Fallen (Dark God Saga) Read online

  Simone clucked her tongue, and said in gross exaggeration, “Noo, you have a twin? I thought he was a stranger who just had this uncanny resemblance to you.” Despite the difference of dark and light, it was obvious.

  Thanatos laughed, and walked over to the phone. “It’s understandable that you didn’t notice. We only look ninety percent alike. The other ten percent really confuses people.”

  As Simone chuckled over their banter, she listened to him make a quick call down to the main desk. Relaxing in the chair, she noticed how his expression grew serious as he ordered food, meticulously singling out what they should and should not bring. He held the phone away from his ear, and looked at her.

  “Did you want anything specific?”

  “Food,” Simone replied.

  Mirth shined in his eyes as he went back to the call, and then he was heading back over to her. Taking a seat, he looked directly at her. This close, she could usually see little or big imperfections on people, but Thanatos didn’t have any. His skin was a warm, even bronze—maybe he was Italian—and completely flawless. Not a blemish or wrinkle in sight. She looked to his eyes, trying to find a bloodshot, a red line, any imperfection. Nothing. Clear like a baby’s. His lips had no cuts, no cracks, and they looked both firm and soft. Simone almost shuddered as she remembered how they felt. Heavenly.

  She became aware that she was staring at him like a piece of meat at the same time he noticed it. Blushing, Simone tried to think of something to say, and failed. Caught. If her hand had been in the cookie jar, she couldn’t have been more caught.

  “Tell me about yourself, Simone Randall.”

  Glad that he’d broken her moment of acute embarrassment, Simone sighed and asked, “What do you want to know?”

  His response was quick and very serious, “Everything.”

  Chapter Four

  By “everything” he’d really meant everything. Simone couldn’t remember the last time, if there was a time, she’d confided this much information about herself to anyone. Well, of course Janet knew a lot of her history but that was because she was her closest friend. She’d just met this man, and already he knew what she did for a living, what her hobbies were, that she’d named her cat Misty because the day she’d bought her had been a misty day and the cat had been the only ray of light she’d seen, that her mother had died after struggling with cancer, that she’d never met her father, and many other personal things she usually kept to herself. And as she spoke, he listened. Really listened. No yawning, no coughing, no trying to kiss or paw at her. He just sat there, occasionally eating from the breakfast platter before them, and listened.

  “So, that’s my life,” she ended with a nervous little chuckle. Maybe she shouldn’t have told him all of that. Simone looked around the living room, and caught sight of the clock on the wall. It was going on five o’clock in the morning, and she’d been talking since two. He was probably too much of a gentleman to kick her out of his room. Shaking her head, she picked up her purse, and was just about to feign tiredness, when his hand caught hers.

  “What are you doing?”

  He looked genuinely surprised, confused actually, and Simone faltered for a moment.

  “It’s five o’clock in the morning. I thought...”

  “That I was tired?” He shook his head in the negative. And then his grip relaxed and he looked thoughtful. “Are you tired?”

  Now was the time to say yes, call it a night-morning, and try hard to forget about drop-dead-gorgeous, great-dancing, great-kissing, great-listening, Thanatos Aeron.

  “No.”

  He slid closer to her, and unconsciously her eyes lowered to his lips.

  “You’re very strong, Simone Randall, to have endured what you have, and still have a positive outlook on life.”

  Blinking, her brows furrowed as she looked at him.

  ***

  Thanatos smiled. She didn’t recognize her own strength. Most humans didn’t. While it wasn’t much compared to immortals and gods, humans had will, and that was their shield during hard times. The woman before him had grown up without a father, with a sick mother, had buried her mother before the age of seventeen, and yet, one could not tell from looking at her. She hadn’t let her pain overshadow her life. That was strength. And it was beauty.

  He kissed her. Not because in that moment she seemed more beautiful than anything he’d ever seen, but because he couldn’t help himself. This close to her, he could smell her scent, an exotic coconut wisp coupled with the warm honeyed scent, and it beckoned to him.

