Athena's Daughter (16 page)

“Fine.” He came to a halt, putting the couch
between them. “You want to know so badly, I’ll tell you.” Those
eyes were chips of blue ice. “I was furious that I’d gone all that
time thinking the only reason you would have left me was because
something tragic happened, only to find you’d just tossed me aside
with no word of explanation, and gone off and had yourself a happy
little life. Yeah, it made me furious.”

“A happy little life? You thought I was
happy?” Now she was the furious one after hearing the hell she’d
been through described as happy. Hands on hips, she glared at him
across the couch. “I was devastated when that stupid girl told me
those lies. I thought you were the one who did the tossing aside.
And because of it I ended up married to a man I didn’t love.”

“Why did you marry him, then?” he asked,
throwing his hands wide.

Here it was. “I was pregnant, that’s
why.”

“Oh, right,” he sneered. “You were so
heartbroken when you thought I was marrying someone else that you
ran right out and got pregnant. Touching.”

Anger swept through her, leaving her hot and
shaking. “It wasn’t like that.”

“How was it then, Athena?” he all but
shouted. “Explain it to me.”

No; she couldn’t tell him about Elizabeth
when he was in such a mood. The way he was looking at her let her
know in no uncertain terms that even if she did tell him he
wouldn’t believe her.

“It wasn’t like that,” she repeated. “And as
for my happy little life, Steve left me when the baby was only two
months old. I had to get a divorce without having any idea where he
was, and then raise Elizabeth by myself. I’ve done nothing but work
my fingers to the bone since then, and I can assure you I’ve been
anything but happy.”

He regarded her in silence, and his
aggressive stance relaxed. “All right, then,” he sighed. Turning,
he went to stand in front of the window, shoulders slumped. “Why
are you here, Athena?”

“I told you. We need to talk…”

“No.” He shook his head. “I mean why are you
here as our personal assistant? Why did you take this job?”

“I’m here for Elizabeth,” she said
softly.

“What does your daughter have to do with
it?”

Our daughter, she wanted to cry. Ours! But it
still wasn’t the right time. In his current mood, hearing that
she’d come to reunite their daughter with her father might send him
jumping out that window – after he tossed Athena through it
first.

“I’m going to use the money to put a down
payment on a house.”

“The money? He turned to face her again, his
expression hard. “That’s it?”

She bristled at the implied accusation of
gold digging. “That money is going to make it possible for me to
get Elizabeth out of that crummy apartment we’ve been in for almost
seven years. She’s going to have a back yard with grass and a swing
set so she can actually play outdoors. She’s going to have a puppy,
and a big bedroom where we can paint the walls pink like she’s
always wanted. That money is going to get us into a nice
neighborhood where she can finally go to a good school and have
friends over without having to be ashamed, and she can really have
a happy little life.” She stopped, breathing hard.

“I don’t want you here,” he whispered.

The pain of rejection crushed her chest, and
she stumbled backwards. “You’ve made that abundantly clear,” she
choked out through trembling lips. “But I was really hoping you
could get over being so pissed off at me, and we could at least get
along.”

His head jerked up. “It’s not that. It was
never really that.”

“Then what?”

“I don’t want to be near you.”

His image blurred through a rush of
humiliated tears. “Gee, thanks, Derek. You really know how to make
a girl feel good.”

“You don’t understand,” he growled.

“Oh, I understand just fine.” With alarm, she
saw him coming toward her, and she backed toward the door. “Forget
it, all right? Heaven forbid you should have to be near me just
because it’s my job, and because we used to be…Forget it. We’ll
just ignore each other until this tour is over and we can go our
separate ways.”

“Oh, no you don’t,” he said as he reached
her. “You wanted to talk, so we’re going to talk.”

“I think you’ve made your point.” She wanted
so much to flee the room, but her legs were too weighted down by
defeat for her to lift. “No need to keep hammering me with it.”

“I’m not trying to hammer you with it!”

She made a rude noise. “Well, you’re doing a
damn fine job of it.” It was too degrading to take another second
of his obvious disgust for her, and she forced her body to turn
toward the door. Before she could take a step, his fingers closed
over her wrist in an iron grip.

