Eros Island

by Lucinda Betts, Dawn Thompson

  Dani tried to swallow past the lump forming in her throat. Stomach tightening, her spine stiffened. A ghost? Nonsense. Clearly she’d gone quite mad. Her breakdown must have driven her over the edge. She was hallucinating. Strangely she felt no real fear. Only wonder.

  What the hell is going on?

  “How did you get here?” The question tumbled over her lips.

  “How does any god move, but as he wishes?” Every inch of him rippled sinew and muscle. Tight, hard, and lean, he padded toward her with a predatory grace. His bare feet made nary a sound.

  His answer sounded so reasonable that it actually made sense, in a funny sort of way.

  Tipping her head back, Dani’s heart skipped a beat. She caught her breath because just looking at him threatened to snatch the oxygen from her lungs. “Herakles?”

  His smile dazzled. The air sizzled around him with erotic tension. “In the flesh.”

  Trembling, she climbed to her knees. “I don’t believe this.”

  A suggestive smile curved his lips. His hand drifted toward his groin. “I could make a believer out of you.” A sly grin followed the twinkle in his eye. His fingers brushed his cock, stirring it from its sleep.

  His bold move shot through her like a jolt of electricity. Every hair at the nape of her neck prickled with acute awareness. Accepting this situation might be easier than she’d expected. When push came to shove, she wasn’t a woman to turn down a hearty fuck.

  Especially when her dream god was doing the fucking.

  Hot breath rasped across her parted lips. “I wish you would.”

  “No easier done than said.” Flexing into sinuous motion, Herakles bent and caught her around the waist, lifting her as if she weighed ounces. The heat emanating from his hands scorched bare skin. “Not much to you.”

  Dani looked down and gasped. Somehow her clothing had melted away. “I’m naked,” she started to say.

  A booming masculine laugh filled her ears. Huge hands settled on her hips. “Which is just how I wanted you.”

  Hardly a small woman and certainly not a weak one, Dani felt dwarfed by his massive girth. If he’d chosen to pick her up and tie her in a knot, she would have no choice but to bend.

  He pulled her closer. Her erect nipples grazed his chest. His thighs brushed hers.

  Dani savored his strong hold, the warmth emanating from his very masculine body. His flesh felt warm and hard beneath her hands. She couldn’t help but notice that her skin emanated a soft pinkish shade. His own rich hue nearly matched his eyes. “I don’t know how this is happening…”

  His hands felt strong and sure on her skin. Spreading like molten lava, his surging power seemed to pour straight into her veins. “What do you think is happening?”

  She swallowed hard, moistening dry lips. “I don’t know.” Her voice throbbed with huskiness.

  He touched her cheek with his fingertips. “A god exists when you believe.” His words resonated in her ears, silky and deep as a night ocean.

  Believe.

  A shiver of anticipation shimmied down her spine. Somehow a connection had been made, drawing their two worlds together like a magnetic force. He could be her salvation, she thought with utter certainty. Pull her out of her gray dim world and into an existence bursting with color and vitality…

  Herakles traced his fingers down her cheek, stroking the smooth curve of one shoulder. “Long have I waited for a woman who breathes in stone.” His hand curved around her neck, fingers softly teasing her bare nape. Head dipping, he lowered his mouth to hers. The forceful passion of his kiss sent a wave of electricity shimmering through her.

  Locked in place, Dani found herself incapable of motion. Not that she wanted to break away, leave his warm embrace. She parted her lips, allowing his tongue to sweep in and claim her. A honeyed dreaminess spread through her limbs as their kiss deepened. She had never known that something as simple as a kiss could be so bluntly intimate. It had taken little effort on his part to overwhelm and conquer her.

  Huge palms cupped her ass. Strong hips moved against hers. The intensity of his body’s heat seemed to fuse his length to hers, settling into the center of her soul in a personal and intimate way. His bold, aggressive move was staggering. Electric currents rippled through her, rendering her aware of nothing but sheer sensation.

  “Your body is as hungry as your hands.” Strong hands cupped and stroked. His mouth softly brushed eager lips with a promise. “It will be a pleasure to feed such an appetite.”

