The first kiss at the altar was vicious and fierce, as if Ares was making a point. Claiming me. It was punishing, and decisive, and yes, it made my heart skip and my pulse run hot.
But it’s this second kiss that turns my blood to fire and has my toes curling against the floor as the world explodes around me. Because this one isn’t about proving a point. It’s pure, possessive, consuming, incendiary need.
Our mouths crash together, and I whimper when his tongue delves past my lips to dance with mine. I shiver as my body melts against his, the roaring heat of his skin and the rippling power of his muscles turning me into a puddle as I moan into the kiss.
His hands cup my face and grip my hip possessively, pinning my pelvis to his and making me shiver when I feel the throb of the bulge beneath his towel. His tongue tastes and explores my mouth as my hands claw at his chest, as if I desperately need to be even closer to his body than I already am.
And sweet Jesus, his body. I’ve seen it from afar, back when he was merely my dangerous enemy of a neighbor without curtains. But up close, it’s insanely magnificent.
Mere humans aren’t built like this. Gods are built like this.
I shiver, moaning into his mouth as my palms press to his rock-hard chest. He growls, his grip on me tightening, his tongue even more demanding as my fingertips trace down the grooves of his abs to the chiseled lines of his hips. My pulse thuds wildly, and pure lust explodes within my core as my fingers pluck eagerly at the towel around his waist.
Suddenly, I’m gasping as he spins us and shoves me down to the bed. I whimper as he crawls after me, his fierce, dark eyes like cold daggers dragging nakedly over my skin, his razor-sharp jaw grinding with lust and need and his shoulders rippling as he moves over me.
The towel falls away, and there’s no way I can even attempt to stop my eyes from dropping down between us.
Where they immediately just about pop right out of my head.
Holy. Fuck.
I’ve seen him naked from seventy feet away. But it’s not like he was ever hard when I was peeping at him while he was sipping his morning coffee.
Well, he is now.
Oh my God is he hard now. And Ares is freaking huge. Like “how the fuck is that going to even fit inside of me” huge. Thick, swollen, gorgeous, making me shiver as it pulses against my thigh.
“A little bigger when it’s not viewed from across the street, huh?”
“Uh, yeah…”
Shit.
I blush fiercely as my eyes snap to his and take in the cocky smirk on his face. Quickly, I force myself to scowl back at him.
Like hell am I giving Ares Drakos the satisfaction of seeing me drool all over his dick—metaphorically speaking, of course.
“Oh, I’m sorry, did you want me to stroke your ego and tell you how big and hard your dick—”
He rocks his hips, letting his swollen cock drag hotly against my pussy through my panties, which are getting embarrassingly wet. And no force on earth could stop the pathetic whimper that falls from my lips.
“Sorry, what was that? I didn’t quite catch that.”
I open my mouth to throw something sharp and biting back at him. But then the fucker does it again, grinding his huge cock against my now-completely-slick panties, making the lacy material rub electrically against my clit.
Which of course, makes me moan. Again.
“Now, what exactly were you saying about my big, hard dick?” he growls thickly, lowering his mouth to my neck.
“I wasn’t—fuck!”
The fucker fucking bites me—hard. I’ve never had that happen to me before.
…And I really like it.
A lot.
Pleasure hums through my core and heat pools between my thighs as he does it again, raking his teeth over the tender skin and dragging another deep moan from my chest.
Ares moves lower, nipping at my collarbone and making me whimper. Then even lower, the wild contrast between the scruff of his stubble and the smoothness of his lips on my skin pebbling it to goosebumps.
He moves down over my left breast, and I gasp, shivering and moaning when his lips suddenly wrap around my aching nipple.
Which he promptly nips with his teeth.
“Fuck—”
“That’s the plan.”
I shudder, my breath catching as I drop my hooded gaze to where he’s looking up at me from my breast.
He keeps his eyes locked with mine as he lowers his mouth again to my nipple. His tongue slowly and sensually swirls around the dusky pink tip, making my face cave with pleasure before he suddenly nips it with his teeth again.
