Zeus (Taken by Olympus Book 1) (2 page)

I caught his gaze, now almost completely midnight, and felt every bit of tension along his body. I was still beneath the surface, reveling in my pleasure, when he came on a loud roar. He surged forward into me as deeply as he could.

His cock kicked inside me as I clenched him even tighter. It was as if my body wanted every last bit of seed he had. He was beautiful as he came, his muscles rigid and giving his body a glow even in the electrical storm that surrounded us. When he shoved one final time and then relaxed, the storm disappeared and the sky above cleared. It was blue again, serene.

He fell on top of me, kissing my face, my neck reverently. “You are perfect, my pet. Completely perfect.”

I was having trouble breathing on a number of fronts. He paused his kisses and waved a hand at the ropes holding my hands. A slight tingle went through my wrists and they disappeared. He pushed away from me and rolled over, taking me with him so I was on top. I rested my head on his hard chest, the steady beat of his heart calming me even as a low ache set up between my thighs. He was still inside me, filling me even though he was noticeably less hard.

He ran his hands up and down my back, his fingertips leaving trails of goose bumps. He was so gentle all the sudden, so loving. Was this the same man who’d made me beg him to stop only moments before? I shivered when I remembered how he’d ignored my plea.

“Too much, Tara? I don’t think so. I think it was just what you wanted.” His voice was smooth again, seductive.

“I-I don’t know. I’ve never done this before so I didn’t know what I wanted.” Still, I couldn’t deny that I’d gotten off. Hard.

Maybe this was a fever dream. Or maybe I had been struck by lightning after all, only imagining the bull and the god beneath me?

“It’s all real, Tara. I assure you.” He stopped trailing his fingers and moved both palms down to my ass.

When he thrust his hardening cock inside me again, I moaned from the ache. It was delicious, my earlier discomfort barely registering.

“I know what you want. I know how to give it to you.”

“This isn’t real. None of this is real,” I said as he gripped my ass hard and pushed me off him. Before I even knew what happened, I was on all fours and he was behind me.

“Not real, Tara?” His cock was hard again, hot and ready at my ass.

He stroked his tip down and rubbed it against my swollen pussy. I jolted forward but he put one large palm on my shoulder and ripped me back before pressing my face down into the bed. He was mastering me again, taking whatever he wanted.

His slick cock slipped back and forth over my sensitive skin, sending ripples of need through my body. But I couldn’t do it again so quickly. He would tear me apart.

He took his hand from my shoulder and smoothed it down my back as he nudged between my folds. I froze, fear shooting through me. I didn’t want to hurt. I rolled quickly to the side. My feet hit the floor and I dashed away, looking for a door. Maybe I could talk reason into him if I wasn’t in his bed? Maybe I could find somewhere to sit and think about what the hell was happening?

I made it all of three steps before a strong arm encircled me, crushing the air from me. Zeus threw me back onto the bed, his eyes a dark tempest. I scrambled back, my heels ineffectually pushing against the satin.

“Turn over, Tara.” He growled the command.

Fear was overflowing inside me, though somehow the excess wetness was going straight to my pussy. He was tall, naked, and exceptionally pissed off. I shuddered at what he might do to me.

“Turn. Over. Don’t make me say it again.” Lightning streaked around us in the room.

“No. I can’t.”

Bad decision.

He roared up onto the bed and ripped me around so that I was on all fours as he’d demanded.

I kept my legs pressed tightly together, thinking maybe that would fend him off.

He crushed my hips with his palms. “I’m a god, Tara. No one denies me. Not even you, pretty mortal. You will give me everything. If you try to run again, I will chain you.”

I breathed out hard and hung my head.

“If you’re good.” He nudged his thick head against my tight pussy lips. “I’ll reward you. Do you want to be good for me?”

I couldn’t run. I was just as tightly bound as if I were still lashed to the bed. He was too strong, too quick. I would never escape. Defeated, I would have to take whatever he gave me.

“I-I can be good.”

