Eros Island

by Lucinda Betts, Dawn Thompson

  Dani danced a quick twirl, enjoying the feel of the silky material brushing against her skin. She might as well have been naked, though. The sheer design hid nothing, but enhanced everything.

  “So this is dressing to eat dinner?”

  The girls giggled and rolled their eyes. “Only if you are to be dessert,” Clio warned with a grin.

  8

  T he twins led Dani down another hallway and drew back a curtain to admit her into yet another antechamber, one of the inner private courts. One entire wall was a great window looking out over a breathtaking view of wide lawns, perfectly groomed gardens of exotic blooms and marble fountains. Physical perfection, beauty, and talent were not only expected, but demanded.

  Goblet in hand, Herakles reclined on a low backless couch. Overspread with an abundance of thick furs and soft pillows, the lounge looked wide enough to accommodate several occupants. A wooden bench-type table sat beside it. The spread of food laid out upon it was magnificent.

  Seeing her, he grinned. “Ah, my goddess has arrived.” He sipped his wine. “I had thought my sisters had nabbed you to keep for themselves.”

  Entranced by his cheeky grin, Dani felt heat creep into her cheeks. Trying to be diplomatic, she cleared her throat. “The twins certainly entertained me well.”

  Herakles laughed and tossed off a saucy wink. “Knowing Clio and Calliope, they entertained you in the most salacious ways.” Stretched out in leisure, he was a magnificent carnal beast.

  A magnificently naked carnal beast. He clearly didn’t spend much time clothed.

  Dani blushed hotter, sure her cheeks were fire-engine red. Joining him on the lounge, she felt overdressed. “Most salaciously,” she agreed.

  “All of which has added to your appetite, I hope.” Herakles scooted over to make room, guiding her over his body so she faced the food. He handed her a goblet filled almost to the brim.

  Accepting the cup, Dani sat up and crossed her legs, lotus style. “Definitely.” She drank down a healthy swallow of wine. Rich and potent it rolled down her throat like the rarest of nectars. “I’m starving.”

  Rolling over on his side, Herakles propped himself up on one elbow, and tucked his body against hers so that her rear was planted firmly against his groin. “Then you will not be disappointed.” The heat radiating from his cock promised her dessert would certainly be sweet.

  But that was for later.

  Stomach growling, Dani eyed the food. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had a decent meal, especially one so mouth-wateringly scrumptious. Silver platters were loaded to the brim with delicacies. A loaf of dark bread, wedges of smooth yellow cheese and olives were joined by bowls of plump grapes, slices of succulent melon and, heaven be praised, juicy strawberries.

  “Looks good to me.”

  Herakles reached out and selected a grape. He popped it into his mouth. “The best to be had.”

  Dani picked up a knife, slicing off a hunk of crusty bread. Still warm from the ovens that had produced it, the heavenly scent of stone-ground barley. She added a piece of cheese, fashioning an impromptu sandwich. The bread was crusty, chewy with a delicious nutty flavor. It tasted wonderful with the wine to wash it down.

  The food disappeared, devoured by two hungry people.

  Watching her stuff her face, Herakles’s lips parted into a mischievous grin. “You eat like you fuck,” he teased.

  Swallowing her last bite, Dani took a deep drink of wine. A warm glow settled in her belly. “Is that good?”

  “An appetite for the pleasures of life is always good.”

  Dani patted her stomach. “I’m stuffed, but those strawberries look so damn tasty.”

  Herakles sat up and reached for a berry. He guided it to her mouth. “Try just one.” His eyes never left her lips.

  Dani leaned forward and bit into the juicy fruit. She closed her eyes, chewing slowly to savor all the flavors. “It’s delicious.”

  “Not half so much as you are.” There was a suggestive rumble behind his words.

  She opened her eyes to find Herakles staring at her. The intensity in his gaze sent a shiver down her spine, renewing her need and anticipation all over again. She smiled. “I could use another.”

  He claimed another berry. This time he teased her by squeezing it so the juice would dribble on her lips. A few drops missed, dribbling down her chin.

  She laughed. “Goodness, you missed.”

