Architects_Sons of Olympus

by Helen J Perry

  The flavor Jade had sought since entering adulthood but rarely found, at least, not until that morning.

  A hand enveloped the back of Jade’s head while another touched her hip, squeezing before slipping around her waist.

  The man drew closer.

  In addition to the knot of Ryan’s belt, she detected the unmistakable shape of his erection pushing forward as he slipped a thigh between her legs, and the urge to rub against the man became irresistible.

  Lost in the kiss and essence of Karl, Jade opened her mouth wider, offering Karl easy access. Offering him everything.

  They fell onto the bed, their legs tangled.

  Karl pinned her down, dominating Jade’s lips.

  Jade’s hands hooked onto the front of Karl’s robe, making contact with his warm skin. Fireworks exploded inside Jade, and just like the kind she’d experienced the day before, they threatened to overwhelm her senses. Touching Karl’s arm through his suit had been bad enough, but now they were making far more contact.

  Jade had never experienced such an overwhelming desire before. Heat flooded her crotch in agreement.

  She wanted Karl badly.

  For as big a game as Jade talked, she simply didn’t do this. Meeting strangers in hotel rooms and… and what? What would they do next? Where would this end?

  And she’d definitely never fallen into bed with an older man. Karl wasn’t ancient—likely somewhere in his late twenties, or early thirties—but Jade had only just turned twenty-one. There was a world of difference between them.

  The bed creaked and groaned.

  Karl pressed down on her, letting Jade feel how much he wanted the same thing.

  The kiss broke.

  Jade gasped for air.

  "You want this?" Karl asked under his breath. He nipped and pulled at Jade’s bottom lip, and she almost blacked out from pleasure. "I knew it from the second I saw you that you wanted it. You want it bad, don’t you?"

  He was so full of confidence. It must come with age, and power, and money. Jade acted confident—she certainly wasn’t shy—but this man oozed it.

  "Yes," Jade whimpered. She wanted it, all right. She arched her back, pressing against Karl in turn. Had she ever hoped to convince Karl to give up on fencing in the woods and leveling the trees, or had she gone to the hotel because she was drawn there for some ulterior motive? She honestly didn't know.

  Because she ached for Karl in this way?

  Jade moaned, and with her hands, she clenched Karl’s bathrobe.

  What was she doing?

  She knew exactly what.

  Jade wanted to bed this man so badly, so irrationally, but not like this.

  Not when it involved sleeping with the enemy. And definitely not offering sex in return for a favor.

  But Jade couldn’t clear her head and decide whether to call a halt or keep going. Karl made it too hard to focus.

  Their tongues met again.

  Jade’s whole world spun, and she gave into her desire, returning Karl’s passionate kiss.

  They rolled around until Jade was on top. She ground down against Karl’s lap, both of them breathing rapidly and craving more.

  If they were both so eager why didn’t they do anything about it?

  Why didn’t Karl pin her to the bed and ravish her?

  The thought made Jade breathe even harder.

  "Sh… shit," Karl breathed between breaks in their kisses. His hands supported Jade’s hips as Jade ground and gyrated. Karl’s robe worked undone. "So hot. You’re so hot."

  "So hot," Jade echoed. She didn’t think she could string an original, coherent sentence together if she tried. The blistering heat between them sweltered beneath Jade’s skin, lighting a fire deep inside, and filling the air. The fireworks wouldn’t stop. If Jade exploded any minute into a ball of flames, she wouldn’t regret a moment of it. She’d had a good life and exploding with happiness would be a fine conclusion, like the fireworks at the end of a major event. Jade thought she would gladly spend her whole life with Karl doing this.

  Mean bastard or not, there was no denying that Jade wanted Karl.

  Way too much.

  Dangerously so.

  Lauren would skin her alive.

  Karl’s robe fell open at the chest, again. This time much further.

  Jade found the brain cells to pull the robe, easing it off Karl’s shoulders. Jade cupped her hands over Karl’s pecs delighting in the firm developed chest and covered in fine wiry hair that felt soft against her fingers.

