Him. The guy who’d kidnapped her. Said cruel things to her. Used her so he could think straight. Not to mention handcuffed her to a bed, nearly gotten her killed multiple times, and made her decapitate those daemons back at that motel.
There was something seriously wrong with her. There had to be.
His hands shook as he moved up the steps, as he pulled the screen door open, as he stepped back into the airy, light family room and looked toward the kitchen. Her back was to him. She was pulling items from the refrigerator, setting out food he couldn’t imagine eating. An orange light from somewhere in the kitchen made the room glow, but he didn’t give a rip where it came from right now. He only cared about her.
“Why didn’t you run?”
She froze, one hand on the refrigerator door, the other inside. Light from the appliance shimmered over her in waves of gold. “What do you mean?”
“At the motel. When those daemons were attacking and I freed you. Why didn’t you run? Why did you come back?”
She turned slowly, set a block of cheese on the granite counter, pushed the refrigerator door closed with her spine. Then bit her lip and stared down at her feet. “I was going to run.”
“So why didn’t you?”
“I knew if I left, you would have died.”
“Why would that matter to you?”
“Because I didn’t want to be responsible for that. And because…you saved my life. Several times before that.”
He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “If it weren’t for me you wouldn’t have needed saving.”
“True, I guess,” she said with a ghost of a smile. “But…”
“But what?”
Her smile faded. “But…in the motel? When we were having dinner? And we were talking? I realized we weren’t all that different. We were both running from the colony, both running from our pasts and who everyone thinks we are or should be. I don’t know. I guess I just realized you weren’t the monster I’d pegged you to be.”
He remembered that moment. How she’d asked him to let her go, and when he told her that he couldn’t because he needed her, instead of lashing out at him as he’d expected, her eyes had softened. He’d already told her several times that he needed her, but that time…that time, he’d been racked with guilt over the fact he couldn’t let her go. And she’d obviously seen it. Then she’d pushed to her feet, crossed to him, given him his first taste of something sacred he’d been craving for months.
His nerves vibrated at the memory. And then he remembered how he’d accused her of trying to seduce him to get away.
Shit. His eyes slid closed at that doozy of a memory. “Then I handcuffed you to the bed and left you.”
His voice was gruff. That guilt slithered in and grabbed on tight. He opened his eyes, forced himself to meet her expression. Didn’t deserve to hide from it.
“Yeah,” she said with a smug smile, her dark eyes lifting to his. “I was pissed about that. But…I can’t really blame you. I mean, I was planning to seduce you so I could try to get away. But then we talked and I started to understand you better and…everything changed.”
He didn’t know what to say. Wasn’t sure what to make of this. Not only was she admitting something she didn’t have to, she was doing so staring at him across the small space as if…he were nothing more than a man.
He’d never been just a man. The entirety of his life was wrapped up in being an Argonaut, a warrior, a fighter trained in honor and duty. Females had come on to him, but they’d never wanted him for who he was inside. They’d only wanted him because of his status, because screwing an Argonaut was akin to banging a celebrity in the human realm. And then…then, after he’d been sent to the Underworld, he’d lost even that. He’d become everything he despised. Someone so desperate to avoid torture, he’d sacrificed everything he’d ever believed in and done things that would horrify even the sickest bastard, all in an attempt to save his sorry ass. No one had wanted him after that. No one should want him after that.
Gryphon, gods, I want you.
No one except her.
She could have seduced him without those words, but hearing them… Reality slammed into him as he stood there staring at her. She’d wanted him. The real him. Even knowing all that other shit.
Then she’d saved his life. Brought him here. Tended his wounds.
The hole around his heart slowly started to close in. And air choked in his lungs until it was hard to draw a breath.
“Do you like grilled cheese?” she asked. “It’s my favorite comfort food.” She glanced toward the cupboards on the opposite wall of the kitchen. “I think I have tomato soup somewhere. I did some shopping while you were asleep.”
“Maelea.” His heart—a heart he was starting to think he might still have—pounded hard as he moved into the kitchen, as he stepped up behind her, as he gently turned her to face him.
She didn’t flinch at his touch, but her muscles tensed, and a shudder ran through her. Not one born of fear but rooted in…awareness.
She stared at his chest, didn’t make any move to reach for him. Didn’t make any move to pull away either. He wanted to kiss her, wanted to taste her again. Didn’t know if he should. She’d said her reaction on the boat had been the result of adrenaline, of nearly dying. He knew all too well how amped up a fight could leave a person.
Skata, he didn’t know what to do. Only knew…that he wanted her. That what was pulling him to her now had nothing to do with the darkness inside him and everything to do with her as a woman and him as a man and this roaring desire he hadn’t felt for…anyone. Ever.
“I…ah…I have a proposition for you,” she said before he could decide what to do. What to say.
Surprise lifted his brows. “A proposition?”
“Yeah. I was thinking about it on the drive out here when you were asleep. I know why you need me. I know it’s my link to the Underworld and the light inside me that…balances you. I’ve watched you, and I can tell that when I’m close you seem calmer, more relaxed. So I have a trade I’m willing to make.”
