“I want you.” Her hands captured his face, and her pussy clenched around the head of his cock. She pressed her lips to his. “I want only you. Take me. Fuck me. Make me yours, dios. I want it. I need it. Ah god, I need you.”
Her mouth closed over his. And as her tongue stroked his, he pulled her down against him and pushed all the way inside her tight, slick heat.
They both groaned as she stretched around him. She gasped when he bottomed out, when her hips were flush with his, when that first shock of pleasure-pain hit her. He held still, letting her adjust, but as her pussy quivered around his throbbing cock, as every muscle in her body tensed against him, he knew she was seconds away from detonating.
“Oh fuck,” she breathed over his lips. “You made me so hot, I… If you move at all, I-I’ll come.”
Heat surged in his veins. “Then come.” He kissed her and pushed his knees even wider. “I want to feel you explode around me several times before I’m done.”
He drew his hips back then shoved in deep. And was rewarded with a scream that was like music to his ears while her body clenched and quaked around him.
Feeling her orgasm, knowing the pleasure was claiming her made his blood sing. He eased back, thrust in even harder, holding her tight so she couldn’t move, not slowing as he fucked into her. The orgasm ebbed, but he didn’t stop. He drove her right up through a second blinding climax that pushed his own arousal even higher.
After what felt like an eternity, she finally sagged against him, sweaty and limp, her warm breath tickling his lips. But he didn’t slow down. Couldn’t because it wasn’t enough. It was never enough with her.
“Again.” He swept his tongue into her mouth, tasting her passion. “I want to feel you come again.”
She tightened her arms around his shoulders. “I can’t.”
“You can.” He captured her mouth, then dropped his hand from the back of her head and slid it between them. “If you can still walk, I haven’t done my job here.”
“Oh god…” She shivered and pulled back from his lips with a groan.
He loosened his hold so she could grind against his thumb, loving the way her nipples abraded his chest. The way the barbells tickled his skin and sent electrical shocks all through his flesh.
Her pussy grew wetter, tighter. Her fingernails dug into his shoulders as she held on and rode faster. And as she kissed him and groaned into his mouth, he could feel her pleasure rising once more. Knew she was seconds away from igniting. Knew she was moments away from taking him with her.
“Come for me, mono mia,” he whispered against her lips, watching her face. “Come all around me. I want to feel your pleasure. I want to feel all of it.”
The third orgasm struck her like a swift punch. She sucked in a breath, her sheath growing so tight, his vision turned dark at the edges. He felt his release streaking down his spine but he ground his teeth and kept thrusting, not ready to let go yet. Not until he had all of her.
“Oh… fuck…” Her climax caused her entire body to convulse. And the force was so strong, it sent tremors of pleasure straight into him. But it still wasn’t enough.
She slumped against him again, this time mumbling incoherent words. Every inch of her skin was covered in sweat, her limbs barely working. Dropping her on the mattress, he pulled free of her tempting pussy, then flipped her to her stomach.
“On your knees.” He pulled her hips up. “Yes, lower to your forearms, just like that. Now it’s my turn.”
He grasped his cock and slid the head along her wetness, teasing her clit again and again. She turned her cheek against the mattress and pushed back into him, moaning low in her throat. He wouldn’t be able to last through another of her blistering orgasms, so he knew this one had to be good. It had to be better than all the others he’d given her. He wanted her to remember it long after this night was over.
“Ah, mono mia. You’re so wet, so tight. So perfect. I can’t wait any longer. I have to fuck you now, hard. I won’t be gentle.”
“Do it.” She braced her hand on the sheet beside her head and pushed her hips back again, desperate for his cock. “Fuck me. I want it. I want all of you.”
He pressed against her snug, slick entrance then let his hands glide along her sexy spine and into her hair. Her desperate words, her body trying to suck him in deep, the way she’d completely surrendered herself to all his wants and needs was too much. Too hot. Too intense.
Wrapping a hand in her silky locks, he said, “Don’t hold back. Come as soon as you want. As often as you can. I need to feel it all.”
“Oh yes…”
He gripped her hair in his fist, then shoved in so deep she jerked and cried out. Her tight little pussy clenched all around him with what he knew was another small eruption, but he was too far gone to stop or slow down. Her drew back, plunged deep, grunted with every thrust because she was squeezing him so hard he knew he was seconds away from shattering.
Pleasure raced along his nerve endings. Every cry from her lips forced his need higher, drove him harder. He hammered into her, deeper each time, grunting again and again as she trembled and her pussy massaged his throbbing cock. Slipping an arm under her, he lifted so they were both upright with her spine plastered to his chest and his lips at her ear.
“One more time,” he whispered, his forearm between her luscious breasts, his hand closing around her throat. “I need to feel you come one more time.” He dropped his other hand between her legs, found her clit, and strummed in time with his thrusts. “Come for me, mono mia. Come all around me. Squeeze me so hard when you go.”
“Fuck, fuck, fuck… Yes, yes, oh yes…”
Her head fell back against his shoulder. She relaxed into him. And as he kissed her cheek, her jaw, as he turned her beautiful face his way and feathered kisses to her mouth, he felt her last orgasm tear through her. This one more powerful than all the rest. So violent it exploded from her body into his and triggered an eruption in his balls that overtook everything.
