Playing For Keeps

by Houston, Michelle

  The silence as they walked to the beginning of the maze would have been immensely comfortable, if not for the awareness of each other that arced between them. Each brush of his sleeve against her arm, each time their hips pressed against each other as they followed the narrow path, was a sensual torture for her.

  Uncertain if she wanted to act on it, or even if she could, she decided to ignore it. Past pains still haunted her, but not as much as when she had arrived at New Hope. Athena help had dulled the pain of being a battered wife, until it almost seemed like it had happened to someone else. Almost.

  Rather than dwell on thoughts of the past, she focused on trying to remember what Pothos was God of, but the memory eluded her. Soon after finding out just what Athena was, she had looked up everything she could about the Olympians, and did her best to memorize it all, despite how fanciful some of it seemed. Athena had lain to rest many of her questions about the whole jumbled mess, answering simply that mortals had always been fascinated by them and needed to explain everything in a time without science.

  “We’re here.” Although soft, his voice conjured up visions of a wild romp in bed, tangled hair, damp skin and all. Shivering at the intensity of her body’s sudden demands, she took a step into the maze, but Pothos suddenly held out a hand, stopping her.

  “Once we go in, we will have to find the way out. There are no shortcuts, and the maze shifts itself every so often, so even I don’t know the way out.”

  Ignoring the cautious voice of her past that was demanding she turn around, Alicia took another step forward instead. She could hear Pothos following behind her, close enough that she could feel the warmth he projected.

  She came to a T in the hedge, and unable to see very far down either direction, she shrugged and went right. Almost immediately, the hedge curved right again, and she came to an open area—a garden within the maze.

  “Is that who I think it is?” she asked, pointing at the statue of a half human, half goat leaning over a nude woman that rested in the middle of a patch of flowers.

  “Yep, that’s Pan. He loves that thing, says it captures his true nature. Aphrodite cackled herself silly while her husband Hephaestus carved it.”

  As Pothos settled his tall frame onto a stone bench, Alicia walked around the serene garden, pausing here and there to touch the petals of flowers, or inhale their sweet scenes. All the while, she could feel Pothos’ heated gaze following her. Exhilarated rather than frightened, she struggled to bring to focus the teasing memory of what he was God of. Worried it would be rude to ask, she kept silent.

  Completing the circle, she stopped before him and held out her hand. “Ready to continue on?”

  Pothos clasped her hand in his bigger one, and allowed her to pull him up, and straight into her arms. Gasping at the fire that spread where he pressed against her, she stepped backwards. His blue eyes dark with desire, he responded, “Ready whenever you are.”

  Ignoring the double meaning of his words, Alicia randomly turned and headed down a path, only to find herself at a dead end. As she turned, she found Pothos leaning against the hedge wall, watching her.

  She stepped toward him, and he didn’t move. Squaring her shoulders, she started to squeeze past him, when a moan drifted over the hedge wall. She froze.

  A feminine voice trilled, “Oh, Zeus, yes!”

  Alicia stifled a giggle as she recognized the voice of her dinner partner. It seemed she had picked a God and a scenario.

  From the looks of his shaking shoulders, Pothos was finding the situation just as amusing. Pushing past him, she worked her way back to the garden and set on the bench Pothos had vacated and gave her laughter free reign. “I thought you said the maze would be deserted?”

  “I never thought that someone would pick to start out in the middle of the maze.” She had to give him credit, he sounded sincere, and completely bewildered.

  “I wonder what happened to the whole harem slave fantasy she had?” She musingly asked herself, then shuddered at the idea of the woman in a gauzy harem outfit. It was like thinking about her grandmother in one.

  “Zeus probably suggested they try something else. He got tired of the scenario type thing decades ago. Now he goes for the whole possibly getting caught thrill.”

  Alicia nodded. There was a dark seductiveness to the idea that she found curiously appealing. “Well what do we do now? If we continue on, we might come across them.”

