Hotter than Hades

by Alecia Monaco

  Lilies in terracotta pots stood on either side of several stone benches. Dogwood and honeysuckle complemented each other in small patches, and circling the fountain in the center of the garden were a million blooming hyacinths.

  She put her hand over her heart, fearing it would explode with emotion.

  “Do you like your surprise?” Hades’s voice was soft and questioning.

  She struggled for words. “Like doesn’t even begin to cover it.” She turned a full rotation, taking in the entire scene again. “How ...”

  “I called in a favor from Khloris, the goddess of flowers.” He sat down on the bench nearest Hyacinth. “Just don’t ask for any mint. We’ve been, uh ... cured of our mint problem here, thanks to the help of Khloris.”

  She didn’t quite catch his meaning, but her mind raced onward. “You realize there are flowers with completely different growing seasons all blooming at the same time here.”

  He nodded. “We’re not bound by the seasons here.”

  She was reminded of her purpose there -- to help avoid a climate crisis in the world above, not to have gardens constructed by the king in her honor. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, the scent of countless flowers filling her with their perfume. She’d have to say goodbye to all of this soon.

  The thought of leaving stung her unexpectedly. A few days ago, she’d wanted nothing more than to return to the world she’d known before. But now ...

  She opened her eyes and saw Hades watching her closely. “Hermes is in negotiations with Zeus,” he said, as if he’d read her mind. “We should be able to reach an agreement soon.”

  That news should make her happy. She tried for a look of satisfaction. “The sooner the better. I’m sure I’m needed back home at the shop.”

  “I’ll let you know as soon as anything develops.” He stood and bowed to her before beginning to walk away.

  “Hades, wait.” She ran to his side and caught his arm with her hand. “I don’t know how to thank you. This is one of the ...” Honesty welled up inside her. “No, it’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me.” She became aware of the heat and strength of his arm beneath her hand. “I hardly know how to thank you.”

  After a silence in which she could feel her heart rate double, he brushed the side of her face with his fingers. “Know your own heart.” He clasped her chin and tilted face toward his. “Know what it is you truly desire and follow it. Don’t let your past decide your future.”

  “I don’t understand.” She tried to attach meaning to his words, unsure of what he’d tried to tell her.

  “Think on it.” He withdrew from her, preparing to leave again, but she stepped in front of him and placed her hands on his shoulders.

  “Thank you,” she whispered, standing on her tiptoes to reach his ear. She leaned her body into his and planted a shy kiss on his cheek.

  He stepped back, touching the spot she’d kissed. His eyes burned, and she could see a pulse racing near the hollow of his throat.

  Without another word, he turned and left the garden. Hyacinth sank down onto the bench behind her, her senses reeling. Hades’s spicy, masculine scent clung to her gown, and she drank it in, enjoying it more than the scent of all the flowers combined.

  * * * * *

  Lap number thirty-seven.

  Hades pushed his arms through the water, fighting it, willing it to submit to him. He kicked against it, propelling himself forward in the deep end of his indoor pool.

  Exhaustion hadn’t set in yet. He’d continue until it had. He wanted every muscle to ache, for bone weariness to claim him. Maybe then he could fall into his bed and experience a coma-like sleep.

  Only then might he escape the pounding frustration filling every fiber of his being.

  His mind flashed back on Hyacinth’s kiss, the way her lips had touched his face like the petals of one of her flowers. His blood turned hot and his body became molten steel.

  He wanted her. If he didn’t have her soon ...

  The edge of the pool loomed closer with each stroke through the water. He reached out and grabbed it, gulping for air. Draping both arms over the side of the pool for support, he rested his back against the tile edge and took a breather.

  His eyelids fell like shades over dark windows. He needed to stop obsessing on Hyacinth, to let things take their course. But how could he do that, when she presented him with constant temptations? He’d wanted to take her in the garden, to make love to her on a bed of her namesake flowers. He wanted ...

  “Taking a late night swim?”

