Tempted

Chapter 10

She was hot and achy and couldn’t seem to get comfortable.

Isadora groaned, shifted to her stomach, flipped to her back. Heat pulsed along her ribs, spread to her abdomen. The tips of her nipples tightened to painful levels and her breasts grew heavy and stiff.

When the ache spread lower and she couldn’t find a position that eased the throb, she pulled her eyes open and stared up at the ceiling that wasn’t really a ceiling after all.

Yesterday wasn’t a nightmare. Her spirits dropped as her eyes skipped over the weathered stone that made up the walls of the ruins.

She pushed up and swung around to ease her head back against the cool stones. A blanket covered her; another had been pillowed beneath her head. Before she could figure out where they’d come from, the ache returned, stronger than ever.

Something was wrong with her. Perspiration beaded her forehead. Her skin grew hot. She pulled the shirt away from her chest and tried to cool herself down. It didn’t work. If anything, she felt worse than before, achier, and ugh…now she couldn’t get comfortable at all.

She scooted closer to the windows to let the cool air wash over her. Her gaze strayed down the bluff toward the beach on the north side of the island to where Demetrius appeared to be maneuvering what looked like huge wooden crates around on the sand.

Sunlight glinted off his tanned skin. He was at least two hundred yards away but she could still see the way the wind ruffled his hair, the flex of muscle beneath his skin, the way the light caught his toned abs and that dark dusting of hair on his chest that circled his navel and dropped beneath the waistband of his pants.

Heat exploded in her veins, pulsed everywhere. Groaning, she shifted away from the window and closed her eyes, breathing through the heavy throb now settled between her thighs and gathering in her breasts.

Why did looking at him make the ache stronger? She reached up with both hands to squeeze her breasts, but instead of killing the ache like she’d hoped, a tingling sensation erupted in her nipples and shot shards of pleasure straight to her core.

She moaned, eased back farther against the stones. Her legs dropped open as waves of pulsing heat gathered between her thighs. She saw Demetrius as he’d been on the beach yesterday when she’d awakened—hot, sweaty, dark, and dangerous. She saw the flare of heat in his eyes when he’d healed her shin and his gaze had traveled over her naked thigh. She felt the warmth of his body against hers as he’d carried her to the ruins. In her hip. In her ribs. In the side of her breast pressed tightly against his muscular chest.

Oh, gods. She squeezed her breast with one hand, dropped the other to her thigh. Her fingers ran over her Horae marking, then higher, pushing the long shirt she wore out of her way. The pressure between her legs was almost too much to bear, and every time she pictured Demetrius it grew by explosive levels.

She couldn’t take it anymore. She needed relief. She needed something to ease the pain. She popped the top two buttons on her shirt, reached inside to squeeze her breast tighter, and passed the fingers of her other hand over the curls between her legs.

Pleasure arced at the first touch. She sucked in a breath, moved her hand lower. As her heart rate picked up speed, she pressed against her wet, sensitive folds and saw Demetrius’s face in her mind. His dark eyes, his square jaw, the tiny dent in his chin. She imagined him kneeling in front of her, pictured his hands touching her naked flesh, cradling her tender breast. Felt his hot breath on her skin, and moaned all over again.

She drew her knees closer, tipped her head back, circled until she found the source of her ache. With her other hand she flicked and tweaked her nipple. Each stroke eased and amplified the throb all at the same time. Her skin grew hotter, her body tighter.

And then she heard his voice. Just like in her dream. One word.

Kardia.

Pleasure radiated outward from her very center, ignited a rush of tingles that spread all along her nerve endings and exploded in a blinding glare behind her eyes. Every muscle in her body tightened, tearing a groan from her chest that left her limp and gasping for air.

She slumped back against the wall, sweaty, breathless, but still craving something she didn’t understand. Her cheeks grew warm all over again when she imagined Demetrius standing outside the ruins, watching her touch herself as she’d just done.

Why him? Why now? And dear gods, what was she going to do about it?

Holy fuuuuuuck.

