Neon Gods (Dark Olympus #1)(34)

Apparently that isn’t an option with Hades.

He’s watching me closely, as if he can draw the thoughts directly from my head like warm taffy. “I don’t expect perfection.”

That makes me give a scratchy laugh of my own. “Could have fooled me. You want perfect obedience.”

“Not really.” Now it’s his turn to shrug. “The game can be played many ways. In a single scene, most things are negotiated beforehand. This situation is infinitely more complicated. So I’ll ask you again—what do you want? Perfection obviously chafes. Do you want me to force obedience? Allow you your freedom and punish you when you step out of line?” His dark eyes are an inferno just waiting to burn me up. “What will get you off the hardest, Persephone?”

My breath stalls in my chest. “I want to misbehave.” I don’t mean to say it. I truly don’t. But Hades offering me whatever I need? It’s more intoxicating than any alcohol I’ve tasted. He’s offering a strange sort of partnership, one I didn’t realize I desired. He might dominate. I might submit. But the power balance is startlingly equal.

I didn’t know it could be like this.

“There you are.” He says it like I’ve revealed something profound with those four little words. Hades stalks back to the bed, and if he was casually dominant before, now he feels overwhelming. I inch back onto the mattress, unable to take my eyes off him. He snaps his fingers. “The dress. Take it off.”

My hands move to the hem before my brain catches up. “What if I don’t want to?”

“Then I’ll leave.” He raises that blasted eyebrow again. “It’s your choice, of course, but we both know what you really want. Take off the dress. Then lie back and spread your legs.”

He has me cornered and I can’t even pretend he doesn’t. I glare, but it feels half-hearted at best with anticipation licking at my skin. I don’t waste time teasing him; I just yank the dress off and toss it to the side.

Hades follows the movement of the fabric, disapproval radiating from him. “Next time, you fold it, or I’m going to make you crawl across the floor in penance.”

Shock. Anger. Pure lust.

I lean back on my elbows and glare. “You can try.”

“Little Persephone.” He shakes his head slowly as I spread my legs. “You don’t even know what you crave, do you? It’s okay. I’ll show you.”

I should let it go. I really should. But for some reason, I can’t manage to keep myself locked down in Hades’s presence. “Please. I know what I like.”

“Prove it.”

I blink. “Excuse me?”

He waves a casual hand as if he’s not devouring my pussy with his gaze. “Show me. You want an orgasm so desperately? Give yourself one.”

Now my glare is hardly playing. “That’s not what I want.”

“Yes, it is.” He climbs onto the bed to kneel between my spread thighs. Hades doesn’t touch me, but it feels like he’s tattooed his possession on every part of my body. His obvious desire for me stokes my need higher.

I’m going to do this. I’m going to reach between my thighs and stroke my clit until I come apart in front of him. With how turned on I am right now, it won’t take much time at all. And I…I do want to do it, damn him. I can’t just give in, though. It’s not in my genetic makeup. I lick my lips. “I propose a bargain.”

There goes his eyebrow again, but he only says, “I’m listening.”

“I would very much like to…” I don’t know how to say this without dying of embarrassment, so I simply charge forward. “I want you to come when I come.” When he keeps watching me, waiting, I force myself to continue. “If I’m making myself orgasm…I would very, very much like for you to make yourself orgasm, too.”

He stares at me a long moment as if waiting for me to change my mind. I could tell him that there’s absolutely no danger of that, something he seems to realize a few seconds later.

Hades’s hands move as if he can’t help himself, resting on my thighs and giving me a light stroke. “You might have your way tonight, but don’t get in the habit of expecting it.”

I give him a sunny smile that makes a muscle in his cheek twitch. “If I had my way, you’d already be inside me.”

“Mmmm.” He shakes his head. “You’re incorrigible.”

“Fancy words.” I can’t resist any longer. I snake a hand down my stomach and part my pussy. I’m drawing this out because I enjoy the way his hands clench on my thighs, as if he’s fighting himself not to touch me more. This man has control wrapped around him like chains. I wonder what it would take for those restraints to snap. What will happen when they finally do?

I use my middle finger to draw my wetness up and around my clit, and Hades snorts. “Cheeky.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Even with me going intentionally slowly, intentionally lightly, pleasure coils through me. I have the borderline hysterical thought that I might be able to come simply from the force of his gaze on my body. I circle my clit again. “Hades, please.”

“I like the way you say my name.” He releases me, peeling his fingers away from my thighs so slowly that it’s obvious he doesn’t want to stop touching me. I don’t want him to stop, either, but the end result is worth the temporary detour. He reaches for the front of his slacks. I hold my breath as he draws out his cock. He’s… Wow. He’s perfect. Big and thick and my body clenches with the need to have him inside me. Hades gives himself a rough stroke. “Don’t stop.”