A Spartan's Kiss (22 page)

She froze against him. Clearly his move hadn’t been what she’d expected, but seconds later, she met him kiss for kiss. A low moan passed her lips. He took it, dived in, and devoured her. He pressed her mouth open, stroking his tongue along hers as he melded their bodies together. Thought ended. The godhead. The hunt. Ares. All of it dissolved like Tabithia did on his tongue. Her softer body yielded to his, fitting him perfectly.

He’d meant to go slow, but she blew all his planning away. She made him blaze with a heat like nothing he’d ever experienced before. She eased the constant fire burning him inside out. Sucking on her bottom lip, he wrapped one arm around her slim back and cupped one gorgeous cheek of her ass to hold her tight and grind his erection against her stomach. A moment later he had to have her mouth again and dived back in. They both went wild, tangling tongues and running their hands over each other until he felt like his heart would explode from the sheer joy of her reaction.

All this time he’d wanted her, needed this, and she seemed as hot for him as he was for her. Gods, if he’d ever guessed she wanted this, he would have been inside her the first night. The first break on their trip. In the jet. In his bed.

“Aeros?”

Aaron’s voice should have registered some alarm bells for Aeros, but he grunted and turned Tabithia to the wall so he could cushion her back with his arm as he dug into the cradle of her hips with his pulsing cock. She wrapped her legs around his waist and tugging at his hair as she practically climbed up his body to push back onto his erection.

Groaning into her mouth, he tangled his hand in all that luscious, silky hair, and tipped her head back so he could taste her slender throat. Another call of his name, this time closer, forced him to leave the trail of her pulse to meet her eyes. The men were growing closer. Any minute and they’d be here.

They were both breathless. Her lips were soft and wet from his kisses. Her face flushed a gorgeous pink with desire.

“The men,” she whispered, but reached up to cup his jaw with both small hands and leaned in to rest her forehead against his. Her eyes glowed with wonder, excitement and such a look of amazement that he almost laughed. When she pulled up and pressed her lips to his, he forgot everything but her tentative exploration of his lips with hers.

Lush, warm kisses, hesitant but eager at the same time, filled his world, then, with a small sound, she pulled back again, as if to see his reaction.

He watched her blink at him. The feel of her pressing against him had him wanting so much more than he’d get right now. Here in a damn smelly cave. He swore he could feel her, every inch of her slender frame, all the way to his soul. Realisation that he still held her seemed to slowly ease over her face. For once, her expressive eyes weren’t sparkling with mischief or darkening in scorn. For once she looked…vulnerable. Almost, but not quite, frightened. He thought she’d try to shove him aside. He felt her body tense, but her small hands tightened on his shoulders instead.

“You kissed me.”

“Yes.” Gods had he kissed her. Wanted to again. “I did. I will do much more than play, Tabithia. Not here, but soon. When we are free of this place, we will do much more than kiss.”

“Aeros! Man? Where the hell are you?” The Bard’s shout sounded from the far passage leading into the lair. Too close.

Tabithia ignored the Bard. She looked wary. Almost bordering on confused. “Why?”

“Why? Because I wanted to kiss you since I first saw you. Fuck, I’ve wanted to goddamn do more than that.” He tried hard to keep the anger from his tone, but hell, she’d come apart in his arms. She’d wanted him. She wanted him. “And you’ve wanted me as well.”

Her green eyes widened as he continued, and he could see he was spooking her, but the words simply wouldn’t stop.

“Aeros! Don’t swear so much.”

He blinked. She sounded shocked. Hell, he’d heard her—no, no, he’d—heard her say shit or damn, but not cuss. Was she serious about this? She looked serious but hell, it was hard to concentrate with her lips so close, her warm, tender body curled all around him.

He nodded. “I’ll work on that.”

Again, she surprised him by not shoving against him.

“You liked our kiss,” she whispered. A soft, pink colour tinted the cream of her face. Fragile. She was fragile. He knew she wasn’t—hell, she’d parted the damn water that would have drowned them all, or at least knocked their asses back to the jet, but there it was. He needed to go slow, cautiously—the way he planned a battle, careful of each move he made.

“Tabithia, I more than liked your kiss, our kiss.” He pressed his erection against her as proof and watched as her high cheekbones flushed darker. She nodded, hesitantly, though, as if curious still about why he had kissed her.