  As soon as his lips touched hers, she whimpered before leaning into him. It was then and there that two things passed through his mind. He was going to take her. There was no doubt in his mind of that. What surprised him was the thought that followed. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to let her go after that. Thanatos had never had a problem with casual sex before but something told him that it would be impossible with her. He briefly wondered if Aphrodite’s meddling son had shot him with one of his arrows.

  That was all forgotten when Simone’s tongue dipped into his mouth. Sweet Gods! He pressed her down onto the sofa and was above her in an instant. Shock registered on her face briefly, and then small, delicately boned hands were finding their way to his back, caressing him through the dark shirt that he wore. Forcing himself to tear his lips from hers, to give them both much needed air, he licked at her neck before gently nibbling on the tender skin there. She shivered, whimpered. He growled.

  “Thanatos,” she said in a desperate voice that would have given him a raging hard-on if he didn’t already have one. And then she shifted, arched her hips up and made contact with that aching part of his anatomy.

  He barely resisted the urge to curse. Barely.

  Looking down at her, he read the need in her face, the wildness behind that need. At least he wasn’t alone in that department.

  So much for going slow. Pushing himself off of her, Thanatos reached down, scooped her up, and headed for his bedroom. The first time he took her wasn’t going to be on a plush couch. He’d leave that for the other times, and there would be many, many more...

  ***

  “Where are we—oh,” Simone murmured, confusion evaporating when they entered a large room with an equally large bed. Nerves kicked up in her belly upon seeing the bed. Did she really want to do this? Have sex with a hot, stranger—? A hot stranger named Thanatos Aeron who made her feel like doing all sorts of naughty things that she’d heard of from Janet, and Cosmo magazines?

  Placing her on her feet beside the bed, Thanatos looked down at her, sensing in her eyes that some inner turmoil was going on. Had he had his powers as a god, he’d be able to figure out what it was.

  Leaning down, he kissed the tip of her nose, the side of her lips, and then with his lips hovering inches from hers, he said, “We don’t have to do this.”

  Her eyes widened, and then narrowed.

  “I want you, Simone, but if you don’t want this, we can stop

  Right now.” Even if it killed him. And he was almost positive that it would.

  And that confirmed it for her. A beautiful, thoughtful man to whom she was attracted. This might never happen again.

  Locking her arms about his neck, she gave him her answer in a deep and thorough kiss that left them both gasping for breath.

  His hands undid the zipper at her back, before running along the smooth contours of skin. Running his fingers under the straps, he took a step back, and pushed them off her shoulders, watching as the heap of material slid down her body, revealing rich skin, dusk-tipped breasts—and were those wires?

  ***

  Simone remembered the wires when the lust in Thanatos’s eyes faded slightly and was joined by confusion.

  Whirling around, she began undoing them, shaking her head at herself all the while. What the hell was she thinking, letting him undo her clothes? She should have gone to the bathroom, and removed them before he saw them. God, she was such an amateur!

 
; She felt his hand on her elbow, and then he was turning her around again. Simone expected to find disgust, or anger, or something else, but what she found instead was an amused smile, a lifted brow. He asked one question, “Work?”

  Simone nodded and forced herself to relax.

  His hands covered hers and gently moved them aside, and then he was gently extracting the wires from her skin and tossing them aside. Warm palms settled on her breasts and squeezed lightly before his lips caught hers again. Simone gasped into his mouth when his thumbs began circling her nipples. She clenched her thighs together tightly, feeling wetness seep into her panties. As if sensing it, one of his hands lowered between her legs, and a finger settled against her cotton covered clit.

  As he continued his delicious caress, Simone spread her legs and leaned back, feeling lightheaded as her orgasm crept closer and closer. Suddenly, he stopped.

  “Why did you...?” Simone’s voice faded on seeing that he was undoing the buttons of his clothing. Oh.

