My heart gives a painful lurch. “Cassandra, look at me.”
She reluctantly lifts her head. Some of her shakiness has disappeared. “Please, Apollo.”
I can deny her nothing. There’s a kind of care in kink and sex, and it’s not a route I would have suggested, but if she needs this, I’m only too happy to give it to her. At least this I can fix. I brush my thumb over her cheek. “Tell me your safe word.”
Cassandra gives a faint smile, relief evident on her gorgeous face. “Python.”
It’s so easy to slip into the role with her. I press a soft kiss to her forehead and step back. “Take off your dress.” My voice is softer than I’ve used with her in the past during these moments, but she needs a soft place to land after the events of today.
I can offer her that. I want to offer her that.
Cassandra is not one for unquestioning obedience in life, and I appreciate that deeply. I honestly expected her to be more of a brat in these kinds of interactions, but she submits so sweetly. She doesn’t hesitate to pull her hair over her shoulder and turn around. “Will you unzip me?”
I step forward and catch the absurdly tiny zipper at the top of the dress. It would be so easy to rip, but while I can enjoy that kind of game, it’s not what either of us needs right now. This might be working its way to sex, but it’s about care, not pure lust.
I drag the zipper down the length of the dress and then run my knuckles up the center of her spine. She’s so soft, it drives me to distraction. Even though I told her to remove the dress, I’m the one that eases the straps off her shoulders and down her arms. Then I coast my hands down her sides and over her hips, pushing the fabric before me.
As I discovered earlier, she’s not wearing panties, but she is wearing a bra. I do away with it quickly, flicking the clasp open and repeating the motion of easing the straps down her arms. I press a kiss to one shoulder before I step back.
Then I allow myself to look my fill.
It doesn’t take long for Cassandra to start squirming, each movement making her ass flex. I have to clench my fists to keep from reaching for her. Not yet. This is a careful dance between us, the tension strung tight. Too much anticipation will have her brain clicking on. Too little will dampen the escape she needs. More, I love looking at her.
She’s perfect.
Thick waist, wide hips and ass, thick thighs that I really enjoyed having clasped around my head. I take a slow breath. Yes, that’s enough. “Turn around.”
She’s slower to obey this time. As Cassandra turns to face me, she actually starts to raise her hands to cover herself before she lets them drop to her sides.
I clear my throat. She’s just as perfect from the front as she is from the back. Oh, not in the glossed-over look that so many people seem to strive for; Cassandra is real. More importantly, for tonight at least, she’s mine to care for.
I glance around the room and finally settle on the chair tucked into the corner by the dresser. I stride over and sink onto it. “Come here.”
She obeys almost tentatively. I lean back in the chair and watch her make her way to me. She’s standing on firmer ground, but she’s not quite here with me yet. “Gods, Cassandra, the things you do to me. You’re temptation personified.”
She misses a step, her gaze snapping to mine. “Excuse me?”
“It’s the pencil skirts. Every time you turn around, your perfect ass is right there and I’m fighting for my life to keep things proper and professional.”
“Apollo.” She raises her brows. “I am reasonably confident in how I look, but no one is going to look at my ass and label it perfect.”
“Are you calling me a liar?”
She worries her bottom lip. “I guess not.” She stops in front of me, a few inches short of my knees. “I’ve looked at you, too.”
“Tell me.”
The blush beneath her skin deepens. For someone who can be so cool and collected while facing down any number of powerful people, it’s remarkably easy to make her blush. I like that. It feels like it’s just for me. Cassandra tugs at a strand of her hair. “You know you’re sexy as fuck. Don’t try to pretend you don’t. And you show up every day in these perfectly tailored suits. I’m human. Of course I’ve looked.”
I check her expression. She’s entirely focused on me now, not thinking about the scary things that happened earlier. Good. “Have you done more than look?”
She licks her lips. “It would be the height of unprofessionalism for me to finger myself the second I walk through the door of my apartment because I spent two hours in a meeting staring at the hollow of your throat after you loosened your tie.”
I lean forward and catch her hips, urging her closer until she stands straddling me. Better. This time, I keep touching her as I lean back, running my hands lightly down the outsides of her thighs and back up again. Her skin is so soft. It makes me want to taste every inch of her.
All in good time.
“Did you do that, Cassandra?”
“Yes.” She answers so simply. “More than once. It infuriated me every time. I didn’t want to want you.”
“And now?”
“I still don’t want to want you.” The words contain no edge, but they fall between us like stones. It’s going to hurt her when this ends, too. Maybe that should be enough to make me change course, but the truth is that we’ve gone too far to escape unscathed.
We had even before we kissed the first time.
“Do you trust me, Cassandra?”
“Yes.” No hesitation.
It makes my chest ache in the most glorious way to hold the trust of this prickly, capable woman. I love her. I’ve known it for some time, but I can admit it to myself right now, in this moment. It’s going to break my heart when she leaves, and I’m not selfish or cruel enough to tell her how I feel with that deadline bearing down on both of us. She cares for me, but even if she felt exactly as I do, I won’t put her in a position of choosing between me and her sister. She’s suffered enough as the result of the powerful in Olympus.
“Go to the bed and lie down on your back.”
She blinks down at me. I find myself holding my breath as Cassandra considers me. She doesn’t make me wait long. “Okay.”
I make myself stay seated as she obeys. I get a flash of her pussy as she crawls along the middle of the bed and eases onto her back, and the sight has me fighting down a groan. Patience. I can have patience. Tonight isn’t about me and what I desire. It’s about giving her what she needs.
“What did you think about the last time you touched yourself?”
“I—”
“I would like to hear it. In explicit detail.” I push slowly to my feet and shrug out of my jacket. My fingers fumble a bit as I unbutton my cuffs and start on the ones down the center. I pause after two and raise my brows. “I’m waiting.”
She smiles faintly. “You like hearing me talk, don’t you?”
“It’s one of my favorite things,” I answer honestly. “You’re the smartest person I’ve ever met, and I love your mind.” I smile. “I also love hearing you go breathless when you talk about what you desire.”