No, don’t think about fucking. Whatever you do, do not think about fucking.

Demetrius whipped away from the arched stone doorway where he’d spent the last minute frozen in place and hoped like hell he moved out as soundlessly as he’d moved in.

No way he’d just witnessed what he thought he had. No way he’d just seen Isadora pleasure herself in the middle of the ruins in broad daylight.

Heat and liquid fire erupted in flames that licked at every part of him. Stopping on the wide front steps, he dropped the bundle of supplies he’d brought up from the beach, stepped over the scattered mess, and headed around the building as fast as he could move.

His dick was a rod of steel, his balls tight as a drum, and he couldn’t see shit where he was going, because the only thing he could see right now was Isadora on the floor in that room, her knees open, one hand squeezing her breast, the other moving beneath the hem of her—shit, his—shirt.

He stopped at the edge of the bluff, blew out a long breath, rubbed a hand down his face. Good gods, if she’d done that last night when he’d been sitting with her…

Okay, yeah, so think of something else. Daemons. Right. That was good. Think about slicing and dicing the motherfuckers. Not sexy. Not hot. Not the most erotic thing he’d ever fucking witnessed.

Shit. This wasn’t working. Thinking about daemons made him picture Isadora in that field outside the half-breed colony, standing up to the monsters with that puny knife in her hand. Wearing that slinky black negligee thing that showed off the swell of her breasts, the curve of her hips, the soft indent of her belly button, and her toned abs that led lower to the tiny treasure between…

“Holy fuck.” He grabbed two handfuls of his hair and pulled until his scalp burned.

Beach. Supplies. He needed to get back down to the crates and dunk himself in the ocean about fifteen times so he could cool his ass off.

Before he could change his mind he stalked back to the ruins and stomped as hard as he could so she’d hear him. He picked up the supplies, moved inside, and dumped them on the ground in her room without looking at her.

“Demetrius,” she said in a surprised voice. Cloth rustled. “When did you get here? I thought…I thought you were on the beach.”

Yeah, no shit. I should have stayed on that fucking beach.

“About time you woke up.”

Cloth rustled again, as if she was moving around, then a thwack resounded and she let out a yelp.

He glanced up to see her lips compressed in pain, her hand braced against her lower leg. One look down at the splint and he swore under his breath.

“Graceful as ever, I see.” He crossed the floor and dropped to one knee by her feet.

Focus, breathe, stay in control. He could be professional about this. He’d just forget what the hell he’d seen earlier.

“That’s probably healed by now.” His fingers made quick work of the ties on her splint. From the corner of his eye he noticed the Horae marking on her inner thigh and his blood warmed all over again. Skata. “Do you mind covering yourself?”

Her cheeks turned pink. She pulled the blanket over her lap. Was she thinking about what she’d done moments before? He gave his head a swift shake—Focus, dammit—and went back to untying the last knot.

Several moments passed before she asked, “What time is it?”

“After noon.”

“Why didn’t you wake me?”

“You obviously needed sleep.” Though in retrospect, maybe he should have woken her. Holy Hades, did she wake up horny every morning? If so, he was fucked. And not in the way he wanted right now. He removed the splint and pressed his fingers along her shin, probably harder than he needed. “Does that hurt?”

“Um, no. It feels…good.”

He let that go, told himself not to overthink the word good. He felt all around her lower leg and when he didn’t sense anything out of the ordinary, he shrugged. “I guess we’ll see when you stand. You need to get up anyway. Daylight only lasts so long.”

Happy to get away from her, he pushed to his feet. Instinct had him holding out his hand before he thought better of it.

She slid her fingers into his palm. The same fingers that had just touched and squeezed her naked breast. Electricity zinged up his arm and heated his skin all over again.

He let go quickly. “Try walking around.”

She reached out to the wall and tentatively took a step with her bad leg. Slowly she made her way down the length of the wall.

“How is it?”

She turned at the corner and made her way back. “Okay. Whatever spell you cast seems to have worked. For now.”

