by Julie Kenner
Her eyes slid closed. She arched against his wicked mouth as he did it again. Was already so close she was pretty sure he couldn’t stop her.
His hand drifted across her thigh. The softest touch between her legs made her groan and lift her hips. “Oh, do that again.”
He moved to her other breast, licked and laved, applied more pressure between her legs and swept his thumb over her clit. “Like that?”
“Yes.” She rocked against his hand as he teased her breasts, desperate to feel him inside. “More.”
He released her breast, slid down her body. “More here?”
The first swipe of his tongue along her steamy center sent tingles all through her body. The second raced along every nerve ending until she trembled. He licked and suckled, devouring her like a feast, and when electricity raced down her spine, she grasped his head and arched up to meet his tantalizing tongue.
He pulled away just before the orgasm hit. Gasping, Daphne reached for him, but before she could touch him he flipped her over, wrapped his arm around her waist, and lifted her hips off the rug.
“Stay there.”
Daphne’s hands landed against the carpet, and she pushed up, but his palm landed against her shoulder blades, holding her down. “I said stay there. You have trouble listening to directions, little nymph.”
There was humor in his voice, and a hunger that supercharged her arousal. Fabric rustled behind her, telling her he was finally losing his clothes, and just knowing he was nearly naked sent white-hot excitement pulsing through her veins all over again. Curling her fingers in the rug, she pressed her cheek against the carpet and held her breath.
One bare knee nudged her legs apart. His fingers slid through her wetness again, making her groan. “Do you want more, little nymph?”
“Yes,” she panted. “More.”
He pressed his thumb against her clit. “How much more?”
She bit her lip to keep from crying out. Her fingers tangled tighter in the carpet. “You. I want you.”
The thick head of his cock pressed against her opening. They both groaned as he filled her, at the tight slide as he drew back, at the friction when he plunged deep once more. His fingers dug into her hips. She braced her forearms against the carpet as she pressed back against him. They picked up a rhythm, one that made her see stars, one that pushed her closer to her release.
“Gods,” he groaned. “This is how I imagined you.”
His large hand slid up her spine and into her hair. Knowing he’d fantasized about her made her that much hotter. Her climax screamed toward her. White light flooded her vision. She opened her mouth to cry out. But just before she reached the peak, his hand closed around her hair and pulled. Not hard enough to hurt, but enough for a sharp sting to echo in her scalp and shoot down her spine, keeping the orgasm hovering just out of her reach.
“Not yet, sweet thing.”
She gasped. Groaned. Rocked back into him, wanting more, needing everything. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her upper body away from the carpet until her back was plastered to his chest. Letting go of her hair, he trailed his wicked hand down her chest and over her breasts.
“Wait for me, Daphne.”
Sweat drenched Daphne’s skin. She couldn’t find the words to answer as he plunged inside her. All she could do was grip his forearm and brace her knees against the carpet.
“Just a little longer,” he breathed against her, “and it’ll be so good.”
His fingers slid down her belly and into her wetness. She dropped her head back against his shoulder and groaned with every thrust, with every flick of her clit. He grew harder, pressed deeper, reached places she hadn’t known existed. And when he drew her earlobe into his mouth and suckled, when he hit that most perfect spot, the orgasm she’d been chasing crashed into her and exploded.
He buried his face in her neck and kept thrusting while she rode the pleasure, driving deep again and again and again. Electricity raced down her spine, through her sex, and then it was there, another blinding orgasm, consuming her, dragging her down, making her melt. He whispered frenzied words she couldn’t make out. His thrusts grew faster, harder, longer. And then he plunged deep and held, spilling himself inside her and quivering with his own release.
Daphne fell forward, the soft carpet almost painful against her sensitized skin. She turned her face toward the fire, dragged air into her burning lungs and tried to catch her breath. Ari’s sweat-slicked skin slid along her back, then he collapsed next to her, struggling for his own breath as he wrapped an arm around her waist and drew her back against him.