  “So we stay here for a while. Shouldn’t be much longer before Zeus whisks them away to a bed somewhere.” While he spoke he settled on the other end of the bench, his knee barely brushing against hers.

  Hyper aware of his masculinity, she slid back and rested against the hedge. “So, what’s it like being a God?”

  Almost as soon as she asked, Alicia wished she could call the words back. “Forget it,” she stammered, “it was rude of me to ask.”

  Pothos’ blue eyes twinkled. “No, not really. It was curiosity that prompted you to ask, so I’m not offended. As for what it’s like, having never been mortal, I can’t really describe the difference. I have always known I have abilities, and I have struggled to control them. And I have a duty to answer the calls of those who ask for my help.”

  “Not to mention the perks, such as wandering off into the night with a beautiful woman.” Alicia jerked as a new voice entered their conversation.

  Chapter Four

  Turning towards where the sound came from, she watched a shadow separate from the hedge wall. A man stepped forward, dark where Pothos was light, his features carved with an intensity that bespoke a man with a mission.

  “Alicia, meet Himeros. Himeros, Alicia—the one Aphrodite warned us about.”

  “A pleasure, Alicia.”

  Whereas Pothos’ voice was like smooth like chocolate, Himeros’ was like a fine wine, a bit tart but with a heady kick. As he stalked towards her, moving with a feline grace she was coming to associate with the more powerful Gods, she found herself leaning forward. Almost in anticipation of his touch.

  When his hand cupped her jaw, she didn’t draw back. It felt like a relief after the agony of waiting.

  “Himeros,” Pothos growled, his voice holding a tone of warning.

  “I’m not doing it, Pothos. She is. I felt the attraction between you simmering even outside the labyrinth. Now that I’m here, it’s almost combustible.”

  Wary of the meaning of what he was saying, Alicia drew back and turned her attention to Pothos. Almost immediately, she felt the familiar warmth within her abdomen.

  Her eyes widened when Pothos suddenly swooped down and kissed her. It was like a dam burst within her, and all her hopes and fears rushed out, swirling around her in a maelstrom of emotion that threatened to drown her.

  Her hands clutched his upper arms, holding onto him for dear life as she responded to his kiss. She could feel Himeros pressing against her back as he straddled the bench, but it didn’t make her feel trapped.

  When Himeros’ hands cupped her breasts through the silk of her toga, she whimpered and arched back against him. Pothos growled in response, his hands tangling in her hair, jerking it free of it confines.

  Pressed between two powerful Gods, she began to get an inkling of what other women meant when they talked about being swept away by lust. Strangely excited, rather than put off by the fact that two men were seducing her, Alicia gave herself up to the sensations rushing through her, confident that Athena would protect her if she felt threatened.

  Letting go of her hold on Pothos, she started tugging at his shirt, anxious to bare his chest to her tingling fingers. She felt Himeros move from behind her, and was pulling away to beg him to stay, when she heard the swish of clothing being discarded.

  Opening her eyes, she leaned back and watched as he tossed his shirt aside and unbuttoned his pants. A dark mat of hair covered his chest, and formed a V leading down into his pants.

  Pothos also stood, his shirt halfway unbuttoned. Grabbing the two sides, he pulled it apart, bu
ttons popping off to get lost in the glass beneath their feet. Alicia couldn’t decide who she wanted to look at more, the blond God or the dark one. Both had bodies worth drooling over.

  Taking her courage in her hands, she stood as well and hesitantly started to unwind her toga. As it slipped free and dropped to her feet, she was all too aware of their hot gazes trailing over her body. Looking up, she was caught, held spellbound by the simmering emotions in Himeros’ green eyes.

  Pothos dropped to his knees and started to spread out her toga, forming a soft blanket on the grass, while Himeros pressed against her, his pants smooth against her legs. Brushing her hands over the curls that covered his chest, she teased his nipples, earning a soft groan before his lips claimed hers.

  Whereas Pothos left her feeling weak with need, Himeros’ kiss sparked a fire she wasn’t certain could be put out. As he swept her into his arms and drop to his knees, laying her down on the soft silk, she fought to relax and simply let herself feel.

