A Spartan's Kiss (18 page)

Her gaze narrowed at his words. She didn’t move her hand, though, and he shuddered at how close her delicate fingers were to his aching cock. At this rate, he’d come before she ever touched him—before he touched her.

She glanced down, and he cursed himself when she shook off his hand. A second later he groaned as she hesitantly brushed her fingers along his cock. He bit back an order for her to stroke him and locked his knees to keep himself upright. Gods, his balls were in a vice. If he didn’t step carefully, though, he might lose her. He was a man of action, planning, thought, but Tabithia blew his planning to shreds. A part of him would not survive—hell, he might not survive much longer anyway—if he didn’t ease the despair drowning him. She was all that was shiny and sweet. Warm, smiling, teasing Tabithia with her quick grin and quicker temper, with her lack of respect and quirky logic—she proved to him that there could be something good in his world.

She looked up at him and the need swirling in her slumberous gaze struck him right in the heart. He’d give her anything, everything he could, to make the sudden dream of her being his, a reality.

He’d not missed the shadows in her eyes. Even now, clearly warm with passion, she hovered on the edge of awkwardness. She had no idea how beautiful he thought her, how perfectly she would fit him. How truly incredible she was.

“You’re so beautiful, Tabithia. So damn beautiful. I don’t deserve you, but I’m begging you. Tabithia, touch me. Feel how much I ache for you. Only you.”

With a groan, he felt her fingers brush over the heavy weight of his erection. Pleasure raced up his spine. He was close to coming with one stroke. The image of those bare breasts bouncing above him as she sank her beautiful body down on his had his cum thickening his cock to an unbearable degree.

He bent his head and took her lips in a fierce, possessive kiss. Without waiting, he dragged her towards him so he could touch her fiery curls. She stiffened, then fisted her hand around him until he gently found her wet, swollen pussy. She groaned around his kiss as he carefully slid one finger inside her. His brain nearly exploded at how hot she was. Surely no woman had ever felt so damned soft and beautiful. She clenched around his finger, and gasped, dropped her head to his shoulder, and bit him.

“Ah, goddess of all that’s beautiful, Tabithia, I’m going to have you sliding along my cock soon. You’re so wet, so wickedly hot for me. Good girl, now stroke me, stroke me, baby, I’m so damn close.”

A groan built in his throat but he held it in. His head jerked back when she cupped his balls, lightly playing with his sac as she skimmed her palm over him in an up-and-down rhythm that had him growling in pleasure. She soaked his fingers, and he managed to rub his thumb along her clit in slow, gentle caresses that had her biting his shoulder and stroking him harder. He reached down, desperate for release, and covered her hand with his, thrusting up into their fists. The pleasure knocked his breath out in a low, heavy groan.

Desperate, he sought her mouth and feasted on her lips, dominating the kiss as she began to tremble harder. Her thighs tightened and she gasped when he pressed another finger inside her tight body. All at once, she reared up, throwing her head back, and cried out his name, coming in hard, deep shudders that made her beautiful breasts quiver. He latched onto a pink nipple and pumped his hips faster. Wetness spilled from the dark tip of his cock, suspending him on a rack of pleasure. The pending explosion neared rapidly, building so high he tightened his ass as his balls drew up in anticipation. Ghost-like caresses rushed down his spine and pleasure shot through his muscles, his scalp tingled, and with a rough groan of her name around the lush breast he sucked on, he climaxed. He nearly fell to his knees when she sucked on his skin, adding another layer of sensation to the already overwhelming experience of her.

The aftershocks seemed to last forever. Finally, he drew a full breath. When he did, the world resurfaced. Tabithia collapsed against him, warm and safe, her fist still caught under his.

He shuddered once more, jerking one more burst of pleasure from the sensitive tip of his cock. Gods, he had barely held himself back enough to give her pleasure. She was tight and warm and soft around the fingers he still had buried within her pussy.

“I didn’t shock you, did I?” Of all the things he wanted to say, why he asked that he had no idea. It must have been the right thing, though, because she relaxed in his arms, and she brushed a kiss to his shoulder. After a few moments of resting against him, she tipped her head up to his. She looked like a sex goddess. His. All his. He gently removed his fingers from her and watched her blush grow rosy. An almost ashamed look took hold in her eyes, but he tightened his other arm around her and slowly brought his drenched fingers to his mouth.

