Ariadne
She nearly gave a squeal the moment Thalos moved. Something switched in him. She saw it in his eyes, the way they darkened and went hooded. He licked his lips as he took a step toward her. A tiny part of her wanted to run, to ignite the predator she knew the Centaur was, deep down. But she didn’t dare. This was all so new to her; she needed to go slower than that at first.
He got right up in her space and whispered in her ear, “Are you sure?”
She nodded. Because she was. Terrified, yes. But sure. She’d never wanted a male as much as this one, and she doubted she ever would again. And they’d become friends too, of sorts. To be honest, the reasons not to do this were fading away more and more every minute she spent in his company.
It might be foolish of her to go ahead. But she wanted him, and she’d spent her life denying herself what she wanted. Now, she was adrift, without the anchor of her community and the rules she’d always lived by. It scared her, but it also gave her a strange sense of hope and possibility. It made her feel ashamed, as if the hope meant she’d wanted her kin gone, but she knew that wasn’t true, so she pushed such thoughts back down.
“I want to take you right here, on the grass.” He ran his nose up her neck, and she shivered. “But I think our first time should be on a bed. Like civilized people.” He pulled back from her and winked at her.
But she didn’t want the bed. She wanted out here. She took his hand and led him into the house, but she went into the lounge and grabbed the soft throw covering the sofa. Then she walked to the kitchen and filled two glasses with water. She was thirsty, and he must be. Not bothering with anything else, she led him back outside.
He raised an eyebrow at her, but he accepted the water when she handed it to him.
“You know, I don’t think a male could ever get bored of you,” he said between sips. “You’re such a contradiction. So uncertain and hesitant in some ways, so confident in others.”
“Is it a bad thing?” She meant the question genuinely. She never really knew what was good or bad in his world—or the world of other shifters.
He laughed. “No, my darling. It’s a good thing. You keep me on my toes.”
She finished her water and spread the blanket on the thick grass to the side of the house. A butterfly flew by, and she smiled at it, looking out to sea for a moment before she lay on the throw.
Thalos watched her, and his gaze darkened more. He swallowed, and his Adam’s apple bobbed. She noticed things about him she’d never been aware of with other males. The way his throat worked when he drank. His beautiful hands. Those golden hairs on his forearms. His powerful thighs. The sex between his legs, darkening and filling now as he watched her.
And she felt powerful, being able to make him respond like that with merely a look. Her own body reacted in kind too, and she grew damp between her legs.
He climbed onto the blanket beside her and ran his hand down her arm, to her fingers, and back up to her shoulder. He repeated this a few times, smiling at her as she shivered under the touch.
“You’re so responsive. I love it.”
He leaned over and kissed her, softly at first, but then with more heat behind it. As he kissed her, he continued to stroke her. His fingers butterflied over her shoulders, her collarbone, down the center of her chest, but only skimming her breasts, not touching them. He stroked her stomach, warmed by the sun. Heated more by his touch.
Featherlight touches trailed over her right hip and down her thigh to her knee before repeating the same move down her left leg. He touched her everywhere, except for the places she most wanted it.
“Turn over.” His whispered words sent a thrill of delight through her, and she did as he asked.
As she settled back onto the blanket, her nipples scratched by the rough texture, warm lips found her neck. He began to worship her back as he had her front, but this time with his mouth instead of his hands. She discovered her whole back was ultrasensitive as he kissed his way down it. Then he kissed over her bottom, nipping her left cheek with sharp teeth and making her cry out with the flash of pain and the lingering pleasure after.
She hadn’t known pain could produce pleasure like that. He did it again, and this time, he laved the spot after with his tongue, soothing. Soft kisses trailed down her thighs to her knees. She didn’t know how much time passed, but she grew increasingly turned on.
When he instructed her to turn back to her front, she did so immediately, putty in his hands. He took her mouth in a deep kiss, his tongue teasing hers, wrapping around it and then sucking her bottom lip into his mouth to scrape his teeth along it. The kiss made her sigh into his mouth, and he groaned back. The sound was animalistic, a touch desperate, and it went straight to her core.
His hand settled on her throat, not with any pressure, but holding her there in place as he kissed her and kissed her. She found she liked it, him taking charge in this way. It got her hotter inside. Made the ache flare and burn.
“I want you so fucking bad, but I want you ready for me first.” He’d broken the kiss and now nipped at her ear as he spoke.
Then he moved down her body again and settled between her legs. Oh gods. Was he going to do that amazing thing he’d done to her by the pool? His mouth on her sex told her the answer. This time though, he worked her faster. He sucked and licked at her and didn’t give her any room to breathe or hide. Instead, he took her to the point where she trembled once more on that brink, and he got her there hard and fast. When she tipped over, she pushed herself against his face and cried out.
He looked at her and grinned, a wild, beautiful smile that made her give one in return. Then he climbed up her body again and kissed her. For an instant, the taste of herself on him shocked her, and she moved her mouth away. But he chased her lips, and after a moment, she got used to it, his own scent and taste coming through.
The aftershocks were still rocking through her when she felt something at her core, pressing into her, hard and unyielding.
Thalos lifted her right leg, hooking it over his arm and raising her up a little from the blanket. He paused and looked into her eyes.
“This might hurt a little. I’ll take it slow.”
She nodded and tried to stay relaxed. What she was doing was so very wrong, but she didn’t want him to stop. Part of her needed him on an elemental level, and she found it difficult to remember why this was considered such a sin.
Thalos kissed her mouth and then kissed her neck, biting and nibbling and making her squirm at the overwhelming sensations as he pushed slowly into her.
