“You want me to be your boyfriend?”
Christophe eyed him. “That’s all you got from what I just said?”
“Aside from your safety, Christophe. Nothing is more important than knowing you want me too.”
“Trust me, I more than want you.”
“I am sorry. I had to ask, Christophe. I know you can never love me. I know you can never look at me like you did before. Humans would look at me and see a monster. I get it.”
“Koi. When I look at you, what do you think I see?”
“Before I told you all this? A man who you could be with.”
“And now?”
“I do not know. What I want you to see is someone who will never hurt you, who craves your touch like I crave breath. I want you to see someone worthy of you.” Koi dragged his hand over his head and inhaled deeply. “I want to be worthy.”
Christophe smiled and stepped close to Koi. “I may not understand what is happening. And I may not know how I feel about all this ala-kazam stuff. But I know how I feel when you’re around and when I thought you didn’t want anything to do with me. And that curiosity is what moves me.”
“Is it not humans who say periérgeia skóto ̱se ti ̱ gáta?”
Christophe moaned. “What language is that?”
“Greek.”
“What does it mean?”
Koi smiled and leaned in so his lips were close to Christophe’s ear. “Roughly? Curiosity killed the cat.”
“You forget, Koi. I am no cat.”
Koi growled. “Trust me. No one knows more than I do that you are all man.”
Chapter Thirteen
“You took me being a Shiver better than Carter did,” Koi said, peeling some sweet potatoes like Christophe had shown him. “He was a little freaked out at first—well, Kofi too.”
“I guess. I could freak out, but what would that solve? At the end of the day, I will still have to deal with the potential of having some crazy-ass people after me.”
Koi felt the bottom fall out of his chest then. “I am sorry about that. But you are never without protection.”
“Really? From who? Hephaestus?”
“For one, yes.” Koi sliced the potatoes into long slices like French fries. “Ares, Adrestia, Hygiea, Hercules for a little bit there.”
“And what about Hades?”
“Yes. I did not want to say anything about him since Kofi absolutely freaked out when he found out Hades had a hand in his security.”
“Well, I have the Goddess of Misery and Revenge and her war-monger father…”
“You have met them—Ari…”
Christophe stopped and eyed Koi. “Is Ares…? You mean they have all been at the house when we have get-togethers?”
“Again, I am truly sorry for having to lie, but we did not think you knowing would be safe for you. I was just—the others wanted to tell you, but I did not want them to. I did not want you to become invested in our friendship, in us.”
“And now?”
Koi smiled. “Now I find I think of you more than I think of breathing and I want to explore that. I fear I have been selfish.”
Christophe shrugged and dipped the sweet potato fries into a large bowl before adding onions that he’d sliced up along with regular potato pieces and another vegetable Koi was not familiar with.
“Can you beat those egg whites for me?”
Koi smirked and hovered his right palm over the bowl with the fork. The fork instantly rose from where it rested against the bowl and did what Christophe asked. When he handed it to Christophe, Christophe laughed.
“Show off,” he accused, dumping the whipped egg whites into his bowl with the other ingredients.
Koi worked silently beside Christophe. But he could feel it each time Christophe stared at him. The truth was, he loved having Christophe’s eyes on him. Dinner was delicious and Koi couldn’t remember ever laughing so hard. Still, he felt an overwhelming sensation that he was letting Christophe down.
With dinner over, they merely set the plates on the counter then sat on the floor before the sofa with Christophe’s back against his chest. Christophe laced his fingers with Koi’s then brought the back of Koi’s hand to his lips. In that moment, he realized he really, truly cared for this man. For the first time in a long while, his feelings terrified him.
“So, who do you think is behind this?” Christophe wanted to know.
“My father.”
“Come on. He’s rumored to be a douche—”
“Not rumored. He is a douche.”
Christophe shifted. “All I’m saying is that he can’t want his sons dead. I mean, that’s a whole other level of being an ass.”
