It begged for me to surrender. To give him everything that I was. And I desperately wanted to. I wanted to feel his hands on my skin and know his touch.
I tore my mouth from his with the single thought of removing my dress.
“No, Goddess, not yet,” he said, capturing my face between his hands and kissing his way down my throat. “Give me more of your sweet lips. Let this be real.”
At his words, reality wormed its way back into my mind.
He was Hades. This kiss was part of a contract to get back home.
Each press of his lips against my tender skin tried to erase those thoughts, though. I burned to feel more of him.
This is what they do, Ashlyn. They take everything.
The harsh thought was enough for me to pull my fingers from his hair and wedge my hands between us. He didn’t budge at my push, though.
“Stop,” I panted, hating myself because I desperately wanted him to keep going. “I’m no longer willing.”
I pushed again, and this time, he released me. Chest heaving with his harsh breathing, he moved with me when I tried retreating a step. His warm brown gaze held mine, burning me…begging me, and I felt myself sinking again.
“Ten days is but a drop in eternity. Not nearly enough time to convince me. Return your lips to mine, Goddess, and I will give you all that you desire.”
I leaned toward him, wanting to taste his lips. I’d never been kissed like that before. With so much love and gentle devotion. I wanted that.
It was mine.
Some thread of sanity stopped me from kissing him again with the reminder that what I’d felt in his kiss wasn’t meant for me. It was Persephone’s. And the moment he realized I was telling the truth, that I wasn’t his goddess but a simple human who looked like her, I would die.
Reality sent me stumbling back another step and tearing my gaze from his. I didn’t dare look up. The desire to walk straight back into his arms still clawed at me. Instead of focusing on that need, I focused on slowing my panting breaths and the whole reason I’d kissed him in the first place.
A spell gone wrong had sent me to Hell. On the run from the monsters here, I’d stumbled into Hades’ room, where he’d been nothing but a pile of bones and rags that had quickly reanimated. He had taken one look at me and assumed I was his dead wife. Now, he wasn’t going to let me go until I could prove I was human.
If what he’d just said was true, the kiss had earned me ten days. If I couldn’t prove my humanity to Hades by the end of the tenth day, I would be his forever.
Stay calm, and get out of Hell. No problem.
When I could speak again, I looked up.
Hades watched me with so much heat that I shivered and had to shift my attention back to the floor. But not before I saw that glint of cunning in his eyes.
He knew.
The way I’d responded. How I’d welcomed his kiss and pressed myself against him. He knew he’d almost had me in every way he wanted.
I swallowed hard and acknowledged the truth. In mere seconds, I’d lost myself to him. His taste and touch were all that had mattered. If I hadn’t pulled away to remove my dress—
The need, which had been slowly banking, flared to life at the thought of what would have happened.
I could never kiss Hades again.
“Ten days will be enough to prove I’m human and not the goddess you crave,” I said with a confidence I didn’t feel.
I smoothed a trembling hand over my skirt and tried to think clearly. Ten days had to be enough.
“What can a goddess do that a human can’t?” I asked.
He chuckled low. “Tempt the god of the underworld.”
Okay, that line of thinking wasn’t going to work.