  Herakles leaned forward. “I didn’t miss.” His tongue gently traced her top lip, swiping away the droplets before his mouth covered hers.

  Dani couldn’t resist letting momentum take over. He tasted of yeasty bread and fragrant cheese, not altogether unpleasant. She leaned in closer, succumbing to desire. Her whole body tingled, breasts swelling into tight peaks that longed for his lips to suckle them.

  Herakles nuzzled her neck, his hot moist breath tickling her skin. He traced slow circles around the hard little bead poking through her chiton, even as he grasped an earlobe gently between his teeth and tugged. “You taste as good as you look.”

  Dani gasped as erotic sensations traveled through her stomach, echoing the liquid trickle between her thighs. Waves of longing crashed through her, intensifying the sweetest of pains.

  Herakles caressed the curve under her chin. “I want you all over again.”

  A wicked imp landed on her shoulder, whispering naughty things in her ear. She was definitely ready to begin exploring. The imp cackled with delicious glee when she tipped back her head and opened herself up.

  She smiled her challenge. “Then take me all over again. Any way you want.”

  A wicked brow cocked. His hand snaked between revealing folds of sheer material. Thick fingers searched for and found her left nipple. He rolled and tugged at the erect nubbin. “I can think of many ways I’d like to take you.”

  Dani let out of whoosh of breath. All rational thoughts fled her mind. All she was aware of was the slow circles going around the sensitive pink areola. Her skin rippled in anticipation, the way a cat’s does when awakened from its sleep. “I think you’re doing that now.” Their bodies were rigid with need; sexual tension crackled in the air around them.

  Herakles urged her back on the soft furs. “I’m trying.” Experienced male hands began to caress her arms, shoulders, and breasts. Heart beating, chest rising and falling with each breath, the musky smell of their flesh tickled her nostrils.

  She closed her eyes, determined to welcome every sensation.

  “Oh, my,” she gasped through trembling lips when Herakles brushed the soft hollow of her throat with his lips. She was still dizzied by the lingering effects of the wine, and her world began to spin in slow motion. She was hardly conscious of a strong hand over her Venus mound, sifting through the silky material and parting her legs.

  His mouth covered one nipple, drawing the hard tip deeply into his mouth. At the same time, thick fingers moved slowly against the folds around her clit, the small bud pulsing as he massaged it sensuously. Each time he flicked his fingers over the little button, her heart fluttered, her insides tightened, and a flash of pure heat surged through her. A flood of creamy juices spilled from her body.

  Whimpering, Dani squirmed with delightful agony. Her skin felt luminous, glowing, and vibrant. With each beat of her heart, the blood pulsing through her veins, her passion grew heated—verging on the point of desperation.

  It was one thing to be caressed by a woman’s hand, quite another to be touched by a man. The instinct of a female seeking—no, needing—a male was never stronger in her than it was now. She luxuriated in his touch, in the hard cock pressed so intimately against her. The heated length of his erection lay along her hip, searing her with the carnal nudges of steel encased in skin.

  Without a second thought, Dani moved her own hand toward his body, feeling for and then finding his erection. Fingers wrapping around his shaft, she gently jacked up and down its length. Sheer male power radiated from his cock. “God, you feel so good,” s
he murmured.

  His mouth captured hers again, beginning the tongue-tangling all over again. She closed her eyes, imagining his body on top of hers, his hips between her spread legs as he positioned his body to enter hers. There would be no hesitation. His thrust inside her would be swift and sure.

  Herakles groaned. “Harder. It’s not made out of glass.”

  Dani laughed low in her throat. “Any harder and I’ll pull it off.”

  His gaze lit up with delight. “I don’t think I could take that kind of excitement.” He treated her to a sexy grin. “As for the touching—” His palm slid down over her flat belly. The glide of his fingers against her most sensitive flesh sent red-hot darts of flame though her every nerve ending.

  “My God,” she gasped. “That feels wonderful.”

  Dani melted when he began long slow strokes followed by the short teasing flicks of his fingers. Without her hardly knowing, she spread her legs wider, cursing the confines of her skirt. Her hips bucked upward.