She let her head fall back on a gasp at the sensation. It was gorgeous. It didn’t hurt one bit. He pushed in some more and paused, letting her get used to him. Then he hitched his hips and moved forward again, and a searing pain rocked her. She cried out, and he paused, looking at her, his eyes burning with lust.
“Breathe, beautiful. It won’t hurt for long.”
She nodded and tried to relax and believe him. He didn’t push in any farther, but instead, he rotated his hips, and soon a pleasant pressure began to build deep inside her. He kept rotating, and then added tiny, incremental thrusts to it. Her pain didn’t burn now, only ached, and when he did this particular little hitch with his hips, he hit something nice inside her. It felt like a deep, pleasurable tickle almost.
Feeling bold, she moved her hips up to meet his on the next thrust, and he gave a grunt of approval. “That’s it. Move with me, Ariadne.”
So, she did. She learned how to move in a way that felt good, meeting his thrusts and matching his movements.
He kissed her neck again, but then he sucked on it, adding some teeth, and she discovered something she loved. Oh, wow. She’d pay him to do that to her all day. The skin on her arms goose-bumped, and she gave a gasp of pleasure.
“You like that, huh?”
She nodded, and he did it again. He moved within her body, kissing her neck as his free hand found hers and held it tightly in his.
He gathered her body closer until they were pressed together. Not thrusting against one another now so much as undulating together, as if they were one. He kissed her and then pulled away to look into her eyes. His green gaze bored into her, and they moved, their breath coming in heavy gasps.
Once more, they pressed their mouths together, but they seemed to lose the ability to actually coordinate a kiss and ended up breathing one another’s air as they tried to get closer, ever closer. She wanted even more. Wanted him to take her over.
His hand left hers and slid down her body to where they met, and his wicked fingers stroked her there, adding the touch she needed to feel the pleasure building again.
He swirled around her gently, building the pace and the pressure, and she started to pant heavily as the sensation of being on the edge of something momentous gathered within her once more. But this time, it was different from the two occasions with his mouth.
This time when she fell over the edge, he was inside her. Something there for her to pulse against and grip, and it made it so much more overwhelming.
“Oh gods. Oh gods.” She chanted the words, and Thalos cursed once then stilled as he throbbed deep within her.
When she came back down to earth, it was to feel him pull out of her, which made her wince as a sudden soreness made itself known.
He rolled onto his back and gathered her in his arms. Holding her close, he kissed her hair, his hand making lazy circles on her back.
She’d never experienced anything like it. She’d soared to the sky and then crashed back down to her body, and now she felt sated and warm. All gooey inside as if she’d somehow melted from the sun beating down on them and his touch.
They lay entwined together for a long time, and then Thalos suggested a shower.
He led her into the house and to the bathroom. Though no comparison to the luxury at his villa, the room still had plenty of space. The shower was powerful and hot, and he’d brought a bag of all those gorgeous smelly things Marina told her were part of the human bathing ritual. He poured something into his hands and massaged it into her hair. Just the sensation of his fingers digging into her scalp made her core ache and throb again.
She’d thought doing what they did might sate her, and it had, but only for a little while. Now, she wanted him all over again.
He moved her under the spray and rinsed her hair, and then he began to lather her body in something from a different bottle. It smelled of wild jasmine, and she sighed. So punch-drunk on new sensations, she could only let it happen to her. The scents. The hot water. His touch. His smooth, sleek body so close to hers. He had the grace of a dancer and the power of fighter. He was lean but muscular and so beautiful to her now, it hurt to look at him.
She wanted to wash him, so she took the bottle from him and began to do to him as he’d done to her. She washed him, loving the slippery feel of the lather over his body. The part between his legs grew large and full again, and she wanted so badly to touch him.
What if she got it wrong, though?
He groaned and moved her hands down toward his straining member. “Touch me, Ariadne.”
She couldn’t deny him. Didn’t want to. She poured more of the slippery liquid on her hands and began to wash him there. The silky hot feel thrilled her, as did his hardness and the size of him. She fluttered her hands over and around his girth. Down to the heavy balls that hung below his straining erection, then back to his tip.
A pulse of clear liquid gathered in the slit at the center, and she watched in fascination as it rolled down his length.
“Like this.” Thalos took her fingers and wrapped them around him in a fist and began to move her hand up and down.
She got the idea and shook him off, eager to do it herself. He threw his head back and closed his eyes, his chest heaving.
It didn’t take long at all before he seemed to swell in her grip. His eyes opened, and he stared at her as he began to pulse in her hand. He came all over her belly. It surprised her when it shot out in a big arc. Two more jets hit her stomach, and then a long stream of it ran out his tip and down over her hand.
“Shit. You’re going to be the death of me.” He laid his forehead against hers, breathing heavily.
She looked down at her belly, covered in his essence, and felt powerful. She’d done that to him. And she wanted to do it again and again. To see him lose control.
“My turn.” He gave her a wicked grin and spun her around until she faced the wall. “Hands up and don’t move them.”
He placed her hands up above her head, on the cool tiles, and popped the lid of the bottle. Once he’d lathered up his hands, he ran them all along her body, over her breasts, her ribs, her belly. Down between her legs, before sweeping back up to her breasts. The sensation felt so different from anything else due to the slipperiness of his hands and the hot water chasing his touch.
Soon, he focused on that place between her legs, his fingers working her into a frenzy until she came all over his hand with a cry that was muffled by the pounding jets of water.
He dried her off with fluffy, soft towels and then carried her to the bedroom, where they curled up in one another’s arms and fell asleep.