“You don’t understand,” he gritted out. “If I
push you away then you won’t get near me.”

“Oh, that’s even better.” She tried and
failed to pull her wrist loose. “I’m so sorry my very presence
offends you so much.” With her other hand she attempted to pry his
fingers loose, but only succeeded in having him take her other
wrist prisoner as well.

“No, damn it!” He gave her arms a little
shake. “I don’t want to be near you because…”

“Let me go, Derek.” It wasn’t fair. The feel
of his skin against hers was so exciting, so welcome, so right; and
having him touch her while telling her he didn’t want her was more
cruel than anything else she’d endured.

Taut with tension, his voice was almost
unrecognizable. “It’s because what I really want, what I need, is
to be close to you, and I don’t think I can bear it if you don’t
want that, too.”

It took a minute for his words to make sense,
but when they did her breath stopped. “You don’t want to be near me
because…because you want to be near me?”

Taking a step forward, he backed her against
the wall, still holding her wrists captive. The trembling in his
hands traveled up her arms. “Crazy, isn’t it? But, yeah. That’s
what I want.” His soft voice went through her like a bolt of
lightning, and she gasped.

“Fuck it, Athena. I want,” he almost
whispered. “And I’ve wanted since I first saw you. But I’m so
fucking afraid you’re going to reject me again, and I don’t want to
be hurt anymore.”

Weak with a mixture of relief and the
beginnings of a sweet, hot flame of hope, Athena stopped pulling
against his grip. “I never rejected you, Derek. I never would have.
I thought you rejected me.” Her head rolled against the wall in a
slight shake. “It broke my heart.”

His fingers tightened on her wrists the
barest bit. “Why didn’t you ring me again? You had to have known on
some level I couldn’t just forget about you, about us.”

“Honestly, it was because I couldn’t afford
it. I spent the last of my money when I called and ended up talking
to that lying little twit.” She drew in a tremulous breath. “But
most of all it was because I was a stupid kid who still couldn’t
believe that someone like you would really want me.”

“Are you still going on about that after all
this time?” His chin lifted the slightest bit. “Didn’t I make it
clear how I felt?”

“Yes, but you were so beautiful – still are,
if you want to know – and I was this awkward, gawky kid who…”

“No, you weren’t,” he interrupted as his
thumbs began a slow caress on the insides of her wrists. “You were
the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen – still are, if you want to
know – and even though I’ve tried, I still can’t get you out of my
head.”

“What do you mean?” Please God he wasn’t
playing with her. Please let him mean it.

Instead of answering, he pressed against her
with a groan. Releasing her wrists, he slid his hands up her arms
to cup the back of her head.

The feel of his body on hers was her undoing.
With her hands finally free, Athena did what she’d wanted to do
since she first saw him again. Threading her fingers into his hair,
she pulled his head down to hers, and fastened her lips to his with
a hunger that had gone unsatisfied for far too long.

With a growl, Derek took her offered mouth
and ravaged it in a kiss so hot it should have set off the fire
alarm. His hands left her head and settled on her hips, pulling her
against a rock hard erection that made her moan with longing.

Derek picked her up against his chest and
carried her into the bedroom, kicking the door shut with his heel.
He set her on her feet beside the bed, and divested her of her
T-shirt and bra before taking her mouth again in another
mind-numbing kiss. Warm hands slipped up her ribs until he cupped
her breasts in his palms. When he stroked her nipples with his
thumbs, she arched against him in bliss.

With shaking fingers, she unbuttoned his
shirt and pushed it off his shoulders. Every morning when she woke
him up, she’d touched him there with quick efficiency, but now she
gave into the longing she’d had to caress that skin, feel the play
of muscles as he moved, savor the warmth of him under her
hands.

He removed his shirt like it was on fire, and
pulled her down to the bed. His lips left a trail of heat across
her jaw and neck as he worked his way down.