“You do not know my father.”
“Probably for the best.”
Koi lingered in Christophe’s presence and in the quiet of their thoughts for a few minutes before breaking the silence. “I believe my father, despite his whore-mongering and his callousness, really loved my mother. And I think Hera knew that, so she sought to hurt Mother as badly as she could. What better way of doing that than to have one of your children kill the other?”
“That happened?”
“I am afraid so.”
He spent the next little while going over the story of Ciro’s birth and his responsibilities of being the eldest. Then Koi told him the story of Gala and Aerios and all the rogues they had to slay in an attempt to make the Earth safe—of protecting Kofi and Carter. He even told the story about Osaki and his brother who kidnapped Liosh and Kofi. When the story ended, Koi felt physically drained. He exhaled long and loud.
“I’m sorry,” Christophe said. “I can’t imagine killing a brother.”
“It almost destroyed us. But Ciro and Osaki found the love of men who can see past all that, past the pain and love the soul within. I get jealous sometimes when I allow myself to think about it.”
“Why?”
Koi shrugged. “I yearn for a love like that—one to make me whole again.”
“But you are whole. Sure, your family is a little messed up, but what family isn’t?”
Koi chuckled. “You are being sweet.”
“Seriously, though—I can help. I may not be magical or anything, but I can fight. And I know you’re going to say no and try being all grumpy about it. You can’t tell me what to do.”
“Christophe?”
“Mmm-hmm?”
“We are talking too much.”
Christophe eased forward and turned. Once their eyes locked, Koi took a breath and bowed to press the side of his head to Christophe’s chest. Christophe’s heart beat slowly at first then quickened a little more. Koi didn’t move until Christophe took the sides of his head and kissed the top of it.
Lifting his head, he stared into Christophe’s eyes. Silence fell around them, causing the tick-tock of the clock to echo around them. He could see fear in Christophe’s eyes, but each time Koi caressed a gentle finger against his dark cheeks, that trepidation disappeared and in its place was a lust Koi had never thought a man would look at him with.
In that moment, he couldn’t remember a time he’d felt worthy of desire. Then Christophe smiled at him before leaning in and kissing him. It was a chaste, soft kiss. Koi moaned and allowed Christophe to ease back. In that one brush of Christophe’s mouth, everything was possible and Koi’s body truly felt that.
Koi took a chance, wrapping his arms around Christophe’s body. Slowly, he let his powers lift them, then he turned and positioned their bodies so he could ease Christophe against the floor. Christophe lay back, arms by his sides with his beautiful eyes twinkling with a great promise Koi had craved ever since he knew what being loved by a human could be like.
Though he tried telling himself it couldn’t be love already, he inhaled, smiled down at Christophe and took that moment to slowly strip him. All he wanted was to rip the material from Christophe’s skin, but he remained patient and was rewarded with Christophe’s toned body bare before his eyes. Koi’s mouth went d
ry and he swallowed.
“Wow,” Koi whispered, tracing his fingertips over Christophe.
“Is that a good wow or a bad wow?”
“Spectacular wow,” Koi replied. “You are absolutely very sexy, Christophe Sidler.”
“You know my last name?”
Koi laughed softly. “Of course. I know a lot about you.”
“We’re going to have a conversation about stalking later,” Christophe said.
Koi heard the mirth in his voice and, though he smiled, he focused again on sliding his hands over Christophe. His body was hard where it needed to be, soft where it had to be and hot to the touch.
“It’s so wonderful being touched by you,” Christophe gasped. He arched his body into Koi’s hand.
His nipples tightened beneath Koi’s eyes.
All thoughts of controlling himself left Koi. The heat in the air didn’t help the situation either. In that space, for whatever amount of time he had, all Koi could do was let himself fall into the warm embrace of this man, this human he had no right craving so desperately.
