“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because that is how you claim the cards.”
He cleared his throat. “Go on.”
“Outside the rule of tens, there is a rule for face cards,” she explained.
She had to give it to Hades, he did make a show of interest in the rules of the game, more than likely because he was interested in the stakes. “Depending on the face card you draw, you have a certain number of chances to get another face card or the player who laid down the first face card takes all the cards.”
“Okay,” he said very deliberately.
She continued. “And last, if you slap at the wrong time then you have to put two cards at the bottom of the pile.”
“Right,” he said. “Of course. What is this game called again?”
“Egyptian Ratscrew,” Persephone said.
“Why?”
She frowned. “I-I don’t know. It just is.”
Hades raised a brow. “Well, this should be fun. Let’s get to the important part—stakes. What do you wish for if you obtain this…whole deck of cards first?”
Persephone considered this before saying, “I would like a weekend,” she said. “Alone. With you.”
Hades lips quirked. “You are wagering for something I would gladly give—and have, many times.”
“Not a weekend sequestered to your bedchamber,” she said, rolling her eyes. “A weekend…on an island or in the mountains or in a cabin. A…vacation.”
“Hmm. You aren’t giving me a very good reason to win,” he said.
Persephone smiled. “And you? What do you wish for?”
“A fantasy,” he said. “Fulfilled.”
“A…fantasy?”
“A sexual one.”
It took everything in her not to stutter.
“Of course,” she managed smoothly, taking a shallow breath. Now who was making it hard to want to win? She bit her lip. “Can I ask what this sexual fantasy entails?”
“No.” His eyes sparkled with amusement. “Do you accept?”
“I accept,” Persephone said and as she spoke, she squeezed her thighs together, feeling a jolt of heat pool low in her stomach. She hoped she could focus enough on the game to actually attempt winning.
She cut the deck and gave each of them twenty-six cards. The first card she put down was a two of spade. Hades placed a queen of clubs.
“That means I have three chances to get another face card,” she explained.
Her next card was a king.
“Now you have four chances to get a face card.”
“Alright.”
His first card was a five of diamonds, the next a three of clubs, the third a jack of hearts. Then, it was Persephone’s turn—luckily, she laid down another face card.
“Now you have one chance to draw a face card,” she said.
What he drew was a ten of spades.
Lightning-fast, Hades’ hand came down upon the deck with a loud bang.
Persephone flinched and stared at him in surprise. She hadn’t expected him to move so fast—or to remember the rules so well.
“What?” he asked when he noticed her expression. “You said to slap.”
“That wasn’t a slap, that was more like a collision.”
He smirked. “I just really want to win.”
She raised a brow. “I thought you were intrigued by my wager.”
“Yes, but I can make your wager come true at any point.”
“And you do not think I can make your fantasy come true at any point?”
Hades’ lips quirked. “Can you?”
They stared at one another for a heartbeat. The tension between them gathering rapidly, a storm on the horizon. Part of her wanted to discard the game completely just to embed his body into hers.
Then Hades spoke, his voice low and gruff. “Shall we continue?”
Their game progressed—a near-endless exchange of cards. At one point, Hades only had one card left—Persephone’s victory was at hand. She was so excited she could taste it.
“Do not look so smug, darling. I will come back with this card,” he promised.
And when he laid the card down, it was a ten.
He slapped the deck and claimed the cards—a winner.
Persephone glared.
“You cheated!” She accused.
Hades chuckled. “A loser’s claim.”
“Careful, my lord—you may have won but I am responsible for the experience. You want it to be good, don’t you?”
She wasn’t even sure what he was going to ask for—a fantasy of some sort. What did he wish for? She thought of the time he’d threatened to take her in his glass office. Perhaps he had darker wishes—submission or bondage or roleplaying. She could barely breath as she waited for him to speak—to instruct.
Then he stood, loosening his tie and cufflinks. Persephone tilted her head back, gaze trailing the planes of his well-muscled physique.
“Ten seconds,” he said.
Persephone brows furrowed. She’d expected other words to come out of his mouth like…undress or maybe kneel.
“What?” Maybe she’d misheard him. There was no way she’d misread the tension in this room. Her gaze dipped where his erection strained against his slacks.
She hadn’t.
“You have ten seconds to hide. Then I will seek you out.”
“Your fantasy is hide and seek?” she asked.
“No. My fantasy is the chase. I am going to hunt you and when I find you, I will bury myself so far inside you, the only thing you’ll be able to say is my name.”
That seemed fair.
She feigned considering this proposition and said, “Will you use magic?”
His smile widened. “Oh, this will be much more fun with magic, darling.”
She narrowed her eyes. “But this is your realm. You will know everywhere I go.”
“Are you telling me you don’t wish to be caught?”
It was her turn to smile. Without another word, she teleported and appeared in Hades’ garden. She had landed in the open, upon the black stone path that wound through colorful flowers and dark trees. She darted into the foliage, ducking under curtains of wisteria and parting willow branches.
She felt Hades appear. He was heat, a flame that warmed her skin and she was drawn to it like a moth. She pressed herself into the trunk of the willow, watching him through its graceful limbs.
He turned in her direction, taking deliberate but careful steps toward her.
“I’ve thought of you all day,” he said, and a thrill went through her. She peeled herself away from the tree and wandered along the garden’s edge. Hades continued following and talking.
“The way you taste, the feel of my cock slipping inside you, the way you moan as I fuck you.”
Persephone came to the garden’s wall, heart beating faster. She was trapped. She turned to find Hades blocking her way, his gaze hungry. He stuck one arm out and then the other, caging her between him. His breath caressed her lips as he spoke.
“I want to fuck you so hard your screams reach the ears of the living.”
Persephone’s lips curled, and she leaned close, tongue flicking out to taste his lips before she asked breathlessly, “Why don’t you?”