by Skyler Andra
“No,” Hades said as if he could read my mind. “I don’t want you thinking about anything else when you’re in bed with me.”
“What… what happens if I do?” I asked, unable to take my eyes off him.
His fingers kneaded my flesh, and I groaned, letting him know how good it felt—God, he was strong. I couldn’t ignore the way he hardened under my belly as I quivered above him.
“It’ll be a surprise,” he teased with a slight smile that made my stomach flop. I loved surprises, and I had a feeling that I might love the one he threatened as much as I grudgingly hated it. Especially if it involved what he once did to me that I had conjured up in my dreams.
He tugged me back down to kiss me again. No matter who was on top, he was the one truly in charge. One hand cupped my face while the other explored my body with leisurely intensity. He was teasingly learning about me—what I liked, what I felt like, and it felt incredible because that was what he wanted.
“Eager little thing…” His voice was thick with need.
At some point, I’d started squirming on top of him, rocking against his hips. My straddle over him widened and I tried to stabilize my knees on the mattress. I started to retort that I didn’t have much choice, but then deliberately, he thrust up against me, right at the center of my need.
“Oh!” I murmured, my eyes drifting closed as he did it again and again, rolling up against me like waves crashing against the shore.
It wasn’t long before a pleasurable tension rose up in me, making my thighs tremble. Just a small tremor, but it become much more the moment he chose to push me off him.
“Hey!” I protested.
“Sit up and lean back,” he ordered, his voice hoarse.
Confused, I shifted until I leaned back on my hands, more than a little thankful that I sometimes did yoga, which made the position a relatively comfortable, if confining, one. He reached forward and tore my flimsy shorts from my body with a rough purring sound as they gave way. The casual way he did it, as if he had every right in the world to do so, took my breath away.
“There you are,” Hades murmured. “That’s what I wanted. That’s how I like you best.”
The only thing remaining between us—an ancient T-shirt—left me feeling so bare at being spread naked in front of him. I swallowed hard, a hot blush surfacing on my cheeks. I’d never been quite so open to someone before, and especially not to someone like him.
Using both hands, Hades opened me a little farther, and I shut my eyes tightly. Something in me, something buried deep and only beginning to emerge, told me that it was going to be hard to be this open with anyone.
At least it was until he started to touch me with a gentleness that still hinted at the urgency I knew existed within him. Long maddening strokes brushed over my sensitive flesh. Each one held no hurry to them at all. Only the sense that he was doing as he liked best, that he would take all the time in the world if that was what was necessary. I whimpered a little as my body responded to his dedicated touches. Soon, they turned to desperate whines when he hit that perfect spot at the apex of my slit.
“That’s right, darling, tell me what you like,” he crooned.
“I… I can’t,” I panted, my cheeks flushing. I didn’t have the words. Didn’t have the nerve. I was afraid it might make him stop, but he only laughed soothingly at the waver in my voice.
“Don’t stay quiet,” he murmured in a low voice. “You are telling me just fine.”
The quiet confidence in his voice and the reality of what was happening made me moan just as he caught the right spot again. I was giving myself away, something I swore I’d never to do, and it kept mounting towards an intense pleasure that I couldn’t quite bear. The reward for being so open to him was even more gratifying, and that was becoming exactly what I wanted.
I could hear his fingers sliding across me, smell and almost taste my own arousal. He stroked my clit with an increasing firmness, not speeding up even as my hips started to rock at his touch. When he carefully pushed a finger inside me, I cried out but then hummed with need. I had no idea how he could make me feel so good. He had me lost in a timeless haze of passion, but soon enough I realized that it had changed, grown more tense, more taut. There was a shiver to my tension that hadn’t been there before, a tightness that made me ache. I swallowed thickly, fighting the urge to hold my breath, and it was all I could do not to break my nails while clutching the mattress.
“Oh… oh please,” I whimpered, hoarse and needy.
His hands quickened, applying more pressure, sending more delicious sensations spiraling through me, and I was close, so close when he lifted me off him.
“Oh, please, please,” I groaned, twisting onto my back to face him. I felt as if he’d dumped a bucket of water over me, completely at a loss over how he could make me feel that good and pull away.
Before I could wonder if I had done something wrong, he was on top of me, kissing me hard as if he couldn’t bear to keep himself from it. Sprawled over me, he gathered himself to settle between my legs. His hips rutted against mine, his arousal more than evident—maybe even more than me—through the thin layer of silk between us.
With movements that had turned shaky and impatient, he pulled my T-shirt over my head before reaching down to shirk his boxers. Now there was absolutely nothing between us at all, and yes, this was what I’d been waiting for this whole time. This was what I needed…
“Wait.” I pressed a hand to his chest. “What about a condom?”
“I cannot impregnate you,” he said. “If that’s what you’re worried about.”
“Oh.”
He kissed me again, this time with more fervor and hunger, causing me to arch against him.
“Please!” I begged, and apparently the third time was the charm because he reached down, angled himself, and with a single gesture pushed straight into me as I clung to him.
