by Ashley Ladd
She returned his kisses with equal and growing fervor. She snuggled against him and wound her fingers through his hair.
The windows steamed and he was so intoxicated he forgot they were in a semi-public place until a horn blasted nearby and raucous laughter scorched his ears. When the angel in his arms pulled back, he mourned the loss of her warmth, the light caress of her fingers, her lips.
Clestie smoothed her hair and tried to put it back in order, but wisps escaped in charming tendrils around her heart-shaped face. Her eyes were wide and shimmering in the dark car. “I don’t know what’s come over me.”
He growled and released her reluctantly, wanting nothing more than to ravage her and make her his. “Don’t apologize.”
No woman had ever regretted being with him, being worshipped by him, and he most definitely didn’t want this one to feel such.
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He drank in her loveliness and his groin tightened unbearably. He grazed his knuckles down her closest arm and didn’t miss the fact her flesh goose-pimpled. “The gods kissed you the day you were born.”
A becoming blush stained the apple of her cheeks and she slid a shy glance at him. “Do you slay all the girls with lines like that?”
Slay? He frowned. “I assure you I have never harmed a woman and I would never hurt you.”
Clestie started the car then spun the wheel and then let it slide through her loose fingers as the SUV made a sharp turn to the right. “I mean, do you flatter a lot of women with such flowery words? How many fall for those lines?”
“I was being most honest. I’ve never beheld a more beautiful mortal. Even Helen pales in comparison.”
“Helen as in Helen of Troy?” Awe laced her voice and a humble joy lit her face.
He nodded. “None other.”
The traffic grew horrendous and she gave her attention over to it.
Almost half an hour later, she pulled over to the curb, turned off the vehicle and turned to him. “Thank you.”
He lifted her hand to his lips and caressed it. Tingles shot up his spine and he longed to taste her lips. “I am sure you receive many such compliments.”
Clestie grimaced and shadows crossed her eyes. “Not many.”
“Then your man is not worthy of being a man. You deserve to be cherished and revered. I would never let you forget how beautiful you are.”
“But you won’t be staying, will you?” Her lips twisted.
Leo could swear pain and longing clouded her eyes, awakening similar emotions in him. He would never willingly hurt this special woman. He pulled her across the seat and enveloped her in a hug. “I cannot. I must return to help my charges. They have lost their way and need me.”
Her lips parted as if to speak and then she tightly pursed them.
He slid a finger beneath her chin and lifted her face so he could better see into her soul. The typical Scorpio passion blazed out at him.
“I am slave to my responsibilities.” He remembered his father’s thunderbolt. “And my family.”
Ruefully, she glanced over at the shop and nodded. “I understand family loyalty.” The closed sign still dangled askew on the front door beneath the silvery wind chimes. He could barely make out the counter and vague outlines of racks.
“’Tis not a bad thing.” He wouldn’t have met her, however, if not for his streak of disloyalty.
54 Heavenly Hijinks
His hands couldn’t get enough of her softness, nor his gaze her intoxicating beauty. He feathered kisses over her eyelids and down her cheek to the long creamy column of her throat.
“Umm, you’re scrumptious.”
He hadn’t been so affected by a woman since… He thoughtfully rubbed his chin. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d ever been so captivated.
He had to be with her again before he returned to the stars, before he could think straight, before he could get on with the business of helping all his mortal Leos. He gave way to his clamoring senses and buried his face in her floral-scented hair. It reminded him of jasmine and wildflowers.
He longed to free her inhibitions, to restore her to the wildly passionate, erotic Scorpio that still sizzled inside. Deep down, her passions simmered and he would bring them out as his gift to her before he left, for all that she would do for him and his charges.
“Don’t ever let anyone take you for granted. If someone does, he doesn’t deserve you.” He nibbled on her ear, and then kissed his way to the corner of her mouth.
Confusion and passion warred in her eyes. She shifted slightly, just enough to press her lips to his, to steal his breath.
Her lips moved gently over his and parted in invitation. Her tongue pushed against his teeth and when he opened his lips it mated with his, tangling in a heated dance.
The tips of her breasts teased his chest and he dragged her against him, molding her curves against his rising heat. He had to feel their silkiness and he slid his hand under her gaping shirt. He savored her moan as he kneaded her nipple between his fingers.
Lost in her, he pushed aside the offending material of her top, loosing her breast to his hungry gaze. She spread her hands over his chest and he cursed the material keeping their flesh apart.
With a low curse, she shoved him away and fumbled at putting her shirt back in its place and then sat up. “Oh my god! It’s early evening and we’re sitting under a streetlight! There’s a class of kids in that tae kwon do studio. We can’t do this here.”
He twisted in his seat and glanced at the neighboring business meeting the owner’s disapproving glower. He sent a friendly, apologetic wave to the master and took several deep breaths trying to restore his equilibrium without much success. His heart still hammered away a thousand beats per second. His cock still raged and meant to have her.
He wound his fingers through hers and pulled her across the seat and out the door. Without a missed step, he rushed her inside the shop and into his arms. Gazing down into her eyes, he pulled her hips to his groin and let his fingers caress the small of her back. “I hope your cousin isn’t here. I want you all to myself.”
