Finding Hope Read online

  The pain had pushed her past her thoughts and allowed the pleasure to completely flood her consciousness. He’d gotten her out of her head.

  She was semi-aware of being laid back on the bed. Soft pillows cushioned her head and neck. He backed away from the bed for a moment, rustled through a bag, and returned completely naked. His wet boxers were gone. He quickly slid a condom into place and crawled above her.

  “Are you with me?”

  “Mmmm,” she moaned and nodded.

  Addison traced her fingertips along his defined shoulders and down his carved biceps. He was beautiful —his face, his body, his cock. She wanted that big, beautiful cock deep inside her.

  “Addison?”

  “Yes,” she purred, kissing a trail from his shoulder to his neck. A few tiny nibbles from her teeth on his neck seemed to be all the assurance he needed. He pressed a knee between her thighs and settled into the cradle of her hips. “How did you know to do that?” she murmured against his skin.

  “Sweetheart, you were thinking so loud it hurt.”

  His cock slid to her entrance easily. She was more aroused than she’d ever thought was possible. He’d given her an orgasm before even coming close to entering her.

  She squealed. His fingers pinched hard on a nipple. This time it was the opposite breast.

  “You are doing it again. Stop thinking, Addison. Enjoy the moment. Breathe.”

  She nodded and took a deep breath, trying to clear her mind. He laved her sore nipples with his tongue, moving back and forth between them until she was shuddering all over again. Another orgasm was rising. Who knew?

  Her breaths were coming in short pants. He slid slowly inside her pussy, inch by glorious inch. Her body stretched to accommodate his girth, and she wrapped her legs around his thighs, pulling him even deeper. So good. He reared up onto his knees and grabbed her by the hips, driving hard.

  After a minute or so, his pace slowed. He ran one of his hands across her stomach. The feather-light touch tickled, and she bucked.

  “You are exquisite,” he murmured, drawing his fingers across her sensitive stomach again.

  “Stop!” She giggled and swatted at his hand.

  He grinned at her again. “Flip over.”

  It wasn’t a question. Not even a suggestion. The authority behind the order touched something deep, stroking a part of her to life that had never been touched. He pulled out of her slowly and released her hips. She scrambled to her hands and knees, eager for whatever he might want. He seemed to know what her body needed, and by God, she was going to let him have his way.

  His hands caressed her bare ass, and she trembled. Her orgasm was so close. She reached back to touch herself.

  “No.”

  She shoved her face into a pillow and moaned. Why not!

  “It will be worth the wait. I promise.”

  He continued to massage her ass and her thighs; even her back and stomach received a good rub. The slow, deliberate movements relaxed her tense, throbbing body. The building orgasm receded a little, but she could still feel the insistent hum.

  His cock pressed against her wet pussy and slid inside. He held her hips, pushing in and out, slowing and speeding his rhythm to keep her just on the edge. Her forearms held her weight as her head rested on a pillow. She peered over her shoulder and glanced at him. Masculine power exuded from him, but a look of tenderness met her gaze.

  He continued to drive into her, his balls slapping against her ass. She’d never been so thoroughly spent and yet willing to keep going past the point of exhaustion.

  Addison shivered when his hand slid forward from her hips and cupped one bouncing breast. He tugged gently and guided her upright onto her knees.

  One of his hands kneaded a breast, and he moved the other around her hip and down to her clitoris. His fingers swirled and stroked the swollen nubbin as he continued to slide his cock in and out, filling her completely. Oh God!

  The orgasm came surging up without warning. He growled and thrust hard into her clenching pussy. She bit back a wail. The pleasure burned through her body like a forest fire, tingling to the very tips of her toes. She reached behind her and tried to caress his face.

  When the sensations began to fade, and she started to come out of the haze, Addison slumped into his arms. Adrian laid her gently down on the bed and pressed a sweet kiss to her temple. She moaned into the pillow and turned to kiss him, but he moved away.

  “Be right back.” He ran his hand down her thigh before he slid off the bed and disappeared into the bathroom.

