Heart of Rock

By Ruby Banks

Trusting a stranger with your heart might just get you dead, but who said love was easy?

A warm body on a night out is all Nina's looking for to cure her loneliness, but a siren song from a merman catapults her toward a man she never dared to dream for again...and a fantastical world which may just blow her mind.

Gargoyle Sam's done with one night stands. He quickly realises Nina's the woman he's been waiting his whole life for. All he needs is a plan to convince her love can strike twice and that he's worth taking a risk on...right after he tells her he isn't human!

But with a ghost from Sam's tragic past stirring up trouble at his bar, The Rusty Nail, he's determined to avenge the loss of his loved ones... even if it kick-starts an unexpected chain of events which will change all their lives forever. Will they be strong enough to stand as one against the potential threat of a vampire war? Or will Nina walk away from love in order to save her battered heart?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Midas Jinx
• Release date: Sep 3, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005650520

Ruby Banks

Ruby Banks is a British author who's married with kids - furless and not. She spends her waking hours dreaming up epic romances full of action adventure and nekkid people, all whilst inhaling coffee. It's a tough life.

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EBook Edition

This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. It may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book, please purchase an additional copy for each person. No part of this book may be copied or shared, unless a small excerpt or blurb is needed for review or marketing purposes. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, then please return to the vendor and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of the author. This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organisations is coincidental. Originally published by Xandra James and LA Fox.

Copyright © 2023 Ruby Banks and Midas Jinx

All rights reserved.

Contents

HEART OF ROCK

Copyright

About Heart of Rock

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

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About the author

Other available books by Ruby Banks

About Heart of Rock

Trusting a stranger with your heart might just get you dead, but who said love was easy?

A warm body on a night out is all Nina's looking for to cure her loneliness, but a siren song from a merman catapults her toward a man she never dared to dream for again…and a fantastical world which may just blow her mind.

Gargoyle Sam is done with one night stands. He quickly realises Nina's the woman he's been waiting his whole life for. All he needs is a plan to convince her love can strike twice and that he's worth taking a risk on...right after he tells her he isn't human!

But with a ghost from Sam's tragic past stirring up trouble at his bar, The Rusty Nail, he's determined to avenge the loss of his loved ones... even if it kick-starts an unexpected chain of events which will change all their lives forever. Will they be strong enough to stand as one against the potential threat of a vampire war? Or will Nina walk away from love in order to save her battered heart?

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Chapter One

Sam looked around the crowded bar, assessing every female and dismissing them each in turn.

His focus lingered on one woman, his gaze travelling down her luscious body before returning to her face. The curly-haired redhead was cute, but her eyes told a different tale. Emotional baggage. He could smell it a mile off. And he had enough of his own to keep Heathrow's lost property department in business for years.

He had a good view of everything in his establishment from where he sat on his stool, and that was the way he liked it. He played with the label on his bottle of beer as he reluctantly turned his stare away from the redhead who'd joined a large group of women—the group that seemed to have most of his patrons drooling for a piece of them.

He took the last gulp of his drink and chucked the bottle into a large container marked 'bottles'. It hit with a chink, and one of the regulars looked up and caught his eye. The old man nodded, his haggard face telling stories of many lifetimes. Charlie had been sitting on that chair longer than Sam and his business partner, Devin, had owned the place—practically longer than the bar had stood—and he had a soft spot for him.

Still not gotten laid then, son.

A soft spot that was quickly hardening. Annoyance bubbled in his chest. I get more than you do, old man.

Charlie threw his head back and laughed, showing holes where teeth should have been. Sam pushed his fingers through his dark brown hair as he considered shoving a beer mat into that gaping mouth of his but thought it might cause a scene. And anyway, Devin would be pissed at him for assaulting a paying customer. Again.

Charlie chuckled a few more times, wiping an imaginary tear from his leathered cheek, and turned his bright blue eyes back to Sam. Tell me, gargoyle, when was the last time?

Sam didn't want to discuss his sex life but Charlie was like a dog with a bone. All gnomes were canny and devious, outsmarting even the wiliest of creatures. It was why Charlie was one of the best agents in the Supernatural Academies, despite his age. Sam studied the old man closely before answering.

Three months ago. He was ashamed to admit it. It was the longest time he'd gone without since he was fourteen years old.

Charlie smiled into his glass as he chugged down more of his Guinness before wiping his mouth on his dirty sleeve and looking back at him. I got some last night, Sammy. The crooked, gummy smile was back. And I'll be getting some tonight. And I'll be having me some nice homemade steak and kidney pie, with mashed 'taters, too. Charlie patted his stomach, probably already dreaming of his dinner. The single thing that was more satisfying than one-up-man-ship for a gnome was good food.

Sam's embarrassment was complete. A one hundred and forty-six year old had more game than him. And he was better fed, too.

Sucks to be me right now.

He considered going back behind the bar to grab something stronger and take it upstairs to his flat, but he knew it was best to hang around here. The portal was bringing in a few unfamiliar people tonight.

His bar might be in a secluded back street of Edinburgh with little passing traffic, but it was a well-known northern portal and was constantly in use. Scattered across the world, portals allowed supes to come and go as they pleased from different realms or travel around