Page 43 of Dark Restraint
Because it’s her. Because it’s me. Because it’s us.
I slip an arm between her hips and the mattress and roll us. Ariadne plants her hands on my chest, steadying herself. I squeeze her hips. “You didn’t think you were done yet, did you? You rode my mouth. Now ride my cock.”
She opens her mouth like she wants to argue, but I thrust up into her just a little, and it seems like she forgets what she was about to say. It’s just as well. I’m running out of words myself. I don’t believe in the gods, but if I did, no one could convince me that Ariadne wasn’t a child of them. Everything from her savvy brain to her hidden ruthlessness marks her as a person far above the rest. But this? Watching her start to ride my cock? It feels beyond good, but it’s the sight of her taking her pleasure without hesitation that really does me in.
I stroke my hands up her sides, my thumbs feathering over her stretch marks, and cup her breasts. Perfect. Everything about her is perfectly made.
“If you could…see the way…you’re looking at me.”
“Don’t need to see it. I’m feeling it.” My chest is too tight. I have been in love with this woman since I was a kid, but it’s never felt like this before. As if the overwhelming need I had for her, to be around her, has morphed into something infinitely stronger. As if she’s pulled my heart right out of my chest with her bare hands. This pleasure is so acute, it morphs into pain. I welcome every moment of it. Good. Take it. It was yours all along.
Ariadne skates her hands up my arms and then down her stomach to finger her clit. Almost immediately, her strokes go jerky. I grab her hips and keep her moving at the pace that will get her there. I need to feel her come around me. I need to watch her expression in that moment of perfect surrender. I need it more than anything.
“Asterion!” She throws her head back and arches her spine, grinding down on my cock as she orgasms. “Oh gods, don’t stop.”
I don’t stop. I keep her fucking me through the end of this orgasm and into another. And all the while, I watch her face and know that I’ll seek a repeat of this moment for the rest of my fucking life.
I don’t believe in the gods, no, but I believe in Ariadne. Her body is the altar I worship at, and her love is the only sustenance I need.
Then the little brat reaches back and takes my balls in a firm grip. Her nails prick the sensitive skin there, and surprise sends me hurtling into an orgasm that’s so strong, my vision shorts out. I fuck up into her, needing to be closer, needing to go harder. Needing for it to never end.
I arch up and kiss her as the last wave recedes, leaving me boneless and more relaxed than I’ve ever been. She slumps onto my chest and starts to move to the side, but I’m having none of that. I’m not ready to let her go yet. I never will be. I kiss her lips, the bridge of her nose, her forehead. “Stay.”
“I’m not going anywhere. I promise.”
22
Ariadne
I thought Asterion was overly optimistic when he pulled out that giant box of condoms, but even though we don’t use them, he proves my doubts to be unfounded over the next few hours. We come together again and again, in every position imaginable, with questing hands and writhing bodies. There’s a hint of desperation to it, but neither of us comments on it. We have today, and part of me mourns the fact that even now a deadline looms over us.
The sun sinks below the horizon, bathing the room in shadows. As much as I want to go for another round, I don’t think I can survive it. It’s just as well; our reprieve is over now. “Asterion…”
“Yeah, I know.” He brings my hand to his mouth and presses a kiss to my knuckles. “This won’t be the last time we spend the day in bed, sweetheart. We have the rest of our lives ahead of us, and I plan to take advantage of it every chance we get.”
I don’t understand how he can be so relentlessly confident. I’m not sure of anything anymore. It feels like everywhere I turn, enemies are popping up to shove me into a corner I can’t possibly fight my way out of. The stakes have never been higher, and all I want to do is enjoy this time with the man that I…love.
Why is it such a revelation every time I admit it? It feels like I’ve loved him for years—longer even. But it’s something we’ve never said aloud to each other. Not with words, though one could argue that our actions more than support that truth between us. I stare into his brutal, scarred face, and my throat closes before I can speak those three little words. It feels too much like throwing out a last-ditch promise on the eve of a battle I doubt we’ll both survive. I didn’t think I was superstitious, but apparently I am.
Instead, I say, “Can I tell you a secret?”
Asterion rolls onto his side and props his head in his hand. “I want all your secrets.”
“I had the blueprints days ago. I just wasn’t ready for this to end.”
He strokes a thumb along my cheekbone. “I don’t know how many times I have to say it before you believe me, sweetheart. This thing between us is never going to end. You and I were written in the stars.”
I choke out a laugh. “I don’t think anybody else believes that except you.”
“You believe it.”
His confidence and arrogance might be aggravating in the extreme sometimes, but I can’t deny the comfort in them. Even when doubt makes the ground beneath my feet shaky, I can rely on Asterion to always point to my true north. To a future where the two of us are free.
“Sometimes I feel doubt.” I lean into his touch. “But you believe enough for both of us.”
“I’ll keep doing it.”
My smile falls away. “The odds aren’t in our favor. We have my father on one side, Hera and the Olympians on the other. I don’t see how we can thread the needle without something terrible happening.”