  She tweaked a nipple with one hand while the other retained a firm grip, and then she moved that one hand lower.

  As the kiss continued, teeth clacking and arousal running high, Jade’s hand dipped to find the knot at the center of Karl’s belt.

  She wanted to know what lay beneath. She wanted to see it all. To know it all.

  It only took a gentle tug, and the loose knot gave way; the belt fell apart. Karl’s robe fell totally open.

  Since she couldn’t look because her face was busy kissing, Jade felt him instead.

  He was slim; his stomach was flat and firm. Jade traced Karl’s navel with her fingers, then dipped lower, exploring the bush of hair that led downward. It wasn’t long before Jade’s fingers brushed against Karl's hard bare cock. It lay like a hard rod across his lower abdomen, the head slick with moisture.

  Karl drew in a sharp breath and Jade drew back in surprise, earning her a chuckle from her partner. Jade’s stomach clenched. For a moment, all stayed still.

  "You can touch, you know. It’s not going to hurt you."

  "It’s just…" Jade drew in a deep breath.

  "I know." Karl hitched an eyebrow. "Big?"

  And the words, in that know-it-all tone, made Jade hotter.

  "And, you want me to fuck you."

  He was so damn arrogant.

  And the words, in that know-it-all tone, made Jade hotter and more eager.

  Yes! Damn it!

  She had half a mind to fire back with a scathing retort—but she could barely think straight. Of course, if she were thinking straight, she wouldn’t be doing this.

  At that moment, even on his back, Karl’s arrogance seemed… sexy. Something Jade didn’t want to admit even to herself.

  When Jade did nothing, Karl pushed her over, so she rested on her back again. The robe slipped to Karl’s elbows, so he let it fall. It pooled on Jade’s legs as Karl sat upright, looking down with all the confidence Jade had already seen the day before in the school parking lot.

  Jade became painfully aware that she was still fully clothed.

  "What are we going to do with this?" Karl asked. His thumbs hooked beneath the hem of Jade’s blouse, and he worked it upward slowly. Jade shivered—not with cold, but excited anticipation.

  Her eyes focused on the cocky guy on top of her. Jade felt the fabric of her shirt creep up over her stomach and higher.

  Karl pulled down the cups of Jade’s bra so that her breasts squeezed over the top. Jade knew her newly exposed nipples were erect, begging to be touched and teased. She always loved that. She’d often suspected her nipples might be her number one erogenous zone and she might come from that contact alone, although it wasn’t something she’d put to the test.

  Nevertheless, she was embarrassingly close to coming in her panties right then. She could hardly believe this was really happening, and she’d fallen fast and easy into bed with a man she’d just met—a gorgeous asshole of a man that she’d just met.

  The blouse-lifting maneuver had reached an impasse. Jade raised her torso while Karl guided the shirt up and over her head, then chucked it across the room. It hit the wall, and with a soft whisper, it slid to the floor.

  While Jade watched the trajectory of her shirt, Karl’s finger hooked beneath her chin and guided her head back toward her. Jade looked up into Karl’s eyes, enchanted by their amber browns.

  "Do you have a boyfriend?" Karl’s voice sounded husky with lust.

  "No," Jade rep
lied truthfully.

  "Mm." Eagerness spread into a smile on Karl’s lips. "Good. I didn’t want to ruin your relationship. After you’ve had me, you’re never going to want anyone else."

  Cocky bastard.

  Jade hated that it turned her on so much.

  About then, Jade started to wonder whether Karl thought Jade intended to trade her body for the safety of the forest? The notion surfaced on a wave of clarity. Truthfully, it’d been there all along, and Jade had suppressed it. As their clothes came off and the reality of what they were doing—or were about to do—sunk in, Jade wondered if she should let it happen.

  Could she?

  No.

  She couldn’t let it happen with this arrogant, sure-of-himself cocky bastard.

  Embarrassment burned across Jade’s cheeks and down her neck. She wasn’t that kind of a girl.

  She wasn’t a whore, no matter how bad this made her look.