“Want you so bad, angel,” he breathed against
her skin, sending shocks of pleasure to all her nerve endings. His
warm mouth fastened over a taut nipple, and Athena melted as his
tongue teased her sensitive skin.

Wild to feel every inch of him against her,
she kicked off her sandals so he could remove her jeans, an action
she urged him to do by thrusting her hips against his. “Please,”
she whispered.

Derek responded by sucking harder on her
breast, wringing a guttural moan of pleasure from her throat. His
hands dropped to the waistband of her jeans, and pulled open the
snap and lowered the zipper. Fingertips smooth with callus ran over
her belly, and she whimpered with need.

Breathing hard, Derek stood up and yanked her
jeans and panties off. “You are so fucking beautiful,” he groaned,
his eyes devouring her with a touch that was almost physical.
Grasping her hips, he pulled her to the edge of the bed and knelt
before her.

Athena spread her thighs, aching for his
touch. “I want you, Derek.”

“I can see that.” He ran a finger over her,
sighing in pleasure at the shudder that ran through her. “So hot
and wet for me, angel. So ready.”

His thumbs spread her open, and she endured a
moment of agonizing anticipation. Then he ran his tongue over her
softness, and Athena dissolved. He was right; she was ready for
him, her climax spiraling inside her, hot and heavy and just
waiting for him to set it free. The feel of two of Derek’s fingers
sliding inside her provided the spark, and she ignited, the heat of
a thousand suns radiating through her, lost in what he was doing to
her. Lost in him.

Still shaking with release, she looked up to
see Derek ripping off his jeans. Her breath caught at the sight of
his body, still as beautiful as it was all those years ago. He slid
over her, his intent obvious, but she wrapped her arms around him
and rolled him over on his back. Sweeping her hair out the way, she
bent her head toward his lap, but stopped when he gently grabbed
her head.

“No, Athena,” he panted. “I can’t…”

“You will,” she said, looking him in the eye.
“I want to taste you first. I have to taste you.”

“Jesus,” he muttered through clenched teeth.
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, his hand sliding
through her hair. “Do it.”

Bending down again, she curled her fingers
around him, delighting in his moan of pleasure. Her hand performed
a slow up and down stroke, but she paused at his urgent sound of
protest. He really was close to losing it, and if she wanted him,
she needed to hurry. Without further preliminaries, she closed her
lips around him and drew him into her mouth.

Oh, yes. Oh, God, yes. It was like no time
had passed; the feel of him was so familiar, so perfect. Her tongue
immediately remembered just where to go and the rhythm he’d always
liked. The convulsive grab of his hands in her hair indicated she
didn’t have a lot of time, so she took him in further until he
touched the back of her throat. With slow deliciousness, she drew
her mouth back up his length, letting her teeth graze the head with
a gentle nip, the incredible taste of him flooding her tongue. The
next thing she knew he was pulling her head up with frantic
pressure.

“No more, angel,” he gasped. “Not now.”

Without protest she moved up, her legs on
either side of his hips, and positioned herself over him. Looking
into his eyes, she lowered herself onto that gorgeous hardness,
gasping as he filled her to the max. He thrust up into her and she
began to move, her muscles stroking him and pushing him closer and
closer to release. When his movements became jerky and
uncoordinated, she leaned forward, placing a hand on either side of
his head.

“Come on, baby,” she breathed, watching the
grimaces of intense pleasure contort his face. “Give it to me.”

With one last mighty thrust, he did, a cry of
release breaking free from his lips. At the sight of him shattering
apart under her, her own climax blazed through her. Derek let out
another guttural cry as she shuddered around him.

Blissfully replete, she gazed down at him,
caught by the intensity of those amazing blue eyes.

His hand rose to touch her cheek. “I still
love you,” he whispered.

A feeling too deep for words shot through
her, and she leaned forward to press a kiss on his lips. “I still
love you, too.”

Content and at peace for the first time since
the day she left England, Athena lay sheltered in Derek’s arms,
almost afraid to breathe lest she break some spell and have the
whole thing shatter apart. The warmth of him against her back, and
the soft kisses he pressed to the nape of her neck were almost too
wonderful to comprehend.