All that strength to keep moving, to keep surviving…
He leans forward and presses his cock to my ass. Slow. So devastatingly slow. This time, he doesn’t ask me if I’m good. He doesn’t need to. I’m moaning and writhing for him, trying to take him deeper even as he controls the pace.
It seems to take forever for him to sheath himself to the hilt. Theseus caresses my thighs, a gentle stroke that makes me whimper. He grins in response. “I like it when you make that sound. I like that I’m the one to do it.”
Not real.
The words feel as insubstantial as mist. I can barely keep my eyes open, but I refuse to miss a moment of this. It won’t last. It can’t last. But we have right now, and right now is more perfect than I could have dreamed. “More,” I whisper.
He doesn’t answer with words. He simply starts moving inside me, one smooth withdrawal followed by an equally smooth stroke. It’s so good and yet not enough. I reach up and grab his sides. It’s on the tip of my tongue to beg him to kiss me, to not stop, but I don’t manage to get the words out before he anticipates my needs.
Theseus hooks an arm under my hips, lifting me to him even as he descends to me. Our chests are slick with sweat and the delicious friction is almost unbearably good. I wrap my legs around his waist and kiss him.
Time ceases to hold meaning. There’s only the thrust of his body into mine, the slide of our bodies together, his taste on my tongue as our breath mingles with each broken kiss.
When we finally collapse to the bed, spent and exhausted, the line between reality and a pretty lie has blurred until it’s unrecognizable. Especially with the way he strokes a hand down my side and presses a kiss to my temple.
It might not be real…
But it feels a whole lot like love.
18
APHRODITE
I don’t end up reading. Instead, I hold my book open and watch Pandora circle my living room. She’s as curious as a cat, touching the little trinkets I have arranged on the floating shelves by the door, sifting through the books on my bookshelf, even testing out each of the couches and chairs. She does it all without a smidge of self-consciousness. I like that a lot.
I should be seducing her right now. She knows more than she’s saying just by virtue of being Hephaestus’s best friend and living in Minos’s household. If I’ve learned anything through the years, it’s that even the most steadfast asshole will forget themselves when they’re doped up on good sex. It’s a tactic I’ve used more than a few times, with great success.
It would work on Pandora.
Our little interlude in Hades’s club all but proved it. I spent far too much of today thinking about how sweetly her lips had parted and how lovely the lust-glazed look was in her dark eyes. “I want to keep you.”
Pandora stops in the middle of flipping through a book filled with monster-fucking art. “Excuse me?”
I hadn’t meant to say it aloud, but now that I have, I’m not about to backtrack. “You feel this connection, too. I realize we’re somewhat on opposite sides of things, but I’ve never let a little thing like a person being an enemy stop me from taking what I want. I want you.”
She slowly turns another page. “Even if I admitted to feeling a connection with you… Eris, I’m not for keeping. I’ll never be the type of person who feels comfortable with monogamy.”
I laugh. I can’t help it. “No, I don’t imagine you would be.” I lean forward, drawing her gaze from the book to my face. “You’re too invested in new experiences to limit yourself to one person.”
She eyes me as if testing for a trap. “Even if you were fine with that, there’s still Theseus between us. I like you quite a bit, Eris, but he’s my best friend. If you two can’t come to some kind of peace, then there can be no you and me.”
I lean back and shut my book. I’m not normally one to let my emotions get the best of me, but I want more time with Pandora. Not just to get whatever information out of her. Not just to use her to hurt my husband.
I feel parts of me unwind in her presence. She’s gone through so much and still manages to keep a light about her that feels downright magical.
It could be that I’m playing right into her hands—into Minos’s hands—by indulging this attraction, but… “What about a compromise?”
“What compromise?”
This is a fool’s bargain. I don’t care. I lean forward and prop my elbows on my thighs. “When it’s just you and me…it’s just you and me. No politics. No mining for information. No public power plays. Just us.”