I hiss, groaning both in pleasure and annoyance that I’m giving him the satisfaction of knowing he’s turning me into such a puddle. I twist under him, clenching my jaw tighter as his tongue slips from one nipple across my skin to the other.
“Clamp that mouth shut all you like, princess,” he growls against my skin. “Squeeze your eyes shut, look away, try your level best to occupy your mind with something else. You can lie to yourself all you want, but your body gives you the fuck away.”
“Fuck you, it does—oh…”
His hand slides down to grab my ass possessively before giving it firm swat just as he tongues my nipple again.
“Please continue,” he murmurs darkly. “I think I love it even more when your mouth lies while your body begs for more.”
“You arrogant son of a—”
My body jolts, arching from the bed in pure ecstasy as his thumb drags down my slit through my panties. He does it again, and there’s no stopping the aching moans that fall from my lips.
His mouth begins to slide down my body, his tongue, lips, and teeth leaving marks down my skin as my stomach quivers beneath his touch—lower and lower, until my eyes bulge as I feel his fingers curl into the waistband of my panties.
I stiffen, shivering as my hands jerk down to grab his hair.
“You’re used to a certain kind of girl—”
“Exactly what sort of girl do you think I’m used to?” he growls into the skin of my hip, his eyes sliding up my body to lock with mine.
I smile sarcastically.
“Submissively obedient, willing to do whatever it takes just to have a chance to be near the great Ares Drakos.”
His brow cocks, an arrogant smirk on his lips.
“Are you done?”
“Not even close. I’m just getting started. I’m guessing air-headed? Vapid? No real opinions for themselves because that would get in the way?”
Ares sighs, aching his brow.
“Primped, glamorous, all dolled up at every hour of the day, waxed—”
My face burns the second I say it.
In hindsight, I’m not sure what I expected for my wedding night. But suffice to say, crazy as it sounds, they didn’t entail getting laid.
It’s a mistake I’m suddenly regretting, now that I’m with Mr. Sex God himself, with the perfect body, and the honed muscles, and the ridiculously gorgeous cock, who is—I’m sure—used to girls who fall into his bed looking perfect, with smooth legs and waxed pussies.
Which…isn’t me.
I mean, yeah, I shaved my legs this morning. And it’s not like I’ve gone full cavewoman down there. But let’s just say I’m not exactly in a position to wear a bikini right now.
Ares arches a brow as he lifts his gaze to mine.
“I…I mean…” my face burns hotly as he slowly lowers his eyes to my panties, right in front of his face.
“I—”
Without warning, he drops his mouth to my hip and bites.
“Fuck…” I whimper, jolting and gasping in pleasure. And before I can stop him, because I’m still shuddering from the dangerously sexy feel of his teeth against my hip, his fingers slip into my panties and yank them down to mid-thigh.
I blush fiercely as he takes in the soft reddish-ginger hair. He licks his lips, and slowly, his eyes drag back up to mine.
“Do you really think I’m scared of a little fire?
With a low growl, his mouth drops between my legs. And when his tongue delves between my slick folds, my whole world melts around me.
“Oh fuuuuck…”
Ares groans as he drags his tongue up and down my slit, turning me to putty under his mouth. He slides his tongue higher, and when his lips wrap around my throbbing clit, and hum against it, I cry out as my body lifts from the bed.
I shudder in pleasure as he tongues my aching bud—mercilessly, like he’s dominating my clit, demanding submission. He swirls the tip of his tongue around it, teasing it until I’m gasping and clawing at the bedsheets as my hips raise eagerly to his mouth.
Ares yanks my panties the rest of the way off and then shoves my knees back and apart, lewdly spreading me open to his hungry gaze. His mouth delves back between my thighs, and I cry out when his tongue plunges into me.
His palm smacks my ass—once, twice, three times—until I’m shaking and shuddering and so fucking close to coming it feels like I’m going to explode into a million pieces.
Which is exactly when he stops.
I choke, eyes bulging and brow furrowing in protest as he pulls away from my pussy.
