by Tina Folsom
“Are you sure Dio will like it?”
Natalie winked. “He’ll be all over you. And isn’t that what you want tonight?”
She nodded, but the nervousness that had spread all day in anticipation of this evening wasn’t waning. “Maybe I should wait a little. It’s too early. We’ve only been dating for two weeks.”
Natalie tsked. “Wait any longer and he’ll lose interest. You’ve got to show him that you want him, or he’ll just think you don’t care about him. Men want a little show of affection. And if you don’t put out, he’ll go somewhere else. You’ve told me yourself how virile he is. Do you really think a man like that is going without sex for longer than a couple of weeks?”
The chastising look Natalie tossed her made Ariadne swallow away her fear. Not every man was like her ex-fiancé. Dio had to be different. Over the last two weeks, he’d been the most attentive man, showering her with flowers and expensive dinners. They’d taken romantic walks along the shore and slow danced to Burt Bacharach. She knew that at heart Dio was a romantic, and it was only natural that he wanted to sleep with her. And it was natural that she wanted the same.
“I know those frowns.”
At Natalie’s words, Ariadne lifted her head. “I’m sorry, I’m just scared. What if he does what Jeff—”
“Forget that asshole right now!” The sharp tone in Natalie’s voice made her jolt back. “I don’t want to hear that man’s name ever again. Do you understand? What Jeff did was despicable. It’s over. Time to move on. Dio is a good man. Now, get ready.” She peered at her watch. “Jesus, I’d better run or the chef is going to lay an egg. We have tons of reservations for tonight.”
Ariadne nodded. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have kept you for so long. You need to get back to work. Thanks for everything.”
Natalie smiled. “What are friends for?” Then she pulled her into another hug. “Now go get him, Ari. And tell me everything—and I mean, everything—tomorrow.”
Ariadne felt herself blush at the thought of laying her sex life bare in front of her best friend. If everything went well tonight, and she and Dio really spent the night together in bed, then she wasn’t sure she wanted to share any of it with anybody, not even her best friend. If Dio’s kisses were anything to go by, they would burn up the sheets together once they got naked.
When the front door snapped in behind Natalie, Ari scrutinized her image in the mirror once more. Her dark blond hair billowed over her shoulders, and her green eyes were enhanced by the subtlest of make-up. Her lips were covered with the barest of lip color, merely a hint of transparent red. She hadn’t bothered with more, knowing that Dio would kiss her, wiping the lipstick off instantly.
Tonight, she’d take the first step toward restoring her faith in men. Dio had given her every indication that he was interested in her for more than a fling. The way he ran his eyes over her whenever they were together, and particularly when he thought she wasn’t watching, sent warmth through her body. There was so much affection and desire in his gaze that she just knew he was the man for her, a man who would cherish her. A man who would love her.
Tonight, she’d offer herself to him to show him that she was willing to give their relationship a fair shot. She would make the past vanish forever.
By the time the doorbell buzzed, announcing Dio’s arrival, the butterflies in her stomach had moved in permanently. Maybe Dio could evict those little buggers with his touch.
Ari pressed the buzzer to open the downstairs door and took a few steadying breaths before she opened the door to her apartment.
Dio looked amazing. His clothing was casual: faded jeans that hugged his thighs showing off each muscle in his toned body, a white shirt whose top two buttons were open, revealing just a light dusting of dark hair on his chest. If any man could make casual clothes look like a million bucks, it was Dio. His dark hair was longer than currently fashionable, but he carried it off with an air of ruggedness.
“You look stunning.” The words came from him, the sound of his voice huskier tonight than she’d ever heard him. He took her hand and guided it to his mouth, pressing a kiss into her palm. “I couldn’t wait to see you.” His blue eyes connected with her, the underlying promise evident in them.
“Dio.” Was her voice really this echo she heard in her head? Had she already lost all her senses just by ogling him?
Suddenly she was flush against his body without registering that he’d pulled her toward him. Or had she flung herself into his arms? Her breath caught in her chest as his lips hovered a mere inch above hers.
