by Abigail Owen
“You were also here for the mating ceremony. To keep me from being accosted.”
“Hmmm…”
“What does that mean?”
“It means I’m not discussing this in the hallway.”
She could feel his assessing gaze, but he remained silent the rest of the way to their room.
“We seem to be walking to our room for a discussion a lot lately,” he muttered.
She ignored the comment as she placed her bag carefully on the floor, then turned to face him, hands on her hips. “Was sleeping with me part of your plan from the beginning?”
His brows lowered in a fierce frown. Did it darken outside a tad? “Excuse me?”
She tipped her chin, refusing to be intimidated. “You heard me.”
“You came on to me, honey.”
True. She bit her lip.
He stalked toward her. “Do you think I’m the type of man who would deliberately plan that?”
She blew out a long breath. “Sorry, Cas. This entire trip has been…confusing.”
Instead of backing off, he crowded into her space, his achingly familiar scent surrounding her and clouding her thinking. With a yank he pulled her into his arms. Hot lips slanted across hers, and she was instantly lost to the magic of his kisses. How could he ignite her with a mere touch?
He pulled back. “Chemistry like this can’t be planned. I might have hoped, but never assumed. Given your attitude toward me, you were as likely to slap me as kiss me.”
She shook her head, breathing hard.
“I want you, Leia.”
Aphrodite help her, she wanted him too. But she’d witnessed all the other women before her. They’d streamed through his life like water over a riverbed—here one moment, forgotten the next. This desire of his would be fleeting.
Cas would never be able to forget the wife he adored, and no other woman stood a chance of holding his attention long term. Whereas she’d given him her heart, fully and forever. She knew that now. Could she handle the pain when his interest waned? Because it surely would.
Leia knew the answer already, though she was fully aware her emotions were a pendulum where this demigod was concerned, swinging from one extreme to the other. However, she’d never felt for a man the way she did for Castor. The specter of his wife would always be there, always keep his heart encased in grief-ridden stone. But even if this ended tomorrow, she’d take what time she could. She would rather have five minutes of spectacular than two thousand more years of merely surviving.
Perhaps she was more like the gods she’d long pitied and abhorred for their inability to commit.
Decision made, she let her inner-nymph free. Stepping back from him, she unbuttoned the top button of her conservative white blouse.
He tipped his head, eyeing her with wary hope. “Leia?”
She popped another button free, and another as she slowly backed away.
His lips quirked and his gaze turned hot. “I thought you were going shopping?”
She gave him a come-hither smile worthy of her siren sisters and finished the last few buttons. She stripped off the blouse, pulling it out of her pencil skirt and dropped it to the floor.
“If you really want to go golfing, I guess I could go shopping instead. Or maybe I’ll…take care of my needs…on my own.”
He growled. The man actually growled. Then, with a speed that defied logic, he picked her up and had her in the bedroom, looming over her on the bed, before she could even squeak her surprise.
“The only person taking care of your needs will be me.”
She melted under the fierce desire in his gaze. His grip on her was both gentle and commanding at the same time.
She arched against him, but the movement only stoked the conflagration of need burning through her veins.
“So take care of them already…”
CHAPTER 14
The ring of her cell phone dragged Leia out of a deep sleep—one induced by multiple bouts of making love. She still couldn’t wrap her mind around it, but she was still going with it.
After attending the werewolf event that evening—a barbeque held in Rocky Mountain National Park where the pheromones continued to whip the attendees with need—they’d returned to the hotel and made love most of the night. The next morning they’d managed to get showered and packed and back to the airport.
Leia had sat in her usual spot on the plane, a different row than Castor, only to have him get up and move to the seat beside hers. He hadn’t said anything, merely given her a reproving look. Then he’d proceeded to whisper dirty words in her ear about exactly what he wanted to do to her body, but refused to touch her. As punishments went, it had been torturous. By the end of the flight, she’d been squirming in her need.
He’d taken them back to his house. The second they were inside, he’d put into action every one of those intentions.
She’d been to his house before, even inside his bedroom. She liked it. Unlike the modern furnishing in his offices and many of his planes, Cas had decorated his house more traditionally—lots of dark woods and masculine colors. In particular, she loved his king-sized bed with its massive wooden four poster frame.
With a groan, she leaned over the side of the bed and fished around in her purse for her phone. “Hello.” Her voice came out as a sleepy rasp. She cleared her throat.
“Leia, it’s Delilah.”
“Oh. Hi, Delilah.” She glanced over at Castor, who regarded her with curious eyes. “What can I do for you?”
“Is this a bad time? I wanted to discuss what to do with the warlock. I should have him in hand shortly.”
Leia glanced at the clock and winced. Of course Delilah would expect them to be in the office now. She sat up and the dark blue satiny sheet fell into her lap. Suddenly self-conscious, she gathered it up to cover her naked breasts. “I’m running a little behind today.”