  When the shirt came off, she gasped. When his pants came down, she was sure that her mouth fell open. This was real, wasn’t it? And not some freaky, horny dream? She was aware that Thanatos Aeron was easily the most beautiful man she’d ever met, but did he have to have a six pack, and be hung like a-a battering ram too? God couldn’t make one man completely perfect, could he?

  Apparently so.

  ***

  Thanatos saw the incredulous way that Simone looked at him and grinned. It pleased him that she thought him attractive. She certainly made him feel things that he hadn’t before.

  Closing the small distance between them, he gently pushed her back until she was seated on the bed.

  “Lie back for me.” His voice had shifted to a husky timber, and he could feel a slight struggle within himself, as if his powers were shifting restlessly inside of him.

  Simone nodded jerkily, blinking down at the impressive size of his cock. She’d always assumed that only porn stars had sizes like those, and now this. And she’d be taking it. And she was a virgin. Oh God.

  Trying to put her at ease, Thanatos stroked her thighs until she was lying down. He tugged her panties down so that he could have the perfect view of her pussy. She was trimmed neatly, but not completely shaved. He wholeheartedly approved. He liked his women looking like women, and for the life of him could not figure out why human males seemed to think a completely waxed pussy was appealing. The first time he’d seen it had been in the eighties, and he’d lost any semblance of an erection as it reminded him of a child. Pushing such thoughts away, he concentrated on Simone.

  His finger ran along her slit and she gasped, her hips jerking against the bed. He smiled. Moving his face closer to her pussy, he spread her lips apart, and placed a closed lipped kiss to her swollen clit.

  “Oh my—.”

  “Hm?” Thanatos murmured innocently, knowing that the vibrations were going to wreck havoc of her clit.

  “Thanatos—please.”

  Opening his mouth, he stroked his tongue over her pert bud.

  “Oooh.”

  He did it again, and again, and again, until she was arching, straining, calling him all sorts of names because he was torturing her.

  Deciding that she’d had enough of his teasing, that he’d had enough of his teasing, Thanatos took her bud into his mouth, lapping at it gently, then rapidly, nipping softly, and reaching further back to gather her nectar on his tongue. And she tasted divine. It was impossible to put name to it. Somewhere between the Elysian Fields and ambrosia—that was the taste of Simone Randall. The brief thought that he would willingly give up his godhood for this entered his mind, and he frowned at it.

  Simone did strange things to him.

  A breathy moan touched his ears as her fingers made their way into his hair, anchoring his head in place. Pushing her legs further apart, he traced a finger against her moisture drenched opening, keeping his tongue on her clit, and slowly pushed it forward.

  “Aah!” She arched off the bed and Thanatos froze. No. It couldn’t be. And yet it was. Here were the symptoms lying Prescipita had never exhibited. Tightness, so tight even a finger seemed trapped. Uncertainty. He’d wondered at her uncertainty through the night, thinking that looking the way she did, she need not have any. Fear. That was what he’d glimpsed as well. She was afraid of this because she didn’t know what to expect. Understanding dawned and with it, dread.

  Shit!Goddamn, motherfucking, shit! He’d found that human curses were sometimes the best way to express his emotions as he could no longer break things with his mind.

  Had it been anyone else, finding out that she was a virgin would have instantly deflated his cock, and he’d be shooing her from his room this instant. It was because of his encounter with a supposed virgin that he was currently stripped of his powers. But Simone... Finding out that he was about to be the first to take her only sent more blood rushing to his already painfully hard erection, even as his brain seemed to rebel.

  Withdrawing his finger, Thanatos gently worked it back in to the first knuckle. No matter how much he wanted to, and he didn’t, he couldn’t stop. He wanted to hear her cries as she came for him, see her face as he gave her pleasure.

  ***

  Simone was caught between unmistakable pleasure and pressure. There was no pain, but his finger was the first thing to enter her body. When he withdrew and repeated the action, she moaned and then sighed. If this was what sex felt like, it was no wonder Janet was such a freak. Lifting her head slightly, she looked to Thanatos’s dark head propped at the juncture of her thighs. A purr of pleasure left her lips. God, she’d probably turn into a bigger freak than her friend for the man kneeling between her legs.

