Athena's Daughter

by Juli Page Morgan

  “No, keep touching me there,” he urged, his voice breathless. “I like that.”

  “My hands are cold.”

  His laugh was more like a low, throaty growl. “I know.”

  Athena put her palms back over his nipples and traced circles with her hands over his skin. A soft, quick moan brought her gaze back to his face. His eyes were closed and his head was cocked to one side, soft dark hair spilling onto his shoulder. Emboldened, she used her thumbs to tease his sensitive flesh, and was rewarded by another louder moan as his head fell back, bringing the tempting lines of his neck into full view.

  With a quick, indrawn breath of delight, Athena put her lips to that lovely expanse of skin and nibbled her way up to his ear. Her hands explored further, slipping down across his abdomen and over the indentation of his navel. One fingertip traced the light line of hair that ran down to the waistband of his jeans, and Derek’s shudder caused her heart to race with excitement. Still, she didn’t have the courage to take it further, and slid her hands up the smooth planes of his back.

  Derek turned his head and captured her lips with his in a hot, scorching kiss that turned her muscles to molten honey. A rush of cooler air on her back made her aware that Derek was pulling up her shirt, and he broke the kiss long enough to draw it over her head and toss it to one side before resuming his thorough exploration of her mouth.

  So captivated by the feel of his lips and tongue, she didn’t know he’d opened the hook of her bra until the band pulled away from her body. Before she had time to be embarrassed, Derek wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to his chest. His lips left hers to leave a trail of fire along her jaw and neck, and up to her ear.

  “I want you so much, angel.” His soft declaration made her moan in reply, just as he slid her bra from her.

  Athena clamped her eyes shut, and was horrified to feel the slow burn of a blush make its way up her body. Her hands opened and closed into fists at her side while she stood there mortified at the first time a man had seen her bare breasts.

  “Athena.” Derek’s gentle finger under her chin brought her face up to his, and she cracked her eyes open a reluctant slit. His smile was gentle and warm, and some of the tension drained from her shoulders. “You are so incredibly beautiful,” he breathed. “Don’t be ashamed, angel.”

  Those hot blue eyes held hers captive as he slid gentle hands down her body. The touch of his fingers on her breasts made her shudder with a pleasure that made her blush rise higher. His touch continued down her body to her waist, and she jumped as he unsnapped her jeans and lowered the zipper.

  Without breaking eye contact, he moved his hands to his own jeans, opened them and slipped them down over his hips. He seemed to know she needed a moment, and he looked down as he pulled the jeans off his legs and feet.

  At the sight of his body fully revealed, a tingle zapped through her like wildfire. She wanted to be naked with this man, with no reservations. One look at his magnificent erection and she wanted it inside her.

  When Derek looked up at her again, her lips curved into a slow smile. “You’re incredibly beautiful yourself,” she told him.

  A dimple appeared in his left cheek and his look turned scorching. His hands found the waistband of her jeans again, and he pushed them down, holding her by the waist as she shimmied out of them and kicked them aside.

  With a gentle hand on the back of her neck, he urged her down onto the bed beside him, and then wrapped his arms around her to pull her close.

  Athena lay quietly, reveling in the skin-on-skin contact, and breathing in the light scent of sandalwood that seemed to come from his hair and neck. The heat trapped between them burned on her belly, and she squirmed to bring it closer. Her body responded to that hot hardness, opening and aching for it, though she had no idea how to tell him that without dying of humiliation.

  Derek rolled over on his back and cupped her cheek in his palm. “I really want you to touch me. If you want to.” The sight of his teeth in a gentle bite on his lower lip was her undoing.

  “I want to,” she whispered, all thoughts of humiliation vanished. She laid her head on his chest and let her hand trail down his body, tracing the curve of his hip and the lean muscles in his upper thighs. For a moment she hesitated, unsure how to proceed. But her desire to touch him was stronger, and she put her hand on him, gasping at the heat and strength against her palm.

