14

14

Apollo

I am not one to let my baser desires get the best of me. My brain rarely shuts off, and as a result, I overthink things to a clinical degree. It’s been the reason behind the end of several of my relationships over the years.

Standing here, staring at Cassandra, I’m not thinking of anything at all.

She’s always been beautiful. But in this moment, dressed in that little tease of pajamas that have her breasts straining precariously against their thin straps and have pulled tight across her generous hips? She’s devastating.

I want to kiss that down-turned mouth. I want to run my hands over her lush body and pull her tight against me. Gods, I want to wrap that braid around my fist and force her to meet my gaze and admit she wants me, too.

I shake my head, trying to think. “Are you sure?”

“For fuck’s sake, Apollo.” She starts for the door.

Oh gods. Oh fuck.

If the sight of her from the front was enough to short out my thoughts, I can barely stay on my feet at the view she presents me with as she opens the door. I have seen her ass in tight skirts and hidden behind flared dresses and—on the very lucky days—on display with tailored pants. I’ve never seen her show so much skin.

Of course not. She’s not in office wear. She’s in her pajamas and you’re panting after her like a creep.

“Apollo.”

I’m moving before I decide to take the first step. I have the disconcerting thought that I’d follow her anywhere as long as she let me look my fill. “Wait.”

She stops in the doorway but doesn’t look back. “What?”

“I told you that no video or photo would get out that would…”

“Apollo, please. You said that Hector took care of it. If we find out otherwise?” Cassandra looks over her shoulder at me. “Either hack Minos’s systems and delete it—I know you’re capable of it—or I’ll ask Hermes to do it.”

I blink. “Why would Hermes do that for you?”

“We used to date a long time ago.” It’s hard to tell, but I think she’s blushing. “We’re…friends now. I guess I should have mentioned it before.”

I had no idea, because I very intentionally did not look into her past. With Hermes in the mix, I’m not sure there’d be anything to find about this relationship, but I didn’t even look out of respect for Cassandra. The fact that she’s offering up the information now, freely, is a gift. I need to see it as such.

I’m only human.

I can’t help the spike of jealousy that rises in response to realizing that Hermes has dated the woman I… I’m not even sure how to term it. Cassandra is not for me. She can’t be for me. Asking her to stay would be so selfish it makes me feel vaguely ill, and yet the impulse is there all the same. I swallow hard. “I see.”

She steps back into the room and closes the door. “I didn’t say anything before because I wasn’t sure if it was a strange thing to just bring up randomly.” Cassandra tucks a strand of hair behind her ear.

The move brings my attention back to her body. Gods, those pajamas should be illegal. I have no excuse for the words that erupt. “Hermes is kinky.”

“Extremely.” Cassandra doesn’t move, doesn’t seem to breathe. “What are you asking me?”

You dated her.

You’re kinky, too.

“You should have told me you dated her. Her tastes run a certain way, and if yours do as well, that’s something I need to know.” I almost sound normal as I say it.

“You’re right.” She gives one of those delicious little shivers that makes her breasts shake. Her nipples are hard points against the silky black fabric of her top. “I don’t like pain. We played bondage and some light dominance and submission. Occasionally she got more creative with the games, but it was only ever the two of us. No sharing.” She looks away. “And yeah, there was some nearly public stuff. I was young and foolish enough to think it wouldn’t matter if we were caught—and Hermes ensured we never were.”

My cock goes so painfully hard. Bondage. All too easily, I can picture Cassandra’s body crisscrossed with Shibari. Art. The sexiest art in existence. And once she was well and truly tied…

“When was this?”

“Six years ago, give or take. We weren’t public about it by my request.” She gives a half smile. “Even as angry and impulsive as I was, I knew better than to be linked to one of the Thirteen officially.”

I have to step back, have to turn away to avoid kissing her right now. This isn’t real, no matter how visceral the attraction. We have a job to do. “I see. We’ll…” I clear my throat again. “Let’s get moving.”

She arches a brow. “Do you have bondage gear hiding in that bag of yours?”

