West of Want (Hearts of the Anemoi) (14 page)

“Please,” she said.

Zephyros’s stomach sank. He curled his arm around her shoulders before she could get away, pulled her back against his chest. “Love, wait, talk to me.”

She shook her head and clapped her hand over her mouth. Within his grasp, she trembled.

“Are you crying? Ella, talk to me.” She shook her head harder and he could literally feel her effort to restrain her emotions. He hiked himself up behind her so he could look over her shoulder. A single silent tear tracked across her cheek. The physical proof of her pain escalated the whole array of these new primal needs within him—to comfort, to protect, to defend.

His kissed the corner of her eye, tasting the salt of her tear on his lips, and slipped into the ancient tongue, whispering a small prayer against her ear. He hated learning that she carried around within her such a deep-seated pain. Of all the traits they might find they had in common, that was one for which he never would’ve wished.

He kissed her cheek and switched into English. “I’m sorry this hurts you so, Ella. But why do you pull away from me? I would comfort you.”
The way you comfort me
.

Her breathing hitched and her eyes cut to him in a sidelong glance. “You…would?”

“Of course. Why would you think otherwise? Good gods, have I given you the impression my only interest here is in having your body?” Zephyros kissed her shoulder. “I want to know you. All of you. If you are in pain, I want to know that. I want to help ease it, if I can.” The shadows receded from her face, easing the tension in Zeph’s gut. “I understand why this would be upsetting, of course, but is it something more? Did something happen to you, Ella?”

She shrugged the slender shoulder between them. “My husband, or, rather, my
ex
-husband…he left me after we learned I can’t have children.”

Dark energy whirled through Zephyros. She’d been cast aside and deemed unworthy by someone she’d loved. Just like him.

No. Not like him. Because Ella didn’t deserve the way she’d been treated. He shuddered in an effort to restrain an outburst. In the darkness of the rainy night, thunder rumbled.

“What are you thinking?” she asked in a small voice.

“I’m thinking I’d like to hurt him. But then, if he was still here, I couldn’t be.” His stomach soured. What a horrible thing to say. Had he no common sense? No compassion? He cut his gaze to her eyes, prepared for the recrimination he deserved. “I apologize, Ella. That was truly insensitive of me.”

Her muscles relaxed within his grip and she sank back into his chest. “No it wasn’t. I liked it. And I agree with you. I hate the idea that I might never have met you.”

Zephyros clenched his eyes and absorbed her words into his heart, his soul. By the gods, this woman appealed to parts of him he thought long gone, long buried away, or broken to pieces by ancient betrayals.

“Zeph?”

He opened his eyes and knew how bright they flared from the light that illuminated her face and shoulder. But he couldn’t help the release of some of the energy flowing through his veins. “Yes?” he managed after a thick swallow.

“Will you still make love to me?”

“That’s not even in question. It would be my honor. And my pleasure.” He dragged a finger over her hip, his mind rational enough now to make him want to put her fully at ease. “I know humans must be careful of this, so I want to reassure you that my body is clean and you will be safe, even without protection.”

She smiled and bit down on her lip. “Thank you,” she said with an expression equal parts shyness and seductiveness. He moved to roll Ella from her side to her back. She grabbed his hip, her touch warm and claiming. “No. Like this. Please?”

Zeph groaned and let himself once again acknowledge the deep, needful ache between his thighs. With his front to her back, his cock lay hard and heavy against the top of her buttocks. “This pleases you?”

She chuckled. “Uh, yeah. And I like the feeling of your arms around me.”

“Oh, Ella. I would hold you forever.” He shifted his body, loving the satin feel of her skin against his, and gripped himself in one hand. Ella arched her back and they were aligned. He dragged his sensitive head through her folds, coaxing her body. It wasn’t long before he thrilled to find the slick evidence of her arousal.

She gasped every time he passed over her entrance. “Don’t tease me. I want you.”