“What…but…”
My face burns hotly as he slides up my body, smirking at me arrogantly.
“Yes?”
“Asshole,” I groan. “I…”
I clamp my mouth shut, shivering as I glance down to see him wrap a hand around his thick, meaty cock as he spreads my knees wide.
“You were saying?”
I swallow, ripping my gaze back up to him.
“Yes?” he growls, that smirk still on his face.
“I was—oh fuck…” I whimper as I feel the large, swollen, silky head of his cock slip between my lips, teasing against my opening.
“You were saying?”
I groan as I glare up at him. “I was close,” I mumble.
“Good.”
“What the fuck do you—”
Oh. My. GOD.
He slides into me—every. Single. Thick. Inch of him, in one smooth, powerful thrust.
My eyes roll back. My body clenches.
And suddenly, I’m coming, harder than I ever have in my entire life, by a fucking country mile.
It’s like leaving earth. It’s like every cell in my body comes apart and ignites like fiery embers all at the same time. An out-of-body experience. Ego death. Entering a new dimension.
Oh, forget the flowery fucking metaphors—I’m having the biggest, most explosive orgasm I’ve ever had. And it’s literally just from him entering me.
Suddenly, his mouth is crushing against mine, and before I know it, I’m kissing him back, desperately. My arms start to encircle his neck, but he grips my wrists and shoves them back onto the bed, pinning them there as he hovers over me.
I moan, straining against his grip as the aftershocks of my orgasm flicker like mini explosion through my core.
“Wrap your legs around my hips,” he orders.
I want to defy him, because, well, that seems to be our thing: he tells me to do something, I tell him no in creatively crude ways.
Except now, it’s like he’s flipped a switch in me. He’s reached in deep within me and turned off the defiance.
And all I want is for him to keep making me feel like he just did.
I shiver as my legs wrap around his muscled, grooved hips, my ankles locking at his back.
“Good girl.”
Fuck.
I whimper, shuddering as his cock flexes deep inside of me. His hips begin to pull back. I moan as I drop my gaze to where we are connected, staring in awe as every inch of his slick, glistening cock eases from my eager pussy, until just the swollen head is lodged inside.
My eyes raise to his, and I shiver at the intensity I see there—holding my gaze, captivating me. All of me.
And then he drives into me, hard.
I cry out, my thighs squeezing his hips as my eyes roll back. I moan in sheer unadulterated pleasure as he does it again and again, until his hips begin to roll like pistons, pounding his huge, gorgeous cock in and out of me as I come apart beneath him.
Ares groans, loudly, and God is it hot. He does it again, hissing in pleasure as his mouth drops to the crook of my neck.
“Fuck does your pretty pussy feel so fucking good milking my cock.”
My eyes roll back again, my pulse hammering in my ears as he fucks me into the mattress. We start to move faster, both of our hips rolling and rocking against the other’s, harder and more violently. I moan wildly, my arm muscles straining against his grip, desperately needing to touch him right now.
But he keeps them pinned hard to the bed, and the unrelenting power and strength to his grip forcing my submission is like a drug, a hit of pure dopamine to my frontal cortex I’ve never felt before.
Ares’ hips move faster, fucking me even harder as my own body shifts to take him deeper. Our bodies grind together, skin slick with heat and sweat. My moans fill the room, his savage, primal grunts filling my ears as we start to fuck.
Not make love. Not sleep together. Not even have sex.
This is fucking. Like animals. Like gods.
And holy fuck, is it good.
“That’s it. Keep milking my cock with that greedy little pussy, princess,” he rasps into my ear. “Squeeze my big dick with your little cunt. Harder. Tighter. I want your pussy begging for my cum.”
I’m going to explode. Or have a heart attack. Or both. And as we race headlong into oblivion, my entire body begins to coil and clench, until my vision blurs and starts to go white.
“You’re going to make me fucking come in you so fucking hard, princess.”
For one split second, I have a flash of clarity.
“Wait!” I blurt just as I teeter on the edge. “I—I’m not on any birth—”
“Good.”
