26. Hercules
HERCULES
W hen I wake, it’s tangled up between Meg and Hades.
I lie there for a long time, soaking up their closeness.
My body aches faintly from all the fucking, but not in an unpleasant way.
It takes longer for the rest of what I’m feeling to sink in.
I’m…happy. Content. The stress of the future still lingers, but it’s nowhere near as overwhelming as it has been for most of my life.
I finally feel like I’m right where I’m supposed to be.
Meg stretches, her ass rubbing against the aching cock I’ve been trying to ignore. “Is that cockstand just for me?”
“Good morning indeed.”
I skate a hand down her stomach to palm her pussy.
Every time I touch this woman, it feels so fucking right.
Like coming home, if home was something to be craved, rather than something to be avoided.
I touch her idly, teasing her until she’s pressing back against me, trying to get closer.
I lift her leg up and over my hip, opening her completely, and notch my cock at her entrance.
There’s no rush as I slide into her. It’s the kind of fucking that feels like we’ve shifted from one dream to another.
Slow. Unhurried. Decadent. When she comes, it’s with a ragged breath and my whispered name on her tongue.
I bury my face in her hair as I follow her over the edge, emptying myself into her in a way that feels downright fucking spiritual.
Hades’s hands on my hips guide me out of her and onto my back.
He moves between my thighs and then his lubed-up cock is pressing into my ass, just as slowly and steadily as I pushed into Meg.
He looks relaxed and sleepy in a way I could get used to.
He sinks the last few inches into me and looks at Meg.
Through some unspoken agreement, she shifts closer to press against us and kisses him.
I can’t stop myself from touching her again.
I don’t even bother to try. She draws back with a little gasp and Hades gives me a look of approval.
“Ride his hand, love. We both know you’re too greedy to be satisfied with a single orgasm. ”
She’s wet and slippery against my fingers. The evidence of our dual orgasms makes it easy to push three fingers into her and press my palm against her clit. “You heard him.”
She kisses me as she starts to rock, fucking my hand just like Hades told her to.
That’s when Hades begins to move. It takes me several breathless moments to realize he’s mimicking Meg’s strokes almost perfectly.
Long slow glides. And then Meg moves back and Hades is there, his mouth on mine.
He’s nowhere near as soft as she is, and I relish the difference between them.
Before, they overwhelmed me. It doesn’t feel like that this time. I feel utterly cherished between these two people I care about. Like the new corner we turned last night really means something and we could be waking up like this many, many times in the future. I want that more than anything.
Meg reaches between Hades and me for my cock and gives me a rough stroke that has my back bowing.
Hades leans back for half a second and then cool wetness covers her hand and my cock and she picks up her pace.
She jacks me as he fucks me and, god, has there ever been a more perfect pair than these two?
I don’t know. I can’t think, can’t breathe, can’t do more than lie there and take what they give me even as Meg comes apart all over my hand.
I try to hold on. I do. But it’s too fucking good.
I come with a shout, coating my stomach and chest. Hades jerks and curses softly, and he pulls out of me in time to come across my stomach and chest too.
I stare down at the mess and, holy shit, this is real.
Maybe I shouldn’t be so turned on by the way we mix, but I am and I’m not sorry.
Meg rolls away and stretches her entire body. She doesn’t come close to reaching the end of the bed. “Shower time.”
Hades catches my mouth in a devastating kiss that ends all too soon. “Time to clean up, little Hercules. We have a long day ahead of us.”
Showering in the huge-ass bathroom feels so strangely domestic.
There are enough showerheads for six people, but we linger together under the water.
Hades washes Meg’s hair with the ease of someone who’s done it many, many times before.
I’m captivated watching his graceful hands work her dark locks.
And then he gives me the same treatment, easing away the tightness in my temples and neck while Meg soaps up my body.
I feel utterly cared for. This is what I wanted, but I had no idea their edges would conceal unexpected softness beneath, a true tenderness that makes the warmth in my chest bloom.
By the time we make it out of the shower and dry off, I’m grinning like a fool.
Meg drags a comb through her hair and smiles at me in the mirror. “Look, Hades. We’ve made our little Hercules a happy man.”
“Didn’t take much,” he murmurs, disappearing into the closet on the other end of the bathroom.
It’s tempting to follow him, but I get the feeling that Hades isn’t even remotely comfortable with adding someone into his care the way he’s added me.
He didn’t intend for this to happen, and I’m willing to wait him out until he comes to terms with exactly what he feels for me.
I have all the time in the world, after all.
When I made my bargain with Hades, I never anticipated this outcome.
It feels so right, I don’t question it. Before, I gave him forever in that moment of pain and anger. Now, I’m choosing it. Choosing them .
I sit on the counter and watch Meg get ready. She moves about the space easily, but then that makes sense. Even if she has her own suite on the employee level, she must spend a lot of time up here with Hades.
She dries her hair and then twists it back and begins her makeup.
I study her, fascinated, as she uses a variety of products to sharpen her already natural beauty, finishing with the bold red lipstick I’ve come to associate with her.
She glances at me in the mirror. “Are you about to tell me I look prettier without the makeup?”? 2
“I like you every way, Meg.” I shrug. “Whether you’re wearing makeup or not makes no difference to me.”
“Smart boy.” Hades walks back through the door. He’s once again dressed in a suit that’s black on black. He gives me a significant look. “I’ll have some of your clothes brought up here so you aren’t wandering the halls in a towel in the future.”