“Can you?” He rubbed his hands in tight circles on my ass. “Show me, Tara. Show me how good you can be.”

“How?”

“You know how, my pet.”

I took a deep breath and edged my knees apart the slightest bit.

“That’s better. More, Tara.” His coaxing voice sank into my head, my heart. I obeyed, opening my knees wide enough for him to position himself between my legs.

He eased inside, the sweet burn making me hiss.

“That’s it.” He pushed further, my pussy so wet that he slid in much more easily this time.

He strengthened his grip on my hips, his fingers digging into my skin. He would leave marks. Maybe it was a good thing. Maybe marks were the only thing that could tell me if this was real.

He smoothed the last little bit inside, his head hitting against my deepest core. He moved one hand to my shoulder and pushed me down again, laying my head on the bed. I felt myself opening, my legs spreading wider as he bent me to his will.

“Yes, Tara.” He pulled out and immediately shoved back in. My toes curled at his onslaught and my pussy clenched.

He started a ravaging pace. He gave me no reprieve, nowhere to hide from him. I was being used, fucked wildly by a man while the room lit with a million sparks of lightning. Every impact jarred my clit until I was delirious with the need to come. The glancing blows had revved me to a state of arousal that continued on and on as he pounded into me.

I panted into the bed as sweat coated my body. He bent over me and snaked an arm around my torso. Then he pulled me back and up. He crossed one arm over my chest and gripped my shoulder as he pistoned inside me.

I lay my head back against his shoulder, struggling to breathe as the intense delirium washed over me. When he reached down and stroked my clit, I bucked. He didn’t stop, only gripped me tighter and continued stroking me.

“You love it when I master you, don’t you?” His voice was in my ear, all around me. “Tell me how much you love it when I force my cock into your sweet pussy.”

My mind reeled, gone in a blur of passion and primal need. “I love it.”

“I know you do, greedy little mortal.” He thrust furiously to punctuate his words.

I could feel myself growing tense, the muscles contracting all around his plunging cock as his finger swirled and teased me. When he licked up my neck and fastened his teeth to my jugular, my pussy spasmed, the need for release overwhelming.

He spiraled his finger around my clit hard and harder, the intensity ratcheting up until I was crying out.

“You want to come, Tara?”

“Yes, please!” It was half begging, half praying.

He never lagged, never once faltered in his punishing pace. “I’m going to need you to do better than that.” He widened the circle, swiping around where I needed him most. I was desperate for him to put his finger back on my center.

“Please, I’ll do anything. Just please, let me come.” I was pathetic and breathy.

“Anything?” His laughter was low, almost cruel.

“Anything.”

“You should know it’s never wise to bargain with the gods. Even so, the deal is struck.” He moved his fingertips back to my clit and strummed until I was shoving down onto his cock with each powerful thrust. I wanted him deep, wanted his seed coating every last bit of my pussy.

“Come for me. Now,” he grated in my ear.

I was all too happy to obey, giving in to his fingers, his cock, his voice. I cried out as I seized, my pussy clamping down on him as my hips locked and the tidal wave crashed over me, sending me deep under the waters. I drowned in delicious bliss, each contraction of my pussy a current of pleasure that pulsed through me.

“That’s it. Now take all I have.” He gave a few more powerful thrusts and, when he was as deep within me as he could be, he gasped. His cock grew impossibly hard and then kicked as he groaned low and long.

I let my head loll back against him as he came, my pleasure leaving me spent and boneless. As he came back down, he relaxed his grip on my shoulder and lay me down on my stomach. Then he dropped next to me, letting out a huge
whoosh
of air. After a while of just breathing, existing, he turned to his side and rested his large palm on my back. I turned to look at him. The gold in his eyes was tranquil now, just as the sky above was blue.

“Are you always like this?”

“Like what.” He smiled, dimples making an appearance.
Of course.

“So, I don’t know, so mercurial?”

He arched an eyebrow. “I’ll tell Mercury you said that.”

