She made a groaning noise of discontent, and he could only laugh, soft and gruff. “Believe me, I feel the same way.”

“I doubt that.”

“Why?”

“I just—really—really want this.”

He kissed her hard then, so she fell back a little onto the sleeping bags. “I really, really, really, want this too.” And though it was playing with nuclear-sized flames, he pressed his tip to her sex, tormenting them both with what they couldn’t have. She cried out and he stayed there, wondering how bad it would be if he were to just drive into her once, so they both had that fulfillment and at least knew what the other felt like?

But it wouldn’t be enough, and he doubted he’d be able to stop, so he pulled away from her, in utterly the wrong direction, and instead returned his fingers to her sex, and then his mouth,and then his fingers, making her come again, and again, and again. And between each of her explosions, he moved to her breasts, pleasuring them in a way that was driving her wild, and that gave her scant time to recover before he was driving her to yet another orgasm. He couldn’t have said how long he kept her in that state of sensual euphoria, only that he was as addicted to making her feel good as she was to coming. He knew he could have kept going, too, but it was Sofia, in the end, who shifted, moving to sit at first, to kiss him, as she had before, and then pushing at his chest. She wasn’t strong enough to move him by force, but he lay back against the sleeping bag, which was warmed by her, and smelled like her.

And now it was Sofia’s turn—to draw her tongue down his body, flicking his flesh, his chest, his abdomen, tracing lines with her fingers as her mouth went lower still, lower. He didn’t really have any concept of what she was planning to do until her tongue landed at the base of his cock, and began to trace a line to his tip, along his thundering vein, so he growled because it was too much, and nowhere near enough.

“It’s a shame you only get to do this once,” she said moving her mouth over his tip then. Her warm, moist mouth. He fought an urge to buck his hips. This was her show. She lifted away so she could say. “I better make it good for you…”

Good for him? Hell, he’d never felt better than this. He was cresting into the heavens. He was a shooting star. A volcano—lava and ash. He was man and mortal but at the same time, he was a God in the heavens. She had done that to him.

“Believe me—,” he started to say, but then, she’d put her mouth back over his tip and this time, she kept going, taking him to the back of her throat, so he could no longer speak, think, do anything but feel. She moved slowly at first, which was a torment, but he supposed he deserved it after how he’d played her body. Then, blessedly faster, she moved her hand to his baseand squeezed there, until he was balancing on a precipice, and he knew he had to find words to tell her.

“Sofia,” he groaned, “You need to stop.”

She did, immediately. “Why? You don’t like it?”

“Are you kidding me?”

She laughed softly. “Then what are you doing?”

“I’m about to come?—,”

“Good,” she purred. “That’s kind of the point. Speaking of which…” And her mouth was back on him then, her hand too, and what little control he had ebbed away.

“I’m—I can’t—,”Stop,he finished mentally, as his seed began to spill and then fire from him in a wave of heat and power, and she kept her mouth over his length, swallowing in a way that was more erotic than anything he’d ever known. His hands rested on her blonde head, lightly, so she could move as she wanted, but he needed to hold on, to reassure himself she was real, in a way.

“Oh my God,” he groaned, as the waves that had been like a tsunami ebbed a little, and he was once more Ares. “Sofia…” but he didn’t know what to say. What could he do in response to that? It was one of the most perfect moments of his life; why ruin it with words?

CHAPTER SIX

“WHAT DID YOU DO with your shoes?”

The question was totally unexpected, and she laughed. “My shoes? Is that seriously what you’re thinking about right now?”

She saw the outline of his grin in the darkness of the tent. God, she wanted to seeall of him.The darkness was infuriating.

“Actually, I was thinking about your shoes when I was locked in battle with mine and thought they’d never come off.”

“I had the same thought. A little preparation next time, please, Your Highness.”

It was on the tip of his tongue to implore hernottoeveruse his title, but from Sofia, he actually sort of liked it. It conjured all sorts of concubine fantasies…which he quickly blanked from his mind.

“I see. So, you were prepared for that?” he prompted, and she nodded sagely.

“Almost like I’ve been thinking about it all day.”

She heard his sharp intake of breath and warmth exploded through her. She liked surprising him.

“You’re nothing like I expected,” he admitted after a beat.

“You mean the Santoros didn’t tell you about this side of me?”