Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 101264 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 506(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101264 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 506(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
His low words only drive me higher. My breath comes harshly, making me light-headed. I’m so close. I just need…
Apollo sets his teeth to the sensitive spot where my neck meets my shoulder. It’s not quite a bite, more an intense pressure that doesn’t veer across the boundary into pain. It’s perfect.
I orgasm, my moan making it past even his hand covering my mouth.
“Are you fucking kidding me?”
Before I process that Apollo isn’t the one to speak, the door’s thrown open and light spills over us.
I try to jump back, but there’s nowhere to go with the wall behind me, and I bump my head against it. “Ow,” I say against his palm.
“Damn it.” He releases me, only moving back enough to tug my dress down to ensure I’m covered. Apollo sifts his hand through my hair, feeling for a bump. “Are you okay?”
How can he sound so normal when seconds ago I was coming all over his thigh? I’m shaky and light-headed and still trying to process the fact that we were interrupted, but the only evidence in his tone is a slight gruffness that’s not normally present.
That and the impressive hard-on I can still feel pressing against my hip.
“I’m fine,” I manage. I take his wrist and tug it away from my head. “Seriously. I’m good.”
“Okay.”
We turn as one to look at the person standing on the other side of the doors. Ariadne. I frown. How long were we making out that we didn’t notice the other intruder had left the room and someone else had entered?
The sheer level of distraction is worrisome, but there’s no space to let that worry take hold. Not when we currently have some explaining to do. I give a pathetically nervous giggle. “Oh, you caught us. Whoops.”
She plants her hands on her broad hips and gives us an exasperated look. “I understand that a game of adult hide-and-seek is exactly the kind of opportunity to sneak off and bone somewhere, but if you could not do that in my room, I would greatly appreciate it.”
“Sorry.” I actually sound more like myself this time. The desire is burning off, embarrassment waiting in the wings to make me wish the floor would open up and swallow me whole.
Apollo gives the back of my head one last caress, still testing for a bump, before he disengages and steps back. I catch him subtly adjusting the front of his pants and find myself grinning like a fool despite the blush that’s no doubt turned me crimson. I can’t deny that I love how thoroughly he reacts to me. It’s a heady thing. Something to get drunk on later.
Right now, I need to focus.
Her laptop was a good find, but the woman herself might be more so. It still defies belief that she left her door unlocked and a computer sitting around by accident. It’s enough to make me wonder…
I tuck my hair behind my ears and step out of the closet. “We didn’t mean to get carried away.” My voice is still not quite right, but I think I could be excused considering how she just found us. “Is the game already over?”
“Oh, that?” She waves her hand. “No, Theseus is still hunting down the rest of the party guests. I think he’s out in the maze now.” She glances out the door, her brows drawing together. “It wasn’t this… I decided that… I’m not participating in the game right now.”
“It must be a bit of a relief not to be the prize this time.”
She turns to me too quickly. “Right. This time.” Her gaze drops to the floor, which further confirms my suspicions that Minos’s daughter likely didn’t have much say in this whole circus.
It seemed a clumsy move when I first thought about it, but now that I have confirmation from Hermes that something else is going on, I think it’s designed to be clumsy to make us underestimate Minos. I still don’t quite understand what he could hope to accomplish by double-crossing the Thirteen. If Minos is facilitating an invasion or whatever else Zeus suspects, surely he realizes he won’t survive the attempt?
But what if he does? What if he succeeds?
Apollo will still be here fighting to protect this city that does not deserve him while I’m off putting this all behind me. Who will watch his back without me here? Not that I’m the greatest protector, but no one else looks out for him. Hector is a great member of the team, but he will understandably put his family first. Same with the rest of the people who answer directly to Apollo. They all have families. More, he would never expect them to put the job before their loved ones.
Zeus uses Apollo as a blunt tool or scalpel by turn. The rest of the Thirteen are too busy engaging in backbiting and bullshit politics to ever care for one another beyond what power their allies can provide. Being an ally is as fraught as being an enemy.