Clestie wet her lips with the tip of her pink tongue and nodded. Her glance stole over his head to the second floor. “Elizabeth?”
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He listened intently for telltale signs, a rustling of material, a footfall, a heavy breath, but he didn’t hear so much as an insect scuttle across the old floors. “Good. She doesn’t appear to be here.” Without awaiting further reply, he scooped his angel into his arms and mounted the winding staircase, taking it two stairs at a time. Eager to share her bed, to show her how very precious she was, he fairly flew up the stairwell.
“Hurry, before she comes home.”
He had no intention of hurrying their lovemaking. Every particle of his being longed to love and cherish her all night. Then perhaps once he had his fill, he could think straight and help her to find that magical part of herself that could send him home.
Home.
To the stars. The heavens. His family.
Why did that thought feel so cold and bereft? So lifeless?
This mortal woman had breathed new life into his soul from the moment he’d laid eyes on her. She’d filled his heart with a joy he’d long forgotten existed. He no longer felt bored and restless, anxious to conquer new frontiers and explore new roads to fun. The only goals he cared about were to help his charges, and most of all, to unite with this special woman.
Tucked against his heart, Clestie nuzzled his neck with her warm lips. Squirming against him, she set fires to blaze in his veins. He increased the length of his strides, eager to begin his exploration of her, eager to lose himself in her wonder.
She wound her arms around his neck and snuggled deeply into his arms. She slid his shirt free and shoved it over and off, then eagerly licked and nipped and kissed his chest.
Quivers shot down his body in an almost physical ache and his cock flexed. What seemed an eternity later, he lowered her onto the ma
ttress. He joined her on the bed and gathered her against his heart. “I will show you just how you should be cherished.” He would spoil her for any other.
A moment of guilt flickered in Leo’s conscience for he knew he couldn’t stay, couldn’t make her forever his, but his base desire drove him on. He trailed hot, wet kisses from her swollen lips to the base of her throat where he found her rapidly fluttering pulse. He kissed it as he kneaded the soft mounds of her breasts.
She writhed beside him, lifting her hips off the bed in an invitation he knew well and yet one that had never before excited him as it did now. Her fingertips lightly caressed the trail of hair that slipped beneath his slacks and then she dipped two fingers beneath his waistband.
He sucked in a long breath as his muscles tensed, awaiting her deepening exploration. He willed Clestie’s passion to blaze fully forth, to loose her inhibitions, to be his perfect bedmate.
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She pushed her hand deeper inside his slacks and then inside his underwear, finding the source of his heat. She curled her fingers around his girth and stroked lightly.
He moaned and, rolling over, pinned her to the bed. This night she was his—if only for this night. With a primitive growl, he pushed the hindering material off his legs and kicked it across the room. He reveled in the magical feel of her hands stroking him, the long sensual sweep of her tongue as she swirled it around first one burgeoning nipple and then its twin.
She pushed him onto his back and lavished kisses over his chest, working her way from his nipples to his navel. Her tongue dipped inside and then followed the trail of his hair south. She teased him, running her fingers through his wiry curls, chasing them with her tongue, around his cock, and then around his heavy testicles, but not touching them.
Blood pulsed through his cock and it curved from its heavy weight. He grew impatient for the sweep of her tongue to cool the fire that raged through his shaft and he shifted toward her so that it grazed her face.
She laughed lightly, the silvery tinkle washing over him. “You must be the god of love.”
He arched his head deeper into the fluffy pillow and roared out his pleasure, pushing his cock closer to her succulent lips. “’Tis my sister who is the goddess of love.”
Clestie rolled her eyes as she trailed a fingertip along the length of his feverish cock. “Learn to take a compliment.” With a long, luscious sweep of her tongue, she licked his cock. “Has anyone told you how yummy you are?”
Several. But she was special. He lifted his head off the pillow and smiled up at her. “No one as yummy as you.”
That earned a dazzling smile which made his gut clench and his cock flex. By Cronus, but she was adorable!
Moaning and writhing, Leo pushed the tip of his cock against her teeth, seeking entrance into her wet mouth. He wondered if her boyfriend would like her high praise of him. Then a growl rumbled up from the depths of his soul. He would rip that so-called boyfriend to shreds and leave his sorry carcass for the marauders if he dared come near Clestie again. He was laying claim to her! She was too precious for any mere mortal.
With a saucy smile, she moved away from the tip of his cock, and sucked the loose flesh on the underside of his cock into her mouth. Then her fingers curled around the base of his shaft and she gently pumped.
Her curls tickled his highly sensitized flesh and he squirmed. Reaching down, he wound his fingers in her golden locks and captured her head lest she even dream of bringing an end to her rapturous movements.
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She licked and nipped her way up his cock and then kissed its tip reverently. Then she opened her mouth wide and took him deeper into her mouth, inch by thunderous inch.
In a heaven that was more heavenly than his celestial home, Leo closed his eyes and drowned in rapture. As spasms racked his body, he pumped harder into her mouth. Creaking and groaning, the bed banged against the wall in rhythm to his primitive thrusts, matching his conquering mood.