“Whatever you choose, Tabithia, right now, this isn’t over.”

They stared into each other’s eyes for a long moment. She looked frightened—spooked for sure. He should have been ready for her to press her small hands against his chest, wanting him to let go, but he still felt a jab to his heart. Instead of releasing her, he savoured her for a moment and dipped his head to inhale one more breath of her. She froze. He swore he could feel her heart beating like a caged bird between them.

“Remember, no matter where you go, I’ll find you, Tabithia.” He let her drop her feet to the floor and carefully eased up after only brushing his lips over her hair.

She scooted away, almost falling on the gore littering the ground. His hands fisted to keep from reaching out for her again.

“That sounds like a threat.”

He had her back in his space within a heartbeat.

“A threat?” Touching her cheek with a knuckle, he marvelled at how silky smooth her warm skin felt. “I’d die before harming you.”

She edged backwards, quietly, but with purpose. His heart ached, but he had to let her go. If he didn’t, he didn’t trust himself not to simply hijack her to his home and tie her to his bed. His cock jerked. Swollen, the damn thing hurt like hell but he savoured the pain, knowing soon enough he’d not feel the ache. Not without Tabithia’s sweet presence.

“I’ll come for you. That’s a promise. No matter what you do, this is not over between us.”

Eyes wide, breathing hard, she blinked. Clearly, she’d made up her mind. “Oh? Even when I do this?”

A rumble was his only warning. She ducked back and down, knocking his feet out from under him. He landed on his ass with a loud grunt. The little witch!

He shot to his feet, ready to grab her back into his arms.

Tabithia had other ideas. She spun and nailed him again. This time her tiny boot landed square on his gut, knocking his wind out enough to make him gasp for air. She grinned and blew him a damn kiss as she walked backwards towards the exit she’d used before.

Sonofabitch, she was adorable. Stumbling on the debris, Aeros managed to make it to the small tunnel quick enough to watch her disappear. The ground beneath his boots rumbled up his legs, shifting hard enough that he reached out and held onto the side of the cave. The sound of rocks falling deafened him for a long, intense span of time. The air grew heavy with dust and the rumblings of what felt like the entire mountain falling down on the tunnel she’d taken. A few bits of debris and dust billowed out of the tunnel and all grew eerily quiet.

Excitement settled in his bones. His breathing eased out in a long exhale, taking with it the tension he’d felt since the first moment he’d turned his head and viewed the brilliance of Tabithia’s beauty. For the first time in his…hell, his life, his existence, he had a purpose.

Tabithia.

He’d find her anywhere.

Chapter Thirteen

“So, chica, what do you think of snow?”

Tabithia picked the orange slice off the little plastic sword on the side of her drink and settled deeper in her soft beach lounge chair. The waves crashing mere yards from their feet made her smile. Or maybe remembering the expression on Aeros’ face the day before when she’d knocked him on his butt was what was keeping her grin in place. Either way, she was enjoying the day so far. She still felt a bit antsy, but hey, whatever. Within the day they would be home and this trip and the sexy Spartan would be behind her.

And that was so not making her grumpy.

Dare coughed, and Tab glanced over to the other woman.

“I like snow. Am I going where there’s snow?”

Dare looked much better—almost superstar better. She still sported the light buzz cut, but she’d showered and her haircut fitted her now. Kinda rock star. Well, she had taken four showers, actually, but Tab figured, after that long without taking a shower, she would have refused to leave the bathroom for weeks. Now, the woman across from her was so clean she practically squeaked. Dressed in a soft, pale cream sundress and flip-flops, she almost looked up to date with this century. If she’d quit jumping at every sound, gesture, or beep from an electronic device, she might blend in a wee bit better.

“Well, it might be best. I have some pull with a guy who has a place down south.” She had the crazy idea that breaking Dare into this century might be best, and where else to do that but deep in the frozen tundra, with a guy who made hermits look like the guy voted most popular. But, hey, the warlock owed her a favour or two. Or three. She’d saved his butt in Russia a few years back when Trouble had got them into some deep shit up in the former USSR.

“I thought this was south?”

