“It’s cozy, right? Every time I come home from a mission, I stay the night, needing its warmth around me. I’m glad you all feel it too.”
Hawthorne carries me up the front steps and into our house, but he doesn’t stop there. He continues upstairs to my bedroom, then sets me on my feet.
He leans down and kisses me on the lips, then begins to head out.
“Shower with me?” I ask, not wanting to be alone.
He searches my eyes, then walks back over to me. Undressing me slowly, his hands soothe and massage every inch bared to his gaze, then he carries me into the bathroom. While the shower heats up, he shucks his clothes and gathers me to him, then steps into the steaming water.
I drop my head back, basking in the heat and the feel of his soapy hands gliding across my body. When he turns to washinghimself, I beg him to go slow so I can watch every stroke of his hands across his hard body.
“Hmm, have you ever thought about getting a tattoo?” He would look good with one. “Maybe right here.” I swirl my tongue over one of his pecs, dipping down to flick his nipple, as my hand slides down to rub up and down his cock.
His breath catches. “Mmm, I love taking showers with you.” His hands lazily roam over my body, as if he’s in no hurry to finish quickly. He slides to his knees, kissing his way down my body and settling between my legs. Hawthorne picks up my leg and draws it over his shoulder, spreading me open for his pleasure.
I lean back against the cool tile as his tongue and fingers work their magic. This is how every battle should end. I spear my fingers through his wet mahogany hair as I hold him to me, taking everything he has to give.
A low moan escapes, echoing in the shower, and he quickens the pace until I’m falling over the edge, coming against his mouth. My thigh shakes, and he places a few kisses on the inside, then stands and gives me a hot, wet kiss.
Picking me up, he slides into me, slowly pumping in and out, and I curl my legs around him. “I love you, you know. And no matter what life brings us; I’ll fight for you. For us. To stay by your side for as long as this world exists.”
“Oh, Hawthorne, my brilliant man, I love you too.”
His sea-green eyes flare with deep emotion, and it’s a long while before we leave the shower.
37
PHAEDRA
Darkness blankets the room, and I sit up, confused to find cold, dark ground beneath me and a roaring fire nearby. The last thing I remembered was showering with Hawthorne, then falling asleep together. In my bed.
Something rustles in the shadows, and I slowly get to my feet.
“Hello?” I call out, uncertain whether this is reality or a dream.
“About time you woke,” a surly voice answers from the other side of the fire.
With trepidation, I walk around to the blaze and find a stocky man with a beard, heavily muscled, in a simple tunic and pants with a leather apron on. He’s sitting on a log, staring into the fire. Hephaestus. I immediately kneel at his feet.
“Get up. We don’t have much time,” he gruffly orders me. As I stand, he grabs my left hand, and the brand on my palm lights up. “Drink this.”
Hands shaking, I take it from him and sniff. Smells like mead.Hopefully, it’s not poison.I tip it down my throat. Sweet honey and fruit. Similar to the mead of my childhood. I lick my lips and hand the cup back to him.
“You did well with the task I gave you. It’s time to assemble the box.”
Damn it. I’m not ready. “I don’t have the bottom panel. Ares…”
“Ares gave you what you need,” he says, refuting my words. “Get the panels and the key. Tomorrow begins the Great Panathenaea. Bring them to the largest and most celebrated temple of Athena.” He turns one eye toward me. “Alone.”
He disappears, and the fire dies, leaving me in complete darkness. Not wanting to stumble around in the dark, I sit, shivering, propped up against the log. Cold seeps into my bones, and numbness sets in. My lids drop along with the temperature, but conversely, my heart speeds up.
“Your heart is racing. Phaedra, wake up,” Mathias commands me. “That’s it, sweetheart. Come on. Let me see those beautiful blue eyes.”
Bright sun shines on my face, and I raise a hand to block it. “What’s going on?”
I hear the faint noise of metal scraping metal, and the sun disappears.
“I closed the drapes. Can you open your eyes for me?”