“Well, I am a half witch, Princess. Maybe you’ll luck out and it’ll break all over again.”

A hurt look rushed across her face. She glanced to the side, crossed her arms under her breasts. “What’s all that?”

He wasn’t going to feel guilty. “Supplies.”

“From where?”

“Crates that washed up on the beach from some sort of shipwreck.”

He moved for the blankets and tossed a small box her way. She caught it with two hands. “The most I could find was junk food and some toiletries. But it’s better than nothing.”

She looked down at the box, turned it, and read the word Crest on the side. “Toothpaste? You found toothpaste?” She ripped the box open and rubbed the minty paste all over her teeth, then moaned as if she’d just eaten the most decadent dessert or experienced the most pleasurable orgasm.

The image of her head kicked back in pleasure rushed into his mind. And just that fast his cock jumped to alert.

Damn. Time to refocus. Again.

He turned away and pointed off toward the trees. “There’s a stream through there. We’re going to need water. I brought up some plastic buckets I found.”

“What about those creatures?”

He grabbed the buckets and headed out toward the front of the ruins. “We’re safe in the daylight. The creatures on this island are nocturnal.”

She struggled to keep up, but he didn’t slow his pace. The more distance he put between them right now the better.

“What do you mean, nocturnal?” she asked at his back. “That harpy came out into the sun. So did that boar.”

“I didn’t say they were vampires who couldn’t go out in the sun. I said they’re nocturnal. They rest during the day, hunt at night. I need to run back down to the beach and gather the rest of what we’ll need.”

She trailed along behind. “I’ll go with you.”

No way. He needed to be alone right now. “I’ll take you to the river, help you fill the buckets. You should be able to carry them back on your own. While you do that I’ll go to the beach and get the rest of the supplies.”

She didn’t argue, which was the first thing she’d done all morning that didn’t amp him up. But after five minutes of her slowly picking her way around rocks and limbs and anything that might send her off balance, he realized that at this rate it was going to take them an hour to reach the stream.

“Oh, for crying out loud.” He turned back and swooped her up in his arms. Then regretted it, because white-hot heat erupted everywhere their bodies touched. He ground his teeth together.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Fucking fantastic.”

“You don’t look fantastic.”

His face burned. It was all he could do to keep his eyes off her and on the path in front of them. “I’ll be better when I’m back on the beach.” And away from you. And your body. And oh, shit, stop thinking about her hot little body.

She was silent a moment, then asked, “Um…so how do you know those crates are from a shipwreck?”

Finally, a topic not related to sex. “Know much about Pandora?”

“Obviously not. Before yesterday I thought it was mostly myth.”

“Pandora exists in the human realm, but no one’s ever been able to find it.”

“That’s a little convenient, don’t you think?”

A sexy crease wrinkled her forehead and he took a deep breath to avoid looking at her full-on. “Imagine what an unsuspecting human would think if they landed here by accident.”

“I see your point.”

“The first guardians trapped the monsters here and then sealed off the island.”

“With what? And by whom?”

He frowned. “Are you always full of a thousand questions?”

“Always. As the future leader of our realm, I find it interesting no one’s bothered mentioning any of this to me. Aside from a few brief history lessons in school, this is news.”

“Your father probably didn’t think it was a big deal. Like I said, no one’s ever been able to find it. The area around Pandora messes with electronic readings of any ships and planes that venture into the area.”

“You mean like the Bermuda Triangle?”

“You know about the oddities in the Caribbean?”

“Who doesn’t? Another myth.”

“Most civilizations are rooted in myth. Ours as well. And many that disappeared from the map are also entrenched in myth.”

“Wait. You mean like Atlantis? Are you saying Atlantis is somewhere in the Bermuda Triangle? That that’s the reason for the strange shipwrecks and disappearing planes in the region?”

He shrugged. “I don’t have proof. But yeah, that’s what most of us think.”

“‘Most of us.’ As in the Argonauts?”

He didn’t answer, but he also didn’t miss the shocked expression on her face. As she pondered the ramifications of that, he kept his mouth shut and kept walking.