  His tongue began working again, fast laps that made her belly tighten and slow licks that made her purr, as he continued the motion of his finger. Simone felt his finger go even deeper as the walls of her pussy clenched rapidly and her back arched off the bed. As she rode her orgasm to completion, she was aware of him rearranging her legs, and when she stopped seeing bright lights, he was on top of her, his cock lined up with her slit.

  It was the absolute worst time to start having second guesses but after getting that edge off, she was beginning to think more clearly. For God’s sake, she’d just met the man...well formally. And here she was, on her back, his cock pressed up against her lubricated opening, ready to take what she’d held on to for twenty-six years.

  Leaning down, he kissed her quick, before taking his cock and moving it up and down her slit. She tensed, and he halted, his beautiful cobalt gaze scanning her features.

  “What’s wrong?”

  Simone had felt gauche before. The time when her prom-date and ex had called her a cold fish because she wouldn’t allow him to go past second base, or when Janet or Jackson mentioned something sex-related she knew nothing about. But nothing compared to this. How did you tell the sexiest man you’d ever met that while you wanted him to screw your brains out, you’d suddenly remembered that you weren’t one of those girls who immediately gave up the goodies, and were wondering if he’d mind waiting? God, he was going to think she was a freaking’ psycho. And she wouldn’t blame him. Hell, if Janet could hear her thoughts, her best friend would call her stupid. And for once, Simone would agree.

  “I’m sorry—I—I—.”

  His lips brushed hers and his cock retreated as Thanatos kissed between the valley of her breasts and then sucked gently, before applying pressure, at her nipples.

  Between her groans, her moans, her ‘oos’ and ‘ahs,’ Simone forgot what it was she wanted to tell him. As her second orgasm approached, she felt his finger seeking at her entrance and pushed her legs wide for it. As soon as his finger entered her, she came, his name a loud cry on her lips.

  ***

  He did not take her that night.

  Thanatos remained awake as she fell into an orgasm-induced slumber and thought of how delicious it would feel to be buried inside of her. He fully intended to be—buried
inside of Simone—but for once, he saw no reason to rush it. There was an inner turmoil in Simone Randall he wanted gone when he first took her. He understood nerves. She was a virgin, a thought that was beginning to please some primitive part of him but he sensed something else, something that could possibly become regret. Even as the dormant god inside of him refused to entertain the thought of regret, he refused to chance it. She was too—what? She was just different.

  A little moan escaped her lips and Thanatos reached for the cover and pulled it over them, wrapping his body tighter around her. Unconsciously, she smiled. Thanatos found himself returning it. His human life had just become considerably more tolerable.

  How did one woo a human female one found worthy enough for wooing? As the question stumped him—Thanatos wasn’t the wooing type—he thought of his brother. Hypnos would know these things. His twin was more the wooing variety.

  ***

  On Monday, Simone could not stop grinning. Everyone at her job noticed and equated it with the fact that she’d attended the most exclusive Halloween event ever, but that was not the cause. She was glad she’d gone to the Ball, but not because of its exclusivity. Simone was glad because in exactly six hours and fifty minutes, she’d be having dinner with the amazing, wonderful, and another range of good superlatives, man she’d met there.

  She thought back to Sunday, when she’d awoken naked, and wrapped in Thanatos’s arms. He’d obviously been staring at her for a while because his eyes were clear, and he was propped up on an elbow, his bicep more pronounced. Her first thought had been that she could definitely get used to this, followed by a string-of-expletives.

  Had she slept with him? He must have seen the horror in her eyes because he arched a brow and answered that she was still intact, which made her blush like holy hell. He also followed that up with a thorough kiss that was a promise to do something about said ‘intactness.’ Because if it wasn’t, she didn’t know what promises were anymore. And then they’d dressed, and boarded the same flight back to New York, as Simone had slept through her morning flight.