It was raw. Feral. Animalistic. And hotter than anything she’d ever experienced before. Holding his gaze, she tightened every time he drew back and couldn’t keep from groaning when she saw the pleasure in his eyes. When she felt his cock grow even longer and thicker inside her.
The muscles in his face and neck and back grew taut. He shifted his knees higher, shoving her legs up and her feet off the floor as he thrust harder. Deeper. She felt his cock swell to an impossible size inside, one that made her gasp. “Kara...fuck...”
Her fingernails scored his sides, and she squeezed everything and threw her head back on the edge of an inferno that was seconds from incinerating her. “There...oh fuck right there don’t you dare stop...”
He shoved himself even harder inside her with a series of grunts, and then she felt his whole body contract as he slammed her onto his cock and his orgasm consumed him. His bellow echoed in her ears, but the instant she heard him come, her own release slammed into her, making her blind and deaf to anything but the blistering pleasure exploding outward from her core.
Her rapid breaths were the first things she registered when she came to. Then the sweaty, naked, gloriously perfect male body pressing her into the soft carpet.
“Holy Hera.” His warm breath fanned her neck, but he didn’t make any move to shift his weight off her, and for that she was glad. He felt amazing against her like this. Warm and perfect against her skin. “What did you do to me?”
She smiled and pressed a kiss to his shoulder, the only part of him she could reach with her lips, as she trailed her hands along his back. “I’m not sure. Want to do it again?”
He chuckled against her, then slid one hand down her side and shifted just enough so he could roll them both to their sides but still somehow managed to stay locked deep inside her. “You really are a fantasy. And a little vixen. You completely managed to distract me from my plan to seduce you with my fingers and mouth.”
“Oh... Well...” She hooked a leg over his hip and shifted closer, drawing him in another inch as she looked up into his eyes. “I had no idea what you had planned. This time I promise not to distract you.”
He chuckled again and leaned down to kiss her. “You are most definitely a treat. Why in the name of the gods haven’t you already been scooped up by some undeserving male?”
“Because I’m clearly too much for any one man to handle.”
His lips curled against hers, and his hand shifted lower, to palm her ass. “You are not too much for me. You are perfect for me.”
He brushed his lips against hers, but instead of kissing him back, she eased her head away and looked up into his eyes.
Her chest squeezed tight. “I know this is all just a fantasy, but don’t say things like that.”
“Why not?”
“Because words—even in a dream—have repercussions. And I don’t think I can handle the lasting impact of those words in my real life.”
His eyes held hers, but he didn’t answer, and she had no idea what he was thinking. She only knew what she was suddenly feeling—a connection to him that wasn’t going to help her any in the long run.
Yes, the sex had been hotter than hell and completely amazing, but she liked him. Really liked him. More than she probably should. More than she had any man she’d dated or been with before. People back home already thought she lived in her own little world most days. She didn’t need to go falling for some imaginary dream guy, because that would only make her want to withdraw even more from society than she already had.
He lifted one hand and brushed a lock of hair away from her cheek. “I know all about the repercussions words have, Zakara. I’ve avoided certain words my whole life because I’ve never wanted to deal with those repercussions. You and I are a lot more alike than you know, both playing the avoidance card as much as we can. And I’m definitely not an expert on reality by any means, but I do know this. The only person who controls your reality is you. The only person who can shape it into something meaningful is you. And until you stop worrying about what everyone else wants and thinks and expects from you, you won’t own your reality, it’ll own you.”
His fingers slid into her hair, and he drew her face closer to his. And the intensity she saw in his eyes, the raw truth, shook her to her core and made her heart race hard against her ribs. “But dream, fantasy, or reality...you are perfect to me. And I’m not afraid to admit that. You’re different from other females I’ve met. You’re honest—maybe because this is the one place you feel free to be honest. I don’t know. Whatever the reason, I just know I feel free with you too. More free than I’ve ever felt before. I’m mesmerized by you, fantasía. And I’m not anywhere close to being done with you. Not by a long shot.”
He closed his mouth over hers in a blistering kiss. And she opened without hesitation and let him have her, moved by his words, by the feelings they stirred inside her, by the way they made her feel more alive than she ever had when she was awake.
He tugged her on top of him as he rolled to his back, kissing her again and again as she braced knees on each side of his hips and he positioned her just where he wanted her most and started to move.
Pleasure arced through her all over again, shoving aside every worry and neurosis and idiotic fear trying to circle in.
She didn’t care if he was going to ruin all men for her in the future. She didn’t care if this little fantasy made the real world seem even more meaningless. For one night, she’d savor the fact she was enough—no, not just enough, perfect—in someone else’s eyes.
And she’d deal with the fallout to her subconscious later.
Chapter Five
Ryder trailed his fingers through Zakara’s hair as he lay on his back on the rug in front of the fire. She dozed softly with one leg draped over his and her cheek pressed gently against his chest.