Her slick pussy convulsed around his throbbing shaft as she continued to cry out. Shoving in as far as he could get, he tightened his hold on her, grunting and jerking as blinding pleasure rocketed through every cell and erupted from his cock in a mind-numbing explosion that was so intense, so passionate, he finally knew the true meaning of ecstasy.
Breathing hard, he opened his eyes and realized he was face-down on the mattress with her pinned beneath him. He tried to move, but his brain wasn’t working right, and his limbs seemed to be dead.
“Oh my… Wow. That was…” She shifted, and he tried to roll to his side to give her space, but he didn’t get far. Facing him, she tugged him into her and pressed a gentle kiss to his nose. “You’re not going anywhere.”
As if he could.
All he heard was satisfaction in her voice, a sound that sent a shiver down his spine and made him ache to feel her everywhere. All over again.
She snuggled into his chest, as if she’d always been there. And as he wrapped his arms around her, he breathed in a deep whiff of her intoxicating scent, letting the familiar notes fill his lungs, drawing it deep into his soul to give him strength.
His eyes slid closed. He held her to him. Just tried to be what she’d said—hers—even as he fought that ache deep inside because he knew he wouldn’t be hers for long.
“You’re trembling,” she whispered.
“I’m fine,” he lied. “Just cold.”
She stilled against him. Didn’t respond. But he felt her heart rate kick up. And he knew he wasn’t fooling her. Not completely. His mono mia was too smart for that. Too smart for him.
He let go of her with one arm and reached for the comforter at their feet. “This will help.”
Doubt flashed in her eyes as he tugged the blanket up to his chest and wrapped it around her. Before he could pull her close again and convince her of his lie, she pushed him to his back and straddled his hips.
“I have a better way to heat you up.”
; His stomach tightened as she pressed a kiss to the center of his chest, one that reignited those tingles all through his flesh. She glanced up with a wicked gleam in her eyes. One he’d seen before. One that sent blood rushing straight into his cock and made him rock-hard all over again.
“You just lie there and focus on being warm.” A sexy smile tugged at her lips as she grasped the blanket at her back, tugged it up over her head, and lowered her lips to his chest again, working wet, sinful kisses straight down his abdomen as she scooted back. “You’re going to be so hot by the time I’m done with you. A roiling, bubbling, sizzling mess of a god on the verge of exploding. And when I have you completely at my mercy, do you know what I’m going to do with you then, dios?”
With his fingers in her hair, his body already sizzling because of her sultry words and decadent lips, he looked down and met her eyes.
Eyes that had the power to change everything for him, and already had. Eyes that were going to linger in his mind—and his heart—long after this night was through. “What?”
“Anything I want. Because you’re mine. All and only mine.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Talisa sat up and looked down at Zagreus asleep on his side against her.
The candles had burned down to virtually nothing, and only a few flickering flames remained, leaving the lookout dark and still, but she could easily see him. Moonlight shone through the wide windows to highlight his dark hair against the white pillow, his thick lashes feathering the soft skin beneath his eyes, and the long, lean muscles in his arms and chest that could have been sculpted from clay.
She should be thoroughly exhausted—he’d worn her out with his delicious lovemaking—but she wasn’t. She hadn’t slept a minute, not even after he’d rolled into her, pulled her close, and drifted off. Hadn’t because she knew he was holding something back. The same something she’d sensed had kept him away from her all day when she’d only wanted him.
Rising quietly so she wouldn’t wake him, she grasped the soft throw from the foot of the bed and wrapped it around her. After crossing the room, she leaned against the stone wall near the middle arch and gazed out at the falling water that dropped into the dark lake far below, the village lights dotting the lakeshore, and finally the castle torches, burning brightly, even at this hour.
She thought of the nymphs asleep in the village. The silens. Nyssa and Rhen in the castle. Her parents, and the rest of the Argonauts. About what lurked beyond their borders, just waiting to strike in the dark. All because of her.
Zagreus’s arms closed around her from behind, startling her. “You’re supposed to be sleeping.”
“I know.” She wrapped her fingers around his forearms, relieved at the way he closed in at her back and pressed a gentle kiss to her throat, thankful that it warmed the chill growing inside.
He exhaled a long breath, pressed his face into her hair, and just held her.
And though she loved this, though she never wanted him to let go, fear slithered through her chest because she sensed—again—that he was holding back.
“Tell me,” she finally whispered, unable to stand it any longer.
He didn’t answer. Just tightened his arms around her and held her even closer.
Silence stretched between them. A silence that caused all the shocks of the last day to tumble through her mind.
His disappearance. Returning with the Argonauts. Her parents’ arrival. Her father not seeming the least bit concerned that she wouldn’t listen and go home. The way Zagreus had looked at her tonight. The way he’d touched her. The regret she’d seen lingering in his eyes when they’d made love that last time, which she’d told herself she’d misread…
Her throat grew thick, her chest tight. Panic pushed in because she knew now that she hadn’t misread him.
“Zagreus…” Her voice shook, but she didn’t care. Whatever he was holding back concerned her, and she deserved to know it, too.
