Warriors of Poseidon 04 - Atlantis Unmasked

her gaze travel from his head down to his very enticing chest, down to his flat abdomen and the silky-looking trail of hair that arrowed down to his . . . oh. My. The man was built . And if his truly impressive erection was any indication, he really, really wanted her. She took a deep breath and then, very deliberately, licked her lips while staring at his penis.
     
    Subtle, she was not.
     
    His erection jerked forward, hopefully in response to her provocation, because she had absolutely no practice or experience at being seductive, so she was totally winging it.
     
    “You are trying to kill me, aren‟t you?” He forced the words out from between clenched teeth. “I am trying to be a gentleman. Heroic again, even. But by all the gods, I think you expect too much of me.”
     
    She stood up, ignoring the fact that he backed away even farther, and made her own heroic attempt—to keep her eyes on his face . “But you miss the point. Nobody is asking you to be heroic this time.” She blushed a little, remembering her actions earlier.
    “This is just me, Alexios. No strange reaction to an alpha call, no Fae magic, just me.
    Just me, wanting you. What if we were to take it easy? Be gentle? Can‟t we at least try?”
     
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    She swallowed past the lump in her throat, humiliatingly aware that her last plaintive question had sounded almost like begging. She looked down at the floor, sure that this moment was one of the most difficult she‟d ever lived through. It was far easier to be brave when it was only her life on the line.
     
    But this was her heart and her pride.
     
    He took a step closer and began unbuttoning her shirt, leaning down to press a kiss to her forehead, then her chin, then to the pale skin of her chest that he uncovered with each released button.
     
    “Gentle,” he murmured between kisses. “I think I can do gentle.”
     
    Alexios heard himself tell Grace that he could be gentle, even while everything in him claimed it a lie. How could he be gentle when he wanted nothing more than to throw her back on the bed and slam into her body until he was so deep inside her that his cock touched her womb? How could he be gentle, when he needed to bind her arms and legs and touch her and bite her and leave the marks of his nails and mouth and teeth all over her?
     
    He wanted, no, needed to claim her. To brand her. To make her his, indisputably and forever. And there was nothing gentle in any of that.
     
    As if she were in the room with them, he heard phantom laughter. Anubisa‟s laughter.
    “And so I win,” this phantom born of the hells of memory whispered. “I have conquered you, body and soul, and nothing is left of you that isn‟t twisted, broken, and wrong.”
     
    His fingers shook as he opened the buttons of Grace‟s shirt, and then he froze, unable to continue. What if the vampire goddess had been prophesying instead of simply uttering more of her vile threats, when she‟d spoken those word to him all those years ago? What if Alexios truly were twisted, broken, and wrong?
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    Shaking his head in denial and despair, he began to back away from Grace. Lovely, brave Grace, who deserved more. He looked up, finally forcing himself to meet her gaze so he could tell her.
     
    “Grace, I cannot—”
     
    “Stop thinking so hard,” she advised, smiling as she cast his own words back at him.
    Then her smile faded. “After what happened here—after our people died . . . I need you, Alexios. I need your warmth so I can feel alive again. I‟m willing to take a risk that I‟ve never taken before and admit that I have feelings for you.”
     
    She put her palms on his chest and drew in a shuddering breath, then moved closer to him. “I know you‟re going to leave, that you have to go back to Atlantis and do your important warrior stuff, and save the world or whatever. I know you‟ll live forever, and I‟m just mortal. It‟s the whole thing I always wondered about when I was a kid—what the heck was Lois Lane thinking? But for now—just for tonight—I really need for you to be with me.”
     
    Something in the hard lines of his face softened as he gazed down at her, and a smile quirked at the edges of his lips. “I think I can take a break from „saving the world or whatever‟ to be with you.”
     
    He closed his eyes for a moment and then held his hand out,