“I doubt it.”
He stopped burning his path in the carpet, his features set with a fierce determination. “When your mother chose your father, she gave up her crown. Now you have the opportunity to make things right, by reclaiming the title.”
She frowned. “What did her marrying my dad have to do with it?”
“He was a commoner. The Atlanteans are sticklers when it comes to not polluting the bloodlines. Remember what Aurele said about your family being the last direct link to Poseidon? That’s what kept the throne in your family’s possession throughout the ages.”
“But if my mother was denied ruling privileges, what makes you think I would be given any? I’m half human. Talk about a big black mark on my candidacy.”
“Normally that would be the case, yes. But you’re the last of the Anastasios. Without you, there is no ruler of Atlantis.”
“What the hell is an Anastasios?”
“You’re an Anastasios. It’s your family name.”
She mulled it over. “I like Jameson a lot better. Anastasios sounds too much like one of the bad guys from a James Bond flick. I’m picturing him with an eyepatch and a false gold tooth that’s really a wireless communicator that sends top-secret transmissions to his lair in the Swiss Alps.”
Max gaped at her before plowing his fingers through his hair and grunting. “Great, now I can’t remember what I was going to say.”
She offered him an innocent smile, and he growled. Ignoring his surliness, she removed the rest of her clothes and set her glasses on the nightstand for safekeeping. “Why don’t you stop your fretting for now and come to bed?”
“Men don’t fret, goddamn it.”
“Please. You’re worse than Aurele.”
Glowering, he stripped down to his skivvies and climbed beneath the sheets with her. They faced each other, and she automatically cuddled into his heat, resting her head in the crook of his arm. “I didn’t say it before, but I want you to know I appreciate you being here for me. I’m just sorry you’ve been dragged into all of this craziness.”
He smoothed her hair away from her forehead. She nuzzled into his touch, grateful to have this intimacy back. The awkward barrier she’d sensed earlier still hovered in the distance, but damn if she’d let it sneak too close.
She snuggled into Max, breathing him deep, his ocean musk more potent than an aphrodisiac. She remembered his claim about their energies being drawn to each other. Did that explain this wild craving he brought out in her? Maybe a little. But the chaotic emotion filling the chambers of her heart wasn’t lust. She traced the contours of his bristly jaw before coaxing his head nearer. Their lips met, and she poured every ounce of her love into the kiss.
A tremor ran through Max, and she felt his resistance as he struggled against whatever force had erected that invisible barrier. She reached for his thickening erection and stroked him through the cotton of his briefs, capturing his frustrated groan within her mouth. Her tongue slicked along his, an unspoken plea to return her love. End her loneliness.
His hands bracketed her face, and he kissed her with the intensity of a man consumed by the fires of passion. Or the demons of repressed desire. She twisted the waistband of his briefs, impatiently tugging it past his hips and the firm globes of his ass. The garment caught around his knees, and she used her foot to free it the rest of the way from his legs. He rolled her onto her back, the hardness of his cock nudging her slit. She arched into him, but he hesitated. Undulating beneath him, she whimpered, desperate to be filled. Taken.
“Willa, I don’t deserve what you’re offering.” The possessiveness in his eyes undermined his words.
“This is a really crappy time to become a gentleman.” She trailed her nails over his tensed glutes, and his pupils dilated in reaction. If he thought there was any chance in hell he wouldn’t be buried inside her within the next five seconds, he was about to be proven wrong. “Up until now, you’ve had no problem sweet talking me into sex.”
“That was before…”
“Before what?”
His fingers glided over her bottom lip. “I knew who you were.”
This was about that? “You cannot be serious.”
“Willa, when I took my oath as sheriff, I swore to protect and serve you. Not fuck you.”
“Wow, was that actually written in the speech?”
“Damn it, stop being glib.” He pressed his forehead against hers and blew out a weary breath, his exhale feathering her lips. “I could be court-martialed for this.”
“Then I guess we better make it worth it.” Before he could balk further, she angled her hips, the position thrusting the head of his shaft inside her a fraction. Max stiffened—in more ways than one—and groaned. She wrapped her legs around him, forcing him to sink deeper. His delicious thickness stretched her, filling her even as her heart overflowed with emotion. “Max…” His name trembled on her lips.
His mouth sought hers, absorbing her cry as his thumb caressed her clitoris, igniting the bundle of nerves. He pumped in and out of her in a slow, leisurely manner that soon had her nails digging into his flanks. Her vision hazed, her breaths growing choppy. Intense pleasure glimmered on the horizon, like a wave preparing to crash.
“Do it, baby. Come on my cock. Now.”
The climax ripped through her, bowing her body into a tight arch. At least Max had the foresight to slam his mouth over hers, corking her shout. No matter how limited Aurele’s hearing might be, no way would she have missed that if it’d slipped free. Max kept moving, the power of his thrusts increasing until his body was a slippery canvas of sweat. He suddenly reached for her legs, unhooking them from his waist and lifting her thighs high, anchoring them with his forearms as his cock bottomed out with one blinding plunge. She gasped.
“I’m not hurting you, am I?” Each word fell from Max on staggered breaths. Speech impossible, she shook her head. He pumped into her in a series of short, tunneling strokes. “Wanna be…deep inside you…when I—” His rhythm faltering, Max gave a final thrust, the cords in his neck straining as his body shuddered.
Max in the throes of orgasm was a thing of beauty. Just watching him was enough to trip her over the edge again, and she joined him on the tail end of his climax. Afterwards he held her close, and she listened to their heartbeats thudding in unison. Even as the first of his snores floated free, she decided to let him off the hook. Yeah, he definitely had a habit of falling asleep on her immediately following sex. But damn, was it ever worth it.
With moonlight filtering through the trees, Harrison waited for the six other leviathans to abandon their scattered posts in the woods ringing Bon Revere. It hadn’t been easy gaining the compliance of the levis. In fact, it’d taken close to three hours of intense bribing and cajoling to get the assholes to see things his way. In the end, the promise of meaningless titles that they could lord over the other leviathans had secured their talents. Only now Harrison’s schedule was severely set back. But if all went according to plan, he’d soon be one step closer to making all of his dreams a reality. It was that knowledge that sparked a strong dose of self-satisfaction in Harrison’s chest as he skulked from his own hiding spot.
He arrived at the front entrance of the antebellum mansion as two of the levis snapped the necks of the pufferfish guards, permanently ending their pathetic, useless lives. After a quick rifle through the key ring of the nearest dead guard, he located the key that fit the front door. His six henchmen flanking him, he made his way inside the darkened house.