  His eyes popped open at the sound of her voice. She stood in the doorway, watching him with a glint of amusement in her eyes.

  “I sleep better if I’ve had some exercise.” He became instantly aware of his nudity. Why wear a suit in your own indoor pool, he’d always said. With the threat of an imminent erection, he could understand for the first time the potential usefulness of a pair of trunks.

  She drifted toward the pool, her skirt gathered casually in her hand. “I’d think running a kingdom would leave you exhausted every night.” She slid a sandal off one foot, never taking her eyes from him. “You have a busy job, meting out the destinies of the dearly departed, overseeing eternal punishment of wayward souls, that kind of thing.”

  He watched her kick off her other sandal. Her feet and ankles were as graceful as those of the statues around her garden. “I don’t judge or punish. I’m merely a glorified overseer.”

  “Then you have a lot in common with most earthly rulers.” She let out a teasing laugh and knelt down at the edge of the pool. “Mind if I put my feet in?”

  “Be my guest.” He included the entire pool in a sweeping gesture. “My pool is your pool.”

  “Thank you, sire.” She dipped a narrow foot into the water.

  Hades winced. “Please, never call me that again.”

  Her eyes widened. “I thought you liked that sort of thing.”

  He made a sound of disgust. “Hardly. How often can you watch people bow to you before it becomes tedious?”

  “You’re asking the wrong person.” She put her other foot into the pool. “The only person who has ever bowed to me was Mr. Tanaka at his sushi bar back home.”

  He threw his head back and laughed. “Hyacinth, you are such a pleasant change of pace.”

  She swung her feet, making ripples in the water. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

  “Always.” He submerged himself and swam toward her underwater, surfacing a few feet from where she sat.

  A pretty blush colored her cheeks. “I see this is a clothing-optional pool.” She raised an eyebrow at him. He could see she was trying not to look below his chest.

  “So it is.” Blood rushed to his cock. “Care to join me?”

  She ducked her chin and averted her eyes. “I’ve never been much of a skinny dipper.”

  He waded closer, until he stood between her ankles. “Skinny dipper? If that’s what I think it is, perhaps you should become one.”

  “I’ve never been brave enough for nude swimming.” She let her gaze travel down the length of his body. When she caught sight of his burgeoning erection, she bit her bottom lip and looked away.

  “You don’t know what you’ve missed, then.” He lifted his hands from the water to stroke the sensitive skin of her inner ankles. “Drop your robe and jump in.” He permitted himself a smile. “I promise not to look.”

  “I couldn’t.” She shook her blond hair back from her shoulders. “It would be too weird.”

  He laughed again. “You, a mortal, are here in the kingdom of the dead, talking to the god of the netherworld about skinny dipping. How can anything seem too weird?”

  Her laughter joined his. “You promise not to peek?”

  He covered his eyes with his hands. “I swear to Zeus.”

  “I guess that’ll have to do.” She retracted her feet from the water and stood, dropping her robe from one shoulder. She stuck her foot out and nudged him on the shoulder
. “Turn around, or I’ll start bowing and calling you sire again.”

  “We couldn’t have that.” He obeyed her, turning his back to her. In a few seconds, he felt her swift descent into the water behind him.

  They were in the shallow end, with water barely touching his chest. “May I turn around now?”

  “The no peeking rule still applies,” she reminded him. He faced her, trying not to gape at the image before him.

  The water rose higher for her, with only her smooth shoulders and the flawless column of her neck remaining dry. She’d removed the combs holding her hair in its ancient Greek-style knot, and it fell below her shoulders, fanning out around her in the water like a golden mermaid’s tail. Droplets sparkled on her face and shoulders, shimmering as if she’d been sprinkled with a million fragments of diamond dust. Her champagne glass breasts, buoyed by the water, undulated just beneath the pool’s surface. Aphrodite rising from the sea hadn’t possessed half such beauty and allure.

  She took his breath away.