Castor tugged at the sheet. She made a face and shook her head at him. He laughed silently back at her, but released it. “Um. Tala and Marrok should be included in the discussion. Let me call you from the office? Say an hour from now?”
“That’s fine.”
Leia hung up and dropped the phone back in her purse. “We need to get going.”
Before she could roll off the bed, he moved with that crazy speed again and had her pinned beneath him, sheets gone, and evidence of his not-yet-waning desire obvious between them. “Not yet.”
“We’re already late.” Her protest was weak, even to her ears, as a familiar ache settled low in her belly.
He smoothed his hand down her side from breast to hip to thigh. With a tug, he wrapped her leg around his waist. She shuddered as he repeated the action on the other side.
Then, with one slow stroke he entered her. Leia tossed her head back, arching to take him deeper.
“Eyes on me.” The demand was one she’d heard frequently the last day. Castor wanted to watch her face, her expression, as he brought her to the pinnacle of pleasure and over into the abyss. The intimacy of making love while staring deeply into his eyes, and he into hers, snagged at her heart every time, filling her full of love until she was bursting with it.
He took his time making love to her now, each move deliberately slow. She could feel every inch of him, and the pleasure built inside her.
“Please…” she begged.
“Please what?” His low tone, darkened with need, made her shiver.
“I need you.”
“You have me.” He plunged in deep.
Her stomach contracted at his words. She did have him. For now. She wouldn’t let herself wish for more.
“More.” She groaned the word as the tingling warning of her impending orgasm started in her middle and spread outward.
“You have all of me.”
Those words sent her tumbling into dark pleasure. Wave after wave surged through her and she cried out her fulfilment. She couldn’t pull her gaze away from the intensity in his. A declaration of love trembled on he
r lips. Instead she pulled him closer and pressed her lips to his, pouring her emotions into the kiss.
You have all of me. Seductive words. He meant those words. By the gods she wished he’d meant them the way she wanted.
*****
Afterward, they managed to shower and dress quickly. Luckily, she’d packed extra clothes for their trip. She donned a dark brown pant suit with matching jacket, one of her favorites because of the wide belt and oversized buttons which gave the jacket a certain flare. Cas, always immaculate for work, emerged from his closet looking especially fine in a grey suit with subtle pin striping, a matching vest, and a deep red tie.
Unable to help herself, she crossed the room and fiddled with the tie, getting it just right. Lifting her gaze, she encountered tender affection in his.
Leia gave a satisfied nod. “Better.” She stepped back, giving herself space. “I need to get my car. Can you drop me off?”
Before the trip, he’d picked her up and taken them both to the airport. He cocked his head. “I’ll drive us both to the office.”
“I’d rather drive myself.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Why?”
Was there annoyance in his voice? “This thing between us is private. Showing up at the office together is not exactly the best way to keep it that way.”
“Are you embarrassed to be with me?”
Men and their pride. “Absolutely not. However, we are still employer and employee.” She waved a hand between them. “At least in the office. Let’s enjoy this for a while before complicating things. Okay?”
Her adamant denial that she might be embarrassed must’ve mollified him, because he stopped scowling. He wasn’t happy either, but he also didn’t push it. “Okay. I think I get it.”
After grabbing her car, they both headed in to the office, where they first called Tala and Marrok, then got Delilah on the phone.
“You have all of us on speaker,” Leia told her.
“There’s been a development since I called earlier.”
Leia’s heart dropped into her stomach and rattled around in there. Kaios must’ve helped his friend escape or something.
Cas placed his hand over hers and gave it a squeeze. “What kind of development?”
“The warlock is dead.”
“What?” The question shot out of her before she could say it in a calm, rational manner.
“I guess the Witch’s Council didn’t want to anger the gods. They sent their best hunter after him.”
“I guess that takes care of that.” Marrok’s dry tone came across loud and clear over the speaker.
“Before he died, we did get some information from him. Based on his comments, it sounds as though Kaios never wanted Tala and Marrok to mate, something about it giving them too much power in the werewolf community.”
“So he threatened the Nymphs, and when Leia forced the prophesy, he tried to punish them?” Tala asked. They’d informed Delilah about all the events when they’d arranged to turn over the warlock.
“What does that mean? Is Kaios after us too?” Tala asked.
“Could be, at least to discredit you,” Delilah said.
“Why not just say something at the wedding?” Marrok asked.
“Perhaps he didn’t have proof.”
“He didn’t have a clear view of Leia from where he was standing,” Castor said. “I doubt he knew of her involvement until he got it out of the nymphs when he attacked them.”
And Kaios thought of her as pathetic and powerless after he took her spring, so likely didn’t suspect her capable of what she’d done.
“Plus he’s a psychopath who handles things in a way that is difficult to trace back to him,” Leia reminded the group. He’d done that with her spring, manipulating a god to enact his revenge.
