I’m up with the sun. Opening my eyes to find Persephone in my bed does something to me that I’m afraid to examine too closely. I like her here. It soothes me, which is bullshit. I can’t afford to look into her eyes half begging me to stay through the night. She was coming down from the adrenaline rush of scening and sex. Even if we weren’t in my bed, I wouldn’t have left her hanging in that moment.
It doesn’t change the fact that I like seeing her golden hair spread out over a pillow next to mine. And the evidence of her being a restless sleeper, the sheet tangled around her waist, leaving her breasts bare to meet the morning light streaming through the windows. It’s almost enough to make me forget myself and wake her up with my mouth.
Almost.
I look down at my chest, at the mess of scars left from the fire that killed my parents. A memory I can never escape because it’s written on my very skin. With a sigh, I climb out of bed, careful to tuck the blankets up around Persephone so she doesn’t get chilled, and walk to close the curtains. A quick shower later and I’m dressed. I almost head down to my study on the main floor but hesitate. Will Persephone see it as a rejection, as me leaving her? I can’t be sure. Fuck, I shouldn’t care one way or another. No matter how great the sex, we aren’t dating. Forgetting that truth, forgetting the expiration date, is a recipe for disaster.
I keep telling myself that even as I drop into the chair in my barely used desk in the study off the bedroom. A quick check of my phone reveals half a dozen text messages. I scroll through them, stopping at one from Hermes.
Hermes: Mandatory meeting @9. Don’t miss this, Hades. I’m being uncharacteristically serious.
I knew this was coming, though I expected it days ago. I take a deep breath and open the laptop. It takes a few minutes to get everything booted up, but I’m still ten minutes early to the meeting. Unsurprisingly, everyone else is here.
The screen splits into four. One image is myself mirrored back. One is Hermes and Dionysus, who appear to be sitting on a hotel bed and eating Cheetos, still wearing their clothing from last night. The third shows Poseidon, his big, burly shoulders consuming the frame. He’s wearing a pissed-off expression under his red hair and beard, like he doesn’t want to be here any more than I do. The remaining square contains the other eight people who represent the remainder of the Thirteen seated around a boardroom table. Since Zeus is unmarried after the last Hera died, we’re one short.
The thought of Persephone sitting at that table makes me sick to my stomach.
Zeus sits in the center, and I don’t miss the fact that his chair is slightly higher than the rest of them. Even though technically the power lies in the group itself, he’s always fancied himself a modern-day king. To his right is Aphrodite, her skin flawless and her blond hair flowing around her shoulders in carefully curated waves. To his left, Demeter.
I study Persephone’s mother. I’ve seen her before, of course. It’s impossible to avoid her image in the gossip columns and news feeds. I see a bit of Persephone in the piercing hazel eyes and in the line of her jaw, though Demeter’s has softened a little with age. She’s as regal as a queen in her pantsuit, and she looks ready to call for my head. Lovely.
For a long moment, no one speaks. I sit back. I’m certainly not going to be the one to break the silence. I didn’t call this meeting. Zeus wants me here, so he had damn well better get on with it.
As if he can sense my thoughts, Zeus leans forward. “Return my fiancée.”
“The treaty was honored and you know it. She ran from you, ran until she bloodied her feet and damn near froze to death, because she couldn’t get away from you fast enough. She crossed the River Styx of her own power. She’s free to return whenever she wants.” I make a show of looking at everyone gathered before responding. “She doesn’t want to. You’re wasting everyone’s time with this.”
“You’re defiling my baby, you monster.”
I raise my eyebrows at Demeter. “You were prepared to sell your baby to a man with a reputation for killing his wives. Let’s not throw stones.”
Demeter gasps, but it’s all theatrics. I don’t know her well enough to be sure if I’m seeing guilt or just fury on her face. It doesn’t matter to me. Persephone will do anything to get away from these people, and I’ll throw myself on a literal sword before I hand her back against her will.