She didn’t fight the tug, didn’t have the strength, didn’t want to. His chest pressed against her spine, his hips to her ass, and though his flesh was hot, kicking up her body temperature, she didn’t care. She liked the way he fit against her. Liked the way he held her. Liked the things he could do with his wicked hands and tongue and that super sexy hero body.
“You...are...a surprise...little nymph,” he said in ragged breaths. “A very pleasurable...surprise.”
He was too. A delicious surprise she never expected. She had no idea what she was going to do next, but she knew for certain that she wasn’t finishing her mission or going back to the Sirens. And no matter what, she wasn’t letting anyone else finish it either.
Smiling, Daphne reached for his hand at her waist and drew it to her mouth so she could press soft, wet kisses against his fingers. Sliding her tongue along his index finger, she drew the digit away from the others, closed her lips around the tip, and sucked.
He groaned behind her and pressed his awakening erection against her ass. “A very wicked surprise.”
Daphne’s lips curved around his finger before she let go. She shifted around and looked up at him. “You like wicked? I can be wicked.”
Sitting up, she pushed her hand against his shoulder and rolled him to his back. A lusty, heated grin curled his mouth as she climbed over him. His hands landed on her hips. “I’m almost afraid to ask what you have in mind.”
She settled on his lap, then braced her hands on the ground near his head and leaned forward. “Everything. I have everything in mind for you, warrior.”
His smiled faded. He slid his hands into her hair as his gaze skipped over her face and he looked at her, really looked at her, as if seeing her for the first time. And though she couldn’t read his expression, she knew he was as moved by all of this as she was. And that something important had happened here tonight. Not just sex, but a connection. One that had the power to change everything.
“Show me,” he whispered.
She leaned down and kissed him. And planned to do exactly that.
* * * *
Wind howled past the windows of Stonehill Hold, but the chill didn’t reach inside. Wrapped around a sleeping Daphne on the carpet in front of the hearth, Ari stared into the dying fire and watched wood crumble to ashes.
A pillow was tucked under his head, and a blanket covered their legs, but the warmth Ari felt came directly from Daphne, snuggled against him, her head resting on his bicep as she faced the fire, her hand clutching his at her waist. He knew he should wake her, carry her to the bed where she’d be more comfortable, but he didn’t want to move. Moving meant he had to think, and thinking was something he was trying to avoid. Because thinking meant facing reality. And reality was hard and cruel and deadly.
The charred log slipped and fell into the smoldering coals, sending burning ash into the air. Ari watched a flake float and cool, turning from red to gray and finally white powder as it hit the stones of the hearth.
“Duty crumbles to ashes in the fires of love.”
Daphne’s voice echoed in his head. She was wrong. It wasn’t love that destroyed duty, it was lust. Lust was the true deceiver, messing with the mind, fooling the heart. Lust for a female who’d never truly wanted him had destroyed everything Ari had held dear. And now, if he wasn’t careful, lust had the power to destroy another life. Not his this time
, but Daphne’s.
He looked down at her sleeping against his arm, watched her eyelids flicker, and wondered what she was dreaming about. Wondered if she was dreaming of him. Her skin was like alabaster, her hair a warm mahogany that curled around his fingers like silk. His gaze slid over her cheek, down the long, lean line of her neck, to her succulent breasts he’d licked and laved and worshipped. And though all he wanted to do was worship her all again, a place deep inside his chest—a place she’d set free—knew he couldn’t.
Bit by bit, Ari’s good mood slipped away. Gently, so as not to wake her, he untangled his hand from Daphne’s and carefully slid his arm out from under her head. A soft, sweet grunt slipped from her lips as she adjusted on the carpet and rolled to her other side. When her breathing lengthened and slowed, he pulled the blanket up to her shoulders then rose to his feet.
He tugged on his pants and headed for his office. After flicking on the lamp, he lowered into the chair and stared at the map on the wall across the room.