Zephyros didn’t need to be asked twice. He pushed in, inch by hot, tight inch. Ella gasped and pressed back, encouraging him to go deeper. Wrapping her in his arms, Zeph moved his hips in a slow, steady rhythm. He thought to tell her how exquisite she felt, how much her generosity of spirit meant to him, how scared he was that he was falling so hard, so fast, but the incredible pleasure of physical connection stole his words, and nearly his breath.

And the connection wasn’t just physical. As his flesh joined with hers, his soul sung, his psyche eased. When he was seated all the way in her, he paused, savored. He’d had his share of partners, but this felt different, full of some unnamed promise. Perhaps it was his healing energy within her, or her own special calming aura surrounding him. Perhaps it was her honesty and forthrightness—so different from the way his divine brethren behaved. Good gods, he wasn’t sure who was claiming who here. But now that he was in her, he couldn’t imagine
ever
leaving.

Unbidden, the memory of Eurus’s threat slammed into his brain. The challenge to his line was one thing, the implicit threat to Ella—first with Eurus’s visit, and then with his command to leave her—was something else altogether. A sharp spike of pain ripped through Zeph’s chest. He held Ella tighter. Words in his native tongue spilled from his lips against the soft skin of her neck. Promises. Vows.

Ella gripped his arms, embracing him back in the only way she could, and turned to offer her lips. Zeph groaned and kissed her, so pleased to see the light back in her eyes.

“So good,” she panted around his lips.

Oh, gods
. “Yes,” he breathed, stunned and overwhelmed by the feel of her, and grateful for this experience down to the marrow of his bones. He moved then, easy dragging strokes that stoked the fire burning within him. In his arms, her body was soft and warm, with curves everywhere a woman should have them.

“God, you’re amazing,” she said. She rocked her hips back into his, arching within his grasp and urging him to move faster.

“Oh, Ella,” he rasped, pressing a kiss to her shoulder. “I can’t get enough of you.” His body demanded that he go harder, faster, deeper, but he wanted her immersed in pleasure, too. Wanted her boneless and sated. And he wanted to be the one to make her feel that way.

One arm still curled under and around her, he explored her body with his free hand. Her breasts filled his palm, the tips both soft and hard against his skin. He teased her there, loving her little gasps and whimpers, before plucking her with his fingers, small squeezes that pulled from her throat more of those sexy utterances.

Caressing over the soft curve of her belly, Zeph played with the curls his fingers encountered below. Ella’s body jolted with his first touch there, and he was overcome with an instinctual need to elicit that response again and again. Finally, his fingers found the swollen nerves at the top of her sex just as his cock slid deep into the slick grip of her core.

Her head craned back into his shoulder and she cried out. “Oh, God. Touch me, Zeph. Don’t stop touching me. Please.”

Masculine satisfaction roared through him. The need in her voice owned him. In that moment, he would’ve done anything to please her. He swirled his fingers against her clit, firm and fast, wanting her to fall apart in his arms, wanting to know he’d been responsible for sending her heart into a sprint.

Zeph stilled his hips to concentrate on making her come for him. “Yes, love, yes. I’m going to take care of you,” he whispered against the shell of her ear. His heart squeezed. What would it be like to do so not just now, but forever? To have someone who depended and counted on you? To have someone who turned to you first above all others to share the joys and sorrows of life?

“Oh, God, oh, Zeph.” Ella sucked in a breath, held it.

Around his cock, Ella’s body went tight and wet. Zeph groaned in appreciation.

Ella released her breath on a strangled, pleasured shout. Her muscles gripped and milked him until he could hold still no longer. He surged within her, faster and harder than before, as he gave in to the physical need gathering and intensifying deep in his gut.

…

Ella’s head was spinning. And there wasn’t much oxygen in the room. And every nerve ending in her body was alive and sensitized.

But yet she was grounded by the strength and caring and attentiveness of this incredible man. He surrounded her with an all-encompassing presence. His body holding and penetrating her was all she could feel. His taste was on her lips. His scent, combined with hers, filled the air. When she reached out, her hands found hard, masculine flesh, smooth skin over cut muscles. It was a maddening combination, all of it, and the most sensual thing she’d ever experienced.

