The thought of doing things at her leisure again seduced her into relying on a man for support, and that never seemed right to her. At the same time Tyr seemed happy taking care of her, but what if he wasn’t around anymore? What if something happened to him? She supposed it didn’t matter. Scarlet wouldn’t want to live if he was gone, but what would happen if she died?
When they were created, there wasn’t a manual. She just knew they had to protect the seals. She’d developed her own thoughts, goals, and intentions. When Tyr came into her life, she was happy to have finally found someone to take her mind off the waiting. Scarlet didn’t necessarily care for the human race, nor did she want to lose herself to a nothingness that would consume the world. Her options—if they could be called that—were slim. She rolled over and pushed Tyr hard.
His eyes popped open and fixed on her. “You’re not bleeding.”
She smiled as he woke up the same way she did...grumpy. “No,” she said before scooting under his arm more so she was face level to kiss him. Scarlet wrapped her arms under and around his neck holding on tight as she kissed him with everything she could muster.
When they both finally drew breath, he broke the silence only previously pervaded with their panting. “I like waking this way, please do it more often.”
Tyr slept naked, and his erection pressed against her under the covers. She swallowed all the fear and the reasons she should say no before kissing him again. He growled in her mouth. She melted her body against his so every part of her molded to him.
He pulled away and spoke, his warm breath fanning her lips. “Are you sure? Because if you make me stop this time, I think it will be classified as cruel and unusual punishment.”
She laughed against his mouth. “If you stop, I’ll kick your ass.”
“That’s my girl.” He rolled her over and settled between her open thighs as he propped himself on his elbows on either side of her upper body. His weight, so familiar, and yet so foreign, comforted her. She arched her hips up into him trying to get him to move faster. He smiled and gazed down at her as if savoring the moment.
“Will you stop staring at me and fuck me?”
Tyr laughed and slipped his hand between them, delving into her folds. “You are so wet already.” He moaned against her mouth and pulled his fingers away. She felt the gentle prod of the head of his cock at her opening. As he entered her slowly, she held her breath until he was fully seated inside her. When she exhaled, the sensations washed over her. She swallowed a moan. The man knew how to touch her, even when all he did was breath against her neck or whisper a carefully chosen word in her ear. He destroyed her composure with no effort at all.
When she realized he wasn’t moving all she wanted was to squirm beneath him. Make him give her what she wanted. It was a game they’d often played, and she didn’t want to lose her first time back in the saddle, so to speak.
When he leaned down and bit her ear, she lost control bucking up against him with a moan. Her ears were a direct connection to her sex. All he had to do was breathe on them, and she would be lost. The bite, however, sent her hurtling toward orgasm.
“Stop,” she said, trying to decide if she meant it or not.
He read her mind and did it again. He didn’t even need to fuck her, he could sit inside her and caress her ears with his lips, teeth, and tongue. She would orgasm in minute.
“I don’t want to finish so fast,” she said. He nodded relinquishing his attention to her earlobes.
After what felt like a lifetime, he withdrew his hips and reentered her. A carefully controlled glide that sent every nerve ending sparking toward ecstasy. This was home. This was paradise. In this moment, in Tyr’s arms, Scarlet was whole and everything she ever needed to be, both for him and for herself.
He moved in earnest, and she wrapped her hands around to cup his ass as he shifted his weight up onto his knees so he could watch as he entered her. The covers had slipped away, the pillows askew. They lay in the bed of lovers, and she couldn’t have been happier, even at five a.m.
They perfected this position long ago since it was difficult for him to maneuver her hips with one hand. He slumped slightly and draped her legs over his shoulders. She used them for leverage.
Scarlet loved to watch him as he fucked her. He got an intense look in his eyes and his brow furrowed as if in deep concentration. She loved the way he bit his lip to keep from crying out. On the rare occasion he did cry out, it felt like she’d won a victory, winning a game against a master.
