump and whispered in his ear. Hollis had already informed them it would be a girl. Ben couldn’t wait to meet his new daughter. He knew she would have his heart from her first breath.
Hell’s bells, outnumbered or not, he already couldn’t tell them no. He thought back to six years ago when he had been buried in loneliness so deep he couldn’t see a way out through the darkness. Now, he could hardly believe his life. He would have never imagined he could be so happy and so much in love. His family brought him pure joy and his wife was the center of that bliss. Ben couldn’t wait to get her back in bed so he could show her again how much she meant to him. He rested his hand on top of hers on her stomach and leaned down to kiss her.
“Papa … please.” Rosie pleaded in her sweet little girl voice.
He froze above Jacinda’s lips and his dove giggled. He growled and kissed her anyway before he looked up at his children who waited patiently. Hollis eyed him with a raised eyebrow and an innocent grin. “Very well, one short story and then off to bed with the lot of you.”
All eyes turned to Hollis and he started his story. “Once upon a time, on a wintery night much like the one we have tonight, a beautiful princess with long flowing, red hair climbed a magic beanstalk and sought shelter in the home of the giant of the mountain. He was most fierce and feared by the simple villagers, but the princess was unafraid for she held a secret. A wise and kind magical goose had told her she would forever have the giant’s heart if only she was courageous enough … and so she was.”
The End
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BONUS SAMPLE CHAPTER
RAPUNZEL’S ROMP
Naughty Fairy Tales
T. Lee Garland
Copyright © 2017
Chapter One
Alex
I watch Collette climb from my wickedly rumpled bed, and all I feel is bored. The friends-with-benefits thing we had going on was leaving me wondering why I had even bothered. She was a beautiful woman. One of the most sought after models around the world, but after three months of grabbing a quickie between both of our tight schedules, I knew it wasn’t working for me, and if her lack of enthusiasm in bed lately was any indication, I’m pretty sure it wasn’t working for her either. The problem was I needed her for at least one more week. Yep, I said need.
My younger brother, Logan, was getting married in a damn German castle of all places, and I was the best man. Logan’s bridezilla, better known, prior to the engagement, as Kitty Howard, was one of the richest socialites around and had recently dabbled in acting, which is how she had met my brother, who is a movie producer. Kitty had gone from sweetheart to commander-in-chief the second Logan had put the rock on her fourth finger.
Kitty had let me know in no uncertain terms that I was to come with a date for the three day event, because she was not having an uneven number of guests. It was “bad juju” or some kind of nonsense like that. Oh yeah, and I had to get a haircut, too, and of course wear a monkey suit. Good thing I love my brother. If not for the wedding I would have broken things off with Collette days ago, but right now I had to squeeze one more week out of this sad excuse of a relationship. I was pulled from my musings when I realized Collette was speaking to me.
“I’m sorry, doll, what was that?” I try to look interested.
She yanks her dress over her head and rolls her baby blues at me. The mouth that had pouted its way onto the fronts of magazines across the world, and had just minutes ago sucked me dry, frowned. “I said that Macy Brockridge was supposed to do the cover shoot in Australia, but she’s come down with Mono or something like that. I told her to stay away from that guy she was dating from Peru—seriously, he was so sleazy, I don’t care how many billions he has, he was making passes at every girl at the show. Katrina said he put his hand under her skirt and squeezed her ass, but anyway they’ve asked me to fill in for her, until she gets over her bout of Mono.”
Model talk, I sigh. I was bored again. I crossed my hands under my head and tried to tune out her whiny voice and just enjoy the view. Nothing. I got nothing from looking at her. No desire, no warm-fuzzy feelings, and no stirrings of lust … nada.
Zip.
Zero.
This lack of interest was a first for me, and a little unnerving. I covertly raise the cover and peep. Yep, it was still there and looking funct
ional should the need arise. I hold back a chuckle at my little pun.
“So, I’m really sorry, but I’m not going to be able to make your brother’s wedding after all…”
“Wait! What?” I sit up in bed. Collette had my full attention now.
She pulls her long blonde hair back into a ponytail and eyes me with something that resembles doneness. I recognized that look. Yep, she was tired of me, too. “Were you not even listening to me, Alex? I’m sorry. I really am, but this is a big opportunity for me. It’s not every day a girl is offered a cover.” She picks up her purse and slings it over her shoulder. “Listen, I’ll be gone a couple of weeks and this thing with us has been fun, you’re a great guy, but I think we both know it’s really not going anywhere. Thanks, hun … and I really am sorry.”
With that she blows me a kiss and does her best runway walk right out the door of my million dollar condo.
I blink and hold my hands up. “What the fuck just happened?” Part of me is glad that I don’t have to do the dirty and break things off myself. Past experience had taught me that breaking up with a woman tended to be messy with lots of tears, and curse words, and the occasional thrown object, but then there is that part of me that is freaking out. Kitty would have a cow, and if Kitty wasn’t happy, no one was going to be happy, and that included my brother.
I would never hear the end of it if I showed up in Germany without my mandatory plus one. Then there was Logan. Did I mention how much I love my little brother? He and I have always been tight. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for him, and I know he feels the same about me. I refuse to do anything to ruin his special day.
What a mess. I had an appointment in an hour for the Kitty ordered haircut, and then I had to pick up my tux. My flight was tomorrow morning … early, and I still had to pack, and now added to my rapidly growing to-do list, I had to find a last minute date for a wedding in a damn castle, in Germany!
Jacki and the Giant Page 9