Page 122 of A Touch of Chaos

“You asked me what I would fight for on the battlefield,” he said. “It is this. It is to have you look at me with these eyes. You worship me with these eyes.”

A smile curved Persephone’s lips. “You are a romantic, my king,” she said.

“I am in love,” he said. “There is a difference.”

Persephone’s smile widened, and Hades lowered to kiss her, slipping an arm behind her neck. This time when he started to move, it was slow and deep. He was aware of everything that was her—the way her nipples scraped against his chest, the way her knees pressed in at his sides, the way her fingers dug into his biceps.

She held his gaze until she couldn’t, and her head rolled back over his arm. Her body was tightening, growing taut beneath him. She was close to release. He felt the burn of his own in the bottom of his stomach, the pressure building at the base of his cock.

He bent and kissed her neck, licking and sucking the skin before burying his face in the hollow of her shoulder. His knees dug into the bed on either side of her ass as he moved a little faster, a little harder, a little deeper.

One of Persephone’s hands twisted into his hair, clamping down on his neck as her cries filled the room, one for each new thrust, and then her grasp on him tightened all at once from the inside out, even her breath held, and she began to shudder beneath him as her orgasm hit.

He plowed through it, rocking into each wave until he could no longer contain the pressure building in his own body. He came in a blinding rush, aware only that his body was trembling and his arms and legs were numb. When it passed, he realized that he had collapsed against Persephone and that her fingers were sifting through his hair.

He lifted himself a little, shifting his weight so he wasn’t suffocating her, though she did not seem to mind.

“Are you well?” he asked.

He loved staring at her, but especially after sex. Heliked knowing that he was the reason for the flush on her cheeks and the swell of her lips.

She smiled, her gaze heavy-lidded.

“Yes,” she whispered. “And you?”

“I am more than well,” he said.

Neither of them moved, content to lie in the aftermath of their lovemaking.

“I missed this,” Persephone said, and Hades noticed that her eyes were welling with tears as she brought her hands up to cover her face.

Hades frowned and bent to kiss her fingers. “You do not have to hide from me,” he said. “I want all of you, even your pain.”

He waited for her, and after a few deep breaths, she dropped her hands. Her eyes were still watering, and tears spilled down the side of her face.

“I do not know why I am crying,” she said, taking a trembling breath.

“You do not need a reason,” he said, though he would argue that everything she had been through in the last month was reason enough. This was likely the first time she’d had the space to let her body stop fighting, and the reality of the world was crashing down on her all at once.

Hades shifted onto his back, bringing Persephone with him, and he held her as she cried until she was silent and sleeping in his arms.

Hades woke a short time later to Persephone grinding against his cock.

She was already wet and her hands were flat against his chest as she moved. He groaned, his fingers splayedacross her waist, digging into her heated skin. She lowered and kissed him. Her mouth was hot, and her breasts brushed against him just as maddeningly as her slick sex. He took them into his hands, squeezing them together, twisting her hard nipples before he took them into his mouth.

As he devoured her, he felt her hand slip between her thighs. She straightened, riding her fingers as she straddled him, using her thumb to rub her clit. With her other hand, she touched her breasts. She kept her eyes closed, her head rolling from side to side, her breaths setting a pleasing rhythm as she moved back and forth and up and down, chasing some kind of feeling building inside her.

His chest felt so heavy under the weight of his desire, he could barely breathe as he watched her. There was a part of him that wanted to join and a part of him that was content to watch this escalate, to feed the fire of his need for her until he was at his absolute breaking point.

He would see the fucking stars when he was finally inside her, but for now, fuck, she was beautiful, and she was his for aneternity.

Her hand fell from her breast to her clit as she worked herself harder and faster, and then she went rigid and fell forward on his chest, her back curling as her orgasm tore through her.

She lay there a moment, breathing hard, before she moved her hand from between her legs and brought her fingers to his mouth. He sucked them hard before releasing each slowly, and then their mouths collided in a wet kiss. Hades bent his knees, which brought his length firmly against her ass, his hands already digging into that soft flesh and spreading her wide.

She seemed to understand what he wanted and sat back, reaching behind to run her palm over the head of his cock before she rose and slid down him with a moan.

Hades took a deep, audible breath, and Persephone smiled at the sound, rocking back until he was fully and completely encased in her warmth. She leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his chest, then let her tongue slide over each of his nipples. She moved as if she were about to put her mouth on his, only she didn’t.

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