Koi knelt over Christophe, then kissed a path down his body, between his pecs and stopped to twirl his tongue around Christophe’s nipples. They throbbed on his tongue so he pulled them into his mouth and sucked. Christophe clutched at the sides of Koi’s head.
“Koi—yes…”
That was all the encouragement Koi needed. He lavished equal attention on the other bud, grazed it with his teeth, causing Christophe to cry out. Christophe tightened his fingers in Koi’s hair and a low rumble left his chest. It was a sound Koi had never thought he was capable of, but having Christophe pulling his hair just brought it out in him. He was absolutely primal then, his mind soaring high. He fought to suppress his powers, to keep them from rising in the air and floating away.
When he abandoned those spots, it was for something he’d been dreaming of since the first dinner he’d met Christophe again after his mother’s funeral. He came face to face with Christophe’s very lovely, very hard cock and licked his lips.
When Christophe pushed to his elbow to look down at him, Koi felt the overwhelming urge to be naughty, to do things to this man’s beautiful body that had to be illegal somewhere. He smiled, licked his lips and, with their eyes locked, he opened his mouth wide and went down on Christophe’s dick. Hot, tangy pre-cum slid against Koi’s tongue then down to the back of his throat. He moaned as if he was in heat, braced his palms on either side of Christophe’s body and bopped up and down to his heart’s content.
“Baby,” Christophe whimpered. He drove his hips forward then clutched at the back of Koi’s head to hold him in place. “Damn, you’re so good at this.”
Koi gagged slightly, but that didn’t last long. He breathed through his nose then used his throat to squeeze Christophe until Christophe cried out and released him.
“That is how you like it, Christophe?” Koi whispered, sucking in air. “You like being at the back of my throat, as deep as you can go?”
Christophe moaned something and Koi tapped Christophe’s tight nipple.
“Damn!” Christophe arched upward, tossing his head back. “That felt good.”
Koi smiled and while pinching Christophe’s right nipple, he bowed his head to suck on the head of his lover’s dick.
Christophe dug his fingers into the hardwood beneath him, feeling his nails break, but he didn’t care. The fire that surged through him was better than any he’d felt with another man. The mixture of hot and cold against his dick from Koi’s mouth pulled rumblings from Christophe’s chest and left him writhing, panting and shouting with pleasure.
“Koi…” Christophe sighed, desperate to sit up and pulled Koi into him. “I need…”
“That’s it, baby.” Koi lifted his head, but used a saliva-covered finger to find Christophe’s hole. “Tell me what you want.”
Before Christophe could speak, Koi sank the finger in. Christophe could feel his eyes roll to the back of his head as he drove his hips down, taking it deeper. “Oh…”
“That’s not exactly what I meant,” Koi teased. “Do you like this?”
Christophe was delirious, so he nodded.
Koi withdrew the finger. “No. Tell me. Speak.”
“I can’t… I need to be fucked,” he panted. “Either stick your cock in or put the finger back.”
“Say please.”
Christophe did feel as if he could scream then. He clawed at Koi’s shoulders, trying to drag his hands down so he could pull Koi’s finger back where he so desperately needed it. But Koi was strong and kept getting away.
“Koi! Fuck me!” he demanded.
Koi merely smirked at him and moved away. He watched as Koi stripped down to sit and stroke himself. Christophe licked his lips, watching that hard cock swell and pulse beautifully before his eyes.
“You’re being stubborn, Christophe,” Koi spoke softly. “I am going to let you imagine what this dick could do to you. Close your eyes.”
But how could he? How could Christophe not look at it? Instead of doing what Koi instructed, Christophe reached for his own hole and tried fingering himself. But Koi was fast. He lurched forward and restrained Christophe against the floor.
“I did not give you permission to touch yourself. You want my dick, correct?”
“Yes.”
“Then all you have to say is one simple word—”
“Please!”
“That’s a good boy.”
Christophe gasped as Koi picked him up and laid him on the bed.
“Roll over. Get on your knees for me.”