“Well, sure, of like Hadrian’s Wall. But this is like bottom of the world south—Antarctica. He has running water,” she hurried to add when Dare immediately stuck her bottom lip out.

Dare looked down at her lobster salad and ran a finger around the white porcelain plate. They were at the ritziest resort in Belize that Tabithia could find on short notice. Dare might have been able to shift them, but they’d decided not to take the chance this soon. The witch needed some downtime. She was fidgety, making Tabithia nearly crazy on their mad dash through the jungle. The other woman had kept up, but broken down in tears unexpectedly only to turn around the next minute and cuss Ares bad enough to make Aeros’ language look clean. Dare’s emotions had swung back and forth until Tabithia was ready to knock her out and carry her over her shoulder caveman-style.

Tabithia simply didn’t have any idea how to deal with the emotional mess, since, heck, she’d never swung so up and down in her life. She had dark moods. She cut herself when drinking and dangerous escapades didn’t quell the needs. One look at the pretty witch, though, and she doubted the girl would like the taste of steel on flesh, the quick burn and pleasant warm rush of bright blood.

“Well, I’m not certain if I want to be around a man.”

Tabithia nearly fell off her chair. Okay, that was funny. Maybe. Wait. Tabithia felt her mouth gaping open. She was serious.

What. The. Shit?

“Wait, are you…? Do you…? Oh, gods, tell me you don’t like, as in love, Ares?”

Dare’s forehead creased in a frown, but she didn’t deny it. The woman was even pretty when she frowned. She fiddled with her silver fork, moving salad greens around on her plate into little lanes of lettuce with rows of stacked lobster-looking houses.

Holy hell.

“How can you like, as in love, him? He held you prisoner!”

Okay, this sucked. Really.

Had she got blisters on her heels and sweated gallons of yuck for no reason? Had she left the first man who made her feel safe enough to want to have sex for nothing?

There, she’d thought it. Yeah, she wanted him. She wanted Aeros in a way that had her inner thighs constantly achy. She wanted to drive him on, wrap her legs around his lean hips as he powered into her. She wanted to hear the headboard hit the wall as he took her with aggressive, pounding strokes while he groaned deeply in pleasure. She wanted to feel the weight of him on top of her as he drove them closer and closer to climax. She wanted to feel the warmth of his skin gliding over hers. She wanted to press her breasts against his hot flesh and rub herself all up against the dark hair on his chest. She wanted all of it. And him.

Things she’d never imagined before, she now thought about all the time. Even to the point of being unable to sleep for fear of waking up touching herself.

Darkness tugged at her, stabbing her with doubts. What would she do with him if she did have him?

His firm sexy words had thrown her. Heck, she was still thrown. He’d sounded so determined.

Why? Because I wanted to kiss you since I first saw you. Fuck, I’ve wanted to goddamn do more than that.

And there was the shitty part of this. Tabithia didn’t think she could do more than what they’d already done. Heck, she’d held his erection in her hand. Stroked him. Come in his arms. But sex. Real, body to body sex. Oh, she wanted to, until she thought of him seeing her naked. Not in a dim cave, but in the harsh light of day? She grew sick to her stomach just thinking about it. The cave had been dim. He’d not really seen her, seen her. What if he looked at her with distaste? With revulsion?

Dare dropped her fork against the porcelain plate with a loud clatter. The sound broke Tabithia out of her miserable thoughts. Sipping her drink, she watched Dare sit back with a long sigh.

“I know, I know, and he’ll have to pay for that, and a few other things,” Dare muttered. She lifted her chin and met her gaze with a determined expression. Very, very determined. “He’s mine.”

It took Tabithia’s brain several moments to put those words together to make any kind of sense out of them. When she did, she saw Dare through a haze of red. She’d left a man buried in the jungle to save a woman from a man who she wanted?

“Excuse me?”

Dare sighed as if Tabithia was dim-witted.

Hello? She’d just brought down a cave on a man for this crazy witch.

“You heard me. He’s mine.” She moved her rows of lobster houses aside and exhaled through her little nose. “I’m going to punish him, for a very long time, but I’m not going to let him go.”

Oh, hell.
Tabithia fell back on her lounger and contemplated the brilliant blue sky—cloudless, perfectly blue sky. Now this, this kind of thing just was not right. Couldn’t be right.