“Finish me,” he gasped, and she fondled his balls, rolling them in her hand. He stiffened and shoved his cock deep inside of her, groaning as he ejaculated. She swallowed everything he gave her. When he finished, she attempted to pull away, but his fingers were tangled in her hair. He worked his hand free from the snarls. She glanced up at him when she was finally released, and he stared at her, her slumberous, decadent Lord, replete and utterly relaxed. “Clean me up, female.”
She could have protested the arrogant command, but she obeyed for the selfish reason that it was another opportunity to tease him, to taste him. His penis was only semi-hard now, but it wouldn’t take him long to recover—particularly if she helped him along.
Hades looked down at the glorious female who had taken him to heaven and back, and he wondered fleetingly if he’d ever had any better. She literally cleaned him up, licking his cock and balls and stomach as if she was starving for the taste of his come, as if she hadn’t already drunk him dry.
Well, not completely dry, he realized as he quickly became hard again under her ministrations. She enveloped him, sucked him all the way down to his root. When she withdrew, his cock stood at attention, red and aroused and covered in her saliva. She trailed a finger down it and stood, gesturing for him to move his chair back.
Intrigued, he complied. He had to restrain a whimper when she turned gracefully and leaned over his desk. Her eyes speared him as she cast him a glance over her shoulder, filled with lust and desire. “My turn. I want it like this.”
Thank the gods she’d sucked him off, because the position, with her ass framed by those white garters, and the corset, would have made him come in his pants like a randy youth.
“It is your turn,” he purred, and watched the shiver race down her spine. His lady was ridiculously easy to arouse. He only had to speak in a certain tone, and he could smell her getting wetter. He loved it.
He stood as she bowed her head, her body prepared for him to ram into what he was sure was her soaking-wet cunt. Still, he couldn’t resist stroking her buttocks, the flesh so nicely offered up for him.
“What are you waiting for?”
He lightly tapped her ass cheek, loving how it gave way to the small smack. “Hush.”
“Fuck me.”
“I need to make sure you’re ready.” He moved his hands to her hips, tightening his fingers enough for her to realize she was trapped, and pulled her back a step, pushing her body lower onto the desk in an exaggerated arch.
“Trust me, I’m ready.” Her tone was plaintive and desperate.
He slipped his hand into her pretty muff and made an appreciative noise. “You are ready. I don’t think I’ve ever felt you so wet.”
Her body shook in silent laughter. “You bastard. Hurry up. I’m dying.”
“As my lady commands. I am nothing if not agreeable.” He pressed his cock into her sweet pussy, savoring the tight and slick heaven, as well as her gasp. He leaned over her so his front was plastered against her back and breathed into her ear. “Did you like getting double fucked?”
“You know I did.”
He shoved himself deep and then materialized the sensation of something probing at her tight little anus. “We’ll go for a triple next time.”
She was so still below him as he pumped in and out of both of her holes, he wondered if she was breathing, until she gave a mighty shudder. “Yes…anything you want.”
The words were a dangerous thing to say to a god. His mind ran wild with all of the things he could demand of this female. Her body. Her soul.
Her heart.
He pulled her up so he could access the front of her body, giving special attention to her breasts and the hard little clit at the top of her sex. Her hips worked back against him and he let her use him, keeping the rhythm of his thrusts hard and deep until she fell apart in his arms, her loud moans punctuating each squeeze of his cock.
When he knew she was satiated, he withdrew. His penis felt wet and cold and extremely unhappy to be out of her, so he rolled her onto her back and penetrated her again.
Since both of them had taken the edge off, that usual frenzied need wasn’t inherent in this session. Hades moved in her languidly, the sounds of their bodies and panting breath the only noise in the otherwise silent room. As he moved inside of her, he stroked her sides, her breasts, finally wrapping his hands in hers, palm to palm, fingers entwined.
He leaned down and kissed her. Their kisses were always desperate, but this was calm and serene, a leisurely duel of tongues, a gentle sipping at her lips. He only sped up the pace of his hips because he felt the mood was becoming too mushy. “I’m never going to be able to look at my desk the same again.”