His arms caressed the outsides of her thighs, and she closed her eyes as he moved inside her. He drew her from spiraling into her own mind by scoring her thigh just below her hip with this nails.
“Focus,” he warned.
She laughed squirming forward against him. They both inhaled sharply at the change in sensation, and he gripped her leg surging up with his hips. It drew her waist off the bed, but the sensations that rocketed through her could only be called paradise.
Magic lived in these small moments. The feeling of him touching her, his scent wafting from her skin before she stepped into the shower. Small innocuous moments that held a much greater meaning, humans and gods alike seemed to forget.
He drew her from her own mind by pinching her nipple lightly before resuming his grip in her thigh. Tyr wanted her undivided attention. He bit his lip as he surged into her harder, and she knew he would come soon. She wanted to be right there with him. Scarlet reached down and twirled a finger around her swollen clit enjoying the way his eyes rounded as he inhaled deeply. A few swipes of her finger had amped her up to his level.
“Are you close?” she asked twirling her fingers faster. He nodded, his eyes fixed on the movement of her fingers.
“Good, because I’m about to come.”
He groaned and cursed in old Norse “Skkkkitttaa.”
Tyr threw her head first over the edge to her own orgasm with strong thrusts as he came inside her. Scarlet stopped touching herself and held her hand over her clit as she rode the wave of ecstasy. Her legs shook, and she removed them from his shoulders as he collapsed across her chest, crushing the breath from her.
“You have to move.” She groaned, his full weight proved too much to bear.
He rolled off her, pulling out of her body sideways. She twinged at the sensation but quickly forgot it as she cuddled up in the crook of his arm. A place meant to cradle a woman’s head after lovemaking.
No, not a woman’s head after lovemaking. It was the place for her head alone.
Chapter Twelve
DINNERTIME ARRIVED ALL TOO fast. Tyr would have been content to spend days getting to know Scarlet again in every way, but she’d insisted. So he put on a suit, and they headed to Cloris’ house.
The woman lived in a high security building on the Upper East Side. Tyr felt the doorman’s stare as he escorted Scarlet to the elevator and up to the penthouse. Cloris opened the door with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.
“Come in,” she said, stepping aside so they could enter.
Tyr gave her a short bow, and they squeezed past into a foyer, if apartments had foyers. Somehow Cloris’ did. Marble columns lined the room and opened up to the living area. She had to own the entire floor. It made sense Death would be rich.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been here,” Scarlet whispered as he removed her coat. She wore a black dress that molded to her muscular frame and dipped low in the back. He wanted to strip it from her body, but he doubted her friends would appreciate the action so he resisted the primal urge. As beautiful as Cloris’ home was, it didn’t compare to a few more hours spent in bed with his wife.
Tyr gave their coats to a middle aged man standing to the side. The lines around Scarlet’s eyes tightened, and he knew she felt out of place. He rested his hand on her waist and led her into the living room where everyone else sat dressed in suits and similar black ensemble, except Bianca who wore a blood-red jumpsuit and black stiletto heels with a matching red so
le. She looked every bit the femme fatale if there were such a thing as seventeen-year-old minxes.
He bowed to the ladies and tipped an imaginary hat to Hades who stood off in the corner. Tyr sat on the end of a snow-white couch with his arm tucked around Scarlet.
“How often do you do this?” he asked the group of ladies.
Bianca answered. “Never. This is the first time.”
Cloris entered the room with the rhythmic tapping of high heels and smiled at the collective. She was dressed in what Tyr might have allocated as business attire, but the way it hugged her hips and breasts oozed sex appeal. This collection of ladies was attractive he realized, and each had their own way of being sexy. He hugged his wife close and kissed her head before turning back to their hostess.
Cloris stood before them looking regal as ever. “I’m so happy you all were able to make it tonight.”
Scarlet spoke up. “I believe we weren’t given a choice.”
