Seduced by the Gladiator(64)

His naked shoulders gleamed as they rose above the water.

He was a foot away, not quite in what I would consider my personal space, and yet it was both too close for comfort and too far away.

I think he had meant our visit here to soothe me, to ease my worry about the next day, but the heat of the silky water was not doing anything to calm. Instead it added to my already scorching internal temperature.

Something had to give, or I would be burned alive.

Overwhelmed with emotion, I sank down farther into the warmth and the wet, dunking under the surface to dampen my hair and soak away the last of my anxiety. I was startled when a second face joined mine beneath the smooth surface of blue. Strong arms wound around me, and legs intertwined with my own. Despite the carnal ferocity with which I was gripped, the brush of lips against my own was a touch so light it felt like a dream.

Lungs beginning to ache from the lack of air, I felt drugged by something thick and potent, something that belonged exclusively to Christus. I began to close my eyes, to lean in again, despite the fact that I desperately needed air.

My air gave out, and I sputtered to the surface, clawing for breath. I was dizzy. He surfaced beside me, though a lot more gracefully. Since we were still tangled, his exhalation of breath hit me full on in the face.

I greedily inhaled the scent that was so uniquely him. He turned my still entangled limbs as tightly as he could in his rock-hard frame and crushed my face against his. We clung, suspended in heat and wet, straining to get closer. Though it was not possible, I felt that I would not be happy unless I could somehow crawl inside his skin.

Drawing in a ragged breath, I traced my tongue over the tips of his teeth with a boldness I had no idea I possessed. And then I could not breathe. With a moan, Christus pressed his lips even tighter against my own, sealing his breath in with my own as he suckled at my tongue. My body bucked once, twice against his, and then I surrendered, the strength of every conviction I had ever had melting away into the pool.

Who was I to say no to something that felt so good? Why would I say no? I loved this man, though I had fought it so very hard and for so very long.

While Pluto, god of death, loomed, watching over our shoulders, why should we not steal what happiness we could?

“I love you.” I felt Christus’ body tense against my own when he heard my words. I had a moment of anxiety myself—what if he did not feel the same? What if I was merely a distraction for him, or a comrade with whom he had the benefit of sharing pleasures of the flesh?

“Say it again.” With one hand still holding me tightly around my waist, Christus slid his other down over the curves of my ass and parted my thighs. I acquiesced to the touch with a throaty sigh, biting into the hard muscles of his shoulder as he slid a finger inside of me.

“I love you.” He began to move that finger in and out, the heat of the water causing arousal to pool more quickly than ever before.

“You love me. Do you belong to me?” He moved his finger faster, forcing a sharp intake of breath on my part. If anyone else had asked me the same question, I would have bared my teeth and pulled my sword from my hip.

But Christus already knew the answer, and so I murmured my affirmative reply. I was his, and he was mine.

“Good.” Pulling his finger from between my legs before striding through the water, his muscles rippling, he reached the edge of the pool. Lifting easily, he seated me on its side, the chill of the stone biting into my bottom while my calves, ankles, and feet still dangled into the water.

“Lie back.” I thrilled to the ferocity in his voice and did as he asked, settling my weight back onto my elbows, then flat onto my back. My shoulder blades jutted into the stone, and my nipples puckered in air that felt cool after the warmth of the water.

Standing in the chest-high water, Christus separated my thighs, splaying me wide open. He slid his hands up the inside of my legs, stroking the smooth skin, then delved into the glossy hair that covered my entrance. He separated the lips of my labia with his thumbs and stared down with apparent satisfaction at the dampness that surrounded my clit.

“And this. This is mine.”

I choked out an agreement, my hips rocking. I would have agreed to anything at that moment, so badly did I want him to touch me.

“Say it.” I stared up at him from beneath heavy lids, my lips parting, my tongue flicking out to taste them.

“It is yours. All of it—all of me—is yours.” A hoarse cry sounded from the depths of my throat when, with a nod of satisfaction, he lunged, burying his face in the heated space between my legs.

“Oh. Oh! Christus!”

Still holding me open wide, he did not waste time, rolling my clit lightly back and forth between his thumbs as his tongue invaded my wet heat. Compared to the thickness of his cock, his tongue was but a tease, sliding in and out, in and out, working me into a frenzy.