  This isn’t right.

  "No." Jade’s voice shook as she spoke. She didn’t want to say the words, but she had more respect for herself than that. "We need to stop. It’s not… it’s not right." Her stomach ached with a new sensation. Sickness.

  She wanted to save the forest, but she wasn’t going to sell her body to do it. There was no guarantee that Karl wasn’t going to wreck the forest, anyway. In fact, there wasn’t even a bargain.

  "Oh?" Karl’s pupils were blown out with pleasure. "Is that the game you like to play? You want to tell me no as you ride my dick to orgasm?"

  Fuck, that’s hot…

  "Call out no, while you come on my cock and my face?"

  So hot.

  Jade had been angry and had made a comparison—a comparison no one could honestly take at face value—and Karl had twisted it around so he could drag her into bed.

  "No." Jade pushed Karl off, and she scrambled away.

  Karl immediately backed down and landed on the mattress awkwardly,

  "I mean, I’m not a whore. I’m not… I’m not going to give you my body in exchange for saving the forest or something."

  His brow furrowed in confusion. "Who said anything about the forest?"

  What the fuck is going on here?

  To his credit at least he didn't think she was offering her body as a bargaining chip.

  He stood up, disappointment clear on his face. His body completely naked, his cock still hard.

  She could see it now.

  No, don’t look.

  "I’m not a whore," Jade repeated firmly. "And I don’t… I don’t want to sleep with you only for you to turn around and tell me that you’re still going to tear down the woods."

  Karl picked up his robe and slipped it back on. "After all that? You think that? And you’re going to leave? Leave me fucking horny, after everything we just did?"

  Jade crossed the room and grabbed her shirt. Her body begged her to return to bed, but her mind pleaded with her to show herself a little respect.

  Karl stayed on the bed. He fastened his robe around his waist. "Really? I mean, this wasn’t all me. You seemed pretty into it, too."

  "I…" Jade didn’t have to explain herself to anyone. She slipped into her blouse, eager to put up a barrier between them. Her panties were wet. Karl’s kiss lingered on her lips, and Jade’s jaw ached from their passion. The fire still smoldered inside, but Jade couldn’t keep feeding it. Not under these circumstances. "I’m going. If you know what’s good for you, you’re not going to do anything with the woods."

  "What’s so important about the woods, anyway?" The arousal had already stripped from Karl’s voice, a cold, calculating businesslike tone taking its place. "No one else in town seems all that concerned. I’ve gone up against protests before, but usually, there’s a bit more interest in the land."

  How could Jade tell him about what lay beyond the veil of the trees without sounding crazy? The notion of many other dimensions—lands of gods, monsters, and demons—it was the stuff of fairy tales and movies. If she told Karl about it, he'd laugh in her face. Anyone would.

  Jade crossed her arms over her chest and glanced away. "It’s important to me, and to my friend, all right?"

  "I thought she was your cousin."

  "You know what?" Jade scowled. She looked directly at Karl and regretted it. Attraction and arousal flared up again. Jade found it hard to resist stripping off her shirt, crawling back into bed, and picking back up right where they’d left off. "It doesn’t matter. Cousin, friend, sister, whatever… we need you not to go through with construction. We need you to leave those woods alone."

  Karl laughed. "Yeah, I know you’re young and everything, but are you really that naive? Business doesn’t work that way. I have a plan to follow and money to make. If I stopped doing something every time some gorgeous blonde woman took me to bed and begged me not to, I’d be a poor man."

  He'd called her a gorgeous blonde woman.

  The hairs on the back of Jade’s neck stood up. There was nothing more than physical attraction between them. Physical attraction and the opportunity resulting in this near-miss. Nevertheless, so soon after they were in bed together, Karl shouldn’t tell her so bluntly that Jade was just one of a string of lovers taken on a whim.

  Many blonde girls, by the sound of it.

  It should’ve stung, and jealousy burned her chest, but even worse, Jade found herself excited by the thought. The casual way he took her to bed and commented on past lovers.

  Karl with others.