Cloris glared at Bianca. “You always have a choice, my love.”
Scarlet pursed her lips, and Tyr tightened his arm around her. For a group of people she’d left her entire life behind to join, they didn’t seem that close. A palpable tension hung in the air.
“What is it?” Tyr asked. “Something has you all on edge. I can feel it.”
Cloris looked down at her clasped hands and then up at Hades. She rocked slightly and looked up the ceiling.
Scarlet straightened in his arms. This mustn’t be normal behavior for Cloris. “She never fidgets,” Scarlet whispered against his neck.
“It was decided—"Cloris cast a glare toward Hades this time"—that we need to be more transparent in our lives.”
They all sat in uncomfortable silence while they waited for Cloris to elaborate.
She continued. “I wanted you all to know that yes, Hades is my seal, the one I am to protect until the end of days, but we are also business partners. We started a business three years ago. It has grown exponentially in revenue and is world renown. Hence, my apartment.”
“And what business is that?” Kat asked.
“We run one of the most exclusive sex clubs in New York City,” Hades said turning toward the group, his arms crossed over his chest.
Kat continued her line of questioning. “How did you come up with that idea, and is that even legal?”
Cloris slipped her heels off and plopped into the couch. “Yes, it is legal as all the members are screened, vetted, and consenting.”
Scarlet shifted out of his arms to face the women. “You and Hades run a sex club? Really? Why did you think that would be some big secret?”
“You didn’t know,” Cloris pointed out.
Scarlet tensed. “No, we didn’t know, but it isn’t like we care. We didn’t need all this fanfare. You could have told us sitting at the café, and you would have gotten the same reaction.”
Bianca laughed. “You’re just unhappy you had to leave the honeymoon bed. You’re finally getting laid again.”
Scarlet blushed, and Tyr chuckled. “We are married. Nothing wrong with that.”
Bianca stood and approached him. She leaned down and put her face only inches from his. “No, nothing wrong at all, Justice.” She tilted her head to the side and stared into his eyes. He was more than creeped out, but he remained still as she continued.
“You will hurt her before it is done. Before you can be happy, before she can be happy. You will hurt her more than any other.” Bianca stumbled back and landed on Cloris’ coffee table. They all stared at her with equally surprised expressions.
“What the hell was that?” Scarlet demanded.
Bianca shook her head and held up her hands. “I don’t know. I never remember it.”
“Of course not, seer,” Tyr said as the anger boiled in his blood. “You can bring down the world with a few words and then be immune to the consequences.”
Bianca was angry too. He could see her pulse beating hard in her slender neck. “I didn’t ask for this curse. It came with my seal, and I only read for my friends and family. If you can’t handle your own consequences, then that’s not my fault.”
Tyr opened his mouth to hurl more words at her. Scarlet gripped his arm tight, and he stopped speaking. Apparently this was a touchy subject with them all.
“How old are you?” he asked Bianca.
“I’m the same age as your dear wife.”
“Then why do you look like a child?”
Her blood red lips curled up in a sneer. “I look the age I was made, or perhaps I sold my soul to Hades to retain perpetual youth.”
Tyr didn’t know if he should take her seriously or if she joked. “What else do I need to know about you all?” he asked, louder so the entire room could hear. “It would seem there are a great many secrets here that I might need to know.”
“We don’t share our secrets with a stranger lightly,” Cloris said fixing him with her intent gaze. He could already tell Cloris didn’t like her people to be questioned or upset. At some point she’d become the leader of their little merry band and took that title seriously.
“You’re Scarlet’s beloved and therefore family, but it will take some time to get to know us, and us, you,” Cloris added.
He nodded and cast his gaze to Bianca who sat with her head bent down between her knees.
“It always takes her a little time afterward,” Scarlet said.
Hades left the room and returned with a glass of wine for her. He handed it over making sure his skin didn’t come into contact with hers. He must have been at the receiving end of one her little episodes as well, or maybe thought not to be.