  Derek’s breath released in a long, slow sigh, but Athena could feel a fine tremor under his skin. Again, she was incredulous that her awkward caresses could affect him that way. Growing bolder, she wrapped her fingers around him and let them slide upward. His reaction was immediate, a groan that sounded like it was wrenched from deep in his soul. To Athena’s amazement, the flesh she held moved, twitching and growing. She had no idea it would do that, and that slight movement brought an answering quiver between her legs.

  “Tell me how to do it the way you like it,” she told him.

  “You’re doing just fine, angel. Believe me.” His heart was beating fast under her ear, but she wanted to please him to point where it would pound as hard as hers.

  “I still want you to tell me how you like it.”

  “Well, you could maybe tighten your fingers,” he said in a voice taut with strain.

  “Tighter?” Her fingers gripped him an infinitesimal bit more.

  “More like…” His hand closed over hers and squeezed, providing the right pressure. And now his heart did pound.

  “Mm.” Emboldened by his reaction, she wanted to know more. “Show me what to do now.”

  “This.” He urged her hand into a slow up and down caress along his length. “Just like that,” he groaned.

  Turning him on was the sexiest thing Athena could think of experiencing. Nothing he could do to her would be able to compare to what she felt making him groan, feeling him grow bigger in her hand, or hearing his heart race.

  His hand fell away to clutch the sheet, and Athena continued, improvising a bit. She noticed that every time her fingers got near the tip, it caused Derek to squirm and shudder. Instead of stroking downward again, she lingered there and let her fingers trail in circles around him.

  “Oh, Christ!”

  That impassioned growl spurred her on, and her touch grew bolder. She explored every inch of him, paying special attention to the areas that brought the most reaction. Lost in what she was doing to him, she was surprised when he took her wrist and moved her hand away.

  “You’ll have to stop now, angel.”

  Oh, God. She’d done it wrong. Cheeks flaming, she dropped her eyes. “I’m sorry.”

  “For what?” He raised her face to meet his eyes, bright with desire. “It’s just that you’re doing too well, and I don’t want this to end so soon.”

  Sudden understanding dawned, and her cheeks burned hotter. “Oh. Well, I don’t want it to end soon, either.”

  “Come here.” He pressed soft, fleeting kisses to her lips, and rolled her over onto her back. Sliding his body over hers, he trailed the kisses down to her jaw, her neck and her shoulders.

  Athena held her breath until he reached her breasts, then let it out with a gusty sigh as his warm mouth closed over a nipple. As his lips and tongue did wonderful and amazing things, the fingers of his left hand worked magic on her other breast. Flares of pleasure shot through Athena, quick and bright as shutter flashes. Derek’s ministrations were so much more stimulating than the tuning-a-radio twists from her prom date. She held her breath again, muscles rigid with anticipation.

  “Let go, angel,” Derek murmured against her skin. “Let me feel you come.”

  “I…” She swallowed and closed her eyes. “I haven’t ever…” Overcome with embarrassment at her utter lack of sensuality, she couldn’t go on.

  With one last kiss on the slope of her breast, Derek slid up her body and threaded his hands through her hair. “Ever?” he asked softly.

  Miserable, she shook her head. The frantic fumbling of her high school p
artner had done nothing for her, and even her solitary experimentations hadn’t yielded any pleasure. She came close a time or two, but never was able to bring herself over the edge. Now, with a beautiful man doing wonderful things to her, nerves and the sneaking feeling that, despite his reassurances to the contrary, she was doing everything wrong had her so tense that achieving orgasm seemed impossible.

  Derek spread her hair over the pillow and kissed her forehead. “Then we’ll just have to remedy that, won’t we?”

  “I don’t…”

  “Shh,” interrupted, and put a finger over her lips. “Don’t think, don’t try. Just feel.” The back of his hand stroked her cheek. “Feel my hands touching you.” A warm kiss was pressed on her lips. “Feel my lips on you.” He moved his mouth to her ear and the tip of his tongue traced its outline. “Feel my tongue. Just feel.”