“Something is different tonight. Are you wearing a new perfume?”
Ari shook her head. “I’m not wearing anything.” She caught the flare in his eyes and felt a responding flame in her belly, only now realizing what she’d said. “I mean …”
“Yes, the fabric of your dress is so delicate, I can feel every outline of your body, every curve. Can you feel me?” He slid one hand down the curve of her backside and gently pressed her against him.
Her breath hitched as she felt the hard outline of his erection pressing into her stomach. In an attempt to stop herself from moaning, she pulled her lower lip between her teeth.
“I take that as a yes,” Dio whispered into her ear and lowered his lips to her neck, planting open-mouthed kisses on her heated skin. “My sweet Ariadne, you are my greatest temptation, do you know that? When I’m near you, I can’t think of anything else.”
She tried to steady herself, putting her hands on his shoulders, but the heat under her palms made her feel dizzy. Was she panting already? “Dio.” This man reduced her to one-word-sentences.
He didn’t lift his head but merely grunted and continued kissing her neck and stroking her backside with his hand.
“We have to … the reservation … the restaurant,” she managed to say, trying to gain back the control she’d lost the moment he’d pressed her against him.
Finally he lifted his head and studied her, his eyes dark with passion. “I’m sorry. You’re right. We should go.” He cleared his throat as if he too was trying to wrestle back control. “I apologize for attacking you like this.”
It hadn’t felt like an attack. Far from it. It had been a sensual assault, one she didn’t think she could fight off next time it happened, one she didn’t think she would want to avoid. “Don’t apologize.”
He graced her with a wide smile and took her arm to lead her outside.
“Where are we going tonight?”
“A small bistro in the neighborhood. Nothing ostentatious, but it’s quiet and intimate.” He emphasized the last word and gave her a sideways glance. Then he shook his head. “By the gods, you’re beautiful.”
She chuckled nervously. While Dio was never shy with compliments, the way he lavished them on her tonight was different. Almost as if he’d only just realized that the lighthearted compliments he normally served had turned into absolute truths. “You’re different tonight,” she said. Did he know that she had made the decision to sleep with him tonight if he made an attempt at intimacy? Was it written on her face?
“Different, how?”
“More intense.”
“Is that good?” He led her hand to his lips and kissed it.
“Yes.”
He suddenly stopped and turned, pressing her against the wall of a building. “Baby, I’m not sure I can make it through dinner tonight.”
Her chest heaved as she tried to get enough air to speak. “Aren’t you hungry?”
“Oh, I’m hungry.” His eyes told her of his hunger, the desire in them more intense than she’d ever seen it. “But not for food. I’m hungry for you. And I’m afraid of scaring you off with how much I want you right now.”
Her heart made an excited salto at his admission. She took all her courage and stroked her hand against his cheek. “Would a kiss tide you over?”
“We could give it a try.”
And then his mouth was on hers, his lips nudging against her, his tong
ue licking at the seam of them, asking for entry. Without reservation, she opened up to him and allowed his invasion. Heat flooded her, and tendrils of fire licked up her body. His hands seemed to touch her everywhere as his tongue dueled with hers and stroked her in the most tantalizing rhythm, soft and strong at the same time.
Both tenderness and passion combined in his kiss, making for an irresistible cocktail of emotions. Her head swam with images of their lovemaking, of a relationship, a future together. And her body burned with desire for him, with lust she’d never felt before. As if he conjured up these feelings in her by the magic of his tongue exploring her, his lips nipping at her, and his body grinding against hers in a dance as old as time.
If she could get this hot with her clothes on, she could only imagine what would happen once she was alone with him in her apartment where they could tear each other’s clothes off. She could barely breathe now, her heart beating so fast, she was afraid it could jump out of her chest and into his hand—the hand he’d just slipped onto her breast to knead it gently but with purpose. When his thumb stroked over her nipple, turning it hard in an instant, she tore her mouth from his.
“We have to stop,” she whispered, catching her breath.