I laughed. Actually laughed. I was really losing my mind.

“Not losing it. Just letting me borrow it for a while, along with the rest of you.” He pressed his lips to my shoulder almost reverently.

I vaguely remembered the stories of deities in the sky, living it up on Mount Olympus while humans suffered, prospered, or perished. I glanced around at the gilded walls and beautiful art. I supposed it wasn’t so far-fetched after all.

“This is just the beginning, Tara. You’ll see.”

“Of what?” I had animals to get back to. There was a particularly ornery horse waiting for me at the clinic with a nasty abscess that I had to keep checked. Then there was Myrtle Lanson’s prize hen that had suddenly stopped laying eggs. I was supposed to get out to her place first thing the next morning.

“You don’t have to worry with any of those things any more. You belong here. All you have to do is please me, my pet.” The smile reappeared, just as charming as ever.

Now, though, with my mind cleared of the lust, I had a million questions.

“But I love my work, my clients, their animals. I can’t just leave. Do you know how hard it is for farmers in the black belt to get dependable vet care? It’s the poorest region in the entire—”

“You’re mine now, Tara. Things like that don’t matter.”

I turned on my side to face him and ignored the deep ache in my core. “They matter to me.”

“Even though I can give you everything you’d ever want? Name it. It’s yours.” He smoothed his hand down to my waist before resting it on my hip. His golden eyes were enthralling. I could get lost in them forever, just like he wanted.

“I don’t want
things
. I want to work, to help people and animals.”

He didn’t seem to hear me. He leaned in and grazed his lips over mine. I tried to keep my eyes open, to keep thinking. But when he did it again, all I could focus on was him, how he made me feel. His tongue played across the seam of my lips, and damned if I didn’t open them for him. He seized his chance and claimed my mouth in a firm, possessive kiss. His tongue stroked past my lips, teasing my own tongue to answer. I met his strokes as he pulled me into his chest. My nipples hardened against him as our mouths warred for supremacy. He was winning.

“Zeus!” A woman’s voice cracked through the air.

He broke our kiss, leaving me in a haze of desire. “Who is that?”

He jumped from the bed and yanked his toga up to his waist. “My harpy wife, Hera.”

“I can hear you in there. I know what you’re doing. Open this door right now!” Her voice was like needles in my ear.

I scrambled from the bed and stood behind him, unsure where his wife would appear.

Zeus sighed. “Sorry to do this, my pet. But I’ll see you again soon.” He turned and crushed me in a fevered kiss.

Then, I was gone.

Chapter Three

The smell of earth and rain swirled in my lungs. My feet were on solid ground. The sun was shining, not a cloud in the darkening blue sky. I was standing on the road, only slightly muddy from the earlier rain. My Jeep was right where I left it.

It was as if I hadn’t been gone at all or perhaps just for a moment. The only difference was that the storm was gone. Everything else felt the same. I knew it was just as I’d left it, could feel it in my bones. I let out a breath and doubled over, putting my hands on my knees and just breathing as my mind tried to get a handle on what happened.

Was I losing my mind? Did I experience some sort of seizure? I stayed there until my heartbeat calmed and my breathing evened out. Vertigo threatened so I stood straight up. I shook my head, as if it would somehow make all the discordant pieces fall back into some sort of logical pattern. It didn’t.

Something had happened to me. I had no doubt of it. But what? I looked at the cloudless sky above, but there was no answer there. I was just a woman, standing in the middle of a corn field. No bull. No god. Just me.

I had to let it go. I was here now. Whatever I imagined had happened was over. Maybe I could stop by Doc Henshaw’s and get a quick checkup. It was all some sort of episode, a dream and nothing more.

I took a step toward my Jeep.
Ouch.
My core ached like it never had before, and the slightest rub of my panties against my swollen flesh sent a buzz throughout my body.

Shit.
That could only mean one thing.

“It was real.” A chill went through me. I didn’t know if it being real made things worse or better.

