Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 83786 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83786 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
She nibbles her bottom lip, the move so unlike my fierce queen that I can’t help staring as if I’ve never seen her before. Maybe I haven’t. We’ve been playing war games since the moment she came to me with an offer of marriage in exchange for my protection of her sisters. We’ve never been vulnerable with each other. Not in any way that truly matters.
Callisto shifts. “I want things I can’t possibly have.”
I’m a fool a thousand times over for the desperation rising in me as I process her words and search for meaning beneath them. “You want me.”
“Yes.” She shifts, her gaze raking over me before finally landing on my face. “I want you. But I can’t have you. Not really. Even if we wouldn’t eventually destroy each other, Olympus will destroy us both.”
Her honesty draws me closer despite how much I hate her words. I climb onto the bed and stretch out next to her, mere inches away. As I search her expression, I realize I’ve never seen her look so…open. It makes me want to gather her to my chest and hold her tight, but I don’t know if she’ll allow it. I still can’t help but reach out and smooth back her damp hair. “You have me, Callisto. You’ve had me from the start.” A truth so stark, it feels obscene to say it aloud.
She shivers. “I like it when you say my name.”
I’ll say it forever if you let me. I know better than to speak that promise aloud. This moment hangs in the balance. She’s scared and vulnerable, and tomorrow, when she’s feeling more like herself, she’ll hate me all the more for witnessing this moment of alleged weakness.
From the time I was a kid, I’ve been taught to lead, to manipulate, to control. I’ve never been taught how to protect. It’s not a skill I truly understood I was lacking until recently, when all I want to do is protect my sisters…and my wife. They won’t allow it any more than she will. If I were stronger, if I knew what the fuck I was doing, then maybe it would be different. Maybe they would trust me to stand between them and what’s coming for us all.
Wishes are for the pathetic fools who don’t have the power to make things happen.
I hate that my father’s voice intrudes on this moment. I hate even more that he’s right. I stroke my thumb over Callisto’s cheek. Over and over again, we’ve brushed against the opportunity to pivot this marriage into something real, and over and over again, one or both of us has shied away from taking that first step. I wish I could believe tonight will change things, but I know better. Tomorrow, it will be back to war.
But that’s tomorrow. Tonight, she’s mine.
“I’ll say your name as often as you like.” I brush a light kiss to her lips. “Callisto.” I kiss her again, deeper this time. She immediately melts into me, crossing the minuscule distance between us and sinking her hands into my hair. In this moment, we’re not Zeus and Hera, the perpetually warring king and queen of Olympus. We’re Callisto and Perseus, and if we aren’t fully committed as wife and husband, we’re here.
I grip her thigh and tug her leg up and around my waist. Closer. I need to be closer. I grab her ass and slide my hand down to press my fingers into her pussy from behind. She makes the sweetest little whimpering sound in response. I want to swallow it whole.
Callisto bites my bottom lip, raking it gently between her teeth. “That feels good.”
“I’ll always make you feel good.” I don’t know what I’m saying; the sensation of her wet heat clamping around my fingers is enough to short-circuit my brain. I like having her like this, pressed against me, pinned on my fingers, grasping at my shoulders with demanding hands. She kisses me harder but I don’t pick up my pace, lazily finger fucking her.
She’ll never be mine. I know better than to play possession games in the bedroom, but fuck if I don’t want to growl against her mouth to remind her I’m the one making her so wet the sounds fill the room even over our moans and kissing. It’s not that asshole Ixion driving her out of her mind, taking care of her when she needs it most.
It’s me.
It’s too much, but fuck if I care. “Come for me, Wife. You’re so fucking sweet when you do.”
“I need…” She shivers. “I’m so close.”
I shift our positions just enough to wedge my leg between her spread thighs. It’s a little awkward, but I’m able to guide her to grind against my thigh without sacrificing being able to reach the spot inside her that makes her go boneless and desperate.