Neon Gods (Dark Olympus #1)(56)

Except it doesn’t feel that simple.

Hades is very intentionally hiding from me. By sight, by touch, by everything. I shouldn’t resent that last bit of distance between us, not when he’s so invested in my pleasure. But I do. I want everything, just like he’s demanding from me. My chest goes tight. “Hades, please.”

He hesitates so long, I think he’s going to deny me again. Finally, he curses and reaches over my head to take one of my hands and bring it down to press against his chest, and then repeats the motion with my other hand. The skin is marred, too smooth in some places and raised in others. Scars. I’m feeling scars.

I don’t say a single thing as I slowly stroke my hands down his chest and back up again. Hades holds himself perfectly still. I’m not sure he’s even breathing. Something—someone—hurt him, and badly. Even without seeing the extent of the damage, I can tell he’s lucky to be alive.

Maybe one day, he’ll trust me enough to let me see him fully.

I arch up and kiss him. We don’t need more words right now. He instantly relaxes against me, and I have the distant thought that he expected me to reject him. Silly man. Every piece of him I discover, every little nuance and mystery, just makes me want him more. Hades is a puzzle I could spend a lifetime exploring and never quite have the whole picture.

It’s a shame I only have three months.

He breaks the kiss long enough to reach down into the nightstand and come up with a condom. I grab it from him and nudge him back with a hand on his chest. “Let me.”

“You’re terrible at submission,” he murmurs, but he’s got that raspy laugh in his voice.

“Wrong.” I tear the condom open. “I am really excellent at submission. I’m equally excellent at communicating what I want when I want it. It’s called being adaptable.”

“Is that so?” His breath hisses out as I stroke his cock, so I do it again.

“Hades?”

He gives a strained laugh. “Yes?”

“Promise me that I can give you a blow job soon. Really soon. I need you inside me too much right now, but I want that.”

He reaches up and drags his thumb across my bottom lip. “Whenever you decide you need my cock in your mouth, kneel and ask nicely. If I’m feeling agreeable, I’ll even give it to you.”

I nip his thumb. “Okay, I deserved that.”

“Put the condom on, Persephone. Now.”

It turns out I’m not in the mood to tease him further, either. I roll the condom down his length. I barely get my hands out of the way when Hades pushes me back down onto the bed. Before being with him, I would have said I’m not into being manhandled, carefully or otherwise. Turns out I just needed the right man handling me. He pushes me onto my side and lifts one leg to wrap over his arm as he kneels between my thighs. It’s a strange position, but I don’t have time to comment because half a breath later, he’s inside me. He sheaths himself to the hilt and we exhale in tandem.

Hades barely gives me a second to adjust before he starts fucking me. Long, thorough strokes that have me completely pinned to the bed. “Touch yourself,” he growls. “I want to feel you come around my cock. No witnesses. No audience. This time, it’s just for me.”

I do as he orders, sliding my hand down to stroke my clit. It feels so, so good. It seems like everything we do together feels good. Being with Hades is like being in a fever dream I don’t ever want to wake up from. I never, ever want this to stop.

Hades adjusts his angle and picks up his pace, sending pleasure rising in a wave that I can’t hold back. “Oh gods.”

“Don’t stop. Don’t you dare stop.” It’s like he’s pulling the words right from my chest and speaking them back to me.

I couldn’t even if I wanted to. Words slip from my lips, forming into his name, over and over again. He leans down, bending my body to his will, and claims my mouth as I come. His strokes get rougher, less even, and then he’s following me over the edge.

My bones turn liquid even as I fight not to break the kiss. It’s gone from fierce to something gentle, almost loving. As if he’s telling me without words how pleased he is with me. It’s not something I would have thought I needed before now, but it settles a jagged piece in my chest.

Hades finally pulls away. “Don’t move.”

“Couldn’t even if I wanted to.”

His rough chuckle trails behind him as he walks into the bathroom. A few seconds later, he’s back. I watch him stalk toward the bed, wishing for better light. He barely looks human like this. It’s almost as if he’s an incubus sent to fulfill my dark desires and he’ll be gone with the morning light. “Stay.”

Hades stops short. “What?”

“Stay.” I sit up, something akin to panic fluttering in my throat. “Don’t leave.”

“Persephone.” He reaches the bed and climbs up to pull me into his arms. “Little siren, I’m not leaving.” It takes some maneuvering to get us both beneath the blankets, but Hades doesn’t stop touching me the entire time. We end up on our sides, him spooning me from the back.

It’s only when I’m fully wrapped up in him that I can breathe again. “Thank you.”

“Where would I go? You’re in my bed.”