AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Daisy. Their audience. Right. Though his insides lathered, he retreated.
“When we’re alone,” Neeka continued, breathless, “we’ll discuss the boon you owe me. I didn’t find another bone, but I did save those you already possess. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you enjoy what I demand.”
She’s greedy... for me?He barely stopped himself from rubbing his throbbing erection. Time apart might be wise. He could think. “What will you be doing while I’m gone?”
“Waiting eagerly.” With the coyest of grins, she blew him a kiss. “Miss me.”
He wasn’t sure he’d be able to do anything else.
“You guys are embarrassing,” Daisy muttered.
With more force than necessary, he stuffed the orb inside his pocket, grabbed the harpy by the arm, and flashed her to the farthest room in Hades’s fortress.
“Behave,” he said, stalking off. He’d forgo his ‘betray me and suffer’ speech for once. Right now...
He moderated his pace as he made his way to Neeka, who had all but admitted to wanting him for herself.
Why did she have to be so beautiful and soft? Smell so sweet. Rouse his smiles. Be so brilliant. Look at him as if she admired him as much as he admired her. His ever-increasing hunger for her complicated things. He should be strong enough to resist.
But.
He wasn’t.
What would she demand as her boon? Sex? A dozen climaxes? His fingers flared and relaxed of their own accord. Whatever her request, hemustdo it. Honor demanded it.
Rationalizing to give yourself permission? Or thinking clearly for the first time in centuries?Rathbone didn’t know and wasn’t sure he cared anymore.
The doorway to his destination loomed ahead. He’d left Neeka in the sitting room with the mysterious wallpaper. Had her craving for him intensified?
Desperate to see her, he flashed inside. She was dashing from furniture to furniture, testing different poses, each more alluring than the last.
Beautiful vixen.
Her gaze landed on him, and she stilled halfway to the couch, mere feet away from him. He jolted as if hit by lightning.
Amused chagrin overtook her, until she noted the ferocity banked in his features. Her lips formed a small O and all lightheartedness evaporated.
“What do you want?” he croaked.
Eyes hooding, she crooked her finger at him. “Come, give me a kiss.”
“Merely a kiss?” He stood in place and breathed. In. Out. Her scent fogged his head. “Not more? The boon has no restrictions.”
“Well, then,” she said, her voice little more than a whisp. “Give me your very best kiss, and we’ll see what happens from there.”
Yes. He stalked closer. He would kiss her and strip her and give her such intense pleasure she only ever needed more of him—and then what?
The question stopped Rathbone in his tracks. What was he doing?
“You shouldn’t tempt me like this.” Hecouldn’thave a second fated, which meant he would never be the one for Neeka.
Wonder and awe softened her stance. “I tempt you?”
“Beyond measure.” Every muscle in his body hummed, the melody growing louder as he cataloged even the most miniscule of her reactions. From the sparkle in her amber irises, to the fever-flush spreading over her flawless skin, to her ragged exhalations. “But my situation hasn’t changed.”
She looked away for a moment, as if ending the conversation, and he nearly banged his chest and roared. Not done! Never done. Then she faced him with her chin raised. “That’s not what my instinct tells me.”
As much as he despised his next words, he uttered them. “You’re wrong this time. Confusing instinct with desire.” He hadn’t spent centuries chasing Lore and his dream to give up now. But he couldn’t, wouldn’t stop this, either, if Neeka accepted what he offered. Temporary.
