He cupped her breast, weighing it in his hand before rolling her nipple between his fingers. She gasped, her eyes closing. He leaned forward to pull that nipple into his mouth and smoothed his palm down her side. When his fingers found her center, he took his time, rubbing circles until she writhed on the bed beneath him.
“Please,” she begged.
He did not make her wait.
Positioning himself, he entered her slowly, allowing her body to adjust around him. Oh, she was tight, soft, and warm. He moved above her, supporting himself on his elbows so he wouldn’t crush her. She wrapped her legs around his hips as he slid in deeper.
“What is this magic?” she asked into his jaw.
“You haven’t felt anything yet.” He pulled out slowly, then thrust into her until she made a high-pitched moan.
“More,” she cried.
He was relieved by her demand. No more could he restrain himself. He pounded into her, his hips thrusting until reality blurred and he caught himself coasting toward a bright light. She dug her nails into his back, and he was there, pitching over the edge into the abyss, her body wrapped around his as they soared above everything.
A moment later, he collapsed beside her, panting.
“That’s not what I expected,” she said.
“What did you expect?”
She propped herself on her elbow. “I didn’t think it would feel like…” She ran her hand up her torso and wrapped her fingers around the base of her throat. “Like flying and falling all at the same time.”
He gave her a lazy smile and rolled onto his back. “Well, I for one would like to send you to the stars again sometime soon.”
She trailed her fingers along his sternum. “I’d like that very much.”
Orpheus was nothing if not a man who loved a challenge. He reached for her once again.
Chapter Nine
Alena understood they should be continuing with their quest, but she couldn’t bring herself to get out of bed. They’d made love more than a dozen times, and still she wanted more—more passion, more kisses, more pleasure. More unadulterated love which he poured over her with whispers like prayers in her ears as they worshipped at the altar of each other. Her heart pounded in her chest, and with every beat, she only thought of Orpheus. Beside her, he was hard in all the right places and as handsome as the first day she’d seen him. Just thinking about the way he’d moved inside her, again and again, made her flush with heat.
How long had they been in this room? Hours? The light was the same. Although, considering they were in the underworld, she wasn’t sure if it ever changed.
“Would you have done this with me if we were not about to die?” he asked her, his eyebrow arching.
The question surprised her. “I wouldn’t have had the opportunity. We weren’t speaking to each other.”
“I was speaking to you. It was you who was avoiding me.”
“I thought... I thought you were only after one thing.”
“And now that I’ve had it? What now?”
“You tell me.”
“If it were up to me alone, and if we survive this quest, I’d like to have the rest of you.”
“You’d have the rest of me? It seems there is none of me you haven’t tasted yet.” She lifted the sheet and looked down at herself, eliciting a small laugh from Orpheus.
“I wasn’t kidding when I said I’d like to marry you.”
“We hardly know each other.” Aside from the time they’d been together on the ship, she’d spent more time hating him than in his company.
“I know you. I know you better than anyone. You are a descendant of Circe and one of the most powerful sorceresses alive. I know you heal the villagers for free when they can’t pay you. I know you can read and write, which is admirable on its own, and that you also enjoy it. And I know you’d make an excellent wife. Also, I know you could have chosen to turn me back into a human immediately at the stream, but you wanted to teach me a lesson.”
She flashed him a crooked smile. “Maybe.”