  A few moments later he reappeared, climbed back onto the bed, and pulled the covers up over them both. Wrapping an arm around her waist, he pulled her into a snug spooning position.

  ***

  “Mmmm.” Addison wiggled her bottom against his still-hard erection.

  “Hey.” He chuckled into her neck.

  She laughed and snuggled closer. Her soft curves melded into his frame perfectly. He nuzzled her hair and inhaled her sweet lavender scent.

  He couldn’t remember ever having better sex. But this was just a fling –a wedding fling at that. Right? Addison Connelly lived in Montana. This couldn’t be more than this, even if he wanted it to be, right?

  Shit.

  Chapter Nine

  Aphrodite leaned over the edge of the pool. A swift wave of her hand showed a picture of Adrian and Addison making love. Marissa and Tom had been situated in the honeymoon suite of the lodge, and the twin boys, who had been lost last night, were playing contentedly with their mother in their hotel room.

  She had not been pleased with that little side trip, but a quick shove off the path had sent Addison sliding right to the twins. It also had helped bring out Adrian’s protectiveness. Both were still stuck on the idea of this being a one-night-stand. Not acceptable. She needed them to both have a deeper connection.

  Khione had promised three days of snow, and there were still two left. Adrian and Addison’s souls had been searching almost a half a millennia. This opportunity was probably the last they would get in this lifetime. She’d already called in another favor. Elpis, the goddess spirit of hope, had paid them a visit. Hope’s blessing was a wild card, but Aphrodite needed something to seal those souls together for sure. Too many things were working against them.

  The wards around her palace rang. An unwanted guest was knocking. Aphrodite sighed. What the hell could Hera possibly want?

  With a flick of her wrist, she opened the wards and dissolved the pictures on the surface of the pool. No need to publicize which souls she was laboring over. Gods had a tendency to stick their noses into everyone’s business, and Hera was not a friend.

  She glanced to her right. Hera was walking down the hill toward her. The queen of Olympus was stunning. She wore a flowing purple silk tunic. Her raven-black hair was highlighted with teal and purple streaks. All together, her pale white skin and deep teal-colored eyes fashioned a beautiful woman. It was her personality that Aphrodite had issues with.

  Hera was the backstabbing, conspiring, hateful, damn-you-with-a-smile type of goddess. Aphrodite couldn’t really blame her though. Zeus couldn’t keep it in his pants and practically slept with anything that could be considered female, leaving Hera pretty much always on the slight. Being snubbed tended to make women lean toward the bitchier side of their personality.

  “Good morning, Aphrodite.”

  “Why are you here, Hera?” Aphrodite grimaced and faced the queen.

  Hera sat on the edge of the pool and looked down at the sparkling diamonds.

  “So beautiful.”

  Her words came out, seemingly a whisper of admiration, but they only succeeded in putting Aphrodite on the alert. No one paid attention to her pool. And that’s the way she wanted it to stay.

  “Wha–”

  “Stop sleeping with my son,” Hera replied calmly.

  Aphrodite’s mouth dropped open in shock. Really? That’s what the great queen of the gods had come to tell her. Hands off
Ares?

  “I think we are all quite old enough to sleep with whomever we wish.”

  A twisted smile crossed Hera’s face. Not much scared Aphrodite, but she couldn’t help shuddering at that psychopathic grin. Hera’s teal eyes glowed, fury bright in their depths. “It was a mistake before. Why do you think it will be any different this time?”

  Aphrodite narrowed her gaze. Her emotions were getting the better of her, and her power began to warm her skin, causing it to glow. Tendrils of her essence thrashed violently around her. She couldn’t kill Hera outright, but she could cause a great deal of pain.

  Hera stood and took a step back, a flicker of worry flaring in her blue eyes.

  “Get. Out.” Aphrodite kept her voice was low and her words deliberate.

  Hera snarled and lifted a hand. A ball of bright energy glowed in her palm.

  Aphrodite held her breath, shocked that Hera would attempt to attack her.

