Chapter Seven
CASSIE WAS HAVING a bad case of the ‘déjà vu’s. Two guys were standing in front of her and trying to ply her with drinks.
‘Come on,’ wheedled one. ‘They’re nice.’
‘Look, I’m here with a friend and—’ The déjà vu hit even harder when a large shape appeared behind the guys and an arm reached in, a hand wrapping around Cassie’s arm. ‘There you are.’
Cassie didn’t even bother to feign that she was annoyed Ares had sought her out. She said to the guys as she walked away, ‘By the way, it’s not cool to go after a woman and isolate her in a corner. It’s creepy, OK?’ They just looked at her, mouths falling agape.
As soon as she’d hit the dance floor, she’d known that there wasn’t one man there who could match Ares and then she’d been cornered before she’d realised what was happening.
Ares was dressed in faded jeans and a plain white T-shirt. Messy hair, bearded jaw. He made everyone else look as though they were trying too hard.
He brought her back up to their seats. In spite of being grateful he’d come to get her, she didn’t want him to know that. ‘Would you not do that, please?’
Cassie sat down. ‘I told you before, I can look after myself.’ So much for sneaking off for her very first tryst. She wouldn’t get as far as the door.
Ares’s expression was dark—surprise surprise. He said, ‘Some time I’m going to get you to show me exactly how proficient you are at self-defence.’
Between Cassie’s legs throbbed at that ultimatum. At the thought of having Ares on his knees before her. Making him your king. Cassie shook her head at that totally audacious image. Wrong on so many levels. She wanted Ares for sex, nothing more.
And if she didn’t make it happen now she’d lose her nerve. She picked up her bag. ‘I think I’m done here.’
Ares couldn’t hide the flash of relief across his face but he looked at his watch. ‘It’s another five hours until sunrise, are you sure?’
What had she been thinking? The thought of staying until sunrise had been slightly over-optimistic. She said, ‘I’m willing to rejig my wish list. I can watch the sunrise from the boat.’
‘OK, but, for the record, you’re the one who wants to leave.’
Cassie hid a smile. As if Ares with his brooding disapproval weren’t cramping her style anyway. But it wasn’t him. This wasn’t her scene but she knew that now.
They left and Cassie sucked in fresh air. The thump thump of the music faded behind them. They picked up the tender at the small pier and headed back to the boat, Cassie swapping out her heels for sneakers. She slipped the lenses out of her eyes and blinked to restore moisture.
As they were heading back out into the sea, Ares tensed and said, ‘There’s a storm coming in.’
Cassie looked to where he was pointing. Her skin prickled at the gathering clouds.
She was suddenly conscious of the breeze picking up.
She could handle a storm but it was obviously better not to have to if you could help it.
‘That wasn’t due to hit until tomorrow. I was planning on heading to a marina to tie up in the morning. ’
Ares shook his head, just as the first smattering of faint rain drops hit them. ‘No time for that. We’ll take the boat somewhere more sheltered now and drop anchor. We’ll have to wait it out. Looks like a squall.’
‘You mean, I’ll take the boat somewhere more sheltered,’ Cassie pointed out.
Ares looked at her. ‘I never said I couldn’t sail. I just don’t like boats.’
Cassie had no response for that, but when they reached the boat it was raining in earnest and Ares took control as if he were the skipper. Within minutes they’d secured the tender and Ares was saying authoritatively, ‘Get the engine started and I’ll pull the anchor up.’
Cassie was professional enough on a boat not to argue. Not in this kind of situation. They worked silently and quickly together, as the wind whipped up and rain battered down. They were soaked but Cassie barely noticed. Too intent on guiding the boat into a small sheltered nearby cove.
She knew enough since she’d been sailing with Caius as a child to understand how quickly storms could come upon you. And how dangerous they could be.
‘Here is good. Cut the engine and I’ll drop anchor again.’
Cassie did as Ares instructed. It was too much of a revelation to get her head around that he could sail. When the boat was secure she opened the door to the below-deck area and shouted over the wind, ‘Come on, we need to get inside.’
Ares hesitated, looking at the opening to the cabin with an indecipherable expression. Cassie said, ‘Ares? What are you waiting for? You can’t stay on deck, it’s too dangerous.’
Finally he moved and she went down into the belly of the boat. He followed her, securing the door behind him. Cassie put on some lights. She realised she was soaked to the skin, her silk jumpsuit plastered to her body.