  Lulled by his soft touch and his husky murmurs, Athena relaxed and took a deep breath. His hands and mouth were on her breasts again, and instead of tensing against the flares of pleasure, she let them flow through her. Each gentle flick of his tongue brought an answering quiver deep within her, a quiver that radiated from her core through her body to set her fingertips tingling.

  When his kisses moved lower, her muscles tried to stiffen again, but remembering his instructions, she forced herself to relax. She concentrated on the gentle touch of his hands caressing her hips, and the warmth of his breath against the skin of her inner thighs. One finger slid over her folds, and a different kind of gasp parted her lips. The slow, soft strokes grew firmer and bolder, and Athena couldn’t stop the jerk that lifted her hips from the bed. The finger was instantly replaced by his mouth, and her eyes flew open.

  Had she really thought that nothing could compare to the decadent pleasure she’d gotten from stimulating him with her hand? How wrong could she have been? That feeling was eclipsed completely by what was coursing through her as his lips closed over her. There were no words to describe what her body experienced at the flick of his tongue. She forgot to be shy, and spread her legs wider.

  Her hands rose to clutch the pillow on either side of her thrashing head as she arched her back, searching for some nameless, vital, necessary completion. She found it when Derek’s fingers slid inside her and moved in rhythm with his tongue, and she cried out with a release so intense and so damn good that she pushed back against his fingers to prolong it.

  Delicious little tremors continued to shake her as Derek kissed his way back up her body and smiled down at her.

  “Holy shit,” she panted.

  “I’m not done yet,” he purred, and slipped inside her. Muscles still sensitive and quivering clutched him, and he drew in a quick breath. “Oh, I like that.”

  Her long-awaited release erased any lingering inhibitions, and she wrapped her legs around his lean hips and arched up to push him in further.

  Derek’s eyes sprang wide before he gave her a sweet, wild smile and began to move, whispering her name against her lips.

  *****

  Athena woke to the feel of Derek’s soft kisses on her face and hair. Wrapped in his arms, she listened to the tick of the rain hitting the window over the bed, and was filled with a happiness so intense she almost vibrated with it. The light in the room hadn’t changed much, so she hadn’t slept that long, but she felt as refreshed as if she’d been out for hours.

  Turning her head, she pressed her lips to the hollow of his throat, and thrilled to the feel of his arms tightening around her.

  “I didn’t mean to wake you,” he said.

  Athena shook her head. “You didn’t. I don’t think.” A soft laugh bubbled up out of her. “Even if you did, I’m glad.”

  “Good.” His hand smoothed her tumbled hair. “When do you have to go back to the hostel?”

  “I don’t. I was supposed to leave London today, so I’m not expected.”

  She heard an audible click as he swallowed. “You’re leaving?”

  “I was. Now I’m not so sure.”

  Derek tilted her face to his, and kissed her, hard and long. “Stay with me.”

  “Yes.” A wild, bright joy filled her. It was what she wanted, but she hadn’t been sure he wanted it, too. “I will.” The release of tension left her weak, and she snuggled closer to his chest. “Derek?”

  “Mm.”

  “I want to do to you what you did to me.” She took a deep breath and rushed on before he could say anything. “But I’ve never done it, so you might have to…to tell me how.”

  “Well.” Despite the note of excitement in his voice, she sensed hesitation. “I wouldn’t be able to tell you much since I’ve never had anyone do that for me before.”

  Her eyes stuttered to his, surprised. “You haven’t?”

  “No.” One side of his mouth quirked up. “I told you I haven’t done this very much. In fact…” A wash of color stained his cheeks. “When I did it to you it was the first time I’ve done it. I think it was okay, though, right?”

  “Oh, my God, Derek. It was more than okay.” She shook her head in wonder. “It was out of this world great.”

  A pleased expression lit his face. “And whatever you do to me will be out of this world great, too.” His smile widened into a grin. “I think we’re both going to enjoy the hell out of learning to please each other.”