Zeus shakes his head slowly. “Don’t test me. The last Hades…”
“You mean my father. The one you murdered. The reason this treaty was created in the first place.” I lean forward. “If you’re going to threaten me, pick a better weapon.” I meet the gazes of the other members of the Thirteen in turn. “I honored the treaty. Persephone is free to come and go as she pleases. Are we done here?”
“Prove it,” Demeter snarls.
I sense her behind me a moment before Persephone lightly touches my shoulder. In the monitor, I see her at my shoulder, wrapped in my sheet. Her hair is tangled and there’s whisker burn on her neck and what little of her chest is in view. She leans down and glares at the screen. “I am where I want to be, Mother. I’m very happy with Hades.” She reaches over my shoulder and shuts the laptop.
I twist slowly to look at her. “You just hung up on the Thirteen.”
“Fuck them.”
I don’t know whether to laugh or bundle her up and take her somewhere that will protect her from Zeus’s inevitable revenge. “Persephone.”
“Hades.” She matches my censoring tone. “They weren’t going to believe you if they didn’t see it for themselves, and half of them still won’t believe. Letting Zeus rant just wastes everyone’s time. You should be thanking me.”
“I should be thanking you?”
“Yes.” She climbs into my lap and straddles me. “You’re welcome.”
I let my hands rest on her hips. “They have no idea who you truly are, do they?”
“No.” She runs her hands up my chest, her expression contemplative. “But then, I don’t really know who I truly am, either. I was hoping getting out of Olympus would help me figure it out.”
I cover her hands with my own. “You’re still getting out of Olympus.” It pains me to say it, but none of that leaks into my tone. I made a promise, and no matter how much I’ve enjoyed going round with her the last few days, I will hold to it. We have until April. It will be enough.
It has to be enough.
She gives me a sad little smile. “I’m going to have to call my sisters soon to check in again if you don’t want them storming the place.”
“I’ll get you a phone today.” I pause. “One that isn’t tapped.”
“Thank you.” She gives me a beautiful smile. I stare up at her in something akin to shock. I’ve seen Persephone cunning and sunshiny and angry. I’ve never seen her like this. Is this happiness? I’m afraid to ask, only to find it’s just another version of her usual mask.
Persephone presses a quick kiss to my lips and then slides off my lap and down to the floor to kneel between my thighs. She gives me an expectant look, and I put aside my tangled feelings to focus on the here and now. “Want something, little siren?”
She runs her hands over my thighs and bites her bottom lip. “You promised if I hit my knees and asked nicely, I could have your cock.” She reaches for the front of my slacks. “I would very, very much like your cock, Hades. Please.”
I catch her hands. “You know you don’t have to do this.”
“Yes, I’m aware.” She gives me an imperious look, as if she’s indulging me. “Telling me I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to do is ridiculous, because I want to do everything with you. Absolutely everything.”
She’s just talking about sex, but my heart still gives a dull thump in response as if waking from a long sleep. Rusty and unused but still alive. I release her and press my shaking hands to the arms of my chair. “Then don’t let me stop you.”
“I’m so glad you’re seeing things my way.” She opens my slacks and draws my cock out. Persephone licks her lips. “Oh, Hades. I kind of wish I had any artistic ability at all, because I would love to paint you.”
I’m still processing that strange statement when she leans down and takes my cock into her mouth. I expect… I don’t know what I’m expecting. I should realize by now that Persephone is never quite what I think she’ll be. She sucks me down as if she wants to taste and luxuriate in every inch. A warm, wet slide that has every muscle in my body going tense. I fight to hold still, to let her have this moment as she finishes her exploration and looks up.
Her eyes have gone dark and the color is high in her cheeks. “Hades?”
“Yeah?”
She kneads my thighs with her fingertips. “Stop being so freaking nice to me and tell me what you want.”
Shock has me answering honestly. “I want to fuck your mouth until you cry.”