  Before Dani could form a coherent reply, Herakles lifted her into his arms. He bore her down onto a small bed tucked away in a corner of her studio. Many a night she’d collapsed onto it, too tired from the day’s work to make it upstairs to bed.

  A hand-sewn quilt spread over its face. Faded, patched many times over, but still attractive in a familiar sort of way. A little nest of nurturing warmth, it also provided a soft haven for bare skin.

  Herakles stretched his lean frame against hers. Light blond hair covered his arms and legs. His abdomen rippled, hard and solid as cobbled stones. His jutting cock eagerly prodded her thigh. His gaze caught and held hers. “Do not be afraid,” he said softly. “I will not force you.”

  Pressed against his full length, her nerve endings tingled. Eagerly. “I’m not afraid,” she breathed, trembling with need.

  “May I touch you?”

  Dani shuddered at his size. “Yes,” she replied in a hoarse whisper that conveyed both need and eagerness.

  Propped on one elbow to support his weight, Herakles slid the palm of his hand over her smooth belly. Trailing his fingers across her breasts, he circled a dusky nipple. “You are as perfect as the stone you work.” Head dipping, his lips captured one nipple, sucking it deep.

  Her breath cut off sharply at the delicious sensation. His tongue circled the hard tip with a deliberate slowness. “Oh, yes…” She moaned, almost exploding from the pleasure. Heated sensations radiated through her, making her wet and ready all over again.

  After a moment, he moved to her other breast and slicked the tip of his tongue over it. He took it greedily, brazenly into his mouth, suckling hard.

  Trembling beneath the sensual assault of his lips, she moaned again. Body hot and throbbing, her mind whirled. Breathless with anticipation, the final shreds of control slipped through her fingers.

  No matter. His long hair filled her hands now. She tugged his head up for another kiss, unable to bear the ache of lust any longer. “I’ve needed this,” she gasped when their lips parted.

  Nibbling at her bottom lip, Herakles smiled. “I know. I’ve felt that need.”

  Lust kicked up another notch. Sparks of pleasure exploded like a string of firecrackers. Quaking with raw passion, a sound between a moan and a whimper escaped her. “Whatever you do,” she gasped between breaths. “Don’t stop.”

  A wicked smile taunted. “As if I could.”

  Answering her hunger with more kisses, Herakles caressed his way down her narrow abdomen. His lips left no curve, peak or valley untouched. His tongue explored her navel as though to drink of fine nectar within its depth. Moving lower, he parted her legs and settled between her thighs. His fingers brushed through the clipped hair covering her mons. Damp with cream, her sex beckoned.

  “What are you doing?” Letting out a soft whoosh of air, Dani gasped out a laugh and squirmed in delight. She had to control herself from coming right on the spot.

  Thumb and forefinger parted her silken folds. Her clit peeked out of its shielding hood, a distended pebble of pulsing flesh. The invitation to taste was extended. “You have a hungry cunt,” he murmured. “One needing much care and tending.”

  Biting back a whimper, Dani thrust her hips upward. “So tend away.” How he had come to be here, why he’d come to her she didn’t know. At the moment logic didn’t apply, nor did she care to examine it.

  Caught in the moment she only wanted to soar.

  Herakles grinned broadly. “Fortunately my hunger well match
es your own.” He leaned forward. Warm lips closed around her. He circled the hard little bud.

  Welcoming the madness that engulfed her, Dani gave herself to the teasing flicks. His mouth was all over her. Abdominal muscles clenching, her hips bucked upward. “Please,” she begged, anxious to be filled. “I need to feel you inside me.”

  Delving into her, Herakles sank two thick fingers to the knuckle. Creamy inner muscles welcomed him with a tight grip.

  Dani pressed her hips against his hand. A soft hungry sound broke from her mouth. The first onslaught of orgasm teased, coming just within her reach. Tremors commenced in small waves, lapping at her toes. Her heart tripped a little, missed a beat, and then settled back into rhythm.

  Exquisite, but hardly what she truly craved. Hot breath, ragged inhaling. A sheen of perspiration slicked her hungry skin. Brain-twisting need tormented. The unbearable throb deepened.