She tried to turn, but he held her tighter, keeping her facing away from him. Then he pressed his forehead against her temple where she couldn’t see his face.
“I need you to do something for me.”
His voice was low. Rough. Filled with so much tortured emotion, it tugged at something deep in her soul.
“If things go bad in this battle,” he said quietly, “if Pandora conjures something we can’t defeat… I need you to promise you’ll open a portal and go home.”
“No.” Shock reverberated through her, and she turned her head as much as she could. “I told you I’m not leaving you, and I’m not.”
“Talisa, I need you to listen to me. I can survive anything. I’m immortal. But I can’t…” His arms tightened once more, and in that same pained voice that threatened to break her, he whispered, “I can’t watch you die. Not this time.”
Her heart raced, because just the fact he was thinking it meant he wasn’t entirely sure they could win this battle, even with the Argonauts.
“Then let’s leave.” She managed to shift in his arms. “Let’s go before they get here. You and me. If we’re not here, she can’t hurt either of us.”
His eyes were filled with so much agony when they met hers, something in her heart felt as if it cracked open wide. “We can’t.”
“Yes, we can.” She pressed her hands against his chest, desperate to convince him. “We just need to get dressed and go—”
“We can’t.” He gripped her hands firmly at his chest. “You know why we can’t.”
His gaze drifted over her shoulder toward the window she’d just been gazing out through. Toward the castle far below.
Her eyes slid closed. The nymphs. The silens. This place that had become a home she’d never expected. He wouldn’t leave them. But she couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened when those satyrs had attacked. The choice he’d made.
“I won’t leave you,” she whispered. “I can’t… lose you like that.”
“You won’t.” He wrapped one strong arm around her waist and pulled her against him, holding her tight with a hand at the back of her head. “You won’t lose me like that,” he said into her hair. “I promise. I won’t give up.”
“But—”
“Listen to me, Talisa. I can survive anything so long as I know you’re alive. But if you die… If you die, it will destroy me, and I’ll be lost. The darkness will take me for good, and I’ll be just another weapon for Hades to wield. I can’t—we can’t let that happen. You were right about me. I’m not a monster—not yet at least—but I will be if you die. I’ve done terrible things in my life, hurt people who didn’t deserve it, and I justified my actions because I was in pain. But I don’t want to do those things anymore. I don’t want to be the villain in this story any longer. I want to do the right thing. I want to truly be yours, in every single way.”
“You are mine.” Tears slid down her cheeks as she pushed to her toes and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “You’re all mine.” She sniffled and held him closer. “And you aren’t the villain. Do you hear me? You changed all that before you even met me.”
His lips curled against her throat. “Maybe I tried. But I didn’t truly believe I could until you. You think your greatest gift is your strength, but you’re wrong. It’s your compassion. The same compassion you showed me and everyone in this kingdom, and I won’t let anyone take that from this world.”
He tightened his arms around her. “Promise me you’ll leave if things go wrong. Please say you’ll go.”
The words hovered on her lips. Words she knew made sense. But she still felt he was keeping something from her. Something, she suddenly feared, that had the power to tear them apart for good.
He squeezed her tighter. “Promise me.”
Her lungs contracted. But there was so much insistence in his voice, she heard herself squeak, “I… I promise,” before she even realized the words were out.
He relaxed against her, kissed her temple, then her cheek, lifted both hands to her face and tipped
her mouth up to his so he could claim her in a toe-curling kiss she felt everywhere.
And as he dragged her back to bed and whispered reassurances while he pulled the blanket from her shoulders then pressed her into the mattress, she closed her arms around him and told herself she could stop whatever he was afraid might happen.
They had the Argonauts. They had Nick. Two gods and the greatest warriors in all of history could defeat anything Pandora could conjure with her silly box.
They had to. Because contrary to what she’d promised, she wasn’t leaving him.
Not now. Not ever.
“Talisa, wake up.”
Talisa startled at the hand shaking her. Gripping the sheet at her chest, she sat up, pushed the hair out of her sleepy eyes, and looked toward Zagreus sitting beside her, already dressed and tugging on his boots. “What’s happened?”
“They’re here.” He rose and crossed to grab her clothes, folded on a small table across the room where she’d left them.
Her gaze darted to the tall arched windows. It was still dark outside, but lights burned all through the village and the castle far below.
Her heart rate shot up. She’d known they were coming, but she hadn’t expected it to be this soon.
Tossing back the covers, she rose and quickly dressed in the garments Zagreus brought her. As she sat on the bed and tugged on her boots, she said, “My weapons are at the castle.”
“We’ll stop there.”
She nodded, rose, and moved to step past him for the stairs, but he caught her arm and drew her to a halt.
His dark eyes were as demanding as she’d ever seen them, and even though he didn’t speak a single word, she knew what he was thinking. Because behind all that insistence she saw fear. The kind of fear someone like him should never feel.
She moved into him and pressed her cheek against his chest, fighting the dread building inside her. As his arms closed around her like steel bands, she whispered, “We’ll be back here together. This isn’t the end. Not for us.”
Wicked Page 32