She was torn between wanting to encourage him to go harder, faster, so that he could achieve the kind of earth-shattering release she’d just had, and wanting him to slow down so this could last the night. Forever.

Her mind tried to pull her out of the moment.
Is this a one-time thing? Will I be able to have him again? Why would a god want me when Craig didn’t? How can this work out? How can this even be real?

But Ella shoved it all away. Because all her senses couldn’t be wrong. And after so much pain these last months, she deserved this. In the great balancing sheet of the universe, she was due for some good. And Zeph was good. Really good. Great, even. And she wanted him.

Not to mention, sex had never before been like this for her. She enjoyed it because of the closeness and connection it brought. But this…this was so much more. Intense physical pleasure with a soul-deep need for the feeling to go on and on—not for the feeling itself, but because of the person with whom she was sharing it. Everything that drove her wild, he repeated. Against her ear, he uttered a stream of encouragement and affection. His words and touch reached into her chest, and planted within her the incontrovertible belief that she was right where she was supposed to be, and with the man she was supposed to have.

It was a ridiculous feeling, and she knew it. And it was dangerous, too, this slippery slope of falling. She wasn’t sure her heart could survive again the kind of betrayal she’d experienced before.

But something in her told her to believe. To risk. To want.

Zeph’s arms tightened around her. “Oh, gods, Ella,” he groaned. His thrusts quickened. Inside her, his cock swelled, creating more of that delicious fullness and pressure. The drag of his hard length within her was so damn good, and set her body on edge again.

Ella turned her head, wanting to watch him, to see him. His eyes were brilliant, glowing and serene in his desire, like he couldn’t want anything more than her in this moment. Wishful thinking, probably, but even the possibility that a man like this would be so affected by her made her heart flutter and her stomach flip-flop.

Words flew to the tip of Ella’s tongue. Intense words. Ridiculous words, given how long they’d known each other. It was her loneliness talking, clearly. But that didn’t stop her from feeling the need to release them into the world, into his heart, and hope he returned them.

Before she made a stupid mistake, Ella lifted her head and kissed him. When their tongues met, Ella sucked and stroked, pouring these crazy, bursting emotions into the intimate touch of their mouths.

Zeph groaned. His hips moved faster, less steady in their rhythm. Ella arched her back and broke their kiss, but her new position gave him more access, deeper access. He took full advantage, gripping her and hunching his body around her. Words fell from his mouth in that foreign language, and though she couldn’t understand them, they wrapped around her nonetheless.

The desperation in his voice reverberated down her spine and settled into the nerves between her legs. She stroked herself, drawn by her need to share this orgasm with him.

“Oh, yes. Come with me, love. I can’t…I have to…
fuck
.” Zeph’s grip tightened as his orgasm poured into her in pulsing spasms. He moved through it, and it went on and on, pulling incredibly sexy noises from deep in his throat.

Ella sucked in a breath at the masculine power of his body, at the unabashed pleasure of his release. White-hot energy spiraled and built in her belly, traveled lower, then detonated where they were still connected. She cried out, sure she couldn’t handle the intensity of it, and then went limp and breathless against the bed.

Awareness came back to her in starts and stops. Zeph’s arms still held her. Small kisses rained down on her shoulder and back. His cock moved within her, languid strokes that were infuriatingly arousing and tender at the same time.

He chuckled and his breath puffed against her skin. “You with me?”

Ella laughed softly. “Jesus. I think so.” She grinned over her shoulder at him. For a long moment, she soaked in the expression on his face. Even in the dimness of the room, she could only describe what she was seeing as adoration and affection. She’d been loved before, even if it hadn’t ended well, and she was sure she was seeing what she thought she was seeing, and not just a figment of her imagination.

Her heart squeezed in her chest. She wanted this, whatever it was or would be, so much. And it was happening so fast. But could she trust it?