  Ares materialized between them and caught his mother’s arm before she could react.

  “Stop!” His deep bass voice boomed. He glanced at Aphrodite, his eyes burning a deep scarlet hue. He then turned his attention to his mother, who was attempting to yank her arm from his grasp and cursing him by every demon’s name she knew.

  “You are not supposed to be together! Love and war do not coexist! Empires fell last time you fucked each other.”

  Hera’s words cut like a knife. Pain overshadowed her reason and control. She screamed in fury, unleashing a wave of power that phased them both out from her palace grounds. With a few short words, her wards were back in place. Everyone was locked out.

  She was both protected and alone.

  ***

  Addison opened her eyes. A dark cloud of guilt crept over her. Oh God, what have I done? Panicked thoughts scattered through her consciousness. Would he think it meant nothing? Or, more frightening, would he think last night meant something? How do I say “you were the best sex I’ve ever had, but I have to go home now”?

  Addison slipped from under Adrian’s arm and out of the bed. She turned to look. He lay unmoving, his slow breaths evidence he had not awakened.

  Dark hair lay partially across his face, giving her the impulse to lean forward and brush it aside. Addison caught herself and took another step away from the beautiful man in the bed. His delicious, rock-hard abs were barely covered by the cream-colored bed sheets. She licked her lips, remembering the feel of his body. Sex had never been so good. I didn’t even think sex could be that good.

  Another backward step sent Addison sprawling. A yelp of fright was mixed with a groan as her shoulder connected with the hotel room chest of drawers and then her ass hit the edge of his suitcase as she landed on the floor with a thud.

  “Addison!” He jumped from the bed, flipped on the bedside lamp, and yanked open the drawer. Moments later he was standing above her in all his naked glory. Her gaze trailed down his muscled arm and rested on the black handgun.

  Not quite what I was expecting to see.

  Adrian followed her gaze to his hand. “Sorry, the noise startled me.” He laid the gun on top of the chest and reached to lift her from the floor.

  “It’s okay. The noise startled me too.” She offered him a slight grin and was rewarded with a huge sigh of male relief followed by a dazzling smile.

  “Come back to bed.”

  She glanced at the door and then to his face. He frowned and lifted her. A quick toss sent her sailing back onto the soft king-sized bed. She landed with a quiet oomph. Before she could complain about being thrown, he was rolling her to her back and running those heavenly lips of his up and down her stomach. Heat flared in her belly, but her mind struggled against hormones.

  “Adrian, I don’t think—”

  He lifted his head and met her gaze. “You think too much, sweetheart.”

  “But—” His mouth clamped down on her sex, and her objections melted into a moan of delightful satisfaction.

  I could really get used to this.

  ***

  “Stay away from Aphrodite, Mother,” Ares roared as he paced the main hall of his parents’ palace. His booted footsteps echoed across the marble floors. “You will ruin everything.”

  “Me! You’re the one fucking the Titan bitch again.”

  Ares ground his teeth. His powers boiled and threatened to erupt. “Leave her be,” he growled. “It’s taken me over a thousand years just to get her to talk to me again. You’ve probably ruined it in thirty seconds. What do you care who I sleep with anyway?”

  “Not her,” Hera spat back at him.

  “Why?” He cocked his head and stared at his mother. She was up to something. There was no other explanation for her extra-bitchy, asinine behavior.

  “She’s a Titan.”

  “The Titans are gone. She’s connected to humanity. It’s not the same.”

  “You would risk your family’s well-being for a good fuck?”

  “I’m not risking anyone’s health, Mother. And quit being ugly.”

  “She will ruin us all. Have you seen the pool? All that power just sitting there.”

  “Aphrodite protects the power. She doesn’t use it to harm anyone.”

  “You can get past her wards.”

  Ares raised his eyebrows in surprise. He should have realized it was the power Aphrodite possessed that had his mother all twisted up, not Aphrodite herself.