She gives me a beautiful smile. “There. Was that so hard?” Persephone inches back. “You play the big, bad wolf, but you’ve been so careful with me since we met. You don’t have to be. I promise I can take everything you give me.” She lets the sheet fall to the floor around her. The woman says she wants to paint me, but she’s the artwork, the very picture of the siren I’ve named her.
I’m starting to think I would gladly drown for this woman.
I push slowly to my feet and smooth back her hair. Fuck, she’s so beautiful, she steals my breath. I want her more than I’ve wanted anything else in my life, a fact I’m not prepared to look too closely at. I twist her hair around one fist and give it a tug. “If it’s too much, slap my thigh.”
“It won’t be too much.”
I tap her bottom lip with my thumb. “Open.”
Persephone is all wicked pleasure as I ease my cock into her mouth. I start off slowly, letting her adjust to the angle, but the dark desire to do exactly as I described is too strong. I pick up my pace, thrusting deeper into her mouth. Into her throat. She closes her eyes.
“No. Don’t do that. Look at me while I fuck your mouth. Witness what you’re doing to me.”
Instantly, she opens her eyes. Persephone goes loose and relaxed, submitting to me fully in this moment. I know it won’t last, which makes it all the sweeter. Pleasure builds with each thrust, threatening to tear me to pieces. It only gets more intense when tears slide from the corners of her eyes. I cup her face and wipe them away with my thumbs, tender even in this moment of restrained brutality.
It’s too much. It will never be enough. “I’m going to come,” I grind out.
She runs her hands up my thighs and gives me a squeeze. An assent. It’s all the permission I need to let go. I try to keep my eyes open, try to savor every moment of this gift she’s giving me as I drive into her willing mouth and orgasm. Persephone drinks me down, holding my gaze. She looks at me like she sees me. Like she’s loving this just as much as I am.
I’ve never felt so fucking owned in my life.
I don’t know what to do with it, how to process it. I force myself to release her, and she gives my cock one last lazy suck before leaning back and licking her lips. Tear tracks mark her cheeks and she grins, looking particularly pleased with herself. It’s a contrast I don’t know what to do with so I yank her to her feet and kiss her, hard and thorough. “You’re a gift.”
She laughs against my mouth. “I know.”
I back her toward the door to my bedroom. “I have things to do today.”
“Do you?” Persephone laces her arms behind my neck and beams at me, totally unrepentant. “I guess you should do them.”
“Mmm.” I catch the backs of her thighs and lift her to topple back onto the bed. “In a little bit.” I kneel at the side of the bed and push her legs apart. Her pussy is pretty and pink and oh so wet. I part her lips with my thumbs and exhale against her clit. “You liked it when I fucked your mouth.”
“I really, really did.” She lifts her head enough to look down her body at me. “I told you that I can handle anything you can give. I should clarify. I crave anything and everything you do to me.”
Sweet fuck, the trust she places in me. I’m still not sure I deserve it.
I hold her gaze and circle her clit with the tip of my tongue. “I suppose business can wait a little longer.” Her smile in response is reward enough, but I have her practically vibrating with the need to ride my face…
Actually, that’s a fantastic fucking idea.
I slide her up the bed and crawl onto the mattress. “Come here.”
Persephone is already obeying, following my lead to climb up to straddle my chest. I slide down and then there she is, right where I want her. “Don’t hold back, little siren. You know you want to be wicked.”
She gives an experimental roll, and I reward it with a long lick. It doesn’t take long before Persephone is rocking against my mouth, chasing her own orgasm even as I lose myself in the taste of her. She comes with a cry that sounds a whole lot like my name, her body shuddering above me as she grinds down against my tongue.
It’s not enough. How many fucking times will I think that before I acknowledge that it will never be enough? It doesn’t matter. At least once more.
I topple her back onto the bed and keep eating her out, driven by the need to make this… I don’t know. I want to ensure that no matter where she goes or how much time passes, she’ll always remember this.
That she’ll always remember me.