Finally they reached the stream. He set her down and moved off to crouch by the edge and splash as much cold water on his face and arms and chest as he could. Not the same as dunking himself in the ocean, but it was better than nothing.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked.

“I told you I was fucking fantastic. Stop asking the same damn questions over again.”

“You must like that word. Fucking. You use it a lot.”

The sound of her dainty lips uttering that one graphic word reignited the erotic image from earlier in his mind, then triggered an all-new one: her naked on all fours in front of him. His body pressed in tight behind her, thrusting deep while she mouthed the word fucking again and again.

Blood pounded straight into his cock. He grew hard in an instant. The only thing that kept him from losing it was the fact he was angled away from her and couldn’t see her face.

Focus, breathe, stay in control.

He dropped the buckets by the edge of the water and rose as fast as he could. He had to get out of here. He couldn’t stay. And he definitely couldn’t give in and show her just how much he really did like that word.

“Don’t linger,” Demetrius said again as he looked anywhere but where Isadora wanted him to look.

“I won’t.” What was wrong with him? He was avoiding eye contact like he was the one who had something to be embarrassed about, not her.

Thank the gods he hadn’t seen what she’d done in the ruins. Heat rushed to her cheeks all over again. If he’d been just a few minutes earlier…

“Fill the buckets and head right back. Got it?”

“Yes.”

He looked as if he wanted to say something more. Birds chirped high in the canopy of trees, and the small river, roughly six feet across, gurgled and swirled over rocks and downed tree limbs. It was darker in here, but the trees were spaced far enough apart so plenty of sunlight filtered through the canopy. There was no hint of danger, no sound out of the ordinary. Scowling, he pulled a small dagger from his waistband and handed it to her. Their fingers grazed and heat trickled over her skin, but he didn’t seem to notice. He didn’t even look at her. “Just in case. Go straight back, do you understand?”

“Yes, I’ve got it. I’m not an invalid, Demetrius.”

He harrumphed as if he didn’t agree. Then he flicked her an irritated look before heading off through the trees.

She was never going to understand him. Wasn’t sure she even wanted to. And yet these hot, wicked fantasies kept running through her head, all centered on him. Isadora watched until he disappeared. Feeling a strange sense of loss at his departure, she sighed, then turned to glance around the streambed.

Across the brook, grass and plants edged the river and turned to trees, which thickened until she could see nothing beyond. Reminding herself not to dawdle, she eased down, set the dagger on the moss beside her, and filled the first bucket.

The water was cold and fresh. She ran her hand over the smooth surface, lifted the bucket, and took a deep drink. Droplets slid down her chin to land on her chest, cooling her overheated skin. After filling the remaining buckets, she set them to the side and eased her feet into the creek.

Heaven. Her eyes slid closed. She took deep breaths as every muscle in her body relaxed. She’d told Demetrius she wouldn’t linger, but the water felt too good on her feet to ignore. Two minutes. That’s all she’d take.

She waded out into the middle of the stream, then held her breath and dropped down to dunk her whole body. She came up gasping, the shock invigorating. Brushing the water out of her eyes, she stood up, feeling a thousand times better than she had minutes before. She was just about to turn and head back to gather her things when she spotted movement to her right, toward the dark trees.

Slowly, she shifted in that direction. And came face to face with a shadowy wraith with red eyes, massive claws, and razor-sharp teeth.

“Oh, skata.”

Too late she realized the birds had gone silent. Even the wind seemed to have died down as if it too were afraid to move. Isadora’s pulse shot into the stratosphere as she glanced to where the dagger Demetrius had given her—just in case—lay on the moss, feet away.

The creature opened its fanged mouth and screamed. She had an instant to make a decision.

She sprinted for the dagger. Water splashed up around her. Something sharp stabbed the back of her neck. Her hand flew to the spot as she cried out in pain. But before she even reached the far side of the mossy shore, her vision blurred and her legs buckled beneath her.

And then she was falling backward. Going down. This time with no one to save her.