The sum of fifty years’ worth of work. An obsession he’d prefer to forget but couldn’t. He looked from flag to flag, marking the Sirens movements, and knew that even though he didn’t want to, he’d go on tracking them. It was the only way he could stay semi-sane. He’d told Daphne about Penelopei, but he hadn’t told her about the aftermath of Penelopei’s death and what losing his soul mate continued to do to him even fifty years later. And as much as he liked Daphne’s companionship, as much as he enjoyed being with her, he didn’t want her to ever see him in the throes of one of his episodes. He’d barely survived seeing the horror in his son’s eyes when Cerek had witnessed it.
There was only one way to keep that from happening. Rising, he walked to the window and looked out into the darkness. The wind had died down. By morning the storm would be gone. There’d be fresh snow, but he knew how to traverse the snowy landscape. And no matter how much he wanted to stay hidden in this hold, this time he couldn’t.
Because by this time tomorrow, Daphne needed to be nothing but a memory. Not just for her sake, but for his as well.
* * * *
Daphne awoke with a start. Blinking several times, she looked up only to realize she’d been shaken out of sleep by a firm hand.
“Sorry to wake you.” Ari set something next to her on the floor and pushed to his feet. “The storm’s broken. I took these from Silas’s room. You should be able to make them work.”
Groggy, Daphne watched him disappear into his closet. He was dressed, wearing jeans, a long-sleeved T-shirt, and boots, and he’d showered, the tips of his hair still damp where they brushed his nape. But he should still be lying next to her, not up and moving around.
She glanced at the items he’d left beside her and realized they were clothes. Clean clothes. Confused as to what he was doing and why, more importantly, he seemed to be avoiding eye contact, she pushed up on her arm and scanned the dimly lit room.
The fire beside her was nothing but smoldering embers. A backpack sat near the door, one that looked as if it had already been packed.
Apprehension slid down Daphne’s spine. Tugging the blanket up to her chest, she ran her fingers through her hair, then pushed to her feet and wrapped the blanket around her. She moved toward the closet and leaned against the doorjamb as she watched him pull a box from the shelf above the rack and flip off the lid.
“You’re up early,” she said, trying to sound nonchalant. Nonchalant had never really been her specialty, but if there was one thing she’d learned from the Sirens, it was that morning-after awkwardness killed the mood like nothing else, so better to avoid it altogether. “Any chance you made coffee? I don’t operate well unless I have caffeine. Well, food too. We burned off so many calories last night, I definitely need food.”
She was rambling. But this time she didn’t care. He seemed to like it when she rambled.
He pulled a black knit hat out of the box, replaced the lid, and set the box back on the shelf. Handing her the hat, he stepped around her and said, “I’ll find you a coat.”
Two things hit Daphne at once. He was definitely avoiding eye contact—or any contact for that matter. And he was getting her dressed for outside weather.
“A coat for what?” She snagged the sleeve of his shirt before he could get all the way past her. “What’s going on, Ari?”
He gently pulled his sleeve from her fingers and moved back a step. “I’m taking you into town. You need to get back to wherever it is you came from and I need to get back to the way things always are for me.”
He was pushing her away. The realization hit like a punch to the gut. Last night had meant something if he was kicking her out like this. She stepped away from the wall. “I liked last night, and I know you liked it too. I don’t want to leave.”
“Well, you don’t get a say in it.” He moved for the door. “It’s safer for you if you just go.”
Safer... Safer, she realized...from him.
She darted around him, stopping in the hallway, preventing his exit. “Silas told me about your blackouts. I’m not afraid of them. I know you wouldn’t hurt me.”
He turned his mismatched eyes on her. But unlike last night, they weren’t soft and dreamy. They were hard and icy. “Silas should learn to keep his big mouth shut.”
He tried to move past her again, but she stopped him with a hand on his chest. “He cares about you. That’s why he told me. And they’re not your fault.”