Dio breathed as hard as she did. He leaned his forehead against hers, his breath ghosting along her skin as he spoke. “I know. But later. Promise me … I need you, Ariadne.”
She gave an almost unperceivable nod. He needed her—how those words warmed her. “Yes.” Her heart still thundered into his hand, a hand he hadn’t yet removed from her breast. As she straightened, he seemed to realize it and dropped it.
“You rob me of my sanity.”
She lifted her head to read him and saw despair in his eyes.
Chapter Three
Dionysus could barely make it through dinner. The kiss in the dark alley had made him even hornier than he’d been the moment he’d arrived at Ariadne’s doorstep. He’d promised himself to play it cool tonight, to shower her with compliments whether he meant them or not, and to play the suave seducer. But no, that plan wasn’t working out too well: he was behaving like a sixteen-year-old boy on his first date, prattling on about stupid things, uttering unsophisticated remarks, and kissing her like a man dying of thirst. Not much sophistication in that!
By the gods, what was happening to him? Was he turning into a complete idiot? He had to get a grip!
Dio tried to pull himself together and made an attempt at doing better during dinner, but instead of entertaining her with his usual man-of-the-world routine and impressing her with his knowledge about almost everything, he literally spoon-fed her part of his own meal and licked her fingers when a drop of grits landed on them. How pathetic was that! He was a god, yet he behaved like a pussy-whipped fool.
As he walked Ariadne to the front door of her apartment, his heart hammered into his chest. He hoped that she hadn’t changed her mind about the promise she’d made earlier, after realizing during dinner what a besotted idiot he was.
“Would you like to come in?” Her voice was almost shy when she asked, but it put the hugest grin on his face that he could ever remember.
“Love to.”
The moment the door shut behind him, he pulled her into his arms.
“Can I offer you anything? Coffee … tea …”
“Yes, you can.” Yourself on a platter, came to mind. Instead, he said, “Another kiss.”
Her arms snaked around his neck as she pulled his head closer to hers. Dio appreciated her initiative. It appeared that Ariadne was finally warming to him.
“I want you,” she whispered.
Inside him, the man roared. On the outside, he kept his hard-won control. “Good, ‘cause I want you too.”
He lifted her into his arms and headed for her bedroom. It wasn’t hard to find. Besides the open-plan living room with the kitchen, there were only two other doors: one led into the bathroom, the other into the bedroom.
“What are you doing?” she asked but smiled up at him, lacing her hands behind his neck.
Dio dipped his head to hers, placing a soft kiss on her tempting lips. “What I should have done the day I met you in your wine shop. I should have taken you into the back room and undressed you and then made love to you until you came. And then I should have done it again, just in case you passed out the first time.”
It had been fortunate meeting her. He’d stumbled upon the little wine shop and entered to order a case of his favorite wine before he’d even realized that the owner was the most enticing woman he’d met in a long time. She’d instantly stirred something in him, and as soon as he’d ordered his case of wine to be delivered to his bachelor pad, and engaged her in a long conversation about wine, he’d asked her out. She’d hesitated at first, but he’d coaxed her and claimed that she had nothing to lose, and a satisfied customer to gain. Satisfied being the operable word. Yes, he should have taken her right then.
“But don’t worry, I’ll rectify my oversight now.” He felt her heart beat faster at his words.
“God help me,” she muttered.
Indeed, a god would help her come: Dionysus would make it his pleasure. And he was back in control. The way Ariadne’s eyelids fluttered and her heartbeat reverberated through her body and echoed in his cemented the knowledge that she wanted him and would go all the way tonight. This time, she wouldn’t stop him and hold back. And this time, he wouldn’t have to go back home unsatisfied and find release at his own hand like he had the last two weeks.
Tonight, he’d take from her what he needed and then move on with his life. Even as the thought formed in his mind, something rebelled within him. It was a foreign emotion to be sure, so he pushed it back into the dark recesses of his mind. Nothing would cloud his enjoyment of the sweet and sensual woman in his arms tonight. This night was all about pleasure and passion, desire and lust. Nothing else mattered.
