Page 373 of The First Taste
“Omigod,” I mutter, closing my eyes. “This croissant is better than sex.”
Hades looks at me sharply. “What kind of sex are ye having that is less good than a pastry, lass?”
Heat suffuses my cheeks. My mouth is too full of buttery goodness to speak, so I just glare at him. He starts to unpack the other bags and I turn my attention to the phone. Pursing my lips, I turn it on and scroll through the contacts.
“There is only one number programmed in here,” I say after a minute.
“Aye. That’s mine,” he says, holding up his identical phone. “What other numbers do ye need?”
“How very practical of you.” I roll my eyes. “I should email my brother. Let him know that I’m all right.”
“Lass…” He stiffens, pinning me with a hard glare. He prowls around the table, staring at me with an air of disbelief. “I’ve been trying to figure out exactly how our enemies came to know where to find us in Valencia. Ye wouldn’t have sent yer brother an email back there, would ye?”
My brows arch. My mouth opens, a quick retort on the tip of my tongue. I reply to him with all due venom.
“It’s not like I sent Lawrence a picture of the villa, our address, and the story of how you kidnapped me. I just emailed him a very brief paragraph letting him know that I was okay.”
Both of Hades’ hands shoot out, grabbing my upper arms and gripping me hard. His face contorts, looking as black as a thundercloud.
“Are ye a fucking idiot?” He pulls me closer, shaking me a little. “Ye went against my explicit instructions, lass. Anybody could have been monitoring his email. Ye might as well have lit a beacon and invited Ex-BF to come for us whenever he felt like it.”
“I… I don’t think so, Hades—” My heart starts beating fast.
“Ye feeble minded idiot.” He sneers, pulling me so close to his face that we are only an inch apart. “It’s a wonder they didn’t come sooner. The fact that we got away was sheer luck, ye know.”
I look up at him with wide eyes, swallowing heavily. “You don’t know that I was the one that tipped them off. You don’t even know who the bad guys were.”
My words cause him to rear his head back. “Are ye kidding me? I know that without me, ye would probably either be dead or sitting at Constantine's feet right now.”
Ice slides through my veins at the very thought. I start trembling. “Don’t.”
“Dinnae what?” He grits his teeth, his slitted eyes scanning my face. “For all I know, ye wanted to be caught by Constantine's men.”
I struggle in his hold, baring my teeth.
“Fuck you, Hades.”
“Ye little idiot.” He lifts me off the ground, looking ready to kill me. “Ye have to be punished, Persephone.”
I open my mouth to retort. But Hades throws me over his shoulder and starts carrying me toward the bed.
“What? Let me go!” I howl, flailing. My fists hit his solid back, my feet kick at his thigh.
He silences me with one incredibly brutal slap to my ass. It’s so hard that I cry out, my eyes widening, breath sputtering.
“Shut the fuck up, lass,” he grates out. “Ye won’t make the same mistake again. Not after this.”
He tosses me onto the bouncy mattress with a thud. I’m panicked, sweating, my heart pounding loudly in my ears. I try to scramble away but he grabs me by the ankle and jerks me back with a growl.
“Behave yerself, Persephone. That’s the only way ye are going to ever fucking walk again.”
I whimper as he turns me over to face him.
“Let me go!”
He shakes his head, his gaze dropping to my lips, then my heaving breasts, then lower.
“No. I have to punish ye. It’s for yer own good.” He darts his tongue out to swipe across his lips. His expression is haughty and defiant. “Ye pushed me to this point. Yer making me touch ye like this.”