Those steely eyes narrowed. “You don’t know what they are, and you don’t want to be around when they happen.” He grasped her wrist and pulled it away from his chest, then stepped around her. “This isn’t up for negotiation. We’re leaving in fifteen minutes whether you’re dressed or not. It’s cold outside. I suggest you listen.”
He stomped out of the room before Daphne could stop him, but as soon as he was gone, her stomach sank and all the excitement she’d felt last night leaked out of her like a balloon deflating. Dropping down to sit on the hearth, she clutched the blanket at her chest and tried to stop her silly heart from aching.
If he wanted her gone, there wasn’t anything she could do to stop him from kicking her out. She wasn’t strong enough to intimidate him, sex clearly hadn’t worked to seduce him, and Silas was gone, so she didn’t even have the half breed on her side to talk some sense into the Argonaut. But what really hurt was the fact she’d failed. Not at her mission—she’d decided last night she wasn’t about to let Zeus manipulate her into doing his dirty work ever again—but at convincing Ari he wasn’t the monster everyone thought him to be.
Her gaze drifted to the rug where they’d slept tangled together, then to the clothes he’d left for her. And as both blurred in front of her eyes, she realized something else.
Without the Sirens, without a purpose in her life, she had no idea where she would go from here.
Chapter Seven
The howling wind was nothing but a dull hum lost in the roar of the engine as Ari maneuvered the snowmobile around a tree. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to distract him from the simmering heat at his back.
He tried to focus on the solid handlebars beneath his gloves, on his knees pressing against the seat between his legs. The machine was an extension of himself, the skis slipping over the pristine snow with ease, familiar and comforting. But the warm circle around his waist where Daphne held on for dear life kept distracting him. And the pressure of her thighs against the backs of his legs, the press of her breasts along his spine—even through the thick jackets they both wore—definitely wasn’t comforting. It was arousing as hell, and every time she flexed her arms and moved even closer to hold on tighter, he remembered what it had felt like to have her wrapped around him last night. Naked and begging for his touch.
He zigzagged around trees, heading down the mountain toward the small town at the mouth of Lake Shannon. He had plenty of money to give her. From there she could catch a bus into Seattle then hop a plane wherever she wanted to go. Bottom line, though, was that where
she went from here wasn’t his concern. He was doing the right thing by making her leave. Getting her to safety before he snapped and did something he’d regret.
A heavy hand knocked into his shoulder. Realizing she was trying to get his attention, Ari turned his head, intent on telling her to sit still until they got to their destination. But one look was all it took to realize she was focused on something off in the trees.
Ari slowed the snowmobile. Before the machine came to a complete stop, she jumped into the snow and tugged off her helmet.
He quickly pulled off his own helmet and grasped her by the sleeve. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“I saw someone.” She tugged free of his grip and darted into the trees before he could stop her, her too-big boots sinking into the new powder with every step.
“Skata.” Ari dropped his helmet on the seat and followed, his own boots sinking all the way to his ankles. Someone could be something. She could have seen a damn daemon for all she knew. Yeah, she was ticked at him for making her leave, but this wasn’t ticked. This was stupid. “Come back here, before I—”
His words cut off when he passed a large tree. A trail of blood stained the snow and led from the tree around a large boulder. A warning tingle slid down Ari’s spine. He reached for the dagger he’d strapped to his thigh before they’d left the hold. “Daphne, come back to me right now.”
A grunt echoed from behind the boulder. Ari gripped the dagger and bolted around the rock, then slowed when he saw the horror.
Daphne knelt next to a female leaning against the rock in the snow, the front of Daphne’s pants and jacket red with blood.
His heart lurched into his throat, and he rushed forward. “Holy gods. Are you—?”
“It’s not me,” Daphne said quickly, tugging off her gloves. “It’s not my blood.”
She pressed her hands against the female’s shoulder. Blood gurgled between Daphne’s fingers, ran down the female’s arm, and dripped onto the snow at her side. “She’s hurt. We have to help her.”