Another indication of the permanence of our arrangement. No, not arrangement. This is a fucking relationship. I grin. “And here I thought you’d want to show me off.”
“Trust me, little Hercules, I’ll do that and more tonight on the floor of the public playroom.”
All my amusement disappears, replaced by pure heat.
“Tonight?” I may not have worked at the Underworld long, but I’ve already heard about how rarely Hades plays in public—and what an event it is when he does.
Even though I know what this must be—him continuing to prove a point to my father—I can’t quite catch my breath as anticipation lances me.
He’s also claiming me as his for everyone else.
“Yes.” He stops and presses a kiss to Meg’s temple and then walks to me and does the same.
“Behave, you two. We have a meeting with Allecto in an hour. You don’t have time to get distracted.
” And then he’s gone, silently walking out of the bathroom and through the bedroom.
I don’t exhale until I hear the door click shut.
“Why are we meeting with Allecto?”
Meg heads for the closet, and I hop off the counter to follow her.
The closet is filled to the brim with black clothing, but there’s a section that’s obviously Meg’s for all that it appears to be menswear.
She dresses quickly in a pair of gray slacks and a white halter vest thing that gives glimpses of her pale stomach and the curves of her breasts.
Heels finish off the outfit, bringing her well past my shoulder.
She finally looks at me. “Hades taunted your father last night. It’s possible Zeus will retaliate. ”
He taunted my father last night. I pick apart the words and delve beneath to what she’s not saying. “He left our bed to go play power games with Zeus.”
“Yes.” She doesn’t bother to pretty it up, but then Meg isn’t one to mince words. “He’s increasing security to ensure his people remain safe. Allecto is already the best, but she can’t anticipate an enemy she doesn’t know exists.”
I should have known that reality wouldn’t wait long to intrude on this little paradise we created.
Just like I should have known Hades would be the one to invite it in.
I scrub a hand over my face. “How Zeus responds will depend on what Hades did to provoke him—and how public it was.” My father has a mostly sterling reputation despite everything he’s done in the shadows and the rumors that dog at his heels.
It’s one of the things that tipped the scales against Leda, in addition to her being a virtual unknown and Zeus holding significant power.
Zeus will fight to maintain his public persona as the charming leader of Olympus.
“I can’t speak to that.” She stops in front of me and runs her hands up my chest. “I hope you were serious with everything you said last night, because there’s no turning back now.” She hesitates. “But if you do change your mind?—”
“I won’t.”
Meg catches my chin, her nails digging into my skin. “If you change your mind, I’ll get you out.”
Shock floors me. “What?”
“It won’t be Olympus and it won’t be Carver City, but I have enough money set aside that you could effectively disappear as long as you aren’t a fool about it. Say the word and it’s yours.”
What she’s offering… I hold perfectly still.
I won’t brush this off, no matter how unlikely I am to take her up on this.
If I know Meg, and at this point I feel I have an innate understanding of her, then this nest egg she’s gift wrapping for me is one she’s saved for herself.
Her exit hatch to ensure history never repeats itself, that she always has a way out.
“I meant what I said last night.” I take her hands. “I’m totally gone for you.”
“You barely know me.” Even as she says the words, her heart is in her eyes. She cares about me too; otherwise, she wouldn’t have done so many of the things she’s done since we met, culminating in offering me everything to leave if I need it.
“I know enough.” I lean down slowly, and though she maintains her hold on my chin, she allows it. I kiss her carefully, cautious of the red lipstick. “Thank you for offering me this. I don’t need it, but I know what it represents to you and what losing it would cost.”
Her fingers tremble, just a little. “You can’t possibly be real.”
“I am.” I cover her hand with mine. “I’m real. I’m right here.” A pause. “I’m yours.”
Her lips finally curve into a reluctant smile. “Yes, you really, really are.” She drops her hand and shakes her head. “I don’t know if this is the beginning of something new and wonderful—or the beginning of the end. But apparently we’re taking this ride to its conclusion.”
“It will be okay, Meg.” A reassurance I have no business offering her, but one I can’t help making despite that. I don’t want her sad and stressed. I sure as fuck don’t want to be the cause of it. “We’ll figure this out together.”
“I suppose we will.” She casts a critical eye over me, lingering on the lounge pants I wore up to this room last night.
“We better get moving or we’re going to miss the meeting with Allecto, and then Hades will think up some ridiculously uncomfortable punishment.
” She leans into me. “But if we had time, I’d be sucking your dick right now and let you fuck me in front of Hades’s giant mirror. ”
I glance over her shoulder at the mirror in question.
It stretches from floor to ceiling and is wider than it has right to be.
A heavy frame that must be custom-made borders it.
With all that space to work with, I would be able to watch my cock slide into Meg with each stroke, would be able to see every wave of pleasure roll through her expression.
I swallow hard and try to get my physical reaction under control, but my cock isn’t listening.
Meg gives a low laugh and strokes me once through my pants. “Mmmm. Makes my mouth water.”
I narrow my eyes in a mock glare. “You’re trying to get me in trouble.”
“Maybe.” She’s totally unrepentant, her wicked grin lighting up her face. “What can I say? I have a bit of a sadistic streak when I’m inspired, and you, my dear Hercules, inspire the fuck out of me.”
1 ? Listen, things like chafing and whatnot don’t exist in romance novels, and we are all glad for it.
2 ? Can you tell I hate that sentiment? Sometimes I’m so damned transparent in my work.