Chapter Four

It's pitch black when we arrive outside his apartment and my breath is taken away when we walk in. It's spacious and luxurious, almost as beautiful as something that would be in Olympus. The outside walls are all windows overlooking the river, the couch expensive looking and two small low lying tables and a tasteful creme carpet covering a small portion of the wooden floor. The kitchen table is glass, set with simple yet beautiful candles and an elegant glass centerpiece holding flowers.

The stars practically reflect in all the glass and then.... there's my dog laying on the expensive couch, lounging as if he has nowhere better to be and will probably fight me when it's time to go home.

"Wow, this is uh... fancy," I say, suddenly feeling quite scraggly in my running clothes. "And what do you do?" A place like this must cost an arm and a leg....no a whole damn dead body on the black market.

Ares chuckles, his breath brushing over my exposed shoulder. "Well, I am a God, I am quite wealthy, but aside from that... I am in a gang, little dove. We do all sorts of illegal things."

My stomach curls and I turn to face him. "Don't tell me you sell women?"

He sighs, shaking his head. "Aphrodite, do you think I would do that? Don't answer that, no I don't. And trust me any gang who does meets the man named after God of War and learns why he was named after such a God. Gangs like that are eradicated. That's why the Rebel Angels don't mind that I don't partake in their debauchery. I get rid of their rivals." Ares is dangerous. He may not instigate wars, he may guide soldiers home safely, but he is dangerous.

"Okay," I say, sitting beside Max, rubbing his fat belly.

Ares goes to the bar and pours two glasses of scotch and offers me one when he sits down beside me. "You owe me a question," Ares says after he takes a sip from his drink.

I avoid his eyes and look out over the lights passing by on the bridge over the river from one state to another. "I do."

For agonizingly long moments he stays silent and then I hear a click and he sets his drink on the low lying table and he takes a deep breath. "What has you feeling so wound up that you were scared so badly when I grabbed you this morning?"

My heart stops and I turn to face him, my knee brushing against his. What kind of a question is that? "That's... That's the question you want to ask?" I ask incredulously.

He smiles, patting his lap, and Max immediately makes his way over my lap and onto Ares. Whose dog is he! "That is the question I want to ask."

I rub my temples, taking the hair tie from my hair, untangling the strands from the braid, massaging my tender scalp. For a moment, I consider lying to him, but then, I remember his face in the restaurant. The grief in his body language. The honesty in the hoarseness of his voice. "This world and Olympus, neither are safe for women. The male species they act so arrogantly and just take... take... take..." tears spring in my eyes and I look away from him, drinking the scotch in my glass, attempting to still my shaking hand.

The temperature in the room drops and my skin raises with goosebumps. Warm fingers hold my chin, turning my face to his once more. "Did someone here hurt you, make you feel unsafe?" Murder weighs heavily in his voice and his thumb brushes over my chin and along my jawline.

I don't know why I say it, but I do. "Someone has made me feel unsafe, but it doesn't matter where they are."

My eyes latch onto his which seem to glow red with murderous anger. "I will kill whoever has made you feel unsafe."

I shake my head. "No..." My breath catches and panic seizes me. No one can know. I don't even know why I told him.

Taking a deep, calming breath, I let the fear and shame roll off my skin. I am wild and free and I am going to start living that way.

I yank his face to mine, crushing my lips against his, pressing against him. His arms come around me slowly and he yanks me into his lap, Max jumping to the floor and trotting away. "You won't distract me from this..." I hush him with my lips, running my hands over his broad chest, pushing off his jacket, sliding my hands in his hair, rocking forward.

Ares groans, grabbing onto my hips, clutching me against him as though he has needed this. And for some reason... I feel like I need this. I part his lips with my tongue, diving in eagerly. The depths of him tasting like scotch and something slightly sweet.

Heat floods my body, both from the desire coursing through his body and my own. His lust heightens my own, my power devouring his lust for me. His arousal presses against me and I can't hold back the sigh of pleasure that escapes my lips. Ares hands slide under my top, calluses scraping against my skin causing my hips jerk forward.

"Aphrodite, I don't think you understand what you're doing to me." his breath comes in hot pants against my mouth and I move deliberately against him.

"I am the goddess of love and desire. So, I think I know exactly what I'm doing to you."

He hisses as I move against him directly. Ares lets me take the lead and I take off my top along with my sports bra, taking in the heat in his eyes as he feasts on me with his gaze, causing a building throb in my body to become aching and prominent.

When I go to remove his pants, Ares takes my hands in his and shakes his head. "Not tonight," he murmurs huskily.

I raise an eyebrow, fighting against his hold. "I don't think you get to decide that."

"Well, I do. Don't worry, little dove," he pauses, pushing me onto my back on the couch, my shorts off faster than I could have done, hovering over me, settling between my legs. "There are plenty of things we can do tonight."

Confusion and lust muddle in my mind as he dips his face to the crook of my neck, kissing my skin and nipping the sensitive spot. What God turns down sex? Thoughts completely abandon me as his mouth travels my body and heat crashes into me. My power fills me, heightening my desire with his by tenfold. His ministrations have me crying out in a shaking mess. He brings me to the edge again and again only to pull away at the last second.

My hips thrust up in frustration and his chuckle reverberates through me and everything comes crashing down upon me. My body collapses against the surprisingly comfortable couch, and my chest heaves in furious, lust ridden pants as he pecks a kiss to my lips, tasting salty.

"I told you, there was plenty we could do." He smirks, brushing a knuckle over the apex of my thighs and up to brush against a hard peak.

I squirm, reaching to unzip his pants when he grabs my hands, lacing his fingers through mine, raising them above our heads. "No fair, you got to have all the fun."

Ares leans down and silences me with his lips. "Consider me a gentleman."

"A gentleman wouldn't have taken me so brazenly on the couch," I say with a smirk, biting my lip, and squeezing his hands in my own.

He chuckles, standing to his full height, shirtless, leaning down to pick up my naked and disheveled body. "Well, in my defense, you seduced me."

I squeal, smacking his muscular chest. "Seduced! I beg to differ sir!"

He laughs and carries me to a back room, passing barren walls until he finally lays me on a four poster bed concealed by sheer curtains, he takes off his pants before sliding into bed, pulling me against him, his cheek against my forehead.

It all feels too intimate and while I enjoy it, my throat clogs with too much. "You know, this... it can't be anything more."

Ares body goes rigid and his hand stops its soothing track down my back. For a long moment he says and does nothing, then he resumes his idle strokes. "Of course." Something in his voice sounds off.

I lean up, looking down at him, my dark brown hair pooling on his chest. "You know, we hardly know each other and we aren't a couple. This can be only this. No emotions. Or else this will end."

His eyes alight with determination. "You're right, we aren't a couple. We can be just this, but you're also wrong." His hand comes up to brush along my cheekbone, his hand sliding to the back of my neck, guiding my face down towards his, lips brushing against mine. "This is only the beginning."