Dio kicked the door of the bedroom shut with his foot and lowered Ariadne onto the queen sized bed which was covered with a pink duvet. Not exactly his choice of décor, but it suited her gentle sensibilities and the air of innocence that surrounded her. Maybe that was what had first attracted him to her: the feeling that she was an innocent at heart.
Not that she didn’t have an amazing body too—as he was just finding out. Already when he’d touched her earlier tonight and pressed her against him in the alley, he’d felt every curve yield to the hard planes of his body.
As he peeled her out of her dress, not only her cheeks colored prettily, but her entire body seemed to blush. “Gods, you’re beautiful.” And by Zeus, if he didn’t mean it.
Her breasts were covered by the sheer material of her push-up bra. Not that she needed it: they’d felt firm and strong in his hand, and they were the perfect fit for his palms. He didn’t care for any more that what Ariadne was endowed with. Her body was perfectly proportioned, her waist slim, but not spindly, her hips generous but not overly full. And the dark blond patch that shone through the gauzy fabric of her panties hinted at a neatly trimmed strip of curls that was just the place he enjoyed to explore.
Dio noticed a slight trembling of her body. But he knew it wasn’t for lack of heat. He, for one, found the warmth in the room stifling, and quickly tore at his shirt to rid himself of it.
With the frightened eyes of a doe, she watched him as he opened the top button of his jeans. He stopped in his movement to reassure her. “Baby, you have nothing to worry about. You just say the word, and I’ll give you all the pleasure in my power.” And those powers were supreme. As a god, his stamina was unparalleled, and he would prove it to her tonight.
Her lashes lowered slightly as if she were embarrassed to watch him undress. “I haven’t been with anybody in a long time.”
Why that admission pleased him, he didn’t understand. “I’ll do whatever you want, as slow and as gentle as it pleases you. I’m here to make you feel good.”
“You really mean that, don’t you?” Her gaze locked with his, and in it
he recognized her vulnerability, her apprehension, and that pinch of fear she held so tightly to her chest. He promised himself right then to eradicate that fear once and for all.
Dio stepped out of his trousers, keeping his boxer briefs hugging his erection, and lowered himself onto the bed, pulling her into his embrace. “I mean that. For a man to be able to give a woman the greatest pleasure is the biggest turn-on you can imagine.” Besides, most women were overly grateful once they had reached a monumental orgasm, and enthusiastic blowjobs often resulted from that kind of gratitude. His cock already strained against its confinement at the very thought of her sweet mouth around him.
With the pad of his thumb, he stroked along her lips, then down her chin and neck. He paused briefly when he saw her swallow hard, then continued his path south, slipping his thumb under the fabric of her bra. The moment his finger connected with her nipple, her breath hitched.
“That’s right, baby, you just concentrate on your breathing. I’ll take care of the rest.”
The thought of guiding this sweet morsel in an exploration of sensuality and teaching her what pleasures her body was capable of made his cock swell even more. And by the way Ariadne’s heart beat against his palm, which now cupped her bra-covered breast, he figured that she experienced the same barely leashed excitement.
As he slowly lowered his head to her breasts and pushed the fabric aside to reveal her dark pink nipple, his body heated. He gulped down a breath of air and with it the scent of her arousal. And what a sweet scent it was: a mixture of jasmine, woman, and innocence. Not even as a god did he have sufficient powers to resist such a call.
Dio snaked his tongue out and licked across her hard little nub, wringing a strangled moan from her throat. “Baby, no holding back. If you want to scream, then scream.”
“Dio, you make me feel so … I can’t …it’s so …” Apparently forming a coherent sentence was too much for her.
He smiled to himself and closed his lips around the rosy peak, sucking it into his mouth while he continued lapping over her captured nipple. Never mind that she was writhing underneath him as if this little treat was already too much for her to bear. He wouldn’t stop until she came apart in his arms tonight. And even then …