They’d ravished each other twice more there on the floor before he’d finally let her drift to sleep against him, the firelight warming their bare skin. He knew he’d worn her out, but his desire for her wasn’t anywhere near slaked, and all he wanted to do was ravage her a fourth time. Yes, he was a god, and yes, he could go all night if he wanted, but this was new for him. Usually—if his seduction scenes went this far, which they rarely did these days—he couldn’t wait to finish and get back to his own realm. But with Zakara, things were different. He felt different. And he knew that had nothing to do with his libido and everything to do with the fact she’d connected with him on a different level. On an emotional level.
Pressure grew in his chest, an uncomfortable pressure that made him shift beneath her. Emotions—like reality—were not things he had much experience with. They could hinder a god like him. A solitary existence was how he’d survived as long as he had. Yes, it was lonely, but he’d learned long ago that his own dreams—that wanting things himself—only led to trouble. And death.
He glanced down at her relaxed features as she slumbered, remembering the things she’d told him, the brutal truth in her eyes when she’d asked him not to use words that had any lingering repercussions. Oh yes, he knew all about those repercussions. About how words created hope. How hope could lift a person up from the darkest pit, then drop out from under you and leave you shattered against the earth. After he’d lost his family, he’d avoided any kind of emotional contact for hundreds of years just so he wouldn’t have to deal with those repercussions. But he was tired of doing that. He was tired of doing and being what everyone else wanted and expected. And, by gods, he was tired of being alone.
That pressure condensed until a sharp pain stabbed right in the center of his chest, one that nearly made him gasp. He closed his eyes and tried to breathe through it. And then it popped, sending ripples of relief through every cell in his body.
Staying here with Zakara was stupid. And reckless. And he was most likely going to regret this night and everything he’d let happen. But he didn’t care.
This felt right. This felt real. This made him feel alive. And it h
ad been so damn long since he’d been alive, he couldn’t hold back.
He rolled Zakara to her back and softly brushed his thumb against her cheek. “Fantasía?”
She didn’t open her eyes, so he skimmed his knuckles across her cheek again, marveling at the fact she really was his fantasy woman. He’d called her that from the start without even realizing he was doing so. He never used cutesy nicknames with his marks. Then again, he’d never met a mark like her.
“Fantasía?” he whispered again. “You’re not sleeping, are you?”
She still didn’t open her eyes, but she smiled as he touched her, then slid her hands up his arms as if she couldn’t get enough of him either.
Relief rippled through him. Snoozing was one thing. Falling into a deep sleep might send her back to the real world. Normally, he controlled when his marks entered and left his dreamscapes, but this wasn’t a dream world he’d woven, and nothing about tonight was normal. He wasn’t ready to let her fall asleep and possibly leave him. Not when he wasn’t anywhere close to done with her.
He dropped his head and kissed her shoulder, her collar bone, slowly worked his lips up her throat as he nudged her knees apart and climbed between her legs, already hard and aching for the slick, wet heat he knew could drive him to a blinding release. “I have to have you again. I know you’re tired, but I just can’t help myself. You’re too tempting lying there all soft and sexy and perfect.”
She sighed again and let her legs fall open wider, making room for him between her thighs, right where he ached to be. “Mm...” Her fingers slid over his arms, down his shoulders and along his back as she arched her back and lifted her hips to meet him. “Then have me. I’m yours.”
I’m yours...
If only she could be. He pushed deep inside her, savoring her pleasure-filled sigh echoing in his ears.
Oh yes, he was going to regret this night. He was going to regret it for a very long time. So he had every intention of enjoying every damn minute they had left.
* * * *
Kara rolled to her back and stretched in the warm sunlight sliding over her. She’d had the most delicious dream, one that had felt so real she could still feel the lingering pleasure all through her body.
She didn’t want to get up—it was Saturday so she didn’t have to be anywhere today—but the bright light was too insistent and she knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep any longer. Deciding she’d make a cup of tea and dive into her latest book, she opened her eyes and blinked several times as the ceiling came into view.
Wood slats. Darker wooden beams. Confusion trickled through her mind as she stared up, wondering why the ceiling in her suite was no longer white and edged with fancy molding.
She suddenly became aware of something soft and furry beneath her bare back, covering something harder than her mattress below that. Glancing to the left, she spotted a large stone fireplace filled with glowing embers from a recent fire, and to the right—she held up a hand to block the bright glare—large picture windows that looked out over a glimmering lake.
Her eyes flew wide, and she bolted upright, stumbling as her feet got caught in the blanket pooling at her ankles. Cool air whooshed over her, sending a shiver down her spine, and she scrambled for the blanket and quickly pulled it around her naked body.
She turned a slow circle, taking in the log walls, the leather furnishings, the small kitchen across the space. Her heart beat hard and fast. She had no idea how she’d gotten here or where here even was, but one thing was clear: this was the cabin from her dream. Her wide-eyed gaze darted down to the white fur rug beneath her bare feet. That was the rug where her fantasy man had ravished her. Either she was still sound asleep in the midst of that dream, or none of what had happened was a fantasy, and all of it was re—
“It can’t be real.” Her pulse was a whir in her ears as she shoved the blanket back from her arm with shaking fingers, grasped the skin of her forearm between her thumb and first finger, and pinched down hard.
