What a Goddess Wants (9 page)

“Do many of your people leave Cimmeria for this plane?”

“No.”

“So what do your people do?”

He couldn’t answer that question truthfully. He had sworn an oath he would never break. “We exist. Like you.”

“Exist.” Her mouth twisted in a sad little curve. “That’s a good word. Don’t you ever want to go back?”

His answer was immediate and didn’t require any thought. “Not if you paid me. I love it here. There’s always something to do, always someone to do.” There was that wicked smile again. “What about you, Lady? Would you leave this world? If you could?”

She blinked, as if processing his question. Then she frowned as her gaze turned inward. “I don’t know. After the gates to Invol were lost to us, it wasn’t an option. I… I guess I’d have to give it a lot of thought. I still have duties that I perform for the Etruscan races. Ones I enjoy.”

Good. He needed to get her onto another subject so he sank back, trying to get as comfortable as he could on the hard chair. “Like what?”

“Well, I’m a damn good midwife.” Her back straightened and her little chin pointed higher. “I’ve yet to lose a baby or a mother.”

“Good track record.”

“I think so.”

He shifted on the chair again. Wouldn’t have to worry about falling asleep on this thing. His ass hurt too much.

“Cal, why don’t you come sit over here?” She patted the bed beside her. “You’ll be more comfortable.”

Yeah, he would be. But he’d be way too close to her. Because even though they weren’t talking about sex, the time they’d spent on his bed played on an endless loop in the back of his mind. He thought about the softness of her skin. Of the warmth he’d felt and shouldn’t have.

Neither of them could afford for him to be distracted.

“I’m fine here.”

Her lips kicked up into a smile. “No, you’re not. What are you worried about? It’s not like we haven’t had sex. And since we’re stuck here all day and I can’t sleep…”

She let her implied suggestion hang there, tempting him closer. Her soft grin shouldn’t have lit a fire in his gut, but it did. His cock stiffened in his pants, pulsing with blood and heat. He wanted her. Hell, all she needed to do was be in the same room and he wanted to tear her clothes off.

And why the hell shouldn’t he have her? She was right. She couldn’t sleep, so neither could he. They were safe here, at least for the time being.

Why couldn’t they relieve a little stress? That first time had damn near blown his mind. He could only imagine how good it would be if he let her use her hands…

But if something happened to her on his watch…

He tried to tear his gaze away from hers but couldn’t manage it. “Why don’t we just watch a little—”

“Are you afraid of me?”

He heard the indignation, but that twinkle in her eyes made him grin. Afraid? “No. But you’re paying me to protect you, and I can’t do that if I’m fucking your brains out.”

“Well,” her smile turned wicked, “we didn’t exactly discuss payment for your… protection services.”

His cock throbbed.

Holy hell, if she smiled at him like that, with that heated look in her eyes, he’d take whatever payment she offered.

Lust tightened his balls and his cock hardened even more. His body urged him to crawl onto the bed, strip her naked, and fuck her, hard and for the rest of the day, until the sun sank and they could safely head out.

But where the hell were they going to go? Was there anywhere he could take her that she’d be safe from Charun?

His place was warded out the ass but not against someone like Charun. The most Cal had been able to manage had been to rig an early warning system where deities were concerned.

That’s what had tipped him off about Tessa.

But was there anything he could do about Charun personally? Anything he could do to stop the god from breaking out of Aitás?

He’d had an idea earlier tonight, one he’d let sit in the back of his brain to simmer. It was risky and might actually put her closer to the bastard who was searching for her. And it would require a major sacrifice on his part but—

“You’re thinking again.”

He caught her gaze, those bright blue eyes giving him a glimpse of the sky as he’d never see it. She’d already given him a taste of a warmth he’d never thought he’d feel again, and his addiction to it grew every time he touched her.

He shouldn’t touch her. Hadn’t meant to, but his body had acted without checking with his brain. He rose to his feet and walked to the bed, staring down at her as she smiled up at him.

And when she reached for him, that was all it took to break his control.

He fell on her as if he’d been starved without her, his mouth slanting over hers and grinding down to force her to open to him. She did so without hesitation, and he shoved his tongue into her mouth. He was rough with her, but instinct had taken over and he couldn’t stop.

His tongue wound around hers while his hands stripped her clothes from her body. Sun-kissed flesh, sleek and soft under his hands.

Her arms wrapped around him, and her fingers dug into his back through his shirt. He felt her moan, felt her hot breath seep into his mouth. It acted like a shot of adrenaline straight into his heart. Lust exploded in his gut, potent and powerful.

He needed to feel her hands on his skin.

Sitting back on his haunches long enough to rip his shirt over his head, he dropped back onto her, her breasts smashed to his chest, nipples digging into his skin like tiny branding irons. He wanted to crawl inside all that heat and let it burn him to ash.

He dropped his mouth on hers again and took that heat into him as her hands splayed on his back and began to explore his skin. They moved from his neck to his shoulders, smoothing along the muscle and then down his spine to his pants. She traced the waistband, raising goose bumps on his flesh and making his already hard cock throb.

She grazed along his waist twice before she slipped her hand under the fabric and scraped at his skin with her nails. His groan made her entire body quiver under his, and her hands shot around to the front for the button.

She squirmed and wiggled, but she couldn’t release the button because he was pressed too tightly against her.

The next thing he knew, he was flat on his back with Tessa sitting on his thighs and one hand slipping the button through the hole.

She’d flipped him as if he didn’t weigh a hundred pounds more than she did.

