Stone Romance (Stone Passion #2) (31 page)

“Jenna,” Rhys breathed, his lips travelling over her cheek to her ear. “We should get something to drink.”

“Why?” she breathed, running her tongue along his throat, tasting the salty musk of his hot skin. His fingers curled around her arms and he shuddered giving her the encouragement to take his earlobe between her teeth and lightly nibble.

“Jenna,” he croaked out, gently thrusting his hips to let her feel his erection. “We need to get some water.”

Stepping back, she looked up at him in confusion, seeing the lust plainly written on his face. He smiled down at her, resting his hands on her shoulders and lightly caressing her throat with his thumbs, “These are ancient creatures, Jenna; this is
, well, this is an orgy
.”

Glancing around, she saw what he was talking about. Rhys’s brothers danced with a group of dryads, leaves and twigs tangled in their long hair. Their lithe bodies were barely concealed beneath gauzy layers of sheer material, the long slender limbs graceful and elegant. A group of hairy satyrs chased around the scantily clad nymphs, catching them and carting their trophies off to secluded areas.

Instead of being offended or dismayed, she felt her belly tighten in expectation. She wanted to feel Rhys’s hands on her body beneath the nearly moonless night, to have him penetrate her as satyrs seduce
d
nymphs close by and his brothers enjoy
ed
the dryads. It disturbed her how much the idea appealed to her. Tearing her gaze from the antics, she moistened her lips with her tongue and faced Rhys, “Sure, a glass of water would be great.”

They
made their way over to
a table that was placed beneath an
ancient
tree
and sat down
. Pitchers with water and trays piled with food were laid out for their refreshment
and she chewed on a piece of fruit, taking a moment to gather her scattered wits
.
Her skin was on fire and her breasts were heavy with arousal; she wanted to make love with Rhys in the midst of the Grecian orgy. Hell, she wanted to make love with Rhys whenever and wherever she could.

Entwining his fingers with hers,
Rhys
brought her hand up to his lips and pressed a kiss against her knuckle
s, the gesture second nature by now
. “We can retire if you’d like?”

She smiled, feeling the heat in her cheeks and grateful that the low light hid her blush, “I think I’d like to stay; it’s not every day that a girl gets invited to a Greek orgy.”

He laughed, the deep sound resonating in her belly and making it tighten even more. If he so much as winked at her she would pounce on him and tear the clothes from his body.

“How are you enjoying
our
festivities?”
Eryx
asked as he and his brothers sat down at the table, crowding the small space with their large, muscular bodies. They were the epitome of Greek perfection: chiseled chests with chiseled thighs and rock hard abs. Since they all wore loose fitting clothes, shirts that hung open and pants that hung low on their hips, Jenna w
as able to see more than she cared to see
, especially when they shifted and their pants rode even lower.

They were unashamed and well endowed. She studiously kept her eyes above waist level.

“I can’t tell if I’m sleeping or drunk,” she said with a smile, taking a sip of the cool water. “It almost seems too marvelous to be real.”

Eryx
smiled with pride, “We don’t let many humans participate; it would never do to let too many of your world know our secrets.”

“So I have been told,” she said, sharing a grin with Rhys. “But you three are not like the others that I have met.”

“We are among the oldest of the gargoyles,” Leander said. Popping an olive into
his mouth, he grinned, “Though
we’re not the oldest. And unlike the rest of our brethren we embrace the gifts bestowed upon us.”

“What he means to say is that these three give up their nights as often as possible,” Rhys said.

“We love women,”
Eryx
proclaimed, spreading his arms out in emphasis before taking a deep drink from the bottle of wine he held. “We love human women!”

“If this puppy refuses to give up his nights for you, love, one of us will,” Orion informed her, a drunken smile curving his perfect lips.

Jenna leaned into Rhys, not quite sure what to make of the offer; not wanting to accept it in any case. Leander pushed his brother back, laughing heartily, “Be careful,
Ori
; this one looks like she may accept such a gift.”

Orion’s eyes widened in mock horror as he leaned as far away from Jenna while still sitting on the chair, “Then I fear I shall pass. Rhys, you’re her lover; give her your nights. I think she would enjoy being a gargoyle.”

Rhys pressed his mouth against her ear as he whispered, “My brothers wouldn’t know what to do if a woman actually accepted their gift; I think they would run screaming the other way.”

“Why is their attitude so very different than Armand’s?” she asked softly.

Rhys shrugged, “I think they make a game out of it and since they love all women then receiving a woman’s love in return doesn’t matter as much.”

“It is life,”
Eryx
stated grandly. “We love, we fuck. It is a good life.”

“One time, during the 700’s all three of us gave up our nights at the same time,” Leander chuckled. His eyes sparkled merrily as he exchanged glances with
Eryx
and Orion. “It was… unwise.”

The three men burst into hearty gales of laughter, driving her mad with curiosity; what had occurred during the fifty or sixty years they were stuck in stone? “Well? What happened?”

Orion shook his head as tears ran down his cheeks in remembered amusement, “It was chaos; the satyrs got it into their heads that with us unable to move they would be able to have free reign over our domain.”