No, but if I’d known to ask these questions, I would have packed some. “I’m sure Hermes has some stashed somewhere.”

“What an excellent way to mark your territory just like a real boyfriend.” She licks her lips. “Let’s go.”

She’s right. At this point, I’m stalling. Inexcusable. “After you.”

We step into the empty hall and look around. My arm brushes Cassandra’s bare shoulder and it’s everything I can do not to press her to the wall and ravish her mouth. With so little clothes on our bodies, I’ll be able to feel her skin against mine, will be able to slide my hands under the hem of her top and…

She starts moving down the hall toward the main stairs. Her ass is truly out of this world. I normally try to resist ogling her, but there’s no resisting this. Especially not when she puts a bit of extra sway in her step. “You’re doing that on purpose.”

“Doing what on purpose?” She doesn’t look over her shoulder at me, but the teasing in her tone confirms my suspicion.

I manage to keep it together as we check the first three rooms. They’re exactly as Ariadne described—sitting rooms. Truly, they’re just as soulless as Minos’s office.

Cassandra’s soft laugh makes me look over. “What?”

“He missed this.” She points up to where a hook is cleverly tucked into the ceiling. It’s a sturdy thing, obviously meant to hold enough weight to suspend a person.

Again, the image of Cassandra’s body patterned with rope hits me with the force of a freight train. Her arms bound above her head, giving me full access to her body…

“Apollo?”

I shake my head sharply. “Let’s move on to the next room.” I don’t expect to find anything during this search, but I’ve been doing this long enough to know better than to make assumptions. We have to check every room we can get access to, if only to eliminate them as possibilities.

We slip back into the hall and start for the fourth door. It takes me several seconds to realize the sound I’m hearing isn’t our footsteps. Someone is coming up the stairs. They’re moving fast enough that we won’t have a chance to make it back to our room.

I don’t think. I wrap an arm around Cassandra’s waist and drag her through the fourth sitting-room door. To her credit, she doesn’t make a sound. A quick glance around the room doesn’t show much to hide behind. There’s only the couch, facing away from the door.

I haul her around the couch and press her down onto it. All someone has to do is walk fully into the room and look around the edge of the couch to see us, but hopefully that won’t happen. Still, I press my hand to Cassandra’s mouth and lean down. “Someone’s coming.”

Her only response is to shiver.

Which is right around the time I realize that I’m cradled between her thighs. It’s like my mind shorts out and my body takes over. I have absolutely no intention of moving, but I thrust against her, just a little. Her breath catches against my palm and she whimpers.

That whimper stops me short.

I stare down at her in the darkness. The faint light from the window doesn’t reach us here on the couch. The shadows are too deep to reach her expression, but I’ve just manhandled her in the darkness and now I’ve pinned her to the couch.

What am I doing?

I don’t have a chance to figure it out because the footsteps stop outside the door. I strain to hear them over my racing heart. Did the person see us duck in here? Or are they going to check all the rooms?

The door opens softly. I hold my breath. Beneath me, I can feel Cassandra doing the same. The seconds tick past, but the person doesn’t step into the room. Finally, a small eternity later, the door closes softly and the footsteps retreat. They pause at each door, though.

Looking for us?

Or just doing a nightly round since the cameras are down?

I don’t shift my hand from Cassandra’s mouth until I can no longer hear the footsteps. “We should be good.”

Except my adrenaline doesn’t fade. Not when she shifts against me, her breasts pressed to my chest and her thighs so soft around my hips. My brain glitches again and I thrust against her. Again.

She makes that delicious little whimpering sound. Gods, I want to bottle that sound up. I want to do whatever it takes to make her do it again.

“Apollo,” she breathes.

Now is the time to move, to reclaim some distance between us. It’s the honorable thing to do, and I pride myself on being an honorable man.

Instead, I settle down more firmly on top of her. “Cassandra.”

She shivers and shifts a little, her thighs tensing on either side of my hips. “You are very, very hard.”

“Considering the fact that I have you beneath me, I’m surprised that’s all I am.” I shift closer when I should be moving away, until my lips brush her ear. Until I can whisper, “Please ignore it. I’m sorry.”