Gods damn, that really shouldn’t turn him on as hard as it did. He shouldn’t want her to smile at him like that, so sweet and hot that his lungs had to fight to suck in air.

Dangerous. Too damn dangerous to his peace of mind.

He shouldn’t want to touch her so badly that his hands shook as he cupped her breasts, kneading the firm flesh and playing with the nipples until they pebbled and turned rock hard. And oh so fucking warm.

God, her heat…

She reached for his zipper and began to release it tooth by tooth, her eyes glued to the sight.

With each audible snick, he gritted his teeth in brutal frustration. He felt every small release of metal against the sensitive skin of his shaft. It was torture, more punishing than having his nails torn from his fingers because the promise of the pleasure to come was killing him.

When she’d finally lowered the zipper all the way, she leaned forward. His mouth dried as he expected her kiss, but she bypassed his lips and whispered into his ear. “Grab the headboard and don’t let go, Cal.” Her voice became a husky growl. “It’s your turn to squirm.”

Oh, fuck. He was ready to come just from the sound of her voice.

He did exactly as she told him without thought, so completely caught up by the desire in her eyes and the heat of her hands as they gripped his pants and boxers and started to pull them off his legs.

They didn’t go easily. They fit like a glove, and his cock was so hard and thick that she had to work at it. But once she’d gotten them over his hips and down below his knees, she stopped, trapping his legs.

“That’s to ensure you don’t go far if you try to get away.” Her smile let him know she didn’t think he was going anywhere. “I don’t have any ropes on me.”

“I’ll do whatever you tell me, babe. Just don’t stop.”

Lifting her hand, she stuck her index finger between her lips, sucked on it, and then slid it out slowly. It left her lips with an audible pop, and his cock jerked against his stomach.

Straddling his thighs, she pressed that finger to the taut head of his shaft and circled the slit, combining his moisture with hers. He nearly jumped out of his skin when she used her nail to lead her finger down to his balls, drawn up tight between his legs.

She flicked at the puckered skin then pressed her finger between the balls and slid back to rub the perineum. Combined with her warmth and the sensitive skin there, her teasing made the slats of the headboard creak in his hands as he forced himself to hold tight.

“Such a good listener,” she crooned. “You should be rewarded for that.”

Fisting his shaft and pulling it straight up, she bent and took just the head into her mouth.

Fucking hell, he’d never felt anything so damn good. He growled out his pleasure, thumping his head hard into the pillow and thrusting up to get more of his cock into that wet heat.

“Ah, ah, ah.” She drew back, her smile wicked. “I’ll let you know when you can move.”

She sank over him again, holding his hips steady so he couldn’t thrust, and played her tongue over the head of his cock, bathing it with delicate flicks.

After she’d tormented the head, she licked down his shaft and tongued his balls, sucking each one into her mouth before licking her way back to the tip. Then she opened her mouth over him again and encased the head. As she sucked on him hard, he nearly came right then.

He wanted to come, wanted to shoot in her mouth, but he also wanted more. He wanted her to scrape her teeth on the shaft as she took him deeper. As if she’d read his mind, she did exactly that, letting her lips sink lower until he swore he couldn’t go any further. Then she swallowed and took him deeper.

The sensation forced another groan from him and an involuntary thrust, which he curbed before he choked her. He felt her lips curve into a smile around him. She began to pull away until she reached the tip and sucked him back in.

She did this several times, and each time he had to control the ever-increasing urge to shoot into her mouth. That’s not where he wanted to end this.

“Tessa.” That’s all he could say, no matter what he wanted. “Tessa.”

With one last suck and a kiss on the tip of his cock, she shifted forward, angled his cock up with one hand, and lowered herself onto his shaft in one smooth movement.

Fuck.
She was wet, so fucking wet. He slid in without effort, like satin on smooth skin. But then her sheath clenched around him like a fist and nearly did him in.

As her head fell back, her spine arched and her hands reached behind her for his thighs.

Then she started to ride him.

Her hair spilled down her back, the tips brushing against his thighs and sending a bolt of erotic sensation through his body. Releasing the headboard, he reached for her hips. He needed to have his hands on her. The heat of her scorched him. He felt like he was touching the sun. So hot.

Closer.
He needed to get closer, needed to hold her against him. Sitting upright, he pulled her legs around his waist and seated his shaft even more deeply inside her. Then he swung his legs over the side of the bed and planted his feet on the floor.

“Come on, babe. Now you can ride me.”

Her smile was pure bliss, her eyes slits of electric blue as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and stopped, damn her. “I thought I was.”

She tightened her sheath around him until he gasped.

“Better this way,” he managed to say. “Tess, please…”

Finally, she started to move, but she took her damn time about it. She went slow, moving only in tiny increments up and down his shaft. As if he’d last forever. Jesus, he wanted to, but the angle of penetration hit that sweet spot right on the underside of his cock, making him pant.

He was going to come, could feel it building in his balls with each slow glide of her sheath. But he wasn’t going without her. Moving his hands until his thumbs were positioned on either side of her clit, he pressed in, squeezing that little organ with each downward slide and rubbing it against his cock.

She gasped, her eyes opening wide, and… holy shit, her eyes glowed, hypnotic, stunning, and so fucking warm. He exploded just as she came with a gasp.

Chapter 5

Tessa clung to Cal’s broad shoulders, feeling his cock pulsing his seed into her, warm and full. He held her just as tightly, his chest rising and falling so fast she worried she might have injured him inadvertently.

Because something else had just happened. Something she hadn’t experienced in centuries. Power. True power. Goddess power. Only a flash, a quick burn in her blood, and then gone. But she had felt it.