“Skata.” Pain shot all across her arm and up into her shoulder, making her gasp, but her surroundings didn’t change. She was still in the small cabin. Still completely naked. Still alone, though she had no fucking clue how any of this was even possible.
“Okay, think, Kara,” she mumbled to herself. Her mind spun as she breathed slowly so as not to hyperventilate. If she wasn’t asleep, that meant this was definitely real. And if the cabin was real, then she was outside the walls of Tiyrns.
Her stomach tightened. That wasn’t exactly good news. Yes, she hated being locked up there like a prisoner, but she understood why her parents were so cautious. Elysia had been outside the castle walls when Zeus’s Sirens had abducted her and taken her to Olympus.
Swallowing hard, she grasped the blanket tighter and glanced around the cabin again, trying to remember if she’d ever been here. Nothing seemed familiar, at least not from before last night. Her gaze darted to the windows and the shimmering water beyond. The lake or sea or whatever this cabin overlooked was big. Steep, white-capped mountains edged the water on three sides, but she couldn’t see any land in the distance. She could be in a cabin perched over the Tyrrenhian Sea in the northern region of Argolea. That would explain the cold and snow this time of year. If so, she wasn’t far from the port city of Heraklea, though her parents would flip the fuck out if they discovered she’d traveled so far from home.
Had she flashed here? Argoleans could travel great distances via teleportation in their own realm. She didn’t remember flashing. She didn’t remember anything but that scorching hot dream. Her gaze darted back down to the white fur rug, and the image of herself there on her back, naked and moaning and arching up against Ryder’s sinful body as he ravaged her, burned through her brain and set fire to her cheeks.
“A dream. It was just a dream...” Mortified, she rushed toward the open bedroom door. A tidy bed and two side tables filled the space. Across the room, another door opened to a bathroom.
She swept into the bathroom, ignoring her haggard reflection in the mirror, flipped the faucet on, then bent over and splashed cool water all over her face. The liquid sliding down her skin helped chill her out, but as she turned the water off, she suddenly became aware of another kind of wetness. This one between her legs.
Her eyes grew wide. Her hands shook as she quickly wrestled the blanket open. One look was all she needed to know she’d had sex. A lot of sex.
“Oh my gods...”
Real. Last night had been real. Not a dream. Not a fantasy. Not a figment of her imagination. It had been completely fucking real.
He had been real.
Her heart raced. Her mind spun. Thoughts—consequences—zipped around in her brain. She had no idea where Ryder had gone or if she’d ever see him again, but she didn’t care. Right now, the only thing that mattered was getting home. She wasn’t a warrior like her cousin Talisa. She had no combat training like her other cousin Elysia. She had no gifts whatsoever she could use if she found herself in danger. She understood now why her parents didn’t want her venturing outside the walls of Tiyrns alone. Because it wasn’t safe. And she wasn’t stupid enough to stay here and test fate when common sense was telling her flashing home as soon as possible was the smartest choice she could make.
Of course, flashing back to the castle in nothing but a blanket or her thin nightgown—wherever it was—wasn’t a bright idea. It was broad daylight. Since she couldn’t flash through walls, any of the guards or Argonauts or—gods forbid—her family could inevitably run into her. Moving to the closet at her right, she pulled the doors open and scanned the few items of clothing on the shelves. They were mostly men’s, but she figured they’d work.
She dropped the blanket at her feet and grasped the smallest pair of pants she could find. They were easily three sizes too big, but she gathered the waistband and cinched it tight with a belt. After tugging on a blue checked flannel shirt, she rolled the sleeves up to her elbows and stuffed the front tails into her baggy pants.
A quick scan of the closet floor told her there were no shoes, but she could deal with being barefoot. At least she was no longer naked.
Raking her fingers through her hair, she pushed it back from her face and turned back into the living room, intent on heading outside so she could flash back to Tiyrns. Halfway to the door, she spotted her nightgown on the floor, and a thought hit, stilling her steps once more on the furry white rug in front of the fireplace.
What if she wasn’t in Argolea? What if Ryder or whoever he really was had taken her to the human realm? Her heart raced all over again. She wasn’t an Argonaut. She couldn’t open a portal back to Argolea on her own. If he’d somehow invaded her dream or hypnotized her so he could abduct her and take her to the human world, she really was in danger.
The door swung open in front of her. She gasped and jerked back. Then focused on Ryder—the man who’d just turned her world upside down in every way possible—as he stepped into the room barefoot, wearing those low-riding linen pants she remembered from last night and a heavy red flannel shirt he had to have gotten from that closet.
“You’re awake.” He closed the door at his back and smiled down at her, his dark hair rumpled, his cheeks rosy from the cold, a sexy layer of scruff on his jaw making him look drop-dead gorgeous in the early morning light. “I thought you’d sleep awhile longer.”
“I...” Holy hell, her brain was complete mush. She willed herself to step away from him, but her legs didn’t seem to want to listen. The scents of leather and pine with just a hint of citrus surrounded him as he moved toward her, making her whole body melt with the remembered feel of his fragrant skin rubbing up against hers.
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