Page 52 of Hades and Persephone: Keeper of Sins

Nerves rattle inside my body and I do my best to swallow them down before I speak. “You’ve gotta stop doing that.”

“Doing what?” Hades asks, pulling a dish from a brown bag.

“Buying dinner.” I throw my hand at the offending bag. “You’re paying me to make it.”

His lips twitch into a smile that never fully forms. “Say thank you, Persephone.”

God, he’s sexy when he makes commands.Wait, what?

Did I just see his lips twitch? Again?

Why do I get the impossible sense that he’s privy to some of my thoughts?

I open my mouth to allow an obedient whisper to escape. “Thank you, Hades.”

He looks pleased. The idea that I’ve pleased him makes me feel so incredibly warm. So happy. As though I’m a moment from erupting into flames.

“Come closer,” he commands again. Again, I comply and am given that pleased look that utterly delights me. I’m floored by the way that I long to please him. I’ve never cared about doing such things for any other man in my life.

Maybe this really is an awakening.

Whatever it is, I’m here for it.

“Relax, Persephone,” Hades soothes. “I won’t bite you.” My sharp laugh is cut off even sharper when he adds, “Yet.”

“Hades,” I begin, and pause. I don’t know what to say. Words won’t flow.

I think I might be panicking.

What is happening to me?

Hades drops the bag to turn to me. When his hands come to either side of my face, I feel a thorn of fear bite into my strung-out heart at the possibility that he might kiss me.

He doesn’t.

“Despite our earlier conversation and my vow to you, I have no intention of ravishing you right here, right now. Desire, yes. Intention, no.” He softens his hard voice. “We have time, Persephone, to learn each other.”

A breath of spilled nerves escapes from between trembling lips. Hades’ dark eyes bounce between my mouth and my eyes. An inferno of burning desire simmers in the darkness that only serves to carve the depths of my already gaping desire for him deeper. This yawning cavern of want I feel inside the hollow depths of me is something I’m beginning to fear that even he won’t be able to fill.

I feel soforeignto myself.

“Do you understand what I am saying to you?” Hades asks low.

I nod, even though I’m not certain that I do.

“Good.” Hades releases me to focus again on the bag. When he speaks next, I feel a rush of relief pricked only by a needle of disappointment. “We’ll eat, andthen I must paint.” As though sensing that prick of disappointment, he says, “The urge has struck and I am helpless to ignore it.”

“Okay.”

“I would like it if you would help me in my studio.”

“Help you?” I take the dish he offers me, now piled high with food. There’s no way I can eat all this. Especially not with the nerves that jump in my belly. “Help you how?”

“I use,” Hades pauses. “Unconventional materials in my paint.”

Sliding onto a stool, I slide into the ease of conversation as I have every other night with Hades, I ask, “What kind of unconventional materials?”

Hades smirks as he slips a seasoned carrot into his mouth. “You’ll see.”

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