  Herakles knew her needs without asking. After all, he was a god. He slipped two fingers inside her. Her vagina rippled around his fingers. His thumb expertly worked her clit. The sensations of his hard digit against her softness made her crave something harder, driving her over the edge into an abyss of pure pleasure.

  Caught on the edge of a moan, Dani shuddered. Her stomach muscles clenched as she cried out. Her cunt squeezed his fingers and held them.

  His compelling gaze strayed to hers. “I love to hear you whimper,” he teased.

  Grinding her hips against his fingers as he thrust, she fought to get her words out between moans. “Damn you. Don’t stop now.” He’d ignited a burning lust inside her, and she wasn’t going to be satisfied until she felt his cock ramming into her.

  Herakles suddenly pulled his hand away, tracing his creamed fingers across her mouth. “To damn a god is blasphemy…”

  Dani tasted her own sweet fragrance. She licked her lips. “I’ll take the damnation if it’ll get you to hurry up and fuck me.”

  His eyes widened in fake shock. “So a double fuck with an ass-reaming wasn’t enough?”

  Frustrated, she wound her fingers through his luxuriously thick hair, ridiculously resplendent with curls most women would envy. “Not by a long shot, buster.” Face-to-face, she flicked her tongue against his upper lip.

  Chuckling at her bravado, his hands moved to her breasts, cupping and squeezing them. “You’re insatiable.”

  Throat tight with tension and need, Dani whimpered, wanting him to penetrate her. He was holding off, torturing her. She felt dizzy from her awareness of him, from her over-responsiveness to him. Even now she was completely unable to control her body’s physical compulsion for intimacy with him, unable to control the soft melting sensations within her soul.

  “Then please do,” she invited with a grin. “You’ve fed me. Now it’s time to fuck me.”

  He pretended exasperation. “Women. So damned demanding.”

  She grinned up at him. “Got a complaint? Take it up with management.”

  “With the owner of such a delectable pussy?” Rolling over onto his back, Herakles pulled her up over his body to straddle his hips. Gripping his penis in one hand, he stroked it a couple of times, then guided its swollen purple crown against her slit.

  “I certainly intend to have an—” He impaled her with a quick thrust. “In-depth discussion.”

  In depth? Indeed.

  Dani’s reply vanished, morphing into a long moan. His cock penetrated deep, stretching her every which way. And then some. The tightening of muscles, the tensing of nerves was a wonderful sensation. Stunned and surprised, she let herself go with the moment.

  He gazed up at her. “Ah, now I know what will make a woman speechless.”

  Firmly seated, Dani leaned forward, giving him access to her breasts. Her clit was swollen, poking between her lips to rub against the base of his erection.

  Oh, yes. Just right.

  “I won’t be quiet for long.” She gyrated her hips in a long slow motion. “A girl just has to scream when she’s got a cock like this shoved inside her.”

  “Scream away.” Guiding her through long slow strokes, Herakles set into motion a relentless friction that was both pleasurable and excruciating. They were coming together, the completion of a destiny both had been waiting for, but yet were unaware of.

  Dani’s fingers dug into his shoulders. As she pushed back to meet his thrusts, a tiny frisson of sensation coiled through her. “That’s a hell of a lot of cock you have there.” She welcomed the ache.

  Herakles grinned and thrust his hips upward, impaling her like a moth on a pin. “There’s a lot more where that came from.”

  In retaliation, she raked her nails down his musclebound arms. Inner muscles tight, she lifted her hips, then sank back down with a body-shuddering slam. His eyes glazed as he savored the feel of her hips driving down on top of him.

  One hand moved to her breast, squeezing, teasing the taut nipple. “I enjoy seeing a woman claim her pleasure.”

  Dani shuddered violently, her lips pressed together as she struggled to make the sensations last just a moment longer. “Glad you’re entertained,” she gritted.

  She whimpered, faltered, then lost control of the pace, shock then pleasure turning her moans into primeval guttural cries. Red-hot pressure imploded in her belly, running like rivers of fire from the tip of her head to her toes. Her body shook violently, her moans mingling with his.