His eyes narrowed. “What kind of trade?”
“I want you to teach me how to fight. Really fight and protect myself. I learned a little at the colony, but after you grabbed me in the orchard, I discovered I don’t know nearly as much as I should. And truthfully, I haven’t needed to know all these years, because I’ve been hiding. But when I was fighting those daemons, I felt something. Some strength I didn’t know I had. The ground rumbled, just like it did in the caves before we fell into that river. And looking back, I’m not entirely sure—maybe—somehow, that didn’t come from me.”
She drew in a breath. Straightened her spine. “I know it sounds silly. My only gift has been the ability to sense energy shifts on the planet, but what if there’s more? What if I just wasn’t strong enough before to use it? I’m not the same person I was before I went to the colony. And the last few days with you—as much as I hated it at first—it taught me that I’m a heck of a lot tougher than I thought. And the truth is, Gryphon, I’m tired of hiding. I would do anything to get to Olympus. Sitting back waiting isn’t going to get me there, and being afraid to go after what I want isn’t doing anything but prolonging my measly existence. But I can’t even try, until I hone my skills.”
She pushed a lock of hair behind her ear. Met his gaze with such determination and strength, he couldn’t help but be awed. “So I’m willing to make you a deal. If you’ll stay here for a few days, if you’ll teach me what I need to know, then when I’m ready, I’ll go anywhere you want me to go. And I promise I won’t try to run until you’ve done what you need me to help you do.”
He’d been floored before, but now…shock and disbelief and wonder rippled through him. She didn’t know him. Didn’t know what he had planned. But she trusted him. And that meant more to him
than anything she’d said or done to this point. The space in his chest filled in until that emptiness he’d lived with since his soul had been condemned to the Underworld—since before that, really, when he’d been an Argonaut wondering what kind of difference he was really making in the world—was gone.
When was the last time someone had trusted him…really trusted him? When was the last time someone had been willing to put their life on the line for him? His Argonaut brothers didn’t count, because for them, protection wasn’t even a thought. It was a duty. But this…this was different. She could find anyone to teach her how to protect herself. She didn’t need him the way he needed her. And yet, she was offering. Looking up at him with those big eyes. Making him feel after all this time.
“Why would you want to do that?” he whispered.
“Do what?”
“Stay with me.”
“Do you really have to ask?”
He swallowed hard, almost afraid to hear her answer. Somehow found the strength to nod.
“Because you didn’t ask for what happened to you any more than I asked to be born between worlds. Because if somehow in the middle of this craziness we can each help the other get what we need, then it’ll make all of this—what we’ve been through—worth it. And because…”
“Because what?” he asked when she bit her lip and her gaze dropped to his mouth.
She drew in a deep breath. “Because I care about you, Gryphon.”
He couldn’t breathe. She cared about him. Really cared. Not because she had to, not because some warped sense of duty or honor said she should. She cared simply because she could.
His heart beat so hard, he was sure she had to hear it. And when her gaze slowly lifted to his, he saw all the things he’d dreamed of seeing on her face for months. Desire. Hunger. The same damn yearning he felt in the depths of his soul.
“Gryphon?” she whispered.
“Yeah?” he managed, still unable to believe what was happening was real.
“What do you think? Do we have a deal?”
Chapter Sixteen
“Well?” Maelea asked.
As she held her hand out to him, the doubt he’d struggled with before melted away. Ignoring the offering, Gryphon slid his fingers into her luxurious hair instead. Then reveled at the spark of lust that flared in her eyes as he drew her mouth toward his. “I can think of a much better way to seal this deal, sotiria.”
A tiny gasp slipped from her lips when his mouth closed over hers. But it turned to a groan that supercharged his blood as his tongue dipped into her mouth and he kissed her the way he’d wanted to kiss her ever since he’d awoken with the mother of all hard-ons.
Her arms closed around his neck, and she pressed those tantalizing breasts against his bare chest as she kissed him back. Her nipples hardened through the thin cotton dress, and he knew from the sensations rushing through his skin that she couldn’t possibly be wearing a bra. His jeans grew even tighter as he wrapped his arms around her, as he tugged her hips toward his. As the heat of her pelvis seeped into his own.
He changed the angle of the kiss, nipped at her bottom lip. Shivered at the sweet, erotic taste of her on his tongue.
“Gryphon?” she said against his lips.
“Mm, yeah?” He fisted the cotton dress at her lower back, wanted so bad to lift her up on the counter, push inside her body, take her hard and fast. But he wasn’t going to do that. Because this time he needed to make sure she enjoyed the experience. Wanted to remember each and every time she came apart. Which would be way more than once. Guaranteed.
Her hands slid to each side of his face. She kissed him. Eased back and licked her lips as she stared at his mouth. Kissed him again until he thought he’d go mad. Finally stopped long enough to say, “Are you hungry?”
“Starving.” But not for food. Just for her.
“Me too. Take me upstairs.”
Relief whipped through him like a tornado.
He lifted her around the waist. Her mouth closed over his and she wrapped her legs around him without his asking, stroked her tongue against his as his hands slid down to cup her ass.
