She tightened around him, dug her fingernails into his shoulders, moaned against his lips. He moved quicker, kissed her harder, knew her climax was building—knew every one of her tells. Desperate to give her exactly what she needed, he plunged deeper, pulled her hips tighter to his, angled her body so the tip of his cock hit her sweetest spot over and over and over again.
She pushed against him, lifted herself in his arms, tore her mouth from his and groaned long and low as her body pulsed around him. And in that moment, he didn’t hesitate. He latched on to her neck as she rode him, licked the sweet, tender flesh with his tongue and sucked. Then gave himself over to the sensations enveloping his cock and came harder than he had in his whole life.
Spent, she collapsed against his chest, rested her forehead on his shoulder. Her torso rose and fell with her rapid breaths, her pulse pounded in time with his. And his heart swelled as he drank her in inch by inch because this—this—was a moment he thought he’d never experience again.
“Thea…”
“I…oh, gods. I didn’t mean for that to happen.”
He slid his hands up in to her hair, massaged the nape of her neck, ran his fingers over the mark he now knew was there. “I don’t hear anyone complaining.”
“I…” She tipped her head so her temple rested against his chest. Was clearly trying to slow her own racing heart. “I won’t get pregnant. It’s not the right time. You don’t have to worry.”
Worry? How could she think that?
“I’m not worried,” he said. “I’d love to see you swollen with my child. I missed it the last time. I…” He pressed his lips to the top of her head as his throat grew thick and that space inside him warmed with just the thought of a family. A real family. And when they found their son…“Tell me when and I’ll make sure we hit the right time.”
She stilled against him. Her head slowly lifted until her violet eyes rested on his, searching his face. In the silence he couldn’t tell what she was thinking. Then she pushed against his chest and broke free. “I have to go.”
“Callia—”
She maneuvered away from him and dropped to the ground, leaving him cold after the loss of her heat. She reached for her pants from the floor. “This was a mistake.”
His chest tightened at her words. But before she could get away he wrapped his arms around her and lifted her from the floor. “It’s not a mistake. You and I are never a mistake.”
“Zander. Let me go.”
Not a chance. Not ever again.
He walked them to the bed and laid her out on the comforter, covering her body with his. “I already told you, I can’t.” He lowered his head, pressed his lips to the hollow of her throat.
“Please don’t,” she whispered.
He shifted higher, kissed first her right cheek, then her left. “Do you remember”—his lips trailed kisses to her ear—“that night I waited for you in the woods behind your father’s house?”
“Zander. Don’t.”
He kissed her earlobe, drew it into his mouth, breathed hot against her skin. “I didn’t think you’d show.”
She shuddered beneath him, and he felt the fight slide out of her body. Felt all those years of avoidance and misunderstanding shrink to this one moment. Felt that empty space in his chest fill to bursting.
“Your father wasn’t happy when he saw me at the clinic earlier that day. But I had to see you. I needed you then, thea.”
Her eyes squeezed tight, and he knew she was remembering that night. The same one that still played in his mind like a scene from a movie. One lone tear gathered at the corner of her lashes. “It…it wasn’t you. He never wanted me helping the Argonauts or the king. I didn’t understand then. But now…”
Now he understood too. “He knew about us then.”
“He suspected,” she whispered. “He didn’t know for sure.”
He kissed her jaw, her throat, licked his way to that sensitive spot where her neck met her shoulder. She trembled at the touch, the reaction encouraging him, exciting him. “You were all I could think about. Do you know how hard it was not to tell the world you were mine? To keep what was happening between us secret? I wanted you in that clinic. I wanted to climb the trellis to your veranda and take you in your bed. I went a little mad that night when you didn’t show.”
She drew in a shaky breath when he kissed his way across her collarbone, when he slid the strap of her camisole down and pressed his lips to the rise of her breast. “I…I couldn’t get away. He kept me up late, reading passages from Homer, talking about the Council. He suspected. I…I had to wait until he was asleep before I could sneak out.”
He’d hoped that was the reason she’d kept him waiting that night. But hearing her say the words after all this time…
He slipped the other strap off her shoulder, drew the camisole down so her perfect breasts came into view. He cupped one heavy mass, breathed hot over the tip. “You have no idea how I felt when I saw you run through the trees toward me. Do you remember what happened that night, thea?”
“You…you kissed me.” Tentatively, her hands slid up his shoulders, into his hair.
“Where?”
“Here.” She arched her back and brought her breast to his lips. Whether the move was instinctive or persuasive, he didn’t care. He drew her nipple into his mouth. Sucked until she quivered. A low moan escaped her lips, the sound so erotic he grew hard all over again. He moved to her other breast, repeated the stroke, the suck, the way his tongue traced the tip of her nipple and his teeth scraped the edge. She arched against him again, spread her legs. He sank down into the vee of her body until his heavy erection rested against her sleek, hot center.
“Then what?” he whispered.
“You…oh…” She moved her hips so the tip of his cock rubbed against her tight knot. “You lowered me to the ground and pulled off my clothes.”
He had. Right there in the small clearing. Hadn’t been able to get at her fast enough. “What did you do?”
“I helped you,” she whispered.
“You wanted me.”
“Yes.” She groaned as he trailed his mouth over the bunched-up fabric of her camisole.
“You wanted me to kiss you here, didn’t you?” He pressed his mouth against her toned belly, slipped his lips lower.
“Yes.”
“How about here?” He moved to the pressure point between her leg and torso.
“Yes,” she groaned, straining against him.
“And what about here?” Gently, he kissed the top of her naked mound.
“Oh, yes.”
“And now, thea? Do you want my mouth here now?” He brushed his fingers over her center, traced the line of her slit. Her body shook against him and the heady scent of her arousal drifted all the way into his soul.
“Yes,” she breathed.
He made a long sweep of her cleft, settled on her clit, flicked the tip and sucked until she moaned and writhed beneath him. He didn’t let up, taking her to the edge again and again. The sweet honey of her arousal made him lightheaded. Shattered his resistance. Called to that part of him that was linked tightly to her.
His lips found her hip, her stomach, her breast. Her eyes were still closed tight as he sucked her nipple deep, as he pushed her legs wide with his knees and braced himself on his hands above her. His mouth moved back to her neck, and he latched onto her dewy skin, sucked, then lowered his hips so his pounding erection was cradled right where he wanted it most.