Page 90 of Raising Hell
“Now, you come to me willingly.”
CHAPTERFIFTEEN
“Why doI have to come to you at all? What will that prove except that I’m your plaything just like the rest of the people on Earth were Zeus’ playthings? I want to be more than that, Hades.”
“You are. You are so much more than that.”
He lifted a hand out of the water and beckoned me. Sighing, I went to him like he wanted. Hell, like I wanted.
I didn’t even pretend I wasn’t interested in what he was offering. I took his hand and wrapped myself around him as he pulled me close. He groaned as our hips touched with no barrier. His hard length was right there, pressed against me.
“Please don’t hurt me,” I whispered, feeling vulnerable.
“Never,” he breathed before kissing me gently.
He coaxed me to relax with light teasing kisses that eventually left my mouth and moved to my neck. I didn’t fight him when he lifted me higher so he could explore lower. There was no fight in me. Only need.
When his lips closed over one peak, I threaded my hands in his hair and arched into the sensation.
“We need to stop,” I whispered, even as I tugged him closer.
His tongue toyed with me until I was panting. When he released me and went to the other side, I didn’t utter a sound of protest. I was his, just as he’d stated, and when his hand drifted lower to explore me like he had the night before, mumbled words tumbled from my lips.
Pleas. Demands.
I wanted it all just as I’d known I would.
He lifted me out of the pool and set me on the tile. My eyes rolled back in my head as he kissed me in an entirely new way.
For the next several minutes, the world was lost to me outside of the sound of my breathing and the pleasure growing inside me. When I finally tumbled into my release, I cried out and arched off the tiles.
Hades’ hands stroked over my legs until the last spasm rocked through me. Then he lifted himself out of the pool and carried me to the pillows, drying us instantly before we reached them.
I didn’t possess a shred of resistance. Had he attempted to claim his “due,” I would have given him what he wanted. But he didn’t. Instead, he held me close, stroking my arms and back as reason slowly returned to me.
My face heated, and I tucked it against his chest.
I didn’t know what to say or do. Why did he have to keep doing things that made it so damn hard to be around him and harder still to leave?
“That was real,” he said softly. “A gift freely given and received.”
“I’m not undressing next time,” I whispered.
He chuckled.
“The clothes don’t stop me. Only your willingness does that.”
Face flaming red, I jerked back to give him an angry glare.
“I wasn’t willing. I told you I didn’t want to have sex.”
“That wasn’t sex. That was pleasure. As a human, you have no reason to deny yourself pleasure.”
“But as Persephone, I would? Why?”
“To show how much you hate it here. How much you hate me.” His fingers trailed over my shoulder. “I didn’t think you would go so far in your attempts to persuade me otherwise, Goddess.”
His last word sent a spear through my heart, shattering my hope that he’d seen I wasn’t her.
