‘So you’ve never said yes?’
She bit down on her lip, nodding warily.
‘That makes no sense.’
‘Apparently it takes a kidnap scenario to get me to go on a date,’ she responded, only half joking.
Undeterred, he leaned forward, his legs brushing hers beneath the table. Her eyes widened. ‘Haven’t you ever wondered what it’s like?’
‘Dating?’
He shook his head slowly from side to side, not touching her, and yet heat spread through Bea’s body as though his hands were on hers. ‘No, agápi mou. Being made love to, slowly, gently, until you can barely breathe for how turned on you are.’
She gasped at the fever his words had incited.
‘Or being made love to hard and fast because your lover cannot wait to make you theirs.’
Her lungs worked on overdrive.
‘Have you never touched yourself, imagining your hands were those of a man you wanted? Touched yourself and wished it was your lover’s mouth, worshipping you in your most sacred place?’
‘Ares...’ Again, his name was a plea on her lips. ‘Please...’ She didn’t know if she was asking him to stop or begging him not to.
‘I would like to show you what you’re capable of feeling, poulaki mou,’ he murmured. ‘If only this were not so complicated.’
Oh, she wanted that too. She wanted it so badly she was terrified to admit her feelings. ‘Why is it complicated?’ she asked instead. ‘I should have thought it’s the most basic biological act.’
His smile was cynical. ‘And yet you’re a virgin.’
Her eyes dropped to the table.
‘I do not sleep with virgins.’
She gasped. ‘Is that a rule or something?’
‘It might as well be.’
Disappointment speared her belly. She wanted to shake him, to tell him he was being silly. But then what?
Confusion, heat, need—all these feelings rushed through her like a live wire of electricity.
‘Then...what...?’
When she risked a glance at him, he was appraising her silently.
She gathered her courage, forcing herself to speak her mind. ‘Why are you flirting with me?’
His eyes were mocking, but was it directed at himself or her?
She waited, breath held, for his response, and yet she wasn’t prepared for what was coming.
‘Because I want you. Even though I know it’s wrong, and that I can’t offer you what you deserve, I look at you and feel as though I am fighting a losing battle.’ Now his expression held a challenge, as though he were laying down a gauntlet. ‘You’ve never had sex before and, despite what I just said, I find myself obsessing over being your first lover. I want to be the one who awakens you to the physical pleasures of intimacy. I have no doubt that’s selfish of me, and yet here we are.’
Her breath wouldn’t come easily. She stared at him in disbelief, her pulse racing, her mind blank. ‘Ares...’ But what could she say in response to that? He was offering her exactly what she wanted. She finally managed to suck in a deep breath, doing her best to think straight.
‘I don’t want more than sex.’ She blurted the words out loudly and blushed to the roots of her hair, looking around to make sure that she hadn’t been heard. ‘Perhaps that’s part of what’s held me back from dating. The idea of a relationship is anathema to me. You don’t need to worry I’ll want more from you. Just...sex...is fine.’ She cleared her throat. ‘More than fine, in fact.’
What the hell was she doing? The water was up to her neck; she was about to drown. Or was she swimming? She couldn’t tell. She knew only that it felt good and right to speak like this—two adults outlining a new set of rules, an agreement that would protect them both. There was comfort in the sanity of that when every other part of her felt disconnected from reality.
‘It would change nothing between us.’ There was wariness in his voice, but also the hard edge of control, as though he was on the brink of losing it.
‘Fine by me.’ A breathless agreement.
Their eyes met and it was like the signing of a contract. Without words, Ares stood, holding his hand out. Bea stared at it long and hard and then slid hers into his palm, fire zapping through her veins.
He didn’t speak as they left the restaurant, but she answered him—and herself—nonetheless. ‘I’m ready.’