“Talisa—”
“We’ll talk about all that later. Right now I want to talk about what happened yesterday in that forest.”
He tensed, remembering how angry she’d been. The betrayal in her eyes. And how the truth in her words had pierced his chest like a blade.
“I’m sorry,” she said softly. “I didn’t mean those things I said. Sometimes my temper gets away from me, but I… I’m working on it.”
The regret he saw in her violet eyes surprised him more than her words. “You have nothing to apologize for. It’s my fault your cousin is with Pandora. You were right about me. I am selfish. I always have been. You were right about everything.”
“No, I wasn’t,” she whispered. “And you’re not selfish. What you did today proves that.”
He couldn’t seem to answer. Was afraid if he did he’d give too much away. Then he couldn’t because she was moving closer again. So close she was all he could see.
“And I didn’t mean to throw that rock at you.” She reached for his hand, her soft fingers sliding over his skin to ignite tingles everywhere they touched. “I didn’t even know I could do that.” With her other hand, she touched the gem still hanging on the chain around her neck. “All I can think is it must be the amulet you gave me.”
“It’s not the amulet.”
“It’s not? How do you know?”
“Because you’re stronger than you think. And way more important than you or the people of your world realize.”
Her gentle gaze skipped over his features. “I don’t know if that’s true. The only thing I do know is that I’ve been fighting a battle my whole life. Between who I want to be, and who I’m supposed to be. Between where I am, and where I belong. No matter what I did or how hard I fought, I never fit in. Not with my family. Not with the Argonauts. Not even in Argolea, which has always been my home. And now I know why.”
He stared at her, waiting for more.
She lowered her hand, holding his softly in both of hers. “Because where I belong isn’t a place. It’s not a job or a duty. It’s a feeling. One I know is right because it’s all that matters anymore. Where I belong... is with you.”
His head grew light, and for a heartbeat he was afraid he might fall over. But she was right there, holding him up, keeping him grounded. In her. In her eyes, filled with an emotion he was almost too afraid to name. In her heat, igniting a fire all through his blood. But mostly in her words. Words that settled deep in his chest. Words she should never be saying to someone like him.
“I told you I’m not a hero, Talisa. I’m the villain. I’ve always been the villain. I’m—”
“—Mine.” She squeezed his hand in both of hers. “You’re mine, Zagreus. That’s all you ever have to be. Just mine.”
He stared at her, his heart thumping so loud he was sure she had to hear it in the silence. “How do you do that?
“Do what?”
“Change everything. In a heartbeat.”
A sweet smile spread across her gorgeous face. “Is that what I’ve done?”
“It’s what you’ve done from the first moment you walked into my life back in that club. You never had that power before. You never made me feel…”
“Feel what?”
His knees grew weak, and the words left his lips on a heavy breath. “In all your other lifetimes, you never made me feel.”
Her smile grew wider, and she moved even closer, until the long line of her sexy body brushed his. “I like that.” Her hypnotic gaze dropped to his shoulder then slowly lifted, skimming his throat, his jaw, his lips, leaving a tingle of heat everywhere she looked. “I like that a lot.”
He stared at her, aching for more but needing an answer to his question at the same time.
As if she knew what he was waiting for, she finally met his gaze. And very softly she said, “The question isn’t how, Zagreus, it’s why.”
He swallowed hard. “Then why?”
She pressed the palm of her hand against his chest, right over his heart, just as she had before when they’d stood in this same spot. “Because this is mine, too. It always will be.” Her eyes turned soft and dreamy. “Because I love you.”
Her love swirled around him like a vortex. One he would never be worthy of. One filled with so much honesty and tenderness and passion, he couldn’t hold back.
Closing his arm around her waist, he pulled her tight against him then lowered his mouth to hers.
She groaned the moment their lips met and opened to his kiss, drawing him deep into her heat as she tangled her tongue with his and lifted her hands to his face. And as he kissed her deeper and her fingers slid into the hair at his nape, all those reasons he’d told himself he needed to stay away from her tonight faded in the ether.
“Talisa,” he murmured. “I’m not… I don’t deserve… Ah, damn, but I want it.” He kissed her again and again. “I want you.”
“I’m here.” Her fingers dropped to his shirt, and she made quick work of the buttons down the front as she stepped back, drawing him with her. “I’m right here.” She pushed the halves of his shirt apart and slid her warm hands over his chest. “Come and take me. Make me yours, Zagreus.”
The backs of her legs hit the bed. Gently, he lowered her to the mattress, savoring the sweetness of her mouth, the softness of her body, and the way she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and drew him down into her heat as if she couldn’t get enough.
As if he was her everything. The way he suddenly yearned to be.
“Take this off.” She pushed the shirt down his arms, helping him wiggle out of it.
He kicked off his boots, then wrapping his arm around her waist again, shifted her higher in the bed so her head was against the pillows and her hair fanned out around her. Reaching for the sash at her waist, he kissed her nose, her cheek, moved his lips to her jaw and nibbled at the soft skin behind her ear as he tugged the tie free and pushed her robe open. Then he drew back and looked down at the only gift he’d ever wanted.
“Ah, mono mia,” His gaze skimmed her curves, the flare of her hips, the swell of her breasts, and the small silver balls at her nipples that caught the light and made his mouth water. “I have a weakness for you.”
“Show me.” She lifted her shoulders from the mattress, slipped her arms free of the robe, then slid her fingers along his jaw and into his hair, drawing his mouth back to hers. “Show me. I need you.” She kissed him and pulled him down with her once more. “I need all of you.”
Her bare breasts pressed against his chest, the barbells through her nipples warm where they grazed his skin. She licked into his mouth and opened her legs, making room for him.
Groaning at the wicked feel of her bare flesh, he tasted her deeper, ached to get closer. She answered by sliding her hands down his chest and abs until she found the waistband of his pants, flicked the button free, then pushed her hands beneath the fabric and slid them around his hips so she could sink her fingertips into his ass and pull him in tighter.
“Oh yes.” She lifted her hips and rubbed the heat of her sex against his swollen cock, the sensation sending sparks of electricity to his brain that threatened to overwhelm him. She shoved at his pants. “Take these off. Hurry.”