Blinding pain split inside of me, twisting into a strange mixture of pleasure. I moaned, and he gripped me tighter. An odd moment fluttered between us. He paused as if he could tell I hadn’t done this particular thing before, his eyes darker than ever. His mouth opened like he wanted to say something, but I refused him the chance by lacing my fingers together behind his neck and dragging him down to kiss me again. I couldn’t bear the idea that he might stop what was going on, that he might dare leave me unfulfilled. In that kiss, I injected all of my need for him, letting him taste how much I wanted him, how I might actually die if he didn’t finish what he started.
“Don’t leave me,” I murmured softly. “Please don’t… don’t stop…”
He groaned against my lips, and after that, there was no question of us stopping—not when we both wanted it so very much.
Rocking into me slowly at first, he took his time with each thrust. The pleasure receded and surged forward as he did so, making me moan each time, but soon enough that wasn’t enough for either of us. He thrust into me harder, bracing himself with his elbows on either side of me. We slid against each other as made for each other, every stroke flaming that heat inside me higher and higher.
There was something utterly perfect about the way he pumped into me, something that struck every part of me just right. I shook beneath him, my throat dry from crying out. Every single nerve in me lit up like fireworks in the sky. I was crying out, chanting his name. Above it all, my blood roared in my ears as he called my name, setting off my climax that tore into me like a fire throwing sparks high into the midsummer sky. A savage need was satisfied as I dug my nails hard into his arms.
I was only starting to drop back into the world when he pressed into me hard one last time, filling me in a way that made me gasp with a renewed pleasure. I held him as we both shook, and in a gesture that told me how exhausted he was, he pressed his forehead against mine.
In the shivering aftermath of it, we kissed gently, almost solemnly. The darkness of the room took on an almost sacred air, something so perfect that it felt as though a piece of
me that had been lost was now found.
This is what I’ve always been missing, I thought, but wondered why on Earth I thought that at all.
Of course, the problem with the satisfaction that comes after sex was that it wouldn’t last forever. God, imagine if it did. We as a species would never ever get anything done. Still, Hades and I gave it a good try, resting in each other’s arms. I knew that at some point we’d have to get up, shower, get some food, and relearn how to engage with the world again. But I was willing to put it off as long as I could.
Hades was the one who had to go ruin my plans. With my eyes half-shut, he rocked the bed by propping himself up on his elbow, looking down at me for a very long moment.
“You’re staring,” I said, my voice low and hoarse with the afterglow of sex.
“Why shouldn’t I?” he argued. “You’re beautiful.”
I cracked open an eye to look at him curiously. “You don’t sound happy about that. That’s not normal.”
“You were also a virgin.” The layers in his voice told me that I couldn’t get away with just drifting in this warm and lovely sea of sensation any longer.
I sat up, wincing a little as I did so, which was a mistake since he pressed me back down to the sheets.
“Did I hurt you?”
“No, I promise. Look…” Okay, it looked like he was going to make a big deal about this, so I sighed. “Would you order us…” I almost said pizza, and then I remembered that he was a wealthy and likely picky underworld god. “Get us some room service, please?”
He blinked at me, disbelieving.
“I’m hungry,” I explained, not wanting to talk about it any further. “And you need to let it go.”
Hades stared at me, and then reluctantly, the corner of his mouth kicked up into a smile that made my heart flutter. Handsome only began to describe him when he did his formal thing. But when he smiled, he could just about tear my heart out.
“What do you want?” he asked.
It came to me that I could ask him for just about anything. The intensity in his eyes made me shiver a little because that was too much power for anyone, wasn’t it? For a moment, I wished that I could confide in my closest girlfriend and say, Okay, so what’s the deal with losing your virginity to an ancient god of the underworld? Unfortunately, that wasn’t an option with Hades in the room, so I hastily cleared my throat.
“I like breakfast for dinner,” I said. “Anything breakfast-like.”
Hah! Give him a task to handle and he looked a little calmer about things. With him distracted, I snuck to the bathroom to take a quick, discreet shower. The tiny bit of pain that I harbored, from being stretched and pumped by his cock, was now more sensual than anything else, and I rinsed away the bit of blood I’d shed without the least bit of regret.
Afterwards, I stared into the mirror, appreciating the way my green hair rumpled and how my mouth was red as if I were wearing lipstick. The whole look made it clear what I had been doing and that I’d enjoyed it.
Back in the bedroom, Hades pulled me onto the mattress the moment I reappeared, curling around me in a way that could only be described as protective, one arm slung over my waist.
“Did I hurt you?” he asked.
“Did you think you made me do something I didn’t want to do?” I countered.
“No, but…”
“Look, if I had told you before I hadn’t done this particular activity before, would you have stopped?”
“Not unless you told me to,” he said, a little reluctantly, and I laughed.
“Okay, good. Then we’re fine. I’m not going to go off into fits of horror over ruining my bride price, okay?”