Sweet. Fucking. God.
It’s the animalistic, caveman possessiveness in his rough, groaned voice in my ear. It’s that simple response to my worry of not being on the pill—“Good”.
That is the lit match that drops on the pool of gasoline boiling in my core. And when it catches, my whole world explodes.
All I see is white. All I feel is pure ecstasy shattering through every nerve in my body as I absolutely shatter. My body arches and my hips rock up from the bed, my arms still pinned fast as the orgasm detonates through me.
Ares groans, biting down hard on my neck as he drives his fat cock deep inside and lets go. I can feel him throbbing and pumping violently, what feels like gallons of his hot cum spilling into me as my vision blurs and the air leaves my body.
Dimly, I’m aware of his lips on my neck, gently kissing where his teeth just marked me. I’m aware of his hands letting go of my wrists, even though I can’t even move now. I’m aware of his mouth teasing up my jawline before his lips hungrily find mine.
What. The. Fuck. Was. That.
That wasn’t fucking. That was a religious experience. That was looking into infinity, coming face-to-face with a higher power.
That was sex like I didn’t remotely know it could be.
I shiver as I feel him ease his cock out of me. Fuck, am I going to be sore tomorrow.
Worth it.
Ares slowly stands, rolling his shoulder and his neck. And of course, seeing as I’m helpless to move, all I do is stare—hungrily—at his ripped physique. My eyes drop, and I blush when I realize I’m starring wolfishly at his still very hard, glistening cock with a single drop of white cum beading at the tip.
“You keep looking at me like that and I’ll have no choice but to fuck you again.”
My cheeks burn, my lip catching in my teeth as my eyes snap to his. But I groan, shaking my head.
“Yeah, do you want me to have a heart attack? Cause that’s how I’ll have a heart attack.”
He grins. “Good heart attack or bad heart attack?”
“Is there such a thing as a good heart attack?”
“You tell me.”
I grin, chewing on my lip. “Yeah, there is.”
Because whatever the hell that just was? Yeah, it was good. Very, very good.
Ares grins that slightly arrogant, smug smile back at me. Which, I hate to admit, is in a weird way growing on me. Like, it’s becoming charming.
Yikes, self.
I clear my throat as I gingerly sit up on the edge of the bed and reach for my panties.
Ares kicks them away.
“Um, excuse me?”
He smirks at me.
“You won’t be needing them.”
I roll my eyes. “Well, thank you so much for making that decision for me.”
“No problem. Now, which side do you like to sleep on?”
I tense.
I was wondering when we’d get to this. Because this sharing a bed thing is my line. Or rather, it’s just over my line.
I’ll say the vows without really meaning them. I’ll wear his ring, and be his wife, and I’ll do…well, what we just did—willingly, at that, because damn.
But sharing a bed seems too…intimate. Too real. Too far over the line for a fake arrangement.
“I think…I’m actually going to sleep on the couch.”
Ares’ brows knit.
“Excuse me?”
“I’m—”
“I fucking heard you,” he growls. “I’d like to know why.”
I shrug, meeting his gaze.
“Because.”
Fire flares in his eyes.
“Because fucking what, Neve.”
“Because I just want to, okay?”
“No, actually,” he snaps back. “Not okay. You’re my fucking wife.”
“Oh, come on.”
He glares at me.
“We have an agreement, Neve.”
“Yes, we do. In public, I’ll be your wife—”
“In private, too, it would seem.”
I simmer, remnants of the pleasure I just felt flickering through my core even as I glare at him.
“That was…basic human needs.”
“M-hmm,” he mutters dryly.
Well, this is going nowhere.
I stand, turning and grabbing a pillow from the huge bed before I start to yank the comforter off it.
“Where the fuck do you think you’re going?”
“I told you: to sleep on the couch.”
“The hell you are.”
“Watch me.”
He suddenly grabs my wrist, but I yank myself free of his grip, whirling to him.
“This isn’t real between us, Ares!”
