My stomach churned, and I fidgeted with one of the buttons on his shirt. "You used it once before?"
He jerked a nod. "As a favor to a friend. There was a girl, Seph. She was barely thirteen when her father listed her contract, a punishment for someone else's infractions."
"Oh fuck," I murmured, and pressed a hand to my lips, disgusted. "Your friend... am I right in thinking it was a favor for Hades?"
"It was." He met my gaze steadily, not giving anything away.
He didn't need to, though. "You saved a thirteen-year-old girl from sex slavery? Yeah, I can see now why Steele said Hades would take our side if push came to shove." Then another piece clicked together in my brain. "Seph. Cute. What's it short for?"
Archer grinned. "Persephone. It's not her birth name, but it's the name she uses, much like Hades. It works for them."
"Can I meet them one day?" Because I was all kinds of curious to put faces to names. Not that they were integral to my story, not at all. But I got the feeling real friends were few and far between in Archer D'Ath's world. I'd like to meet one of the few he had outside of our house.
He nodded, smiling. "Of course. They'll probably be at our wedding, after all."
I spluttered a laugh, then groaned. "Fuck, I almost forgot all about that."
"Rude," he murmured, his gaze turning playful. "This could be the happiest day of your life, you know."
I shivered, dread rolling over me. "I hope so," I whispered. "Because that will mean it ends with the reception hall painted red with the blood of our enemies."
Archer gave a small groan. "Fuck, baby girl. Keep talking dirty to me and I'll have to give Kody a run for his money on this countertop." His hands drifted to my ass and squeezed.
My hips rolled under his touch before I could even catch myself, but then I shook my head. "Tempting. Very fucking tempting, husband. But I need to go and deal with Steele's secrets now." I frowned. "Does it have anything to do with that night? When I met Rachel and you almost died at Damien's hands?"
He just shrugged. "Let him tell you. Talking about Rachel is really hard, but it's helping him heal. You're helping him heal, Kate."
"You're weirding me out with all these compliments, Arch," I muttered, awkward and uncomfortable under his praise.
A wicked smile crossed his lips. "I'll make up for it later if you come to my room." He stroked my wrists. "These would look so pretty cuffed to my headboard while I fuck your ass."
My pulse raced, this time from excitement. "Well, that's more like it. But you'll have to take a raincheck on that idea." I pushed him away with my hands flat on his hard chest. "Steele already said I needed to be naked before he spilled his secrets."
I hopped down off the island and left Archer grumbling to himself about why he hadn't thought of that rule first.
Truth be told, I was a bit disappointed he hadn't. Then again, like he’d said, we had our whole lives...
However long that turned out to be.
9
By the time I crept into Steele's room, he was already fast asleep. Fair enough, too. My "couple of minutes" with Archer had gone much longer than intended, and Steele was still recovering, no matter what he pretended.
I hesitated a moment beside his bed, then decided I'd had enough confessions and secrets for one day. Besides, he needed his sleep. So instead of waking him up, I fetched a glass of water from the bathroom and set it on his bedside table with some pain pills.
Silently, I slipped back out of his room and closed the door behind myself. It had been crazy tempting to slide under his blankets and curl up in his warmth, but I knew that wouldn't result in a restful sleep for either of us. So I headed back to my own bedroom instead.
I went to sleep alone, but I woke up to the warm glow of a building orgasm as a skillful set of lips caressed my bare pussy and a talented tongue found my pulsing clit.
A low moan rolled through me, and I arched my back, threading my fingers into his hair and silently pleading for more. He chuckled against my clit, making me shudder, then slid two fingers into my cunt.
"Fuck," I hissed as he brought me to the edge, my brain still fuzzed with sleep and my eyes still closed. But I didn't need to see to know who was waking me up in the most delicious way. "Kody..."
My thighs tightened around his head as he pushed me off the cliff, and I groaned through a soul-deep, toe-curling climax.
"Good morning, babe," he murmured when my body stopped trembling and my legs released his face.
I let out a low laugh as he nuzzled my inner thigh, then clambered up the bed to lie beside me. "Good morning is right," I whispered, my voice husky as I licked my lips. "What time is it?"
Propping his head up on his hand and lying on his side to face me, Kody gave me a satisfied smile. "Time to get up. You promised me an hour of training before my bookings today, remember?"
I groaned, dragging a pillow over my face like I could pretend to still be asleep. Maybe I was still asleep? It could be a dream, right? A shitty dream, if he was serious about dragging me from my post-orgasm bliss to work out in the gym.
"Come on, babe," Kody said with a laugh and pulled the pillow off my face. "If you work out hard, I'll spare a couple of minutes at the end to reward you." His smirk was all mischief, and my stomach fluttered in response. Damn him for being so gorgeous.
"Fine," I replied with a scowl.
He leaned over and kissed me, leaving the taste of my own pleasure on my lips like a promise for what was to come. "Five minutes. I'll meet you in the gym."
I mumbled something that probably passed for an affirmative, and he climbed out of my bed.
"Don't go back to sleep, MK," he warned me from my doorway. "Five minutes, or you'll be paying for it."
He left my room with a smirk, and I mumbled curses under my breath. I knew all too well he didn't mean that I'd be paying in a fun way. More like he'd kick up my training a notch until I ended the session a boneless heap of exhaustion.
In retaliation, I dressed in just a pair of booty shorts and a crop top. If Kody was going to make me suffer through an early morning workout—because he and Archer had been taking my training seriously since Steele was shot—then I'd damn well make him suffer as well.
After all, I'd already come once, while he was sporting one hell of a hard-on when he left my room.
Snickering to myself, I jogged down to the gym and strutted in while weaving my hair into twin braids. It was the only way to keep it out of my face during a workout.
"Oh, really?" Kody scoffed from the far side of the gym where he was selecting a playlist from his phone. "That's how you wanna play it, babe?"
I grinned. "You're damn right it is."
Finishing my braids, I tied them off with rubber bands from around my wrist, then proceeded to start warming up. Lots of bending and stretching was involved.
Kody just shook his head and grinned. "You're cruel, you know that? And here I was thinking you'd be in a good mood after a wakeup like that."
I bent over in front of him, touching my toes and waggling my butt way more than was strictly necessary. "I'm in a fantastic mood, Kodiak." I peered at him from between my knees. "Can't you tell?"