Asher ran his hands over my back, stroking it soothingly, and I closed my eyes, resting in his comforting presence.
“I love you,” I said.
“I love you so much,” he returned. “I know I have a lot to make up for, Mads, and I promise, I’m not going to stop trying.”
We kissed for a while, and just when it was getting good, he pulled away. Pouting, I said, “Are we sure the gods are still in the underworld?”
Had Sonaris held up his end of the deal?
Asher nodded. “It’s the only thing that makes sense, because no one has come after us. But I still don’t know how that happened. Who saved us?”
Shit.It was finally time to admit what I’d done. “It was me,” I whispered. “I made a deal with Sonaris. I promised him a favor if he would save us.”
Asher’s hold on me tightened. “What favor?” he asked, his voice rumbling.
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I was desperate, Ash. We were outnumbered. Outpowered. I had no choice.”
It wasn’t really the truth and we both knew it. There was always a choice, but…
“I won’t watch you die again,” I said, this time less apologetically. “I’m sorry, there’s only so much my sanity can take. I figured I’d just make the deal and worry about the consequences later.”
Asher squeezed his eyes tightly closed, and when he opened them again, gold was dripping through those beautiful irises. But he didn’t yell or get angry, he just pressed his lips to mine.
“He will never touch you,” he said softly. “Never.”
“What about your mother?” I added. “She clearly knows now that you’ve chosen my side. I’m sure she won’t take that well.”
I hated the thought of him being in more danger because of me. Not to mention he’d spent months all but ignoring me to try and deflect his mother’s attention. All of that was blown out of the water now.
Asher shrugged. “Seems we all have something we’ll have to deal with in the future. Thankfully, for now, she appears to be trapped with the others.”
All the gods trapped, except Sonaris. “Maybe they’ll do us all a favor and kill each other in there.”
Asher laughed. “Now that would be lucky, if only their energy wasn’t enough to level the world.”
Ah, yes, that old problem.
We chatted some more until eventually we drifted off together, and for the first time in a long time I slept without dreams. I woke to Asher’s hard body pressed along my side, and I groaned at the sensation of our energy mingling. He shifted, eyes still closed, but his lips found mine.
By now my head pain was long gone, along with every other ache and pain, and I was desperate to feel him. “Please, Ash,” I begged.
He was fully awake as he hauled me into his arms, my aching body grinding against him. There was a steady, pulsing thrum inside me that needed sating. His mouth captured mine, dominating, stealing my soul in a single kiss. Or at least it would have, if he hadn’t owned it from almost the first moment we met.
Asher lifted me from the bed, and I had no idea where he was taking us until the warm water of the pool washed over me. If I hadn’t been on the edge of combusting, I might have cried at being back in the water with him like this.
My clothes disappeared in a few skilled moves, and I magicked his pants off, because I had no time to waste. He entered me in one hard thrust—neither of us able to wait another second. I cried out, my head dropping back as my lower half arched closer to him, wanting to feel every single inch as he slid in and out of me.
Asher held me with one hand, the other cupping my breast as he dropped his head to my nipple.Gods.His tongue…
“Ash,” I groaned.
I was going to come; I couldn’t hold back any longer. I’d been so ready for him. He moved faster, and I felt the tension inside of me ravel tighter and tighter, until eventually I shattered around him, crying out. We went under the water, and had I not been an Atlantean I would have drowned. As it was, finishing under the water only spurred my orgasm to the highest of heights, and I wondered if I was going to pass out from the pure pleasure of it.
Asher’s mouth found mine as he finished inside me, coming with a groan.
We stayed locked together, floating in the water. Asher remained hard, and we ended up fucking again, this time on the bottom of the pool. I was starting to think that sex underwater was the way to go.
Just having this moment to even experience so much pleasure and joy was probably more than I’d expected I’d ever have. So I would take it. I would take it and not stress too much about the future.