Ignoring the pain, I dashed to my Jeep and climbed in. I slammed the door, as if being inside would give me some modicum of calm. It didn’t. Sitting in the driver’s seat and looking ahead reminded me of the bull, the one with Zeus’ golden eyes.

I’d just fucked a married man – no, strike that – a married
god
. I was a homewrecker of epic proportions. I started the engine and gunned it down the slippery road. I needed to get home, to hole up for a while and try to think through what just happened. Normal started to settle around me as I ate up the miles between me and my farmhouse at the edge of the national forest. I passed the usual landmarks – the co-op, the post office, and finally the pasture fence leading to my house.

My little white farmhouse looked the same, as if nothing earth-shattering had just happened. It had the same dark green shutters and the porch light was on, glowing lightly in the fading afternoon sun. I rushed across the yard, up the porch, and through the front door. I even locked it behind me, even though no one ever bothered with locked doors this far out in the country.

Saban weaved around my feet and meowed for his dinner.

“I’m losing my mind, buddy.” I knelt down and scratched under his chin. He kept talking to me, meowing me into submission on the dinner issue. “Fine, come on.”

I poured some food out and sat next to him on the kitchen floor, the cold tile a decent balm on my sore bottom. I leaned my head back and replayed some of the moments with Zeus as Saban crunched contentedly beside me. I absentmindedly trailed my fingers through his midnight fur as my thoughts wandered.

Before long, Saban was sated and we both went to bed. I fell asleep thinking of those golden eyes watching me, making me promises I knew they couldn’t keep.

***

The next few weeks were normal. Everything fell back into a usual rhythm. Office visits, emergency calls to the farms in the county, and evenings spent at home with Saban. Sometimes, though, when I drove along the country lanes, I felt a presence. It was as if
he
were with me. Every so often the feeling would be so strong that I would stop and inspect the passenger side of my Jeep. But I was alone.

Weeks turned into months. The weather turned colder. I spent what little spare time I had reading up on the Greek myths and legends. Apparently, Zeus was a known playboy who frequented young women in various guises. He’d chosen the bull for me, fooling and capturing me. After I read the last book I could stand that detailed his conquests in explicit detail, I threw it across the room. I’d been played. By a god, no less. I’d given my virginity to someone who’d taken countless women over millennia. I was just another notch on his bedpost, though at this point, the post was likely whittled down to a toothpick.

From that day on, I decided to put the “incident” behind me. That’s what I called it – the “incident.” I couldn’t bring myself to face the truth of it all. The memories stayed, despite my efforts to erase them. They bubbled up when I was asleep, and I would wake with my fingers trying to evince the same desperation my dream lover had brought so easily. They never did. Every orgasm was somehow hollow, nothing compared to what he’d given me.

I kept moving forward, building my small practice and serving the community. I even went on a few dates with a couple of the local farmers’ sons. Even as they talked about topics I knew well, I couldn’t stop my thoughts from straying back to the man who had made me feel so alive, if only for a short time.

“—then I came on back to try and learn how to run the farm and you aren’t listening to a word I’m saying, are you?”

My gaze snapped backed to Dean, my date. He had been persistent, showing up at my clinic every so often just to chat. He was growing on me, and it didn’t hurt that he was incredibly handsome, smart, and well rounded. But I was screwing it all up by daydreaming about my impossible incident. “I’m sorry. I am. I’m just—”

“Distant?”

“Yeah. It’s me. I’m sorry.” Color rose into my cheeks. He was right. I’d been thinking back to the white satin sheets, the beguiling smile that haunted my dreams. It was unfinished somehow. All of it. And no matter how many dates I went on, even with men as perfect as Dean, I couldn’t move on until I had some sort of closure. Would I ever get it, though?

“Listen.” He reached across the table and took my hands in his calloused ones. “Whenever you get over whoever it was that got to you so bad, I’ll be here, waiting.”

My eyes opened wide. “But you don’t even know me.”