  “What is it?” She raked a wet hand over her hair, reacting to his scrutiny. “Is my hair a total mess?”

  “Your hair ...” He removed her hand from her hair and brushed back the fair strands. “... couldn’t possibly look more desirable than it does now.”

  Their eyes connected, and the same hum of tension that had played like background music between them all day burst into a full symphony movement.

  “This is quite a pool you’ve got here.” She glanced around, breaking the spell. “It looks almost as if it’s tiled in lapis.”

  “It is.” He’d chosen lapis for his pool to give the water a specific blue cast.

  “And the waterfalls.” She pointed to the cascade flowing into an alcove of the pool secluded by rocks. “You Olympians really do things up in style.”

  “Would you care to experience the falls?” He’d had the warm waterfall placed in a sequestered alcove to provide privacy for whoever chose to enjoy it.

  “I’d love to.” She waded behind him as he led the way. “I’ve so enjoyed the waterfall in my bathroom.”

  He pictured her nude, rinsing her long hair in the streaming water. “This one is even better.”

  “It’s certainly bigger.”

  He swam between the two boulders that marked off the private section of the pool. “And hotter.”

  He groaned as his cock swelled to Herculean proportions. The falls weren’t the only things getting bigger and hotter by the second.

  He turned to guide her between the boulders. Once she passed through them, they stood in a smaller pool of water rising to his waist and her chest. Surrounded by plants and rocks, they were safe from prying eyes.

  “Mmmhhh,” she breathed. “This water feels fantastic.”

  Steam rose from the surface of the pool. “Rather like one of your modern hot tubs, I assume?”

  She nodded, letting her eyelids flutter shut. “Even nicer.” She backed into the falls, letting them massage her shoulders with their pounding flow. “Our hot tubs don’t come with waterfalls.”

  He hedged his way closer to her. “Do your shoulders ache?”

  She tipped her head back, letting the water flow over her hair. “They won’t after a few minutes of this.”

  The blissful expression on her face came close to undoing him. He had to touch her, or he’d chew his way through one of the boulders.

  “Let me help you.” He moved in behind her before she could answer and slid his hands up her arms and onto her shoulders.

  The falling water stroked his back as he kneaded her shoulders, letting his fingers memorize the feel of her body and the texture of her skin. She leaned into his touch, and her breasts rose out of the water. He moaned, pressing his lips against the back of her neck. She parted her lips and drew a shallow breath.

  He drank in the sight of her breasts. They were round and perfect, more luscious than Hera’s golden apples. Her nipples were peaked and their color reminded him of a ripe peach. He longed to suckle them, to roll them with his tongue and taste their sweetness.

  “Hyacinth.” He whispered her name against her shoulder. “My beautiful queen ... my lovely flower.” He skimmed her neck with his lips.

  “Hades ...” Her voice broke on his name. “We can’t ... shouldn’t ...”

  He moved his hands, dragging them from her shoulders, letting them linger on the sides of her breasts. “Feel my desire for you.” He pressed against her, allowing the hard length of him speak for itself. “Feel how much I want you.”

  She reached behind her, crooking her arms to reach his hair. She anchored her fingers in the dark strands. “I need you to touch me.” She moved her legs apart until they were flush with his. “No one has ever touched me the way you do. I feel ...”

  “Shhh.” He turned her around to face him and silenced her with a kiss.

  She opened for him, instantly taking his tongue into her mouth. He let his tongue explore, tasting, twisting against hers. When his erection nestled between her parted thighs, the movements of his tongue changed, its swirling motions becoming insistent thrusts.

  She whimpered into his open mouth, drawing on his tongue with the heat of her mouth every time he retreated from a thrust. His engorged cock grazed the blond thatch between her legs, so close to entering her, almost inside her.

  His hands wandered lower, stroking her abdomen, then clutching her hips. He had to get inside her before he burst into the water. The brush of her sex against his sent the pressure inside him spiraling to unbearable heights. He disentangled her arms from him, turned her around, and bent her forward. She complied, bracing herself against a boulder.