  Athena rose over him and pinned his shoulders to the bed. “Then let’s get started.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Memphis, April 5, 1975

  Maneuvering through Memphis rush hour traffic was tricky enough, but doing it while overwhelmed by a mix of confusion and anger was just asking for trouble. Hands gripping the steering wheel so tight her knuckles were white, Athena tried to keep her mind focused on avoiding idiot drivers so she could make it in one piece to Andi’s house. It was insanity to drive down Poplar Avenue at five o’clock on a Saturday, but it was the most direct route to Germantown, and despite the traffic and the four hundred thousand stoplights, it was also the quickest. Besides, Athena knew that in her present state of mind if she attempted to negotiate any of the side streets that would get her to her destination, she’d end up in Mississippi with no idea how she’d gotten there, and there wasn’t enough gas in the car for such an excursion.

  On the radio Elton John cheerfully sang about “Philadelphia Freedom,” and a tiny part of Athena’s brain not occupied with either avoiding a wreck or indecent proposals from rock bands piped up to remind her that she needed to order more copies of the single on Monday since it had just moved up to #2 on the Billboard charts. It was shaping up to be a good little summer tune, and it would be bad business to run out of copies. Even though Athena didn’t care much for the song, at least it wasn’t close to being as bad as the whole DeFranco Family fascination that had swept the country two years ago.

  Of course, if she took Simon up on his offer, she wouldn’t be at work on Monday to order anything. She shook her head. She wasn’t really considering going off with Wolf for a month, was she? Damn Rondall for interfering and messing with her mind!

  After stomping away from Simon and Paul, she’d gone downstairs and told Rondall he could take care of Wolf until they left; she was done with them. The store was still crowded despite the band’s absence, and Athena busied herself mingling with the shoppers, making recommendations and trying to drum up sales. It managed to distract her enough that she was surprised when Rondall told her the band was gone. She tamped down an unwanted wave of sadness, and nodded.

  “Glad it went so well today,” she told her boss. “We made a huge dent in our stock of their albums, and sold a lot of other stuff, too. I can’t wait to total up today’s sales.”

  Rondall eyed her forced grin, and took her by the elbow to pull her behind the register. “Okay,” he said, sotto voce. “I don’t know what all the history is with y’all, but that manager guy told me about the month-long job he offered you.”

  Athena was shaking her head before he’d completed his sentence. “Don’t worry, Rondall.
I told him I can’t do it.”

  “That’s what he said.” Rondall cast an eye around the store checking for eavesdroppers, and leaned closer to her. “Athena, I don’t think you should be so quick to dismiss this.”

  That was the last thing she’d expected him to say, and she gaped at him in speechless surprise.

  “Look, honey, your job will still be here waiting for you when you get back,” Rondall continued, laying a hand on her arm for emphasis. “In all the years you’ve worked for me, you’ve never taken a vacation day or a sick day. In fact, I can only remember you calling in three or four days in the past seven years, and those were when Elizabeth was sick. No, let me finish.” He gave her arm a gentle squeeze when she opened her mouth to protest. “This fellow told me how much they’ll pay you if you go with them, and I hate to see you turn that down.”

  “But…but…” Athena attempted to marshal her scattered thoughts. “I can’t just run off and leave you for a whole month!”

  “For that kind of money you can.” He gave her an amused smile. “I don’t think I’ve ever told you, but you’re the best manager the store’s ever had. You took this place and turned it around when both Eileen and I thought it had run its course. We never would have made the changes you did that brought in a whole new customer base and put us back in the black. And, too…” Rondall dropped his eyes and cleared his throat. “With you running the store, I had the time to take off and be with Eileen that last year. That really means a lot to me, Athena.”

  She blinked away a sudden sting of tears. Even though it was two years since Eileen Thompson died of a swift-spreading cancer, the pain was still raw at the memory of the gentle, caring woman who gave Athena the job that allowed her to support Elizabeth on her own. Not only had Eileen hired her, she’d taken Athena under her wing, and treated her like the daughter she never had. It had been a balm to the wounds left by the cutting disapproval Athena’s parents hadn’t bothered to hide.