Bianca put the glass to her lips and tipped it back taking the entire thing in one long gulp. When she finished, she noticed the shock on Tyr’s face. “What? I have no gag reflex.”
“So,” Cloris interrupted. “Anyone hungry. I think Char has served dinner.”
She stood from the couch and led them into the dining room that seemed even more formal than her living room. Hades sat at one end of the table, Cloris the other. Everyone else filled the middle. Kat and Bianca on one side, and Tyr and Scarlet opposite.
“What are we having?” Scarlet asked waiting for the butler to place a plate before her.
“Nothing fancy,” Cloris said.
That was an understatement. The plate before Tyr was heaped high with beef and noodles smothering a mountain of mashed potatoes.
He looked at his hostess. “I expected something else. This looks delicious though.”
Cloris smiled digging her fork into her own meal. “Thank you. I was in the mood for some comfort food.”
Tyr didn’t need to be told twice and dug in. The seasoning of the beef paired perfectly with the al dente noodles and the soft mashed potatoes. After a moment of shifting so he didn’t get his hand in the food, he laughed, put down the fork, and shrugged out of his suit jacket and then loosened his tie. Even though they were dressed up, all the woman had removed their heels and made themselves more comfortable.
The mood of the party shifted dramatically. While everyone had been uptight and tension-filled when they’d arrived, the atmosphere had become more comfortable. Tyr noticed the friends Scarlet had, and he reached down to squeeze her hand under the table. She smiled and squeezed it back while listening to Bianca tell a joke. The sound of a knife against a champagne glass interrupted the mixed chatter. Hades stood at the end of the table, and Char handed out champagne flutes.
“I would like to take a moment to apologize for my behavior the last time we were together. It is very apparent to me that you all gave up your lives and destinies. I may well be dead now if you had not. I know I’m a secretive bastard, but that stems from a life hidden away.” His gaze held Cloris’, “I appreciate you.” He looked around. “I appreciate you all.”
They all held their glasses up before clinking with the nearest people. Tyr caught Scarlet’s gaze and then took a sip of the bubbling liquid. It was dry, almost bitter, but Tyr didn’t mind. H
is eyes remained on his wife, and she truly looked happy. He wanted to pull her into his lap and kiss her senseless. Instead he turned to Cloris to distract himself. “So when do we get to see this club of yours?”
In her surprise she sprayed champagne from her mouth on to the table."You want to see it?” she asked, before wiping her lips, face, and the table around her.
“Why not? I like sex. Scarlet likes sex. I can’t speak for the others.”
Bianca chimed in from the other side of the table. “I like sex.”
“Are you even old enough?” Tyr ribbed.
She laughed. “I have been old enough for at least a thousand years.
He bowed his head in defeat. “Touché.”
“They want to see it,” Hades remarked, his gaze fixed on Cloris. She nodded.
“What’s the big deal?” Kat asked.
“It’s fine with me,” Cloris said.
Hades laughed. They all stared at him openly. Tyr even reacted to it, and he had never been attracted to men. Hades’ laugh caused things to tighten in his lower regions. The only one who seemed unaffected was Cloris.
“For dessert then,” Hades said grabbing his suit jacket off the back of his chair and buttoning it.
Tyr followed suit as the ladies found their heels and Char handed out coats.
“We can take my car,” Cloris said as Char left presumably to get said vehicle. When they hit the curb, a black limo sat idling.
“I feel like this is what prom would be like,” Bianca said as she climbed in first. “Oh booze!” They heard her yell from the inside as they all climbed in after her.
The inside was comfortable with soft fabrics and leather. A mini bar sat on the far side, and they all helped themselves to more champagne. The ride was relatively fast, only about twenty minutes in traffic. As they all filed out, Tyr looked around. They stood in an alley barely wide enough for the limo with a red door off to the side. A light shone above the door highlighting a doorbell.
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