“Next time I want to taste all of you.” He deliberately licked his two fingers clean of her sweet taste. Meeting her gaze, he tipped her head up with his other hand. She blinked, unsure of him, he could tell. Shame had disappeared from her eyes, though. Whatever they’d shared, he’d be damned if she felt shame. He’d rushed this, he could sense that now. What he did now mattered. But how to reassure her? Going on instinct, he bent his head to brush a kiss to her temple. Mouth to her ear, he said, “And I want you to taste me, too, Tabithia. I want to lick every inch of you, every gorgeous inch of you while you lie back and let me. Then I want you to do the same to me.”

She gasped and a shiver rose over her skin. Tensing in his arms again, she met his eyes with a surprised look before he kissed her deeply, hoping to end any thought she might have had about denying him, or them.

If Tabithia had to think of the most amazing thing in her life, the most amazing good thing in her life, without a doubt, she would have to choose Aeros whispering her name while, together, they stroked his huge erection.

He was huge. All of him. Simply amazing. The man practically oozed muscles. He was stacked. Oh, she’d had her fantasies of what he would be like unclothed, but the reality show simply blew those murky images out with the VCR. Muscle upon muscle, hardened, toughened by years—ha! centuries—of fighting, the man made her toes curl. She liked all those muscles, she realised. She liked them a lot. She even, damn it, liked him. When push came to shove? She’d wanted him the moment she first spotted him sitting in his outrageously expensive SUV. The way he looked at her, the way he breathed her name, as if she were something so beautiful he didn’t dare move for fear of her disappearing—he crushed every idea she had that she was unworthy of his wanting her.

He looked at her almost as if she were a dream come true.

Only, she wasn’t a dream come true.

She squeezed her eyes shut to gain some control of her frazzled thoughts, but the freeze frame of Aeros stroking her hand along his thick, long erection played out slowly, in exquisite detail behind her lids. Aeros masturbating was easily the most erotic thought she’d ever had.

Had Bridget said he’d jump-start her? Gods, she almost wished he’d just jump her. Maybe order her to her knees so she could explore every glorious inch of that huge erection? He’d not ordered her, she realised. Not really. The charm around his neck must be the link that bound her to him. It had to be. She’d felt something buzz along her skin when she’d brushed her fingers over the circular charm, but the charm didn’t explain why she’d stepped towards him, why she’d touched him, why she’d wanted him to want her as much as she wanted him. It sucked, but she couldn’t lie to herself. She could easily lie to others, but herself? She wanted to be right where she was. In his arms.

Only she couldn’t stay there.

You’re mine,
he’d said.

If only.

She swallowed several times before exhaling past the pain in her throat. Gods, she was on fire and they still had to get through this damn cave. That thought sobered her up. There’d be no more of this.

Not once she betrayed him.

Once she found Dare, she’d have to take her far away, somewhere where even Ares couldn’t find her. Then she’d go back to her life. Alone. Hidden from a certain angry Greek.

Aeros would be angry, too. He thought her perfect, beautiful. He’d growled her name in his climax. His body had trembled at her touch. She’d felt him press those thick fingers as intimately inside her as anyone had ever touched her. He’d held his breath, too. He’d been so gentle, even when he’d been panting with his own need. He thought her something special. His. He’d not think such things once he had to suffer Ares’ wrath.

Nope. He’d feel nothing but anger. Towards her.

She pulled back, and for a moment, she felt Aeros tighten his rock-hard arms before he nodded and pressed one more kiss to her temple.

From a distance, they both heard the men. It was time to move. The men would be packing up, and they both knew this bubble of whatever dream they were in wouldn’t last. Reality always broke into fantasies. Tabithia knew that. Rule number one. Life sucked. But you survived. Nervous energy had her swimming a bit away from him, suddenly shy.

“I’ll meet you back at camp,” she called, amazed at how breathless her voice sounded.

