Neon Gods (Dark Olympus #1)(48)
It’s almost enough to miss the fact that heads are still turning in our direction. I can’t see most of the audience clearly because of the shadows, but there’s no mistaking a low murmur that started when we arrived and hasn’t abated. I catch my name spoken and have to fight not to tense.
There’s no going back now.
There never was.
I close my eyes for a long moment, fighting against the fluttering feeling in my chest. I chose this. I will continue to choose this. And a small, forbidden part of me enjoys the attention, enjoys the shock I know some of these people are experiencing. I want to keep shocking them.
I take a slow breath and refocus on the couple on the dais. He’s halfway through binding his partner already. Every twist, every line he visually cuts across her curvy body, has tension winding tighter and tighter through me. It’s like watching an artist create a masterpiece except the masterpiece is another person and the obvious desire between the two of them pulses with each minute that ticks past. My breath gets choppy, and I have to fight my body’s urge to shift against Hades.
His lips touch the curve of my ear. “Is it the bondage or the exhibition making you all hot and jealous?”
“Everyone is watching,” I whisper back. “We can see all of her.” At least we can now that he’s bound her legs wide and is working on a series of knots between her thighs. The flush spreading across her skin says that she’s enjoying experiencing it even more than I’m enjoying watching.
Hades shifts, moving to lightly drag his fingertips across my stomach. It takes me several seconds to realize he’s tracing the straps crisscrossing my body and another few seconds to make the connection between what I’m clothed in and the scene playing out before us. His breath ghosts against my neck. “I’m going to touch you now.”
“You are touching me.” I don’t know why I’m arguing, acting as if I’m not holding my breath to keep from begging him to touch me more.
“Persephone.” A tiny bit of censure mixed with amusement. “Tell me you won’t get off harder than you did last night if I finger you right here in front of everyone… Tell me and I’ll stop.”
I can’t say it without lying. I suddenly want him to take me onto that stage, to bend me over a chair or just throw me to the floor and fuck me right there with so many eyes on us. There are already eyes on us, even if they can’t see us any clearer than I can see them. Will they notice Hades slipping his hand into my panties? Do I want them to?
Yes.
I carefully shift back and move my arms down to press against his hips. The new position leaves my body completely open to him. I swallow and strive for a nice, contrite tone instead of a demand. “Please touch me, Hades.”
“You are singularly motivated with your pleasure on the line.” He chuckles against my shoulder. Despite my damn near begging, he doesn’t pick up his pace. He drags his middle finger along the strap spanning my waist. “Half the eyes in this place are on you, Persephone.”
I shiver, pressing my hands harder to his hips in an effort to keep still. “Well, we’re sending a message, aren’t we?”
“Yes. Look around.” If he were a literal demon on my shoulder, he couldn’t be more tempting. Hades drops his hand another inch until his pinkie finger brushes the top of my panties through the front of the skirt.
Sure enough, he’s right. Despite the low light, I can clearly see that half the people in the room are watching us and not the couple on the dais. It almost feels like they are here to boost my pleasure. Didn’t I imagine eyes on me when Hades had me strip yesterday? When we stood on that same dais and he made me come so hard my legs shook? It turns out the real thing is exponentially hotter.
Hades’s beard tickles my bare shoulder. “Sheer skirt. Lace panties. They’re going to be able to see everything I do to your pretty pussy. Are you prepared for that?”
Am I prepared for it?
I’m pretty sure I might expire on the spot if he doesn’t follow through on the lustful spell he’s weaving about me. I lick my lips and fight not to lift my hips to guide his hand lower. “Yes, Sir.”
He presses a kiss to my shoulder. “Say the word and this all stops. No harm, no foul.”
For someone so determined to be labeled a monster, he’s incredibly invested in my pleasure and consent. A thrill of power licks through me. I’m not in charge. Not by any stretch of the imagination. But the knowledge that no matter what Hades does to me, I am choosing it? It’s beyond sexy. “I know. I trust you.”
The barest hesitation, as if I’ve surprised him. “Good.” Still, he moves slowly, gliding his hand down to cup my pussy through the skirt. The fabric is so thin as to not exist at all, and I can’t help a small jump at the heat of his palm. He gives a low curse. “I can feel how wet you are.”
“Do something about it.”
He tightens his grip, holding me in that intimate place like he owns me. “One day, you’ll learn to stop trying to top from the bottom.” He moves his free hand to my right breast and yanks the lace down, baring me to the room. I jerk back, but his chest gives me nowhere to go and his hand between my legs follows me, pressing my body more firmly against his. Then Hades repeats the treatment to my left breast. I’m still covered in the silk straps, but my nipples are bare and on display. He makes a low tsking sound. “Just for that defiance, I’m going to make you come, loud and messy, right here in front of them.”