Christophe expected the perfectly rounded head of Koi’s cock to invade his body in all the right ways. He expected to be fucked thoroughly and left on the bed writhing in sweet aftershocks of Koi’s storming. But all he got was a tongue, a hot, wet tongue lashing against his hole. That was equally exhilarating. He moaned and pressed his face into the bed.
Koi lapped at him, tonguing him deeply only to pull back and blow against the hole. The cold sent Christophe’s head surging upward.
“Shit!” he cried out. “Please! You have to fuck me, please!”
The rigid head of Koi’s member found his entrance.
“As you wish!”
Koi pushed in and, though Christophe bit down into his lip, the shout of pure, raw bliss he felt couldn’t be silenced. He purred, pressing the side of his face into the bed and arching his ass even higher for Koi’s plunder. He panted, shoulders rising and falling rapidly, and every part of his body that could stand on end did.
Koi reached around to caress his cheek, but Christophe caught the hand and stuck one of Koi’s fingers into his mouth. He sucked on it, pulling it deeply into his mouth as he wanted to do with Koi’s dick.
“Christophe!” Koi’s voice was raspy, strained. “You are so…so good…”
He released the finger and Koi dragged the saliva-covered digit against Christophe’s flesh.
“I’m gonna… Let me…” Christophe’s words became nonsensical to his own brain. He was thrashing against the bed, rolling his hips violently backward into Koi’s body. “I’m gonna…”
Koi wrenched away and turned Christophe onto his back. The Shiver backed up, watching Christophe. He’d been so close to climaxing that when Koi stopped fucking him, all Christophe could do was writhe around on the bed, eyes wide and locked with the intense gray of Koi’s. Every exhalation sent electricity charging through him.
“Koi! Shit!”
His lover reached in and hiked Christophe’s legs wide and in the air. Christophe took Koi’s dick again, except this time their eyes locked as Koi rode him hard and fast. Reaching up, he took both Koi’s nipples between his fingers and pulled and twisted them. A loud rumble sounded like the building was shaking.
There was a loud creak but even after the bed snapped and fell to the floor, Koi continued his pace. Christophe shook his head against the bed, wrapping his hands around his arousal and tugging.
“Are you re
ady, baby?” Koi asked.
“Oh, yes!”
“Good. Now come for me.”
Christophe arched his chest upward, sliding his pre-cum-covered hands over his cock, even as Koi drilled him hard. Suddenly the pressure that had been building, rising from the very earth around them, fired. It crackled around them, igniting something deep inside him. His dick twitched powerfully in his palm and he let go in time for hot cum to splash against his abs.
He couldn’t keep Koi’s eye contact anymore. The pleasure pulsing through him was too much. Lurching upward, he wrapped his arms around Koi’s neck and sank his teeth into Koi’s shoulder. The Shiver growled, a primal sound that caused Christophe to climax harder, longer.
Koi had his orgasm then, pulling out of Christophe’s body and exploding between his legs. Christophe held on to his lover, feeling Koi’s body tremble. He accepted Koi’s kisses against his shoulder, his neck, his face before offering up his lips. Christophe moaned and cuddled into Koi on the soiled bed.
He had to have been dreaming. There was no way making love to someone could feel as mind-blowing as it had with Koi.
“I’m dreaming,” Christophe whispered. “I have to be dreaming.”
Chapter Fourteen
It took everything within him to climb out of bed and leave Koi lying there. For a moment, he stood and stared down at the body of the man he’d been hankering over for so long. Koi’s body was covered in tattoos, swirls that resembled dark winds. Against his right arm was a tattoo of what looked to be a rather intricate sun with more than the usual number of rays. They must have been painful for him, but Christophe figured they all meant something. The tattoos were perfect over Koi’s tight muscles.
Christophe trailed his eyes across Koi’s shoulders to his chest then to the soft hair that adorned Koi’s chest. Christophe remembered how wonderful that hair had felt against his nipples, against his back and down his abs.
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