  He’d felt the pull of that power a millennia ago and had succumbed, breaking the heart of the only woman he’d ever truly loved and bringing chaos down on half of the civilized human world. He’d tried to force two souls to bond that weren’t meant to be together. The outcome had been horrific, but exactly what he wanted at the time..he’d thought.

  If his mother was considering tampering with soul mates, all hell would break loose —everywhere. He couldn’t allow that to happen. Wars were planned with precision these days, not impulses.

  “Never!” he replied and phased back to Aphrodite’s palace, but she’d locked him out. Again. He was the God of War —cold, hard, and stonehearted. So why were her sobs tearing him apart?

  Over a thousand years had passed without any contact. Not so much as a curse. When she’d come after Robert Corvin’s soul earlier this year, he couldn’t believe his luck. Even though it started with a fight, she’d let him back in. Now, his mother had put him right back at square one. He needed Aphrodite. He couldn’t lose her again.

  He phased again, but this time to another palace. One he usually tried to avoid.

  “Dionysus!” Ares bellowed as he walked through the God of Wine’s lavishly decorated atrium. White marble pathways sprawled in several directions, leading out into various garden areas. Sounds of laughing fifties jazz music drifted from the main door just ahead.

  He pushed open the large purple-and-gold inlaid doors to the main living area of the palace. Dionysus’s dwellings, whether on Olympus or Earth, were always heavily ornamental, sometimes bordering on gaudy. But that was just his opinion. He was also of the opinion that his title should be changed from god of wine and harvest to the god of debauchery.

  Beautiful women from all over the world lay sleeping, scattered around the room on various oversized velvet cushions. Dionysus was thankfully dressed and not engaged in any personal activities at the moment, though the semi-naked women serving him his meal looked as if they would like that to change.

  “Dionysus, I need you to—”

  One of the serving women turned and latched onto his leg. She began fondling his thigh, slowly working her way up to more personal areas. He raised a surprised eyebrow.

  “Get your pet off me. I don’t want to be in anyone’s account of their alien abduction story.”

  Dionysus’s laugh echoed through the hall. “Elsa, dear, go get us some more wine.”

  The scantily clad blonde quickly detached herself and hurried from the room.

  Ares shook his head and sighed, sinking into a cushion opposite Dionysus. Another woman, a redhead
this time, started crawling toward him. A heated glare sent her scurrying back to her place.

  “Hera threatened Aphrodite.”

  “What!” Dionysus stood from his oversized pillow and snapped his fingers. Every single one of the women vanished. “Is she hurt?”

  Ares glanced around the room before turning his gaze back on Aphrodite’s self-proclaimed best friend.

  “I got to her before Hera tried anything, but Aphrodite has changed her wards, and I can’t get back into her palace. I need you to go over there. She might lower them for you.”

  “You want me to betray what little trust she might still have in our friendship? Not a chance, war god.”

  “You will help me.” His voice boomed, shaking the columns surrounding the room. Anger called up his power, and his hands began to glow red-hot.

  Dionysus remained surprisingly calm and very still.

  Ares sucked in a breath, stood up, and stepped away. He had no right to treat her friend this way. Or expect him to betray Aphrodite’s trust. He hung his head and turned away. The power receded, and his hands cooled. What had he been thinking?

  “I’m sorry.” He leaned against a large pillar and slid to the ground, holding his head in his hands. “I fight. That’s my natural inclination. I don’t know how to fix this. She won’t fight with me. She’s just locked me out.”

  “Then let’s go pick the lock.”

  ***

  “Did we spend the whole day in bed?” Addison rolled to her side and peered up at the clock on the wall. Four o’clock. Holy crap!

  “Yep. What do you want for dinner? I’ll call for some room service.”

  “Yep,” she squeaked. “That’s it! That’s all you have to say? Yep?”

  He raised his hands and shrugged. “What? I thought we were both enjoying ourselves. Weren’t we?”

  So it doesn’t mean anything to him. We are just having a good time?

  “We were. Sorry, I just… I’ve never done this before.”

  “Never had fabulous sex?”