“Fortunately, the gargoyle barrier prevented them from doing too much damage,” Leander shook his head, a smile playing at his sensuous lips. “Though when we woke, there were quite a few satyrs and nymphs that hadn’t been there when we became stone.”

Eryx
sat down, grinning, “After that we made sure at least one of us remained sane in the presence of a beautiful woman.”

“How do you remain so cheerful?” Jenna asked in wonder; they were so different from what she had expected.

“We are not so sentimental as our American or London brethren, eh?” Orion piped in, nudging Rhys’s arm with his elbow.

“And we are not as pragmatic as our French brothers,”
Eryx
added. “They enjoy all of the flesh but do not give up their nights for anyone. Fifteen hundred years and they refuse to give a girl the gift of their nights.”

“Come,” Leander said, standing up and taking Jenna’s hand in his own, pulling her up from her seat. “You must see the paintings of our lovely girls….”

Rhys put his hand over hers and met Leander’s eyes, “Tomorrow before we leave, Lee. We need our sleep.”

“Bah!” Orion grumbled, helping his brother pull Jenna to her feet. “Sleep is for the day; the nights are for gargoyles.”

The words came in stereo as
Eryx
and Leander joined Orion in proclaiming the nights as the gargoyles’. The three men threw their hands up in the air and shouted, “
Piase
kokkino
!”

And then the three of them
were caressing
her
body
over
her dress,
broad palms brushing over her sensitive breasts before abruptly disappearing as they
laugh
ed
robustly. Alarmed
by their forward behavior
, she faced Rhys who
was laughing along with his brothers
.
Did he miss where their hands were?

Catching her expression, he leaned
forward
and
explained, “When two people say the same thing, they say
piase
kokkino
, which means ‘touch red.’ It’s to prevent them from engaging in a fight.”

Jenna simply stared at the three laughing brothers until Leander grabbed her hand and pulled her towards a group that was dancing, their bodies twining together in a sensuous flow of movement.
Obviously they hadn’t meant anything; they were just excessively sexual, flirtatious creatures and it never occurred to them to not touch her breasts.
“
Dance
with me, my lovely girl.”

With the
decadent
music playing, she
dismissed their actions and
grinned, following the sexy man to an open spot where he pulled her into his arms and danced with her, moving his body in a way that was pure sex.
Eryx
and Orion joined them, moving with her and making her feel like the only woman in the world. Their attention was so focused on her it was a little intimidating and her eyes searched out Rhys, who was sitting at the table watching her, his lips pressed together in a firm line, a tic working frantically in his jaw.

Stepping away from the three gorgeous Greeks, she raised one arm up, thrusting her fingers through her hair, and held the other arm out in invitation. Without hesitation, Rhys stood and made his way over to her, taking her into his arms
and smiling triumphantly
. Looking down at her with those smoldering chocolate eyes, he murmured, “Hey, you.”

Moving her hand up his solid arm and sinking it into the silk of his auburn hair, she smiled sultrily, “Hey.”

He bent his head and seduced her with a kiss
, his tongue moving sensuously against her, his hands moving slowly over her body, dr
i
ving her mad with the need to feel him inside her
.

Pulling her lips away from his, she panted, “Make love to me, Rhys.”

He looked at her, his brown eyes glowing with hunger and apprehension, “Are you sure?” At her nod, he continued, stroking his hands up and down her arms, “Tonight is all about pleasure; you have to decide how far you wish to go and as a human you will be driven to your limits and then pushed over.”

“I just want you,” she
breathed,
her lids half-shuttered as she gazed at his throat, as she leaned forward and ran her tongue along the smooth skin. His grip tightened and his Adam’s apple rubbed against her mouth as he swallowed.

“Do you want another male to penetrate you?” he rasped, taking her out of the moment.

She stiffened at the thought, taking a step back and glaring at him for even suggesting such a thing. Seeing the pain on his face, she frowned in confusion. “If the idea bothers you so much why did you ask?”

“Because this is all about your pleasure; whatever you desire will be provided,” he managed to say through tight lips. Nodding towards a copse of trees, he added, “Plus, there are several satyrs eager to get their hands on a human; if you wish it they will…”

She slammed her hand over his mouth, cutting off the words before they could be spoken. “You are the only one I want, now and forever. I want to make love with you and only you, Rhys.”

With a growl, he claimed her lips in another scorching kiss, pulling her body against his and marking her as his. And as he made love to her, she basked in the feel of Rhys’s lips on her breasts, her swollen sex, as hidden eyes watched.
She had never experienced anything like making love beneath the starry night as the sounds of dozens of couples grunting and groaning filled the air.

Sex infused everything, the ground, the food, the trees,
the
air; and
as Rhys filled her completely, t
he rest of the night was a haze of music, mythologic
al creatures mating, and Rhys.

Always Rhys.

Something hard was nudging her shoulder, drawing her out of much needed sleep. Grabbing the blanket,
Jenna
pulled it over her head, not wanting to wake up. She was still recovering from the revelry on the mainland, even after a full night at sea.