“Any sign of Kaios?” Tala asked.
“Not yet, but I have my feelers out,” Delilah said.
“We should all be careful until he’s found,” Marrok advised.
There wasn’t much more to discuss. As they hung up, Leia sank back in her seat. “Kaios had the warlock killed.”
“What?” Castor knelt down in front of her. “Why would you say that?”
“I know that wolf and his sick mind. We can’t prove Kaios was there that night, but the warlock could have. He’s tying up loose ends.”
Cas moved to squat in front of her, hands on her knees warm through the thin material of her slacks. “Hopefully, he’ll go back down a hole to wherever he came from, and stay there.”
She ran her gaze over his face, every adored plane. Those amazing eyes looking back at her with tender worry, those kissable lips that could both master and persuade flattened with an emotion she couldn’t quite identify. If she hadn’t known better, she would have said love. Her heart fluttered, but she ruthlessly squashed the hope. She’d seen too many other women fall for the same thing. Being the object of his attention was like being caught in a tractor beam.
She pulled her focus back to the issue at hand. If Kaios was still out there, it was highly likely he’d come after her in some horrible way again. The wolf hit people where they were most vulnerable. Realization struck, cold fingers of fear stealing down her spine. Castor was that for her now, her vulnerable spot, and Kaios knew it.
Gods, how could she have been so stupid? Kaios would come after Castor next.
Time to disappear. Again. But she knew Castor wouldn’t let her go. In fact, he’d probably insist she stayed to protect her.
She pasted a calm smile on her face, the one she’d used with him countless times over the last year. “I’m sure you’re right. He won’t risk poking his head up right now.”
He searched her gaze for any hint of her feelings, but she’d mastered keeping people out when she wanted and regarded him with serene patience. Finally, he gave a nod. “Good girl.”
She rose to her feet. “I have email to get through.”
“Yes.” He stood too.
She could feel the burn of his gaze as he watched her leave the room, closing the door behind her.
She did exactly as she’d said, letting the daily routine of work take over. She went through emails, made calls, and skimmed through a presentation the design department wanted to present to Cas next week.
At noon Cas opened the connecting door. “I have a lunch meeting,” he reminded her. She waved him out of the room and even waited an extra ten minutes in case he came back for any reason. When she was confident he was gone, she picked up the phone and dialed.
“Delilah. I need to disappear.”
“I was wondering when I’d hear from you.” Her friend didn’t sound surprised at all. Of course, Delilah had been the one to help her pick up the pieces and move on with her life all those years ago when her spring had been buried. “What does Castor think?”
“He doesn’t know.”
“I think you should discuss it with him. He’s a demigod. He can protect you.”
“He’ll be Kaios’s next target if I stick around.”
Silence greeted her declaration.
Leia winced. Delilah’s only directive when she’d placed her in this job was not to fall in love with her boss.
“Like, that is it?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“How does Castor feel?”
“He’s in lust. And I enjoyed what time I could get with him.”
“I don’t blame you. Love, the real kind, not just lust that burns itself out in time, doesn’t happen as often as humans wish.”
“No, it doesn’t.”
“You’re sure it’s only lust for him?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. Let me work on a plan. I’ll get back to you later today.”
“Thanks, Delilah.”
“I only want you to be happy, Leia.”
Leia closed her eyes. Happy didn’t tend to be a goal of hers, but Delilah had been a true friend to her. “I owe you.”
“No you don’t.”
CHAPTER 15
A tiny shard of guilt pricked him at the realization that even Hilaeira hadn’t caused this urgent need—not only to possess, but to protect, to cherish, and to care for—within him. He was like a teenager again, only more than he’d ever been during the short years of his youth. The tiny tip of her pink tongue peeked between those berry-ripe lips. He wanted to see those lips parted in passion. He adored how she lost control with him when she was in total control at all other times. A stirring of desire had him shifting positions, which caught her attention.
Her head came up. “Oh! I didn’t hear you.”
He smiled. “Sorry.”
She gave a mock glower. “Sneaky man.”
Once upon a time, she’d have used a meaner term than man. He took that as a sign she was warming up to him. Sleeping with him was a huge step, but genuinely liking him still wasn’t guaranteed.
“Any plans tonight?”
He asked the question as casually as he could. Her only reaction was a quick check of the time. If she was about to do what he suspected, his nymph was phenomenal at hiding her true emotions.
Before she could lie to his face, he continued. “Unfortunately, I’m playing poker with Pollux and some friends.”
“Oh.”
“I think it would be a good idea for you to stay at my place tonight, though.”
She frowned. “Why?”
“With Kaios still on the loose, I don’t like the idea of you on your own. What if he attacks you?”
“I doubt that’s going to happen.”
“It’s not worth the risk.”
Leia’s lips flattened in a stubborn look he recognized. “I’m not staying with you, Castor.”