Radiant Sin(41)

“Thanks.”

It should feel silly to lace my fingers with his and allow him to lead me out of the room. Who walks around holding hands when they don’t need to? Even with Hermes, this wasn’t how I operated. She was into casual intimacy, but she wasn’t sweet. And this is sweet enough to make my teeth ache.

The feeling lasts until we turn the corner and come face-to-face with the Minotaur.

Apollo moves before I fully register the man’s presence. He uses his hold on my hand to tuck me neatly behind him and angles his body to stay between me and the larger man. Where before his body language was loose and easy, he’s now so rigid, I press my hand to the middle of his back in support.

“Minotaur.”

The Minotaur looks down at him with no expression at all. Apollo is tall, but the other man towers over him. His scarred face looks even scarier in the low lighting of the hallway. “You shouldn’t wander.”

That surprises me enough that I burst out laughing. “I’m sorry, but why not? Surely you aren’t going to try and convince us that there are ghosts haunting these halls.”

He shifts that eerie attention to me. “Your safety isn’t guaranteed, Cassandra.”

I blink. “What do you mean it’s not guaranteed?” Is he talking generally? Or about me specifically?

“Your safety isn’t guaranteed,” he repeats. “No cameras now. Who knows what could happen to you in the dark?” Without another word, he turns and stalks down the hall in the opposite direction.

Apollo doesn’t move until the other man is out of sight. Only then does he reclaim my hand and lead me back to the bedroom. He closes the door behind us and checks the lock. “Well, we have no cameras to worry about, but apparently they’re going to use that as an excuse to wash their hands of anything that happens here.”

A frisson of fear dampens my lust. “They really are planning something for this party, aren’t they?”

“I don’t know.” His jaw goes tight. “And that worries me.”

My body is still flush with two orgasms. It makes thinking hard, but I try anyway. “Do we ignore the warning and keep looking tonight?”

“I don’t think there’s anything to find on the second floor. The sitting rooms are all exactly what was promised, and the rest of the rooms have occupants. We’ll have a better chance with the third floor and finishing out the main one. We also can’t exclude the possibility that he’s using the garage or some building on the grounds for storage.” He drags his hand through his hair, making it stand on end. “We’ve done enough for tonight. Might as well call it and get some sleep.”

“Or we could do exactly as promised earlier and finish what we started in the sitting room.”

“Cassandra.”

I ignore the warning in his tone. In fact, it sends a delicious little shiver down my spine. We can’t take back what we did in that sitting room, but I wouldn’t even if I could. He wants me. I can barely believe it after so long of desiring him.

I’m leaving in a week. I’ll be damned if I miss a single opportunity to fulfill the promise held in the heated way he looked at me, touched me. If we’re not continuing the search tonight, then there’s no reason not to give in to the inferno of lust that makes it hard to breathe when I look at him.

Even so, it takes more courage than I want to admit to hold his gaze and pull my top over my head. I barely register his sharp inhale as I shimmy out of my shorts. The way this man looks at me should be illegal. His gaze sweeps over me as if he can’t take in my features fast enough, as if this is a gift I’ll snatch back at the last moment and he wants to imprint the image of me in his brain. It washes away the last of my hesitance. This is happening. We both want this to happen.

Instead of crawling on the bed, I sink to my knees, taking up the traditional submissive position.

“Cassandra,” Apollo murmurs. “We don’t have to.”

Gods, but I could fall in love with this man. I ignore that thought and shift my stance a little, arching my back and spreading my thighs. “We covered this. I don’t do anything I don’t want to do, and right now I want to do you.”

“You want to do me.” His lips quirk in a skeptical smile. “Is that so?”

“Yes.” I eye the hard length pressed against the front of his lounge pants. “I think you want to do me, too.”

He steps closer and sifts his fingers through my hair, tightening them abruptly at the back of my head. I jolt, but it doesn’t hurt. He’s just holding me immobile. He considers me. “You have your safe word. I will respect it, regardless of what we’re doing when you use it.”

I lick my lips. “I know.”

That reassures him. Of course it does. Any dominant worth their salt cares about their submissive’s needs. Not that I’m Apollo’s… I swallow hard. Best not to think about that. Best not to think about a number of things.

He tightens his grip on my hair, bending me backward a little. Apollo’s gaze coasts over my mouth, down my throat, to my breasts and belly. I start to tense, expecting self-consciousness to rise, but how can I feel self-conscious when he’s staring at me like a man who’s finally allowed to touch the one thing he’s craved for years?

“Apollo.”

“Don’t rush me.”