I push to my feet, mind already a thousand miles away. I might have to take a loan from Callisto, but I’ll be sure to pay her back with interest. I don’t know if the passage I’ve been promised will be available early, but I suppose if I throw enough money at the problem, I can find a way. I’ll just have to make sure I don’t think too hard about how much of my trust fund I’ll be eating up in the process once I repay Callisto.
“Persephone.”
I stop short before I run into Hades’s chest and look up at him. He isn’t a particularly large man, but he feels bigger up close, like his shadow looms larger than the man himself. We’re close enough that a careless move would press my chest to his. It’s a terrible idea. He just told me he doesn’t want me, and I may be stubborn to a fault, but I know how to accept a rejection.
I start to take a step back, but he catches my elbows, holding me in place. Holding me almost close enough to be an embrace. His dark eyes give me absolutely nothing, which shouldn’t be thrilling. It truly shouldn’t. Watching this man’s control crack in real time is a desire I can’t afford to have.
That doesn’t stop me from taking a particularly deep inhale, and it certainly doesn’t quell the surge of victory when his attention drops to the way my breasts press against the thin fabric of my dress. His jaw flexes beneath his perfectly groomed beard. “I’m not in the habit of bargaining for sex.”
“Yes, you said that.” My voice is too breathy to pass as unaffected, but I can’t help it. He’s so overwhelming, the kind of presence an unwary partner could get lost in. They might not even mind it. But I am not unwary. I know exactly what I’m getting myself into. I hope.
“I suppose there’s a first time for everything,” he murmurs. Convincing himself or convincing me? I could tell him the latter is completely unnecessary, but I keep my mouth shut. Hades finally focuses on me. “If I agree to this, you’re mine for the next three months.”
Yes. I barely manage to damper my enthusiasm. “That sounds like agreeing to more than sex.”
“It is. I’ll protect you. We’ll play out the narrative you want. You’ll belong to me. You’ll obey.” His fingers tighten ever so briefly on my elbows, like he’s fighting not to haul me against him. “We act out every depraved thing I want to do to you. In public.” At my confused look, he clarifies. “Zeus knows that I engage in public sex on occasion. That’s what you’re agreeing to.”
Temper your reaction, Persephone. Let him play the big, bad wolf he’s so determined to cast himself as. I lick my lips and give him wide eyes. I’ve never had sex in public, not really, but I can’t say I’m opposed to the idea. It’s startlingly hot. “I’ll just have to grin and bear it, then.”
“You shouldn’t.”
Oh, he is too delicious. I can’t help leaning a little forward, pulled by the sheer gravitational force he exudes. “I agree to your terms, Hades. Protected by you, belonging to you, and having depraved public sex with you, oh my.” I should let it stop there, but I’ve never been that good at denying myself what I want. “I suppose we should seal our bargain with a kiss. That’s the traditional way of things.”
“Is it.” His inflection makes the words less question and more mocking absolute. He’s so cold, he might freeze me down to my very core. It should scare me. Every partner I’ve had to date has been the very opposite of Hades—people willing to take what I give and ask no questions, require no further commitments from me. My mother’s reputation ensured that their desire for me didn’t outweigh their fear of her, so they all went out of their way to keep our relationship a secret. At first sneaking around was fun. Later, it became exhausting. But it was safe, as safe as someone can be as Demeter’s daughter while living in Olympus.
Hades is not safe. He’s so far from safe, I should be rethinking this bargain before it’s even begun. I can tell myself I have no choice, but it’s not the truth. I want this with every shadowy part of my soul that I work so hard to keep locked down. There’s no room in the public narrative of the sweet, sunny, biddable woman for the things I find myself craving in the dark of night. Things I’m suddenly sure Hades is capable of giving me.
And then his mouth is on mine and I’m not sure of anything at all.
Chapter 7
Hades
She tastes like summer. I don’t know how it’s possible, not when she was just sleeping in a bathtub, not when it’s the dead of winter outside, but it’s the truth. I dig my hands into her mass of hair and tilt her head back, angling for better access. Sealing a bargain is the flimsiest of excuses to kiss her; I have no excuse to keep the contact, to deepen it. No excuse beyond wanting her. Persephone moves to close the fraction of distance between us and then she’s fully in my arms, warm and soft and, fuck, she nips my bottom lip as if she actually wants this.