He snorted. “Where I came from, bride price had nothing to do with virginity. It had more to do with beauty and promise. Family connections. Political allegiances. The feeling you got from looking at the woman you chose.” For a moment, Hades looked surprised at what had come out of his mouth, and he shook his head. “Never mind.”
Words were fine, but as we’d just proved, we had more than words to work with. I leaned over and kissed him, sliding my hand over his jaw gently as I did. It reminded me of something wild, and I felt like the first woman to reach out to a wolf and suggest that maybe it was a dog who could entertain the belief that it might want to come indoors and live a different way.
He relaxed under my touch, and when I pulled back, a softness was evident in his eyes.
“You are a strange and wonderful thing,” he said solemnly, and I laughed.
“That,” I said, “is probably one of the nicest things you can say after something like that.”
He might have responded, but a knock at our door indicated the food had arrived, and we both soon realized we were starving. I tucked into my omelet, and Hades cut into his steak with a strange look on his face.
“I’d forgotten how good this was,” he murmured, chewing.
“Don’t gods eat?”
“We can. But we don’t need to.” The touch of sorrow in his voice clued me into there being more to his story than he was willing to confide.
I nodded and kept eating, not sure what to say.
After we devoured our food, he may have wanted to keep talking about what was growing between us, but I stood up.
“Looks like we’re nocturnal for a bit, boss,” I said, liking that particular word on my tongue, and the craziness that came with sleeping with my employer. “Do we need to hit the road again?”
He frowned, giving me a look sharper than I might have preferred, which promised me that I wouldn’t be able to squirm out of “where-to-from-here-” for much longer; but for now, he was allowing it. With a nod, we packed up our things and took them out to the car.
Inside the vehicle, I got his magic map out again, checking the route he’d mentioned. A now shorter drive going north into the cold front that had blown in. At least the car was beautifully climate controlled. It was good that we had a bit of a drive ahead of us because it let me sort out some of my feelings for the underworld god doing the driving… and the strange ache of fear I was beginning to feel about what was brewing between us and where it might leave us once the job was done.
Chapter 14
Autumn
It wasn’t the sex that was getting to me. Or the fact that I’d crossed the line with my new employer. Contrary to what Mr. Bride Price might have to say about things, I wasn’t a total innocent, and everything we had done together was beyond good. Finally, it felt as if a part of myself had come home, like things were falling into place in a way that I’d wanted them to for my entire life.
After my mom had died, I fought darned hard for the life I lived and for everything I had. It wasn’t always easy, and it was not always fun, but it was mine. I wasn’t the type to wait around for a missing part of myself either. Except… maybe I was?
Sometimes when I drifted off to sleep or when I woke up in the morning, I had an ache in my chest that suggested something was missing, something that could strike at the heart of me with a grief that took my breath away. And I wasn’t talking about my mom, either. When I woke up like that, I usually just wrote off the day, did the bare minimum, and went back home to crawl into bed as soon as I could. That deep and dark feeling shadowed me wherever I’d go, and most of the time I could ignore it. But now it was gone, and I wondered if it had anything to do with Hades. Because if it did, I had to find out what it meant and stop it from coming back again.
I snuck a glance at him, watching the amber streetlights flicker across his features, which stole my breath away. But there was more to it than that.
“I like you,” I blurted out.
We both blinked. I hadn’t expected those words to come out of me, and he obviously hadn’t expected me to say them.
“I… I’m glad,” he said after a moment. “I hope that you wouldn’t have done what we did if you didn’t.”
Hah! I liked how old-fashioned he was. There was something old-school romantic and gentlemanly about it
.
“I wouldn’t have.” I took a deep breath, swallowed, and forced out the rest of it because I just had to know how he felt. “So… what do you think of me?”
“What?” His forehead pinched.
“Wow,” I muttered with a wince.
Heat stung my cheeks because I wasn’t sure what I expected, but it certainly wasn’t the sharpness on his face. I supposed he was my boss, after all and he shouldn’t be encouraging further interactions. He probably didn’t want a sexual harassment case on his hands or anything getting in the way of restoring order to the Underworld. How did a human sue a god anyway? Go to the Court of Olympus?
I shifted my body to stare out the window, but then Hades pulled the car into a shoulder off the road. The moment he threw the brake on, he reached for me, lightly grasping my chin to turn my head to him.
Oh, God, here comes the talk. The one I didn’t want to have. The one that said this was a mistake, that we shouldn’t have done this—let’s just keep it professional.
“No, that’s not what I meant,” he said. “Why would you…” he trailed off, and I wasn’t sure how to read the look of dawning horror on his face.
“So, you’ve done this before, right?” I asked. “Because generally some kind of reassurance would be nice.”
From the look of it, Hades was running through different explanations in his mind, discarding them one after the other. Unexpectedly, that filled me with a low burning fury, and I jerked my face away from his touch.
“Look, just be honest!” I snapped. “If this is… just some kind of weird encounter with the world for you, if you don’t know what to feel or what you do feel, just say it!”
The words startled him, and he looked oddly uncertain. “Autumn…”
“I can take it, all right. I’m not some kind of simpering virgin that you need to coddle.”