Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 101264 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 506(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101264 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 506(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
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.”
15
Cassandra
I start to slide my hand into Apollo’s pants, but he says, “Wait.” I freeze, suddenly sure that this strange moment has passed and he’s going to call a stop to the whole thing. Instead, he leans down, careful to maintain the distance and not crush my arm, and speaks directly into my ear. “Give me a safe word.”
I want to argue out of habit, but there’s nothing wrong with having a word just between us that means everything stops. I’ve used one before and I’ll no doubt use one again. More, I like that he’s setting that boundary very clearly to keep us both safe. I lick my lips. “Python.”
He huffs out a laugh. “Very well.” His lips brush my ear, my jaw, the corner of my mouth. “Touch me, Cassandra.”
This time, he doesn’t stop me as I slide my hands into his lounge pants and wrap them around his cock. I felt him earlier, of course, but there’s something about his length filling my hand that makes my breath catch in my chest. I stroke him lightly, teasingly. “All this for me?”
“Just for you.” His arms shake a little where they’re pressed against my sides. “I’m going to kiss you now. Give me your mouth.” It’s not a request, but he gives me a bare moment to protest. I don’t. Of course I don’t. I’ve been thinking about our last kiss since it happened, replaying it in my mind more times than I’ll ever admit aloud.
Apollo kisses me as if divining every facet of my taste. Short, drugging kisses that distract me so much, I forget to keep stroking him. Instead, I chase him every time he retreats, little whimpering protests slipping past my lips, only for him to take my mouth again, longer this time.
He reaches between us to clasp my wrist in a firm grip and lift my hand to press to the couch beside my head. Apollo doesn’t break our kiss as he does the same with my other hand. I might complain about not being able to touch him, but he chooses that moment to lower himself onto me, pressing me into the couch. My brain shorts out. It’s been so long since I allowed anyone close enough to be like this. I’m starved for more…for him.
He breaks the kiss slowly but doesn’t move away. “Tell me how to make you feel good, Cassandra.” Again, there’s no question in his voice, no invitation to argue. He’s commanding in that quiet, stern way of his.
“This feels good.”
“Mmm.” He thrusts against me slowly and lets out a tortured groan. “Too good.” He hooks the back of my neck and pulls me up as he shifts back. I barely have a chance to process the fact that we’re changing positions when he sits me up on the couch and kneels between my thighs. I reach for him, but he shakes his head and grabs my wrists in that same firm grip. He presses them to the couch on either side of my hips. “If you touch me, this will end too quickly.”
Surely he doesn’t mean he wants me so much, he’s about to come sooner than he’d like to? I thought he was joking when he said it before. I almost laugh, but my entire body shakes like a leaf over the fact that we’re here and we’re doing this. If he wants me even half as badly as I want him, then maybe it’s best I keep my hands to myself.
For now.
Apollo lifts his hands slowly, making a satisfied noise when I keep mine where he placed them. “Good girl.” I can barely process that when he clasps my knees and gently presses them wider. The bottoms of my pajamas gape. He stares at the juncture of my thighs with an intensity that makes me squirm.