She laughed, but there was something sad in her eyes. So he kissed her again, tasting the passion and desire in her mouth while at the same time making it impossible to see what she was thinking and feeling.
When he came, he buried his face in her neck and inhaled deeply, knowing that his words hadn’t been a lie. His productivity was forever shot—he’d never be able to see anything but Persephone in this room, naked and giving and warm.
Chapter Seven
A leafy branch smacked Hades on the side of his head, disturbing him from the ledgers he was going over. “What the—?” He glanced at the smaller armchair next to his large one and smiled at the vines securely entwined in Persephone’s hair. Her nose was firmly poked in a book. “Sephie. You’re growing green again.”
“What—? Oh for crying out loud.” She sighed and jerked away from the vines. He winced for her at what he was sure was a healthy yank on her hair. The drooping vegetation made a halfhearted motion back toward her, but when she raised a finger, the vine instead turned around and slithered along the arm of her chair…perilously close to his.
“Don’t even think about it,” he muttered to the thing, wishing he hadn’t promised Persephone he wouldn’t make the plants go kaboom. Luckily, it responded to the menace in his voice and wilted. “What are you so absorbed in, anyway?”
She closed the book. “An old treatise I found on how to open portals.”
“I could teach you more than a book.”
She shot him a glance that made him want to forget the fact that he’d already ravaged her three times that day. “You already have. I can never thank you enough…”
He squirmed, uncomfortable with her gratitude. He might have helped her focus and taught her some parlor tricks, but the power was hers and hers alone. “Stop.”
“Seriously. I don’t feel weak anymore. If it wasn’t for you—”
“I did nothing. But if you want to thank me, bring me some of those grapes from that table.”
She picked up the bowl of grapes sitting on the table closest to her. He waited ’til she stood closer and then wrapped his arm around her, pulling her down to his lap. “I want you too. Feed me, woman.”
She held a plump grape to his mouth, and he bit down.
“How is it?”
“Not as tasty as you.”
Her face softened. “You sweet talker, you.”
When she talked to him in that low, intimate voice and sat in his arms, he felt sweet. He felt…like a good deity, and not one of evil.
She fed him another grape, squealing when he bit at her fingers. “I miss food.”
He turned his head away from the next grape she started to feed him. “You didn’t tell me that. I thought you didn’t care, or I wouldn’t have eaten in front of you.”
“It’s a comfort thing. Of course you should eat.” She tapped the grape against his lips. “Open, sesame.”
He turned his head aside. “Nope. I don’t need it.”
“But you like it. Please, I don’t want to be the reason you go without.”
“Then how do I feel, knowing I’m the reason you go without?”
They were silent for a minute, both of them cognizant of the fact that they’d been tiptoeing around their emerging feelings for the past months they’d been together, neither quite willing to be the first to declare themselves. “Persephone…”
She kissed him, warm, openmouthed, and as always, he responded, unable to do anything but. When she pulled away, she slipped the grape between his lips. He shook his head as he bit down. “Sneaky.”
“Mmm.” She wiped her thumb across the trace of juice on his lip and stared at it. He pulled it to his mouth and licked it off, lest she be tempted to taste it herself.
Why stop her? Fool.
More and more, he called himself that, wondering if he should simply resort to trickery or magic to keep her with him always. It would be a small matter to fool her into eating or drinking something. Or after he received the all clear to send her back, he could pretend his powers were still blocked. She would believe him. Then he could wrap her in magic, make it so no god, Zeus or otherwise, could extract her from his Underworld.
She snuggled closer, and he knew there was no chance of him resorting to any of those tactics. He couldn’t bear it if her warm glances eventually filled with trapped hatred, if she came to believe that the stories and rumors and the role he played for others, a monster and debauched and hate-filled god, was true. Better to hold her for the time he had, and then let her go.
For some other god to take her?
“Your teeth are grinding, Hades. Are you okay?”
He deliberately unclenched his teeth and grinned down at her. “Fine. I—” He looked up at the empty room, suddenly alert. “Did you feel that?”
“Yes.” Persephone jumped up and, to his surprise, stood in front of him, her stance battle ready. “What is that? It feels like a storm, or…”
“Lightning,” he finished grimly, and stepped in front of her, stopping her when she tried to scurry to his side. “Stay.”
