And I show him so…by lifting my head and offering my lips to his in a carnal offering of a kiss.
Chapter Nineteen
Maximus
I shouldn’t be loving this as much as I do. I stopped her from lingering with Gio so we could come back here and sleep for the next two to twenty-three days—not so we could devour each other after stepping through the front door.
But right now, I can’t think of anything but consuming her. Every succulent, delicious inch. Every fiery, sexy drop she’ll give me. Perhaps a few I’ll just take for myself.
I make sure she knows that as soon as I break off the bond of our kiss but not the connection of our eyes. Kara feels me already, smiling up into my face as I steady her ascent with my hands on her waist. But she doesn’t let me stop there, already popping easily onto her toes and then up against my torso, her legs clutching around my waist. As I move my grip to her silky thighs, I use the chance to bury my tongue in her mouth once more. Goddamn. She tastes like sunshine and spices and fire.
She tastes like she’s all mine.
But just for good measure, I make damn sure she knows it.
Her lush little whimpers vibrate through my mouth as I claim her without stopping, rolling my head to ensure I’m delving as deep as she’ll allow. I can’t get enough of taking over her. Of needing to mark her in any way I can. As if Hades is going to burst in here any second and—
No.
It’s not just my silent resistance. Hades wouldn’t tread back into the territory of a son of Zeus this soon, especially knowing Kara’s now armed with a spell book powerful enough to launch all three of us out of his custody.
For right here and now, we’re safe. We’re together.
And it’s my every intention to soon make us one.
I know that Kara’s picking up that very vibe once she releases a full moan. The sound is like angels’ song in my senses as I backstep across my living room, toward my bed. The thumps of my dogged steps are wrapped by the swooshes of her gown, its voluminous folds still dragging along the floor.
But not for much longer.
As soon as we get to the platform that supports my bed, I stop and let her slide back down to her feet. As she lowers, sunlight slats in across the room, highlighting specific parts of her astonishing beauty. I get a peek of her slender calves. Another marveling caress around her waist. A breath-grabbing glance at her cleavage. Even a brand-new observation of the heart-like taper of her chin.
Fuck.
The word pours out of me as I take advantage of the mattress behind me and sit back onto it. Kara stays on her feet, brushing her knees along the fronts of mine while she nervously fingers the robe’s big collars. Never once do our gazes drift apart. She’s got visual access to my whole soul, just as I do hers.
Good thing, because right now my soul and body are on speed dial to each other.
And if I’m correctly interpreting the smolders in her breathtaking browns…
“Damn. My sexy, sweet little demon.”
Kara pushes in a little closer. But just a little. Our knees are tightly pressed now, instead of the teasing brush-bys.
“My stunning, fearless demigod.”
I close my eyes for a second, taking her reverent words in like they’re really a prayer. With my lids still shut, I finally utter, “Can you do me a favor?”
“Anything,” she whispers. “You know that.”
“Take off that damn robe so I can finally burn it.”
Forget the angels’ song. The most awesome sound of my afternoon is the heavy drop of that cursed garment to the floor.
The next moment, I open my gaze to the day’s most perfect sight. For that matter, its most magnificent and incandescent too. I could waste time on at least a hundred more adjectives for that list, but as my gape roams over more of her nudity, I become a raving idiot in matching proportions.
“You debating whether to drench it in gasoline first, Professor Kane?” she softly quips. “Because I can help with that decision.”
“Later,” I hear myself rumble. There’s a bit of interference in my mental feed now. Under normal circumstances I’d call it arousal—but this isn’t a normal circumstance. This is me craving to cover this incredible female in as much of my passion as I can, as soon as I possibly can.
“Come here,” I husk, tugging at her hip. My other hand braces her waist, gentling her fall all the way against me. But that’s all I’m agreeing to be gentle about. The more I taste her, touch her, and fondle her, the deeper my fires extend for her. The harder I throb for her. The more that every part of my senses craves to experience more of her.
I tell her exactly that with the brutal invasion of my kiss, ensuring she feels it all when I let go of her waist to wrap a hand around her nape. Though she’s the one on top, she easily succumbs to how I hold her in place. In return, she gets the rough tremors of my body beneath her weight…and the full confession from my helpless cock, betraying who’s really in charge right now.
But my fiery little minx seems to want more proof. She sits up, eyeing me from head to toe as she does so. During her journey, a sanguine smile spreads across her lush red lips. The expression gets even more gorgeous as she pulls up her hands, palms toward the ceiling. Slowly, she lowers one—a movement that corresponds directly to the motion of the zipper on my khakis’ fly.
My lungs start madly pumping. Her eyes go wide as my body denies all my self-control efforts. It’s springing through the gap in my crotch, confirming her effect on me in dark, pulsing glory. Those come courtesy of the tears in my pants that correspond to the spots where Hades’s minions subjected me to their burning torture. My new flinches and flexes cause the fabric to rip wider, exposing more of those tender areas to the air again. I grimace from the minor pain, though it’s transformed into a smile as soon as Kara’s fervent rasp hits the air.
“Maximus.”
But I’m back in the land of sobriety once her underline of sadness sets in. Though I’ve never fully looked away, I examine her with deeper intent. Her shoulders have sagged. And those are definitely new tears in her eyes. Not joyous ones. Not at all.
“I can’t bear what they did to you.”
I wince again from the agony in her voice. “What they did, sweetheart.” I fight to control my own voice from cracking. “It’s in the past. I survived, and so did you. That’s all that matters now. Kara…Kara, what’re you—”
She probably hears me but is choosing not to listen. Not as she makes me go tense and still, from the moment she leans down and presses a reverent kiss to the highest burn mark on my right thigh. I’m knocked for such an amazed loop, I almost forget that the woman already has me as hard as steel for her. This isn’t helping—but it’s not exactly hurting. Especially not as she pulls at my khakis, lowering them to the point that she can see the next burn down on my leg. Once more, she bends over and brushes the silky bow of her mouth to my angry skin. And once more, it feels…
Warm.
Worshipful.
Wonderful.
But definitely not magical.
I’m as sure of that as I am my own breath, and that in itself brings a different revelation. I’m healed and humbled in ways I never imagined by this sweet, soft offering from her heart as a woman and a woman alone. For just this moment, as she strips me, she’s peeling layers back from herself too. Honoring my suffering with her adoring kisses. Comforting my body with her careful touch. Looking at the scars that still darken my flesh and exalting them as my heroism, not my failure.