“I do.” He rubbed his thumb over the back of my hand, the sensation causing heat to flow up my arm and throughout my body. “I knew the moment I saw you.”

He released my hands and leaned back before motioning to Gladys for the check. The diner buzzed around us, everyone wrapped up in their own lives. Maybe I was getting too wrapped up in the one little bump in my past. But I wasn’t able to let it go, not just yet.

Still, Dean’s quiet confidence stirred something inside me. He was right. I had someone to get over. I needed to put it behind me. It was over. It was either a delusion or the strangest moment of my life. Either way, what was done was
done
. The man in front of me was gorgeous and, if I were being honest, unquestionably sexy. The dark stubble along his jaw was tantalizing and his broad shoulders were made to be clung to. It was as if the blinders were suddenly lifted. I saw him. My heart swelled, finally awakened from its long dormancy.

I opened my mouth to ask him back to my place for coffee when my phone rang. It was the clinic.
Shit
. “I have to take this.”

“Sure,” he flashed a smile that made me warm all over.

“The Branfields’ mare is having major difficulties.” Dean’s sister, Gina, was on call for the night. Looked like I was, too. “Ty said he needed you as quick as possible. She’s in distress. He’s afraid to lose both her and the foal.”

“Okay.” I shot a look to Dean. He leaned back in his seat and ran a hand through his hair. It was tousled, as if he’d just gotten up, or maybe fucked. Either way, he was handsome. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

I stood and threw my phone in my bag. Dean stood, too, grabbing up his hat and following me out the door of the restaurant. “Put it on my tab, Gladys,” he called.

The air outside had a bite to it, snaking up my skirt and chilling my skin. I strode to my Jeep and opened the door before turning to say my goodbyes. Dean was right behind me. I hadn’t realized he was so close. Now that I was facing him, he took another step toward me, backing me against the Jeep. He smelled like leather and hard work.

I looked up into his eyes and felt something inside me thawing and melting.

“I have to get out to the Branfields. Their mare—”

He kissed me, fast and rough, his mouth claiming mine in a swift predatory movement. I felt it all the way to my knees, becoming jelly in his arms as he pulled me close. His tongue was wicked, probing at my lips and then sinking past my teeth. He caressed my tongue and I clasped my hands around his neck. His hard cock pressed into my stomach. What would it feel like in my hand?

I moaned into his mouth and he swallowed the sound.

And then he let me go. I stood, barely able to hold myself up, as he took a step back. He placed his hat on his head and tipped it at me. “Like I said, Tara, once you’re done with whatever it is that’s got you turned around, you come to me. Understand?”

“Yes, okay. I, ah, okay.” I couldn’t form a thought in response to his demand.

He turned on his heel and strode to his pickup. I climbed into my Jeep and just sat for a moment, trying to collect myself. My phone buzzed again. Gina was texting me about the mare. I needed to get it together. I had responsibilities.

I slammed the door closed and cranked the engine. Dean watched from his truck, making sure I was on the road before turning back toward his farm. His brake lights disappeared from my rearview as I travelled the bumpy road to the southern end of the county where the Branfields lived. It was a fifteen-minute trip filled with updates from Gina every so often.

I gave her instructions over the phone to make the mare more comfortable. It didn’t sound good. The mare had progressed too quickly, already pushing out the foal’s legs, but its head was trapped. If I didn’t get there soon and work with the mare, both horses could be lost.

I turned down the gravel road to the farm, the moon lighting my way. I sped between dormant fields, patiently waiting for spring.

It was subtle at first. Just a slight tingle along my spine. Then my hair began to stand on end. I slowed and stopped. Bright as day, lightening sparked all around me, blinding in its intensity. Ahead, the same bull – golden horns and eyes, walked to the Jeep. My heart pounded, the blood in my ears matched by the cacophony of thunder all around.

I opened the door with trembling hands and stepped out. The bull regarded me with his familiar eyes, warm and far wiser than any animal should be able to claim.

“Zeus, look—”