Page 54 of Muzzled

He smiled in spite of the heaviness in the air. “Would you be happier with ‘my life is too complicated, I’m focusing on my career, but let’s be friends’?”

“Karma bites hard.” She groaned, swatting him across the chest. “I’ve used each of those myself, and no, none of them are better.”

He caught her hand in his, swallowed, and returned his attention to the ripples in the water. “Fine. How about this? I’m not good with my place anymore. I’ve spent centuries focused on completing the Pirithous hunt so I could return to the underworld, return to heeling for Hades and Seph. But now I don’t want the hunt to end, because when it does—” He rubbed his jaw, keeping his other hand firmly wrapped around hers. “The fact I don’t want to go back because of you is dangerous.”

She tilted her head, her eyes narrowing. “Thing is, it takes two to tango, right? So as long as one of us keeps our head above water and doesn’t get all lovey-dovey, we’re good.”

“Probably technically,” he mused as she stepped onto his feet and draped her arms around his neck. “You know I’m back in the underworld once the Pirithous is taken down, right?”

She ran her thumb across the back of his neck as her toes dug into his arches. “Fast, intense flings are the best kind. The only kind I can have since I live on the road. You aren’t the only one walking away eventually, you know.”

Alex and Charlotte flashed across his mind and he shrugged off the unwanted intrusion. “And you’re going to keep us in check?” he pressed, wrapping his arms around her waist as her lips trailed across his throat.

“I love holding the reins.”

*

Micah swept hertongue across his jaw as she gently pushed Ryan toward their sand-covered blanket. She trailed her lips down his neck and flicked her tongue against his collarbone. When his hands moved from her waist to her hips, she captured his hands in hers and placed them behind his back before she began exploring his chest, trailing her nails over his abs and down his arms. She took her time, fingers alternating between ghosting his skin and pressing against his muscles. When she dropped one hand to his inner thigh, he lolled his head back and groaned.

“This is a public beach, right?” he muttered, his hands finding their way to her hips again only to be carefully placed back.

“A deserted public beach,” she clarified, tapping his wrists. “Now keep those things under control.”

As her fingers ran up the insides of his thighs, his breathing hitched. “Maybe we should pack up.”

She took a step back and glanced around to ensure they were still alone before she pulled her shirt over her head and tossed it aside. “We will,” she assured him. “Eventually.”

His eyes were locked on her as she sashayed toward him, her thumbs popping the button of her jeans while she spun and backed up against him. She reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck as he nibbled at her earlobe. “Are you enough of a gentleman to be on the bottom?” she asked, leading his hands up her rib cage to the cups of her bra.

“I don’t know,” he murmured into her ear, sending a shiver down her spine. “There’s a lot of sand.” When she ground her hips against his erection, he exhaled. “Bottom it is.”

He pressed against her, his skin searing hers as he held her tight to him and ground against her, sliding his hand into her jeans. She lolled her head back and gripped his neck as his fingers slid under the thin lace of her underwear and made contact with her core. “Please tell me you’re armed,” she panted while he worked her, his thumb drawing deliciously slow circles on her sensitive nub.

“Armed?”

Her nails dug into his skin as he eased two fingers into her body. “Condoms?”

“One of the benefits of being a hellhound,” he replied, increasing his speed as she pushed her ass against him. “Deities don’t get human ailments, and our line can’t procreate.”

He trailed his tongue along the shell of her ear, and she locked her hands around his neck to steady herself. “You aren’t making this up to avoid using one, right?”

“If we could have kids, Bo would be running his own accidental puppy mill by now.”

Her laughter turned into a whimper as he altered his position, hitting a spot she didn’t know existed until her knees almost gave out on her. She could feel his hold on her tighten while tremors began to swirl through her body and her toes curled in the sand as she writhed against his palm.

“Squirmy thing, aren’t you?” he whispered, nuzzling her wrist.

Any retort she had stalled on her tongue as her release barreled through her, blurring her vision as electricity shot through every nerve in her body. The moment seemed to go on forever and yet end too soon, leaving her little more than a panting mess by the time she finally came down from the high. Ryan’s arms kept her from collapsing into the sand until she regained her balance.

“I’m not squirmy,” she breathed, using his shoulders to steady herself as she turned to face him. “I’m enthusiastic.” Pushing him toward the blanket, she slid her hands down his chest and undid the button of his jeans. “Lay down.”

“Demanding thing,” he muttered, obeying without hesitation and watching intently as she stood over him, shook the sand off the other blanket, and shimmied out of her pants. “You sure?”

Wrapping the blanket around her shoulders, she ran her fingers along the band of her panties and straddled him. “I am. Are you?”

He tore his eyes away from her thighs. “What I am is very, very close to snapping.”

Giving her hips a slow swivel, she hooked her thumbs in her bra straps and dropped them from her shoulders. “Snap away, boy.”

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