  When both Gods leaned over her, one on each side, she caught the first glimpse of what was to be when they each began to lavish attention on their side of her body. Divided in two, she felt like a banquet laid out for them, as they started to kiss and caress her body, stroking along her inner thighs and tugging gently at her nipples with their teeth.

  She returned the favor, stroking whatever parts of their bodies she could reach, delighting in the ability to appease her curiosity. Her husband had used sex to dominate her, to force her to his will, not caring about her pleasure. Being able to simply touch and caress as she willed was liberating.

  Unbidden, a fantasy she had always wanted to fulfill popped into her mind, and she gripped Pothos’ shoulders, pulling his head away from her breasts. His eyes flashed blue fire as he met her gaze.

  “I want to taste you,” she whispered, curiously hesitant. She felt the brush of Himeros’ skin against her legs as he shifted against her, moving into the valley of her thighs.

  “Are you sure?” Pothos asked, his voice tight with need.

  “Yes.” That one word seemed to be enough. Shifting his body to a kneeling position, he moved beside her head and waited, his cock dangling before her eyes.

  Turning to face towards him, she wrapped her lips around his head, taking a brief taste of his length, before delving down, sucking almost half of his cock into her mouth.

  She could feel Himeros’ wavy hair brushing against her thighs as he shifted, the only warning she got before he slid his hands under her ass and lifted her to his mouth. Alicia moaned around Pothos’ cock, as she experienced the first lick of her pussy. Himeros’ nose tickled her clit as he shifted upward, sucking on her clit, two of his fingers parting her pussy lips then thrusting past deep.

  Pothos’ cock jerked in her mouth, and she instinctively sucked harder, earning a groan from the God. Soon lost in the thrill of tasting him, she found a rhythm as old as time, and feminine instincts awakened within her. Knowing just how hard to suck, where to press her tongue, she worked his cock in her mouth, savoring the salty taste of his pre-come, while Himeros plucked her pussy like a harp, his fingers and tongue expertly knowing just where to touch to draw the right sensation.

  Lost in their touch, she couldn’t tell where she began and they ended. It wasn’t until Pothos suddenly moved back, his cock pulling from her mouth with a soft pop that she regained some sense of herself.

  “Why did you—” she started to ask, only to have Pothos lean down and press a kiss against her lips.

  “This time isn’t for me,” he whispered against her lips before deepening the kiss. His firm hands trailed over her body, pausing here and there to stroke and tease.

  Welling from a spring so deep within her she never knew it existed, a strange sensation seeped forth. Her pussy felt like it was tightening, slowly drawing in on itself. Frightened at the intensity, she clutched Pothos’ shoulders, holding him tight against her as Himeros continued to worship her with his tongue.

  “Shhhh, Alicia. Just let it happen. It’s the most beautiful thing in the world, I promise.”

  Arching against Himeros, she shifted a hand to tangle in his hair, holding him tight as a wave within her crashed against her inner walls. She felt her pussy contract, grasping at his fingers as he started to thrust them faster.

  She could feel herself losing control, her body reaching for something just beyond its grasp.

  “Relax, baby, just feel.” Pothos’ words rolled over her, wrapping her in a cocoon of safety. Trusting the Gods to take care of her, she relaxed completely, her body open to the sensations bombarding her.

  Himeros added a third finger, thrusting hard into her, his thumb brushing against her clit, while his tongue danced over her belly button.

  Pothos’ warm hands brushed over her breasts and neck, leaving a trail of fire in their wake.

  Closing her eyes, she saw herself standing on the edge of a cliff looking into the ocean. With a deep breath, she jumped. When she hit the water, her orgasm crashed over her like the waves, and she screamed as the world went dark.

  Chapter Five

  Uncertain how much time had passed, Alicia slowly opened her eyes, to find two very worried Gods leaning over her, their gazes filled with concern.

  “You okay?” Himeros asked, his green-eyed gaze moving over her face.