“Are you really sorry?” She shifts again.

This time, there’s no mistaking her movement. She’s rolling her hips a little, rubbing herself against my cock. I drop my head to the curve of her shoulder. “If you don’t stop doing that, I’m going to embarrass myself by coming in my pants.”

She doesn’t stop. If anything, my attempt at control emboldens her further. “You want me.”

“Of course I want you.” I’m speaking too sharply for all that I match her low tone, but she’s rubbing her pussy on me, and it takes everything I have to hold perfectly still and not grind against her. “But you’re my employee and it won’t be appropriate to make you feel like you had to do something you didn’t want to because of an imbalance of power.” It’s hard to keep my voice down, to whisper to keep this conversation just between us. To not potentially draw the attention of whoever is roaming the halls tonight.

She goes still for a moment. I both curse and praise myself in equal measure for causing that delicious torment to cease. But then Cassandra surprises me by laughing softly. I lift my head and glare down at her, not that she can see my expression. “What’s so funny?”

“In what world would I give a fuck about our so-called power imbalance? I’m quitting in six days. You don’t hold any power over me, Apollo.” She arches up a little, pressing her breasts more firmly against my chest. Her lips brush my jaw. “Unless you want to. Only in the bedroom, of course.”

“Cassandra.” I don’t know if I’m telling her to stop it or commanding her to continue.

Her laugh is low and downright sinful. But she doesn’t start rocking against me again. Instead, she seems to consider something. I find myself holding my breath while I wait for her to speak. Finally, she says, “Is the only thing holding you back that you don’t want to take advantage of me?”

I should lie. It’s the safe thing to do. I’m afraid to hope I’m correctly anticipating where she’s going with this. Even as I tell myself not to, I answer honestly. “Yes.”

“You want me,” she repeats.

“Cassandra, I’ve wanted you for years.” I don’t exactly mean to say it. I’ve tread so carefully around her for a very long time, always painfully aware of her position within Olympus and her desire to keep as far away from the Thirteen and their political games—from us—as possible.

But I like Cassandra. It crept up on me slowly, but that’s how it works with me. Emotions and caring come first, and desire follows. How could I not care for her? She’s smart and savvy and prickly, and she might not think I’ve noticed all the sacrifices she’s made for her sister, but how could I spend any amount of time around her with falling, at least a little bit?

Shock stills her, but not for long. “Gods, Apollo.” She exhales in a shaky laugh. “You’re serious.”

It’s too late to walk it back now. Besides, I don’t want to lie to her. “Yes.”

“You know what?” She eases back to the couch, opening up the tiniest bit of distance between us. My arms shake with the desire to close it, but I force them still. Cassandra rewards me a heartbeat later when she snakes her hands between our bodies and presses her palm to my stomach. “I’m only in Olympus for another week.”

“I’m aware,” I grit out.

She strokes me with her fingertips almost idly, as if she doesn’t care about the very real danger of me losing it from this touch alone. “What if we…made it real? The sex, I mean. Not the dating for obvious reasons.”

Disappointment I have no right to feel takes root in my chest. Of course she wouldn’t want to date me for real. Asking something like that is absurd; as she said, she’s leaving in a week. Inviting her to be my girlfriend in any real way during that time is unfair.

If this were a month ago—a week ago—I wouldn’t say yes. I would tell her that I want all of her or nothing at all. That I don’t operate like that; I don’t have casual sex with people I don’t care about. Sex means something to me. Cassandra means something to me. She has for some time.

Am I willing to compound the pain of her leaving for the pleasure of having more of her now?

I know the answer even before I finish thinking the question. Of course I am. If the pain is inevitable, then at least I’ll have these moments to look back on, no matter how bittersweet. I swallow hard. “I don’t want to pressure you.”

“You couldn’t if you tried.” She moves her hand to my stomach and dips her fingertips beneath the band of my lounge pants. “Can I touch you, Apollo?”

I can’t help feeling like I’m damning us both. I should be the one to put on the brakes here, but I want her too desperately to be logical. When I speak, my voice goes low and commanding. “Do it.”