Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 107826 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107826 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
“You could have talked to me on the phone. You hung up and came here in person.” He doesn’t move, though his gaze coasts slowly over me. “Why are you really here…Theseus?”
The low way he says my name feels like he reached out and ran his hand over my bare skin. I take a step closer to him on instinct alone. “I wanted to see you.” I pull the bottle out of my jacket. “Thought we could have another drink.”
“Liar.” His smile widens, taking the sting out of the word.
I take another step closer to him. “I came to yell at you. I look foolish in the media. Minos is furious.”
“Mmm.” Adonis’s focus narrows on my mouth. “Closer, but still not the full truth.”
Another step. We’re almost chest to chest now. A deep breath would bring us flush together. When I initially reached out to Adonis, it was to use him as a weapon to strike at my wife. That’s not why I’m here now. It’s not even because Minos is pissed.
I’m here because, out of everyone in Olympus, Adonis is the only one I’ve ever really relaxed around, even a little. He reminds me of Pandora, a bright exterior that camouflages a clever mind and a core-deep kindness that might as well be a different language for all I understand it. He might have helped me for his own reasons, to hurt Aphrodite, but our initial chat would have covered that and then some.
No, this is something else.
“Theseus.” His voice is low and full of things I can’t define.
“Adonis.” Slowly, almost reluctantly, I lift my hand and place it against the center of his chest. Gods, his skin is soft. I clear my throat. “You feel it, too.”
His deep inhale presses his chest more firmly against my hand. “This won’t end in anything but heartbreak for both of us.”
One has to have a heart for it to be broken. I lift my gaze to his. “Do you care?”
“I should.” Another of those deep breaths that feel like he’s reaching out to me without moving his arms. “My heart is already shattered. Another blow might be the end of me.”
I bite down on the strangest impulse to reassure him that I won’t break his heart. It’s not a promise I can make. Even if we weren’t on fundamentally opposite sides of the coming conflict, I am who I am. I can’t offer soft words and softer landings.
I only know how to destroy.
Still, I can’t leave his comment hanging. “I don’t want to break your heart.” The heart currently racing beneath my palm. I inhale deeply. I can’t place his scent, but it wraps around me all the same, muddying my thoughts.
“Which isn’t the same thing as promising not to.” His smile falters. “Though I wouldn’t believe you even if you made that promise.”
“Adonis—”
“Theseus.” His eyes go serious. “Either kiss me or get your hand off my chest.”
I know the smart move, but I don’t give a fuck. I can’t be his soft landing…but maybe he can be mine. Just for tonight. It doesn’t matter what my original plans were when it came to him. I want him. That’s reason enough.
I kiss Adonis.
His lips are soft. So fucking soft. He makes a sound in his throat and opens for me. It’s the most natural thing in the world to drag my hand up to bracket his throat, tilting his head back to give me better access. His hands find my hips and jerk me forward until I’m pinning him to the door.
Fuck, he feels good.
In the back of my mind was the thought to keep this kiss light, to control this encounter, but all my intentions are swept away in a wave of need. Need to get him closer. Need to get his fucking clothes off so there’s nothing between us.
With that in mind, I start to go to my knees.
He stops me. “Theseus, wait.”
I freeze. “What?”
“Your knee.”
Shame coats me, nearly drowning out desire. I try to shove it down, with only moderate success. “Fuck my knee. I want your cock in my mouth.”
He leans his head against the door and closes his eyes. His pulse races against where I have my lips pressed to his throat. “I would very much like my cock in your mouth,” he finally manages. “But not if it hurts you in the process.”
There it is. That softness I should despise. He’s all but offering me a fault line to expose, an admission that saving me from pain is a lever I can pull to manipulate him.
Except I don’t want to.
I don’t even want to throw his caring back in his face. I want to indulge it, to luxuriate in it. Unforgivable. I don’t give a fuck. I’m not going to stop.
I stagger back from him and catch his hand, dragging him behind me. “Couch. Bed. I don’t give a shit, but tell me where to go.”