  Herakles drove his cock into her a final time, then came hard. His huge body shuddered under her. Spurt after spurt of hot cum filled her.

  Dani collapsed on top of him, trailing wet kisses along his neck and shoulder as she tried to catch her breath. For a long moment there was silence. Willpower alone slowed her breathing.

  After a long moment she lifted herself up, looking into his eyes. Probing inside, she found an ache beneath her breastbone. She focused on it, searching. In a stunning moment, she realized that he completed her, made her a whole woman.

  I don’t want this night to end.

  But she didn’t want to think of that.

  “I can’t believe I’m still here,” she whispered, kissing him again. “It’s just a dream, I know, but I don’t want to wake up.”

  Giving her a lazy smile, Herakles reached up, placing a single finger against her lips. “Then don’t,” he murmured in a sated voice. “Just lay here and rest.”

  She shook her head. “It’ll all go away. I’ll wake up and you’ll be gone.”

  “I’ll always be here,” he promised. “Whether waking or sleeping, you’ll know when I am near.”

  “Promise me that.”

  “Promise.”

  Laying her head against his strong shoulder, Dani sighed. If she listened hard enough she could almost hear the pulse of blood through his veins, the whisper of breath entering and leaving his body. His featherlight stroke trailed up and down her back, calming, soothing.

  Lulled by food, wine, and good sex, she felt as if she were floating on air, her body buoyant, her mind untrammeled. “If wishes were horses,” she murmured. “I’d have you forever.” She closed her eyes, only meaning to doze for a few minutes.

  In no time at all, Dani fell fast asleep.

  9

  D ani came back to consciousness with a shuddering jerk, dumping the last of her wine across her breasts as the glass she’d held precariously balanced in sleep escaped her lax fingers. The squishy sensation of liquid seeping over the front of her negligee snapped her eyes open. Awareness of her surroundings began to register.

  “Shit,” she muttered, knocking the glass aside. It rolled across the comforter. She must have fallen asleep, though she didn’t remember dozing off. She hadn’t really had that much to drink, just a few glasses of wine; enough to relax, not enough to get doddering drunk. Still she felt like hell, her body stiff from spending too many hours in one uncomfortable position.

  Leaning forward, she cradled her head in
her hands. She struggled to find her memory. Full awareness came slowly as images of Herakles drifted up to the forefront of her brain. The dream had seemed so real that she was half inclined to believe it had really happened.

  Face it, Dani, you’re alone and very damn frustrated.

  She sat still through several long minutes, trying to sort through the pieces lingering in her mind. It was so vivid, so real, that she would have sworn she’d really stepped out of her body and visited Mount Olympus.

  Realizing she sat in a sodden negligee, she pushed herself off the floor, struggling to get up. She’d slept the night away and was more exhausted than ever.

  “You’re out of shape.” She huffed, making her way to her bedroom. One step at a time. In the bathroom she twisted the cap off a small bottle of aspirin and popped two into her mouth, washing them down with a swig of water.

  Yes, indeed. A quiet disintegration. Should have it printed on a T-shirt so she wouldn’t forget it. Jesus, how she hated herself, her life, the brain in her head that was coiled too tightly. A ticking time bomb. Only instead of blowing up, she would simply wind down, and then there would be nothing.

  She groaned and shook her head. She was in a strange mood, one hard to explain. She supposed it was a touch of depression, that slow erosion of acid eating through her psyche. Once again the faceless black specter was descending in her mind, beating its evil black wings. She wished she’d died when she’d tried to end her life. Maybe she would have if she’d gotten serious and done the job right.

  Going insane, she mused, must feel like being dipped in honey. At first it was wonderful, but the deeper one became immersed, the more smothering the sensations became.

  “Yeah.” She grimaced at the bleary-eyed woman in the mirror and rubbed her face. “This killing time is going to get me. Can’t last much longer.” A sound that was half a laugh broke from her throat. It might have been a sob for all she knew.

  Stripping off her gown and panties, she stepped into the shower and turned the right tap on to full blast. Cold water drenched her, giving her a shock. The best way to wake up, send the nasty shakes running.