“I’m not a pet.”
“No, I wouldn’t be quite so worried about a pet.”
“What’s going on?”
“Get ready. Zeus is about to break a treaty as old as time and piss me off all at the same time.” He had beefed up his barriers since Persephone had arrived, but apparently not enough.
A little hand patted him on his shoulder, as if he were a horse in need of gentling. “Don’t go losing your temper, now. Let’s talk to him first.”
“I suppose I should serve him tea too—”
A flash of bright light cut him off, and his brother was standing before him, looking fit and respectable in a three-piece suit. “Brother!” Zeus cried, and opened his arms wide, like he actually expected a fucking hug.
“You have one minute,” Hades said softly, “to explain why the fuck you’re down here, and it better be a good-ass reason to intrude in my world.”
Zeus had the temerity to look hurt. “I can’t believe you don’t show me any hospitality, big brother.” He glanced around, his eyes widening. “Is this your study? It’s a little dark, isn’t it? But then, you always were partial to dark colors.”
No, actually, he had loved yellows and greens and blues. The unbidden thought popped into his head, a reminder of the times as a young god that he had reveled in wandering in the clouds. It was only after a few centuries down here that he had come to appreciate the darker shades. “You think I’m joking? I’ve only just forgiven you for piercing my world to send Persephone and interfering with my powers. Now you dare to break our vow to one another and barge into my world in person?”
With each word his voice rose. Persephone started patting him on the back. The attempt to soothe him was in vain.
Zeus’s face chilled, his eyes growing arctic cold. “Watch how you speak to me, Hades.”
“Fuck you.”
“I can level this whole world with little more than a thought, you know.”
Aaaand, this was why they kept to their own worlds. His temper spiked to molten-lava levels. “You so much as breathe on my domain, I will use your clouds for fucking target practice.”
“Whoa, whoa.” Persephone ducked out from under his arm and stood in front of him, one hand resting securely on his chest. “Let’s all calm down here, shall we? Why don’t we see what Zeus wants first?”
“Persephone.” Insult forgotten, smile wide, Zeus moved to hug her, brows rising when Hades growled and jerked her back against his chest. “Ah. That’s how it is, is it? No worries, Hades, I have no lustful intentions toward our little peony.”
“Bullshit. You have lustful intentions toward every female.”
“Well, not every female.” He considered that. “There was this crone…”
“Why. Are. You. Here?” Hades asked at the same time Persephone said, “Zeus, what do you want?”
“Oh. Yes. Demeter sent me.”
An unwelcome jolt. His arms tightened around Persephone. “What?”
Zeus examined his buffed fingernails. “She’s despondent over Persephone being gone. She’s telling everyone that Hades here abducted and raped her.”
“What?” Persephone shook her head. “Why didn’t you tell her that you sent me here for protection?”
“I did.” He scowled. “I think.”
Hades really didn’t care what anyone thought about his reputation, but his heart warmed when Persephone stiffened. “What do you mean, you think? His character’s being assassinated for no reason.”
“Sweetheart, Hades doesn’t really
have
a character. Anyway, she’s so unhappy, she’s completely neglected the harvest.”
“But the humans will starve.”
“Mmm. Lots of them already have.”
“I’ve only been here for a few months…”
“A few months our time, chickie. It’s been, what, about nine months mortal time? Demeter’s pretty much been roaming the world, wailing about her baby. She won’t lift a finger to do any actual work.”
“Oh no…” Persephone turned in Hades’s arms. He tried to relax them, to let her go, but the dread in his belly only made him hold her tighter. “I have to go to her, Hades. I can’t let all those people suffer.”
“I’m so sorry, Persephone, but you can’t go back,” Zeus said, sounding almost bored.
“Surely the danger has passed.”
“The danger? Oh, yeah, the other gods. Yeah, there’s, uh, no threat anymore.”
Hades narrowed his eyes.
“But you must have eaten or drunk something while you’ve been here. You probably didn’t know this, but that means you must stay here…forever!” He raised his arms high with the last word and punctuated it with a thunderclap.