She looked so vulnerable lying in the dark. So defenceless all alone. Where had she been stolen from? That boyfriend she mentioned…was he looking for her? Or had he given up already?
Goddammit.
Turning around with a groan, I stumbled back to the bed and pulled the white blanket over her nakedness. The night sky still held humidity and heat, but the instant the comforting weight fell over her, she sighed and curled onto her side. Her hair lay strewn over her pillow, inviting me to touch it.
I’d become obsessed with her hair. I didn’t know if it was the length or the colour that appealed to me, or the fact that I could control her with a single fist in the strands—either way, it was a fucking struggle to back away.
The gauzy curtains by the open doors fluttered with soft sea breeze. The scents of dense foliage and rich undergrowth ripe thanks to a tropical rainfall that’d passed through earlier.
My eyelids drooped again; black feathered over my mind.
“Sinclair.”
Cal’s snap wrenched me back into purpose. All I wanted to do was sleep, but I couldn’t, not until I was safe in my own bed.
Trudging toward the exit, I didn’t look back at the goddess who’d caused so many problems. I knew my exhaustion was due to my melancholy thoughts. My fatigue the reason I had no power over the weakness creeping through my heart, but it didn’t mean I was okay with the fact that I felt something toward that girl.
Something I was powerless to stop.
Cal closed the door behind us as I swayed on the sandy laneway, looking up through palm trees to the vast cosmos above. Stars twinkled, winking with secrets, fully aware of my sins.
His hand pushed between my shoulder blades, and for the first time, I noticed I had no shirt on. My board-shorts were the only thing keeping me decent.
“I’ll walk you to your villa,” he said quietly, nudging me forward until I lumbered down the path. “The other goddesses shouldn’t see you like this.”
I nodded. He was right. No way did I want them to witness their tyrannical ruler wobbly and weak. I wouldn’t prove to them that I wasn’t a god after all but pure mortal. A mortal with wounds and worries and the god-awful premonition that I’d fucked up big time.
I shouldn’t have put her in Euphoria.
We walked in silence for a bit, allowing the buzzing cicadas to serenade us and the ribbits of tree frogs to fill in vacant conversation. Trailing down the pathway leading toward Nirvana, the waterfall I regularly rock climbed, Cal finally broke the insect-amphibian orchestra. “Why did you do it, Sinclair?”
I shrugged.
I doubted he’d like answers like: ‘I couldn’t help myself.’ ‘She’s different.’ ‘She’s messing with my mind.’
“Next time, I’ll prepare and finish her. You don’t need to be around Jinx any more than absolutely necessary.”
My hands balled.
“All you need to do is focus on your guests, your lab, and the coding for fantasies, remember?” His green eyes flashed with light from the carved lanterns leading the way. “You did ask me, once upon a time, to remind you of what was important if you ever deviated.”
Previously, I would’ve agreed with him. Those three things did keep me plenty busy without self-destructing thanks to a fascination with a goddess.
But…that was before.
Before her.
I strode ahead.
The lights of my villa beckoned me, granting the final dregs of movement. “I remember, Cal. And I also remember being the fucking boss around here.”
He stopped, allowing me to continue on my own. However, his voice chased me over the sand. “At least she didn’t die tonight, Sinclair. The elixir didn’t push her over the edge.”
“It wouldn’t have mattered if she had,” I threw over my shoulder, wanting an end to whatever suspicions he had about me.
“Yeah, sure.” His dark laughter echoed in my ears as I trudged up the two shallow steps and wrenched open my villa door. I could still feel his judgement long after I slammed the door, locked it, and planted face first on my bed.
I was out cold a heartbeat later.
Chapter Two
Five Hours Before
ELIXIR.
My horror and haven.
Suffering orgasms at my own hand while under its influence had been the most painful and shameful experience of my life.
Until now.
I screamed as the caveman mounted and speared inside me.
One thrust.
One swift stab of his hot, hard cock…and I shattered.
My first orgasm snatched me with no warning or politeness. My body skipped past previous cues that hinted a climax