  Alicia nodded, not trusting her voice after such an earth shattering experience.

  “You sure?” Pothos added his soft voice, husky with uncertainty.

  “Yes,” she whispered as she stretched. Every muscle in her body felt weak, as if her first orgasm had sucked the life right out of them. “Deliciously so.”

  “Good.” There was without a doubt a heavy dose of masculine satisfaction in Pothos’ voice.

  “I remember now who are you are,” she responded, startled at how different her voice sounded. She had lost the hesitancy that had laced her words for over a year. Now there was strength to her voice, a certainty with each word she spoke.

  “You didn’t before?”

  “Um, nope. But now I remember. You’re Pothos, the God of passion, and Himeros is the God of sexual desire. Athena set me up.”

  “Actually, no one did.” Alicia tried to focus on his words, but it was hard as he slowly started caressing her again, her body springing to life with a returned vigor. “We are just both drawn to intense, shall we say, depths of sexual emotion. You are brimming with it. And we’re like moths to that flame, drawn in even as Aphrodite was threatening to turn us over to Athena, who would cut off certain valuable parts of our anatomy if we hurt you. Come to think of it, Aphrodite did take an immense delight in taunting us that Athena would follow through on her threats, and she knows we both like to play with fire.”

  There was a faint trace of laughter in Himeros’ voice as he spoke. “This is all sweet and nice, kids, but I think I hear someone coming, and I don’t mean that in a crude fashion. Someone is walking down the path, heading our way.”

  Before she could blink, the scenery around her changed and the maze shifted, closing the paths off, enveloping them within the heart of the maze.

  “Ah, never mind, the maze took care of it.” Himeros voice dropped off as he moved back between her legs, pressing soft kisses against her inner thighs.

  Looking down at the dark head wedged between her pale thighs, Alicia gripped his shoulder and pulled him back up.

  “As much as I love your tongue, I only have one weekend and I want to experience a few more things before it’s over.”

  “Who said you have only this weekend?” Himeros asked as he moved to cover her, his cock pressing against her nether lips.

  “The invitation…”

  “Was for this weekend,” Pothos interjected. “It says nothing of what takes place afterwards. And besides, don’t you know once you go Gods, you never go back?”

  Alicia would have laughed at his cheesy pun, if Himeros hadn’t chosen that moment to surge against her, his cock thrusting deep. Wrapping her legs aro
und Himeros’ waist, she pulled Pothos down for a kiss, and lost herself once more in the maelstrom that the two Gods unleashed.

  Chapter Six

  “New Hope Women’s Shelter, Athena speaking.”

  “Hey Athena, it’s Alicia.”

  Warmth entered the Goddess’ voice as she responded. “Alicia! I’m glad you called. How did the weekend go?”

  “Much better than I expected. Now I know why you’re the Goddess of wisdom, you certainly gave me good advice.” Alicia swatted at Pothos as his hand crept over her thigh. “Stop that, I’m on the phone,” she hissed.

  “Maybe. You just had to know it was time to start living again. So, how are Pothos and Himeros? I haven’t seen them in ages.”

  “How did you—”

  “The whole Goddess thing does have advantages beyond shrines and temples,” Athena interjected, her tone dry.

  “They’re fine. They have decided that they are going to crash with me indefinitely, so I think I need a bigger place. At the very least, a bigger bed, while we decide whether we want to move to a bigger place.”

  Athena laughed, the sound deep and warm, filled with genuine affection for her fellow Olympians. “Just make sure you clear out the second Thursday of the month. They host the weekly poker party then, and with Eros, Ares, Apollo and sometimes Zeus and a few other Gods showing up, it’s a testosterone laced nightmare for women. The wives and girlfriends tend to get together and have their own girls’ night.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.” Alicia paused to pull her foot from Himeros’ hands, as he attempted to place kisses along her arch. “I think I need to go now, though, they are demanding my attention.”

  “They are an insatiable pair. Take care hon, and good luck. Oh and vitamins, take lots of vitamins.”