  And then Karl with her.

  Jade wished her mind wouldn’t go there, but it did.

  "So here’s what you’re going to do. You’re going to get the hell out of my hotel room if you’re not giving me your tush. Then you’re going to find your cousin, or friend, or girlfriend, or whatever, and you’re going to tell her she needs to march her scrawny ass out of the forest. She’s squatting there, isn’t she? And now she’s afraid she’s going to lose her home. Well, guess what? She can go squat in the woods the other side of Beaumont. I’m sure the trees there are equally as good."

  Jade’s balled fists shook. With conflicting emotions jumbled and a simmering temper, Jade felt close to lashing out. If she wanted to have a chance at saving the woods, she needed to stay civil.

  "She can take shelter in another forest somewhere," Karl continued. "I don’t care. I’m sure she can rebuild whatever little hovel I’m about to tear down. But the bottom line is, she’s being evicted. Those woods belong to me, and I’m going through with my plans. There isn’t anything you can do about it."

  She clenched her jaw.

  Karl was devilishly handsome even as he spoke, and rotten to the core.

  Jade regretted giving into his charms. And regretted calling a halt to their fucking so soon.

  So messed up.

  "So," Karl said, cocking his head to one side. "Are you going to get back into bed, or get the hell out of my room?"

  Really? The arrogant asshole said all of that and still asked Jade if she wanted to go back to bed?

  Fuck, that’s so hot.

  She’d never been more tempted to do the wrong thing, but it wasn’t a choice really—not to Jade. She spun on her heels and left, too angry to say anything in retaliation. Angry and tempted and so frustrated.

  What the hell was she going to tell Lauren?

  The dramatic effect of her angry departure was lessened by the soft close door mechanism, which foiled her attempt to slam the door shut behind her. She passed through the corridor as swiftly as she could walk, eager to put distance between herself and that room lest she be tempted to go back.

  She decided against waiting for the elevator and didn't slow down as she turned toward the stairwell. At great speed she crashed into a body and came to an abrupt halt. Fortunately, the person wasn't frail and didn't fall down but stood steady as he took the full force of her momentum.

  "Easy there."

  She looked up at the same time as she stepped back. When her head was against his chest, he seemed much taller t
han she remembered.

  Chapter Five

  Broader and taller than she remembered, the foreman from the construction site smelled good as her face buried against his chest. Dressed in gray-green pants and a black hoodie, he appeared ready to go do a full day's manual work, but he smelled like he'd just stepped out of a shower where he'd lathered up in pure essence of masculine pheromones.

  Reeling with confused desire, Jade drank in his scent and wanted to bury her head against his body again.

  Breathless and with heart racing, she wasn't exactly sure whether it was due to the effect the foreman had on her or because of what she'd just left behind. She'd raced from that room, and only minutes earlier she was about to have sex with Karl.

  Her panties were wet and sticky. She tried not to think about it but having left the arms of one gorgeous guy she now stood before another.

  For a few seconds, they both stared at each other and said nothing.

  "Hi." They both said at exactly the same time and laughed together.

  Nic's eyes sparkled, and he wore the same warm, friendly smile she remembered.

  "I guess you came to see the boss. How did it go?" he asked as if he believed she stood a chance.

  "Um, not good, to be honest."

  "No?" He tilted his head. "I've known Karl for years, perhaps I can have a word with him for you. Do you want to explain to me what you really want?"

  Taken aback by the sincerity in his voice Jade didn’t have an immediate answer.

  "That's kind, but I don't think I've any hope of him listening." she jerked her head in the direction she'd just come from.

  "Let me stop you there," he held up a hand. "Why don't I walk you out, and you can tell me?"

  She had no choice, he turned and walked beside her as they descended the stairs together.

  "What do you want the company to do? Tell me?"

  They took each step at a much slower pace than she'd originally intended. She wasn't in such a hurry to get away anymore. She explained that they simply wanted that one section of the woods to remain untouched, but they'd be happy for the rest of the woods around Beaumont to be developed and see the town expand and thrive.