His eyes narrow dangerously. “The vows you spoke say otherwise. So does your swollen cunt with my cum still dripping from it.”
My jaw drops, my eyes going wide as my face turns crimson. I start to say something. But no words come, so I just snap my mouth shut instead and turn on my heel to leave the room.
“So, let me make sure I have this correctly. In public, you’re my wife. And in private, you’re just my whore?”
I spin on a dime, and before I can stop myself, my palm is connecting hard with his cheek.
Shit. That was a mistake.
Ares’ jaw clenches, and his eyes burn with lethal fire. His lips curl as he goes to grab me, but I slap his hand away.
“As your whore, this is me fulfilling the contract and leaving afterwards. Goodnight, asshole,” I spit, whirling. But I pause, turning back to him, hurling a murderous glance his way.
“And happy fucking wedding day.”
I turn and storm from the bedroom, taking my pillow and the comforter.
Ares slams the door shut behind me.
Fuming, I stomp into his living room and shove the comforter and pillow onto the couch before wrapping myself in them.
Happy fucking wedding day, indeed.
And yet even though I’m furious, now that I’m alone, my mind doesn’t focus on what an asshole he just was. And, if I’m being honest, what an asshole I maybe just was, with my abrupt shut down.
It focuses on what happened before all of that. On the part where that man down the hall made my body feel a level of pleasure I know for an absolute fact I’ve never felt before. To the part where I just had—by far—the best sex of my life. Like, re-evaluate your definition of the word orgasm.
I chew on my lip, simmering as I sink further into the folds of the comforter. My thigh clench, and a slickness coats them as my skin rubs together. In the darkness of Ares’ living room, my traitorous hand snakes down my body between my legs. I turn my head, muffling my moans in the pillow as I start to rub my clit.
I’m still sore from the complete and utter fucking Ares gave me earlier. But the need for another release is all-consuming. My fingers roll over my clit, rubbing faster and harder as I squirm, replaying every lurid detail and remembering every filthy thing he growled into my ear earlier. Until I can’t stand it any longer.
I cry out into the pillow, my body twisting and shuddering on the couch as I come against my hand. It’s nowhere near what I felt with Ares.
But it scratches the itch.
Sort of.
When the aftershocks fade, I slump under the comforter, inhaling and exhaling heavily as I stare up at the ceiling.
Slowly, as the pleasure of my release fades, so do the heated thoughts of the man down the hall. And instead, my thoughts turn darker, more twisted, more terrifying, as they begin to focus on another.
On the monster.
I flinch, shivering as I relive the moment earlier today when a gun was leveled at my face. As I hear again the words hissed from the man’s mouth.
An Seiceadóir says hello.
An Seiceadóir.
The Executioner.
The man who’s haunted my nightmares for fifteen years. The man who ripped me from my world and shoved me into the dark, dank blackness of that shack in the woods.
The Lord sees and loves you, little one. Your sacrifice will carry the souls of the wicked to hell, and give light to all the angels’ wings…
With a choke, I flinch, bolting upright on the couch. I gulp, panting, my skin turning to goosebumps as my eyes dart around the huge penthouse.
Don’t be silly. You’re safe here. He can’t get you here.
Earlier, Cillian asked me what the man said to me. I bullshitted and said it was just “I’m going to kill you”. I’ve been trying to figure out why I lied ever since.
Now, I think I know.
If I can pretend the man with the gun today didn’t say what he said, than it’s not him. It’s not my monster somehow reaching out to me from the pit they threw him into. It’s just another nightmare, terrifying but unreal, like the ones I get all the time.
But if that man really said that…if he actually looked me in the eye and told me “the executioner says hello”, then I have far bigger problems than a fake mafia marriage to Ares Drakos.
I swallow, huddling into myself as my eyes drift across the living room and into the hallway leading down to Ares’ room.
Suddenly, I wish I’d just stayed in there, in his bed, with him.
Sleep doesn’t come quickly, and it’s well past midnight when it finally overtakes me. When it does, it comes with darkness. And fear.
And the memories of the monster.