  “Please…” Close to the edge of losing control, a delicate quiver moved the muscles across her flat abdomen. “Make me come…”

  Herakles laughed, a sexy throaty sound. “You give yourself no time to enjoy.” His fingers slipped deeper. His thumb worked the tight bundle of nerves he’d exposed. Promising her. Driving her even wilder. “The reward will be greater if you take it slowly.” Head dipping, his mouth claimed her.

  Dani moaned again, enjoying the feel of his masterful touch. Her fingers tangled in his thick hair, guiding him, holding him. Her thighs trembled around his head. Hot breath rasped between parted lips, matching the beat of blood though her veins.

  He feasted at her snatch, his lips dancing slow circles around her clit. His tongue suddenly stabbed deep.

  A tiny shudder ran through her. Sensitive flesh pulsed.

  Another stab.

  A bigger, more intense shudder. Tight muscles began to relax. The torture enticed.

  Barely clinging to her self-control, Dani closed her eyes, immersing herself in nothing but pure erotic sensation. She writhed, trying to accommodate every impression at once.

  Herakles licked again and the frayed leash holding her desire snapped.

  Swamped under by sheer lust, a heated tickle spread through Dani’s abdomen as the inferno building inside went supernova. Her orgasm transformed into a dynamic force of space-twisting power; lightning flared and flashed above her. Red-hot fire lashed out. The vibrant force scorched her veins, sweet release flooding every inch of her.

  Her low moan turned into a scream of delight under the restless sweep of a tyrant climax. The earth spun on its axis, taking and reshaping her senses into entirely new shapes.

  Minutes passed before the surge of her inner convulsions faded away. She lay limp and sweaty, utterly spent. God almighty, she thought through her daze. That was wonderful!

  In no hurry to end her delightful torment, Herakles rose to his knees. Penis in hand, he bought his fist up to the large bulbous head, then back down. Heavy-lidded eyes cast a spell on her as they held hers captive. “I’ve waited a long time to claim you as mine.”

  Dazed by the aftermath of her mind-blowing climax, Dani hungrily licked her lips. Stretched out on her back, her legs were spread wide open. “I’ve waited a long time to be claimed.”

  He lifted an inquiring brow. An iniquitous smile lit his gaze. “Is that so?”

  She giggled in happy surrender. “You bet your sweet ass.”

  Herakles chuckled. “Mine isn’t the ass that’s sweet.” He stretched over her, resting his weight on his elbows and forearms. Hips settling between her parted thighs, his erect cock rested atop the soft curve of her belly. He lowered his mouth to hers.

  Dani tasted the spicy musk of her own cream. Hot excitement flooded her all over again. His kiss, an act of possession, swept her up in its force.

  His mouth moved from hers. His eyes burned with desire as one huge hand palmed a breast, shaping the erect peak with thick fingers. Her nipples were pink and swollen. “Should I make you beg for it?”

  Her hands were on his shoulders, nails digging into his skin. Her body was melting beneath his. No way in hell she’d let him stop now. She couldn’t. “Making your creator beg wouldn’t be fair or fitting.”

  Groaning out his own anticipation, Herakles lifted his weight off her. One strong hand guided his cock until the round hard tip found her sex. He pressed the wide crown between her swollen lips, parting her slick labia. Hot steel caressed silk. “Then you shall have every last inch you desire,” he promised through a soft growl.

  Anxious to be filled, Dani shifted her hips, and spread wide, preparing to take him to the hilt. Heat racked her body. God, yes…

  As Herakles prepared to slide in, the storm outside kicked up with a vengeance. Eerily silent a moment ago, thunder now snapped the air apart with a tremendous earthquaking force. Darkened bulbs flickered, dimmed, then caught as the electricity surged back.

  Herakles roared out in anguished astonishment. Melting away under a brilliant flare of energy, he vanished like a mirage in the desert.

  Distressed by the theft of her pleasure, Dani reached out, desperate to pull him back. But the light sucking him into its core was so blinding that she had to cover her eyes. A strangled nonsensical cry broke from her throat, searing her vocal cords.

  Not now, damn it!