Aeros simply watched her, unmoving in the thigh-high water. “This isn’t over. It’s the beginning.” His voice turned rough, like a growl at the end. A luscious shiver raced over her skin at the threat behind his words. “I should have gone slower with you. But this isn’t over. No matter what happens. This, here, is the beginning.”

It wasn’t a question, but she nodded, feeling more than a bit shaky. He narrowed his eyes, as if reading her truthfulness and slowly nodded once, before exhaling heavily.

“I’ll go back first. I don’t think I could bear to leave if you were completely naked again. Damn near killed me the first time.” He muttered the last, but she heard him clearly. Shaking his head, he ran a hand up his chest and groaned. “Yeah, you get dressed and head back as soon as I leave, understood? And Tabithia?”

She watched his eagle eyes centre on her face hungrily. “You’re never going to be anything less than perfect to me. Beautiful. Even in a temper, baby. Now that you’ve been in my arms? Don’t think whatever happens here, with the damn chalice, will stop me from claiming you completely.”

His gaze sizzled with something that frightened her and, at the same time, made her heart race. Seeming satisfied when she stood there speechless, he nodded again, and turned to stride back out of the water, displaying every glorious inch of his muscled, tight back and ass for her enjoyment.

Holy Bridget.
She rubbed a hand over her face and through her hair before ducking under the cold water to ease the burn on her cheeks. How was she to face him again after this? How was she going to let him go?

Or would he let her go, when she betrayed him? 

Chapter Twelve

“This is it.”

Tabithia hadn’t spoken but a few words in hours. He thought she was embarrassed, and that killed him. He hadn’t had the chance to talk to her about the pools. He’d not wanted her to be uncomfortable, so he’d let her be, hoping she’d soften to him. Trust him.

But his mind hadn’t stopped replaying their passion over and over again in his mind as he followed her through the maze of subterranean caves. At first, she’d been tense in his arms, clearly frightened by him when he’d shown himself. He’d known she feared touching him, but once she’d melted in his arms, he thought she’d soften to him.

Clearly he’d thought wrong. Any time he tried to speak to her, she’d shush him. It was like talking to a wall. Even when they were alone for a brief moment, she refused to let him say a word. In front of his men, she was damn near frosty. It pissed him off at the same time as it scared the hell out of him. He wanted to claim her for everyone to see, but he also wanted her to know she was his.

His. Only his. No matter what.

But, since tasting her beautiful body in the pools, he felt like he was even further from claiming her than he had been before. It was almost like the pools had been a dream.

Up ahead of them, she glanced back over her delicate shoulder, and their gazes locked and suddenly what she was planning became crystal clear.

She was going to leave him.

She didn’t trust him. For some reason she doubted him. He’d been honourable, honest, and a man of his word for his entire existence, and yet this tiny witch, who wove the truth with deception, doubted him. He should be offended. Instead of feeling even the tiniest bit of anger, he was more mystified by her than before. She puzzled him, she made his heart race, she burned his body, and she melted in his arms. The woman was a mystery.

“Not the best of plans, but then I’m not running the show, so down we go.” She smiled at her rhyme, but the look didn’t reach her eyes.

Aeros knew he could be hard at times, stubborn, abrupt. He was used to command, all of which he knew grated on her nerves. But he had never been, and hoped to the gods to never be, a fool.

She was going to betray him.

Trouble was? He would be disappointed if she didn’t at least try to leave with the woman trapped in the chalice.

The signs were all there. She had avoided his eyes since returning to camp. When he did have a moment alone with her, she immediately became absorbed in her nail polish, switching it from darkest black to blood red and pensively turning it back to black again. If he opened his mouth, she tensed her shoulders, squinted at whatever held her interest at that moment, and held her breath as if working herself up for a real showdown—with him.

He sensed that it wasn’t because of what they’d shared. It was more than that. More than what he’d said. Or maybe it was what hadn’t been said. He’d not offered a solution to dealing with this woman Ares had imprisoned within the chalice. Hell, he didn’t have one. He wasn’t even sure if Ares had lied to him about the chalice being a godhead. Ares claimed the cup held godlike powers for whoever held it. But how could that be true if the cup merely imprisoned a witch? Did that mean that the witch granted godlike powers?