He carried her out of the kitchen toward the stairs. His brain was nothing but mush. He had no idea how this had happened. How she’d gone from hating and fearing him to wanting him with the same desperation he wanted her, but he wasn’t about to question the whys of it all. He only wanted more. More of her sweetness. More of her body. More of this fullness in the center of his chest that felt way too damn good.
He made it halfway up the rickety stairs before his bare feet slipped on the carpet runner. He was still wobbly, not totally healed from whatever had happened to him, but he didn’t want to let go of her. Grunting against her mouth, he turned so he wouldn’t drop her. Her spine hit the wall. She pulled back from his mouth for only a second, then kissed him harder, pushing her sex against his erection and tangling her tongue with his until he saw stars.
He groaned, hitched her over onto his thigh so he could balance her weight, and pulled her dress up the backs of her thighs. The hem was damp from the ocean. She smelled like jasmine and salt. She rocked against him, tore her mouth from his, nipped his ear, then offered her throat. He answered by kissing her jaw, the soft skin behind her ear, drawing her lobe into his mouth and suckling as his hands finally found skin.
“Oh, yes, Gryphon.” She rocked against him again, the heat of her mound so close to his cock, he hurt.
He gripped the backs of her thighs, kneaded the tight muscles, slid his hands higher, and shuddered when he realized she wasn’t wearing panties. “Maelea…”
She found his mouth again, dropped her hand from his shoulder, slid it down his bare chest. Her fingers brushed his lower abs, sending jolts of electricity through his pelvis. Then she pressed her hand right between her legs and gripped his cock through the denim of his jeans.
His legs buckled. He gasped. Tried to push her against the wall so she didn’t go down with him. He hit the stairs on his back. Pain echoed up his spine, but it was fleeting. Because as soon as Maelea’s feet touched the ground, she lowered herself and kissed him again. Hard, hot, needy kisses he felt everywhere. Then her mouth slid to his ear and she straddled him, rubbing her breasts against his chest, her sex against his erection, her hands anywhere she could reach.
He threaded his fingers in her long hair, drew her mouth back to his, lifted his hips to meet hers as he kissed her. As he tasted the wetness of her mouth, as he felt the fire from her body, everywhere. He didn’t even care that the stairs were digging into his spine. She broke the kiss, trailed her mouth down his throat. Shivers rushed over his skin, and he groaned. Then nearly came when her tongue circled his nipple and she nipped at the very tip.
Pleasure arced from his nipples to his cock. His vision blurred. He needed to get her upstairs. Wanted her in that big white bed. Couldn’t think of anything else. He tried to find the words to tell her to stop, but her mouth moved from his nipple down the center of his stomach. Her tongue circled his belly button. Then every muscle in his body tensed when she gripped the waistband of his jeans and popped the button, finally freeing him.
His cock sprang up, hard, hot, pulsing. She wrapped her small hand around his shaft, looked up at him with lust-filled eyes as she caressed him. Long, teasing strokes that made him burn with the fire of a thousand suns.
“I love the way you feel,” she whispered. “I love the way you taste. I want to feel you come against my tongue.”
Oh, holy gods. If she kept up that kind of talk, he was going to lose control. And he didn’t want this to be about him. He wanted it to be about her. He wanted to feel her pleasure. Taste her release. Make her as crazy as she’d made him.
Before she could take him into her mouth, he gripped her arms, dragged her up his body, and kissed her again. She moaned into his mouth, stroked
his length one more time before letting go and bracing her knees on each side of his body. He gripped the hem of her dress, pulled it up her thighs and around her waist. Her naked sex brushed his cock, and she shivered. It would be so easy to pull her hips down to his, slide inside her right here, take what he desperately craved. But not yet. First he wanted her dizzy with need.
He tugged the dress higher up her rib cage, over her breasts, and finally broke the kiss to pull it over her head.
She was completely naked. And so damn gorgeous. He dropped the dress on the stairs, took in every curve and angle and the way the morning light highlighted soft skin, the lines of her ribs, the gentle indent of her belly button. Her nipples hardened as he stared at her, and he watched her stomach muscles cave in and quiver, watched her eyes grow wide as he palmed her breast, as he brought her nipple to his lips and ran his tongue over the tight, stiff peak.
She braced her hands on the stairs on each side of his head, leaned forward to give him better access, moaned long and low as he suckled her. With his free hand, he pressed against her lower spine, pushing her higher up his chest as he trailed his lips down her stomach. She took the cue easily, lifted one knee, then the other, and moved her hands up the steps until she was finally straddling his face.
He could smell her. That sweet, tangy scent of her arousal. Remembered the unique aroma from their night on that boat. When he breathed hot against her sex, she moaned and pushed up so her torso was perpendicular to the stairs, then gripped the spindles of the banister on one side and braced her hand against the wall on the other. “Gryphon…”
He looked up, reveled in the way her eyes darkened with arousal as she watched him. “My turn to taste you.”
He lifted his head and made one long, lingering sweep up her cleft with the flat of his tongue. She groaned. Dropped her head back and shivered. He did it again, loving the way her whole body shook. Loving the way she tasted.