Page 52 of Sweet Obsession

I’m shaking and I can’t seem to stop. I toss the phone onto the cushion beside Poseidon. “There. Done. All four of them will abandon Circe at midnight tonight.”

Instead of appearing victorious, he just seems worried. “Deo’s threats were…convincing.”

“It goes with the territory.” I shrug, though the motion is too tense to fully pull off. “If any of them really had assassins in Olympus, they would have already tried to kill me after the call last night. It’s been hours, and even without MuseWatch reporting on my whereabouts, any assassin worth their salt would have figured out where I am. We haven’t exactly been hiding.”

“True,” he says slowly, his amber eyes still worried. Forme. “But that doesn’t mean Deo didn’t do harm.”

I laugh. I can’t help it. “You truly are too pure for this world or any other. Harm is a reality of life, Poseidon. The powerful harm the weak. It’s how they stay in power.”

He rises slowly. He’s so fuckingbig. Last night was amazing—beyond amazing—and it did nothing to ease my attraction to him. I want to tie him down and paint my name in wax over his chest. I want to prick each and every one of his freckles with a needle until he’s panting and begging and dripping his pre-come all over his stomach.

But it’s not just lust; if it were, maybe I could control my reactions better. I want quiet meals while he decompresses from his day. I want him to show me around the shipping yard, to share all the things he very clearly loves. I want to spend my nights sprawled across his chest, feeling safer than I ever have.

I want…everything.

He proves just how good he is by pulling me into a hug that feels like maybe he really could press all my broken pieces back together with sheer determination and acceptance.

Dangerous thoughts. Dangerous desires. “Now what?” I speak against the soft fabric of his T-shirt.

“Now, we wait for sunset.” He strokes a hand down my spine, obviously aiming to soothe me. I mostly don’t hate that it works. “Are you hungry?”

Yes, but not in the way he means. I lift my head. “Poseidon?”

He goes still, instantly picking up on the change in mood. “Yes?”

“If we don’t have anywhere to be, if tonight is going to be the big fight that frees Olympus and changes everything…” I lick my lips, my cock hardening when he follows the movement. “I want you again before it’s over. Please.”

He doesn’t move away, but it’s clear he’s trying to think his way out of the lust slowly settling around us. “I know you seduced me for safety, Icarus. But you don’t have to. I’ll keep you safe. No stipulations. No demands.”

Fuck, but he keeps saying things I don’t know how to deal with. I blink past the way my eyes start to burn. “I know.”

“You say that, but I…” He curses, but he doesn’t retreat physically. “I don’t hold a single thing you’ve done against you—no oneshould—but I don’t want to be another person who harms you, intentionally or not.”

“Poseidon, Iknow.” I run my hands up his chest and cup his face, his beard scratchy against my palms. “I won’t pretend I didn’t initially seduce you because I thought it would compromise you emotionally and ensure you kept me safe, but…I care about you. It’s too soon and not the right timing and I don’t expect you to feel the same way, but—”

He presses his fingers to my lips. “I care about you, too.”

“This will never work,” I mumble. I don’t know why I say it. He isn’t offering to make anything work. Saying he cares about me is the bare minimum. It doesn’t mean he’s letting himself imagine a future that’s impossible. Even if he declared himself in love with me and even if we are successful in removing the threat of Circe, Poseidon is a legacy title. He has a responsibility to Olympus to father a bunch of heirs and spares to keep that title going.

I can’t believe I’m even thinking it. My cart is so far in front of my horse that it’s out of sight.

As if he can hear my increasingly frantic thoughts, he shifts his hand around to cup the back of my neck and presses his forehead to mine. “Maybe it won’t work; only time will tell. First, we have to survive tonight and whatever comes after.”

I lean back and he allows the distance, just like he allows me to see the desire kindling within him. “How long do we have?” I ask softly.

“A couple hours. Hades and Zeus are coming to the shipyard to strategize at first dark. We’ll launch close to midnight.”

By sunrise, the fate of Circe will be sealed and Olympus will be able to start picking up the pieces. Zeus might demand my head,but I’m reasonably sure Poseidon will give me a ship and send me on my way before he has a chance to collect. Poseidon is honorable like that. But surviving, reaching my sister, starting a new life, all of it means leaving this man behind. Even if he wanted a future with someone as broken as I am, the Thirteen would never allow it. Neither would the city itself. One villain killed in the depths of the night before even reaching Olympus’s shores won’t be enough to make people feel like justice was served. They’ll be out for blood.

But not today. Right now, it’s only Poseidon and me in this little apartment. I drop my hands and take a step back. After the briefest hesitation, he lets me go. He watches me carefully as I walk to the door and flip the lock. “I want to outline something I’d like to do to you, with you. If you have any reservations at all, I want you to tell me.”

That beautiful flush rises in Poseidon’s cheeks. He clears his throat and shifts from foot to foot. “Okay.”

It takes effort to maintain our distance, to not do anything to heighten the desire between us until I’ve laid out my proposal. By the time I’m done, his chest rises and falls with quick little breaths and his cock is a hard line against the front of his jeans. “Yes. I want that. Right now.”

“Tell me your safe word.”

“Trident.”

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