Clestie milked his seed until he was satiated. He tapped the top of her head and then pulled her up beside him. The glitter of his come on her swollen lips renewed his desire. When the tip of her tongue peeked between her lips and tasted his juices, he watched, mesmerized.
His cock swelling back to life, he rolled her onto her back and, hungering for more of her intoxicating touch, he swung his leg over lushness, straddling her. Towering over the lovely woman for several moments, he drank in her glorious beauty. Counting his many blessings, he listed her as number one. Did his Leos really need him as much as this mortal? Or as much as he needed, wanted and yearned for her?
Embers of something he dreaded to name warmed his heart and soul. Gentleness and possession warred in him every time he gazed upon the loveliness beneath him. “Your beauty graces this world.”
Crimson stole prettily into her cheeks and a smile tugged at one corner of her lips. “Shameless flatterer.”
“Only absolute truth passes my lips.” Another absolute truth made itself clear. His desire for this nymph was insatiable. He had to have her again.
Unable to wait a moment longer, he kneed her legs wide and plunged into her moist, quivering pussy.
With passion turning her eyes bluer than the Mediterranean Ocean, she tightened her legs about his girth and lifted her hips high. Perspiration beaded against her glistening flesh like precious pearls.
He held her tightly against his swiftly beating heart and she perfectly molded to him. Her pert nipples tickled and teased his chest, further igniting the wildfire rapidly spreading out of control. Feeling like a pirate of old, he plundered the treasure of her lips and drank deeply. Then their tongues mated until he could breathe no more.
His thrusts became deeper and harder. Ragged breaths escaped his lips.
Murmuring too low for her to hear, he implored, “Great Zeus, kind and loving father,” he hoped, “grant me this woman for my own.”
Clestie writhed and screamed as her gaze glazed over with rapture. As her body spasmed with a powerful orgasm, she ground against him in a frantic fury, milking him of his seed.
Brilliant arrays of fireworks exploded in his mind as his seed spewed forth.
58 Heavenly Hijinks
Cradling her as close to his heart as he could, he showered her with kisses. He cherished this rare find and still marveled at his discovery. He was most assured fate had guided his steps.
Smoothing the damp tendrils of her hair away from her flushed face, he gazed deeply into her darkened eyes, so like shining blue sapphires. “That was perfect.”
Mischief danced around the edges of her lips and she snuggled against him. “Better than perfect.” Then her heavy lids drooped and her breathing evened out.
Before the sun peeked over the horizon the following morning, Leo awoke and his gaze devoured the pretty woman whose blonde tresses curled erratically about her cheeks as she lay under the rumpled covers. Bliss lit Clestie’s exquisite features. In the glow coming from the high bedroom window, she shimmered like a nymph.
Still in awe of her loveliness, he inhaled deeply of her floral scent. Her aura was so strong it pulsed with a silvery glow. He admired her truly powerful energy, much brighter than that of ordinary mortals.
He stared at her for several long moments in silence as golden sunbeams danced their way across her covers to sparkle in her hair and then alight on her high cheekbones, finally teasing her eyes until the intense light would no longer let her slumber.
She cracked open one eye and groggily looked around. When she spied him sitting cross-legged beside her feet, both eyes flew wide open and she jerked up in the bed. Her covers pooled around her waist, exposing her very naked, beautifully pert breasts.
He couldn’t help but crack a smile when she gasped, dove for the sheet and tugged it over her lush form. He didn’t let on that he could see the imprint of her dusky areolas through the thin cotton or how the erotic sight affected him.
She stuck out her lower lip and blew her str
ay curls away from her eyes. “So it wasn’t a nightmare?”
No one had ever thought him a nightmare before. He fought a frown and gazed steadily at her. “Most certainly not. ‘Twas a most memorable, satisfying night.”
Clestie hunkered down deeper into her covers and pulled them over her head. “Richard will kill me.”
“So don’t tell Richard.”
She yanked the covers off her face and glared at him. “We don’t keep secrets from each other. I don’t intend to start our life together that way.”
He scowled and bit back a snarl. “Then you lie. You’re keeping a very big secret from him.” He paused to let his words sink in and take root.
Suspicion edged out the anger in her eyes. “What secret?”
His gaze dueled with hers. “You don’t love him. He’s not the right man for you.”
Her nostrils flared and she propped herself up higher on her elbows. “And who is? You?”
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He didn’t like the sarcastic tinge to her voice. “You know it can’t be me, as I have to return to my rightful place. But the fact that you welcomed me so willingly into your bed proves you’re not in love with the man.”
“Ooh! How dare you!” She grabbed her pillow and flung it with a mighty fierceness at his head.
He ducked as a loud crash sounded behind him. A lamp lay on the floor amidst a shower of broken glass. “I only dare tell the truth.”
He pushed himself off the bed and began to pick up the mess. “Would you rather I lie to you and assure you how deliriously happy you’ll be with the wrong man?”
A shadow fell across him and suddenly the room vibrated with increased negative energy. The bed creaked loudly and a strangled gasp sounded behind him.
“The wrong man? I hope you don’t mean me.” A suave man wearing a coat and a paisley ascot around his neck ambled into the room as if he had every right to be there.