  4

  F or an instant nothing existed but the brilliant white light, its flares keeping time with her heart. An enormous thrust of power made her head reel. Then the glare receded, allowing Dani to focus.

  Dani blinked and her vision cleared. Much to her surprise she wasn’t spread out naked on her studio bed ready to be taken. She wasn’t even anywhere within touching distance of Herakles. No, not at all. She still stood in the shadow of the great statue, just as she had been when Jack had departed.

  She hadn’t moved one goddamned inch.

  Brow furrowing in confusion, Dani shook her head. Just a minute ago, she’d been making passionate love to her virile god. The next moment—

  “Not.”

  Nothing had happened.

  Except another of the strange spells that seemed to have overtaken her lately. Once again her fantasies had galloped off with her senses.

  Having lovingly shaped every inch of the statue, how could she not entertain a few scenarios—starring herself and the most delicious male she’d ever created? She’d easily envisioned him as a living, breathing being a thousand times before. But he’d never before appeared as such a Technicolor reality.

  Dani ran a hand up her bare arm. Easy to remember his touch dancing over her skin, his scent in his nostrils, his body spread out beside hers.

  Tonight she’d wished him alive.

  Aching with unfulfilled desire, a lump rose in her throat as the familiar proverb of pointless desires filtered through her mind. “If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride.”

  She became conscious that she was cold and shivering. The storm outside rattled the walls around her, a great howling screaming wind driving the terrible storm.

  Dani tensed, her flesh seeming to crawl on her bones. Pressure banged behind her eyes, knocking at her temples with an alarming strength. For the first time in days she was conscious of the deathly weariness, the terrible depletion of nervous energy that had fueled her strenuous work for so long.

  Stress.

  She looked up at her Herakles, now and forever only cold inanimate stone. Finishing the statue had consumed every hour of every day for months. She’d barely taken time to eat, much less sleep. Even when Lucien had walked out the door, there was no time to think or feel. Just work.

  Now that Herakles was finished, she teetered on the edge of collapse. She needed rest, to relax a bit.

  Locking the outside doors to her studio, she shut off the lights. Alas, Herakles wouldn’t be going upstairs with her tonight.

  Ascending the stairs to the second-floor apartment, Dani couldn’t help remembering how much Lucien had hated the place, a two-story barn with a downstairs studio spacious enough to move and positio
n the massive blocks of marble she worked with. The second floor had been completely gutted, rebuilt into a three-bedroom, two-bath apartment.

  Passing through the foyer with its huge flying staircase and Palladian windows, Dani walked into the living room. Her apartment was decorated with a comfortable mix of modern and period furniture. The walls were covered with thick wallpaper in a rich creamy shade. Original artwork added to the charm of the room, marvelously blending with the decor.

  Windows on the south and west sides of the room offered breathtaking views. Her studio sat on seven acres of land, surrounded by ancient trees; sugar maples, white pine, and black walnut. The space around the place was wide and unending, the sky overhead blotted out not by outrageously tall buildings, but by clouds of cotton candy surrounding the tops of snow-capped peaks. During the day, the landscape outside was brilliant with spring colors. Country living, just the way she liked it, quiet and peaceful. Hartford was barely twenty minutes away, New York a two-hour commute.

  Dani looked around and sighed. Nothing was out of its place. The whip of the wind on the walls around her gave the place an empty, eerie feeling, like a tomb. Nine months ago, Lucien had packed up and moved out. He’d taken only personal possessions, credit cards, and Allison, the cute young assistant Dani had hired to keep house and run errands. Allison had kept the home fires burning. A little bit too well.

  The sharp lash of self-flagellation cut through the soft tissue of her brain. The bitch had also been keeping Lucien’s bed warm on nights when Dani had collapsed in her studio bed, too exhausted to make her way up upstairs.

  Her gaze drifted to her desk. In the top drawer were two tickets for the surprise vacation she’d had Allison book as a fourth-anniversary present for Lucien. Round-trip tickets to Greece for a month of sun, sand, and—she’d hoped—lots of steamy sex with her model-hot husband.

  “How ironic the bitch stole my husband and my vacation.” True. All true. Lucien and his conniving little backstabber were presently on vacation in, yep, Crete.