Her jaw dropped. “You do?”
“No.” He grinned. “But you get my point?”
She rolled her eyes. “Yes.” But she was smiling as she spoke, and when she crossed her legs, Hades drew a deep breath. If this continued, he thought, he really wouldn’t be able to keep his hands off her.
He asked abruptly, “Did Hecate make you wear that?”
Unaware of the way Hades was struggling, she looked down at her sleeping gown. “It was this or none at all.”
“I see.” He was definitely going to punish the demigoddess for this.
“Is it too much?”
Hades gave her a strained smile. “I may be a god, milady, but I am also a man. If it is for my eyes alone, there is no such thing as too much.”
She grunted. “I see.”
“Did I embarrass you?”
She coughed. “No.” The way his eyes gleamed told her she wasn’t fooling anyone and she hurriedly said, “You must be tired. Hecate told me you had a lot of work waiting for you today.” Coming to her feet, she gestured to the dressing chamber, asking awkwardly, “Would you like a massage, do you think?” His look of surprise compelled her to explain, and Ever said matter-of-factly, “I came to live with my aunt when I was seventeen. She was a...sickly person, and she paid for me to have lessons so I could help relieve her pains.”
Hades said slowly, “But you must be tired as well—-”
She shook her head, and even as shyness threatened to overcome her, she managed to insist, “I’d r-really like to do it.”
Seeing there was no graceful way to refuse, Hades allowed himself to nod.
“G-good. Please follow me then.”
Watching the sway of her voluptuous hips as she walked away, his body began to harden in anticipation of having her hands on him, and he said lightly, “As you wish, milady. I’m all yours, after all.”
She tripped over her own feet, and she made a face at the sound of his husky chuckle. This was not going at all as she planned!
The dressing chamber was as elegant as the rest of the room, only this one had a few magical touches that had Ever gasping and laughing the first time she saw it. For one, the marble bath in the center, filled with whirling, scented bubbly water that was just the right side of hot, was entirely natural, with water coming from the river Lethe.
“If you soak in this, you will forget all your worries,” Hecate had told her.
Another magical feature were the floating divans on the side, and it was there that she led the god of the Underworld. “You’ll, uhh, have to strip.”
“Of course.” And just like that, Hades took off his coat and began to unbutton his shirt.
Oh!
She quickly turned her back to give him privacy.
“There is no need to be shy, milady, for this, too, is yours.”
She squeezed her eyes shut. “You are so impossibly different from what I imagined.”
Silence—-
And then he was suddenly standing behind her, whispering devilishly into her ear, “But you like it, don’t you, milady?”
Ever couldn’t answer, her senses had gone in a riot the moment she realized that the god of the Underworld was completely naked behind her. He pressed closer to her, and she shuddered at how hard and hot he felt.
If she were Persephone, she would have never let this man go.
His tongue started licking her ear, and she whimpered. His mouth moved down to the side of her neck, and she couldn’t help arching and giving him more access.
“May I make a request, milady?” he whispered against her skin.
“W-what is it?”
“If you give me a massage, I would like you to be naked as well.”
Oh.
Ever swallowed.
And then she heard herself say, “Okay.” And at that moment, she realized what the god said was true for her as well. Everything of hers was also his to command.
As she heard him walk away, she began to strip herself of her clothing with shaking hands. She heard Hades draw his breath when the last of her clothing fell quietly to the floor, and a rosy color swept all over her body as she realized that he had been watching her the entire time.
It should have angered her, but it did not, and beneath the embarrassment was a feeling of eager need.
It felt heavenly, she thought feverishly, to want and know that she was wanted just as much.
Taking a deep breath, she turned around to face Hades, and she gulped again when she saw him seated on the divan, strong, proud, and naked. Although she had watched snatches of porn with teenage friends when she was young, she had never actually seen a naked male until now.
He was bronzed and muscled all over, making her wonder absently if he was born that way because of his godly genes or if he also had to work out and go to tanning salons.