  “Oh, my beauty, how I’ve wanted this.” He trailed kisses down her back, cupping the firm flesh of her backside. He worked his hands back up and around to her breasts, holding them, lifting their weight. Guided by an instinct stronger than rational thought, she lifted her hips to meet his pelvis.

  A primal sound broke loose from his throat. He slid his hands from her breasts and gripped her hips like a vise, ready to feel the curve of her rear end against his pelvis when he entered her, knowing he would erupt in sweet bliss when he finally buried his cock in the depths of her wet cave.

  He pulled a ragged breath into his lungs and pressed the tip of his erection against her opening. Go slow, he reminded himself. Savor it.

  Her hand snapped around and pushed him backwards. “Stop.”

  He panted, feeling blood rush to his face -- a miracle, since his entire supply seemed to be rooted in his cock. “Stop? How can we stop?”

  She turned around, covering her breasts with her arms. Her eyes were wild, dilated with passion, and her usually pale face flushed. “I don’t know how we can, but we will. We can’t do this.”

  He spoke with difficulty. “Why ever in the name of Great Cronus not?”

  She reached out to touch him and apparently thought better of it. “Don’t be angry, please. After you’ve been so kind to me, I couldn’t stand it if this came between us.”

  “The only thing about to come between us is me, like the great volcano of Pompeii.” He backed away from her, ignoring his cock’s pulsing arguments to the contrary.

  She covered her face with her hands, abandoning her breasts to his gaze. Oh, joy. His cock jerked in approval.

  “I’m so sorry.” Her voice predicted a forecast of tears. “I just can’t make love with you.”

  “That wasn’t making love.” He had to get into cooler water before he came right there in the alcove. “It was primal rutting between two very amorous people.”

  “I know, and believe me, it felt good for me too.” She uncovered her face and leveled her unsteady gaze on him. “But whether it’s primal rutting or making love, I can’t have sex with you. It wouldn’t be fair to either of us.”

  He’d backed himself all the way to the other side of the alcove. “I can’t believe you were weighing issues of fairness with my cock poised to slam into you until you screamed out in plea
sure.”

  “I know, I know, it sounds stupid.” She shook her head and splashed some water on her face. “But it doesn’t change the fact that I’m leaving soon, and I don’t want us to become more connected ...” Her voice faltered, and her next words came out with evident difficulty. “More connected than we already are.”

  “So you admit there’s more between us than a random mortal-meets-Olympian encounter.”

  “I’d have to be dead not to feel it,” she admitted. “I might be in the Underworld, but last time I checked, I’m still very much alive.”

  “That you are.” He’d never felt such heat as this woman had evoked in him.

  “I’ve only slept with one man in my entire life, and even though I’ve become a lot more adventurous since coming to the castle.” She paused, conflicting emotions playing over her face. “And I do mean a lot more adventurous -- I still can’t have sex with someone unless I know there’s some kind of potential for a future with him.” Her features morphed into that old expression of resistance she’d worn since the second he’d brought her below. “We both know that’s not in the cards for us.”

  “I’ll have a sorceress read our cards, if you put stock in that.” He was stalling, trying to get to the root of this blockade she kept throwing between them, hoping she’d stumble into her true feelings if she kept talking.

  “No, I didn’t mean it literally.” She shook her head. “I’m just saying, we both understand that there’s no hope for a long term relationship between us. You have your world here, and I have mine. Neither of us can or want to leave our lives behind.” She shrugged. “How could we ever have any kind of normal relationship?”

  “I hear that normal is rather overrated.” He took her hand and pulled her between the boulders, back into the cooler waters of the larger pool.

  “Maybe so.” She looked at him through lowered lashes. “But Persephone still chose to try it, didn’t she?”

  That stung. “Touché, my beauty.” Between her icy words and the cool water, his erection dropped like a wilted stalk.