So was Ares. Soaked. T-shirt practically see-through. She could count the ridges of his six-pack. She could see the dark shadow of his chest hair that went in a line down towards his navel and the top of his jeans. That were also soaked…moulded to his powerful thighs.
Cassie dragged her gaze back up. Ares’s hair was wet, stuck to his skull. Water dripping off the ends, that almost reached his shoulders now. He looked like a pirate.
He was looking at her, eyes very dark, hard to read. Jaw clenched. So far so normal. When had he not looked brooding? Earlier…when he’d smiled at lunch. Before taking her to get her tattoo. Absently she glanced down at her arm. The plaster had come off her tattoo but she barely noticed now.
She looked back up and little fires raced over her skin at Ares’s look. It was so…primal. ‘Ares…’ Cassie said. ‘You’re looking at me as if—’
He abruptly turned around and said gruffly, ‘Sorry.’
Cassie moved closer behind him, kicking off her sodden sneakers as she did. Her hair was coming down, and she loosened it out of the plaits so it could dry.
She stood close behind him. He was so much bigger than her. He dominated the space. ‘No,’ she said, ‘I didn’t mean it like that… I like you looking at me.’
He shook his head and little droplets of water fell. The boat was rocking from side to side but Cassie hardly noticed. He said, ‘No, princess, it was a transgression.’
‘Don’t call me that.’ She knew he was doing that now to put distance between them and it made something surge inside her. Hope. Confidence.
He huffed out something like a laugh. ‘Even though it’s accurate?’
‘Here and now I’m just Cassie. Ares…please.’
With almost palpable reluctance he turned around and she looked up. His eyes were burning. He shook his head again. ‘Cassie…this…is not going to happen.’
She moved closer. ‘It already happened the other night, Ares.’
His jaw clenched. ‘My fault.’
‘I wanted it too. I kissed you.’
‘You didn’t know who I was.’
‘I don’t care who you are.’ She flushed. ‘I mean, I do, but it doesn’t matter. Here we’re just two people. Adults. Who want the same thing.’
‘It’s not that simple.’
She moved closer, close enough to touch. She put her hands on his chest, his soaked-through T-shirt. His skin was firm, warm. Pectorals bulging under her palms. ‘I think it’s the simplest thing in the world. I’m just a woman, Ares, and I’ve never wanted a man the way I want you.’
‘You don’t know what you’re saying.’ Ares brought his hands to her arms as if he was going to push her away. Cassie dug her heels in. She wasn’t going anywhere. The air crackled and pulsed between them. Between her legs. Her breasts felt heavy, nipples tight.
‘Don’t you want me, Ares?’ She knew he couldn’t deny it. It would be like denying there was a storm lashing the boat and sea outside.
His face was taut now, and his hands tightened on her arms. ‘I wanted you the moment I saw you that first night, that’s why I didn’t tell you who I was when I had a chance. I didn’t want you to turn away from me. I’ve never wanted anyone more.’
Relief flooded her. And sharp desire. ‘Take me, Ares, please.’ Cassie wasn’t above pleading. If she couldn’t have this experience with this man, she knew she’d regret it for the rest of her life.
‘Cass…’
‘Ares.’
Instead of pushing her away from him, he pulled her inexorably closer until their bodies were touching. He looked down at her, fierce. ‘Are you sure you want this?’
‘I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life. Make love to me, Ares.’
‘It’s not love, Cass.’
Cassie loved the way he said that. Cass. She shook her head, body going up in flames, pulse tripping so fast she felt breathless. She lifted her arms and wound them around Ares’s neck. ‘I don’t care what we call it, I just want you, now.’
Ares would have to have been made of iron and stone to resist the woman twining herself around him, pressing those perfect breasts against his chest, rocking her pelvis against his raging hard-on.
Breasts that might as well have been naked the way the soaked material of her jumpsuit clung to them, outlining their high full curves and hard nipples.
She’s not just a woman, she’s a queen in waiting. She’s your friend’s little sister. These thoughts that were feverishly running through Ares’s head were also being fast drowned out by the clamour of his blood.
On a very deep level, his body was recognising this woman in a way he’d never felt before.
He had to have her. She was his. He knew if he pushed her away she was stubborn enough to wait out the storm and go straight back to that club.
And he wasn’t having that. She was his. It beat through him, the most right thing he’d felt in ages.
He took his hands off her arms and settled them around her waist, almost able to span it. That evidence of her femininity made something very carnal move through him.
She lifted her mouth to his and the last of Ares’s control snapped. He lowered his head and met her, mouth to mouth, breath to breath and…devoured her like a starving man.