Rock Hard (17 page)

“I’m sorry…” they both whispered at the same time.

Marduk brought himself to his feet, trying not to look directly at Tess. He didn’t know what to say. “They’ll, uh, be waiting for us downstairs. I’ll give you some time to get dressed and…” He ran a hand back through his hair. “Let me know when you’re through.”

Tess watched the god leave and thoughts tumbled through her head. First and foremost? What Marduk had been doing had been amazing and had totally turned her on! She’d loved the way his mouth and his hands had felt on her until her stupid body had betrayed her and shut down. That was nothing like what she’d felt in the past. She wanted more…but she was scared. Had she blown it with her fears? Was she going to lose the opportunity to get to know Marduk?

He’d been taking things so slowly. He’d been gentle. Things had been going so well, and she reveled in the fact that once again, she had been sure that he found her attractive. The way his hands had tenderly stroked her skin, she had felt a small flame of desire start at her toes and move its way up to her belly, where it had spread and sent an unaccustomed warmth to her pussy.

Curious, she brought one hand tentatively down between her legs and was amazed to find her fingers wet with arousal. She had never experienced this before. Tess stifled a cry of confusion. She had enjoyed Marduk’s touch that much, but then he’d grabbed her bottom and she’d panicked. Oh God! What if he didn’t have the patience, or want her enough to try again?

She was suddenly filled with rage and regret. If Gage stood in front of her right now… Her fists clenched. The bastard had screwed up her head, and was in danger of ruining the rest of her life. She couldn’t let that happen.

Marduk leaned with his back to the door, having closed it as gently as possible behind him, even though all he felt like doing was slamming the damn thing. What was the matter with him? He had seen the marks of abuse on her tender skin, and then he couldn’t keep his frigging hands to himself. Tess must think him the worst kind of beast!

He groaned and berated himself. To play on her tired and confused emotions, taking advantage of her while she was not herself, was utterly despicable. How could he have lost control of himself like that? If only she’d give him another chance, he’d do his best by her. He’d be so very careful.

First, he needed to apologize, which wouldn’t be easy, especially as he sucked at making amends. Second, he needed to earn her trust and show her that what they could have would be earth shattering. He wondered if she’d give him the opportunity. Marduk pushed himself away from the door and walked slowly down the hall.

Tess slipped on her jeans and a bright yellow T-shirt that said “Hot Buttered Popcorn.” Holly had given her the shirt as a joke and, even though she’d never worn it before, she hadn’t had the heart to throw it away.

Enlil must have come across it in the back of her closet. It hugged her small curves in all the right spots, which was what she wanted right now.

She rushed out into the hallway, determined to follow Marduk. He hadn’t gone far and, as he whirled around at the sound of the door opening, his eyes went to her shirt. It must have done the trick, because he flushed, and struggled to address her.

“Listen, Tess…”

“No, please,” she said beseechingly. “I want to apologize for my behavior.”

Marduk looked as if he would interrupt again, but Tess wouldn’t let him. She plunged ahead, not having rehearsed what she would say.

“It’s not like I’m a virgin or anything,” she rambled. “It’s just that I’ve had some issues…some troubles…” She lost her train of thought in her rush to explain.

“Some troubles with a former boyfriend who decided to use you as his own personal knife sharpener?” Tess heard the disgust in Marduk’s voice.

Great. He had seen her scars.

“Something like that,” she sighed, tears gathering at the corners of her eyes. “He wasn’t the most gentle or understanding boyfriend, and he had some…um…anger issues.”

“No Tess,” Marduk disagreed. “I have some anger issues.” His voice rose with his obvious agitation. “That asshole had some fucked up shit going on inside his head. If I ever catch up with that sorry piece of scum, I’m going to cut him into tiny little pieces with the same knife he used to carve into you!”

“Wow.” That was all Tess could think to say in the face of Marduk’s diatribe.

“Yeah, wow,” Marduk agreed, breathing deeply to calm himself. She could sense him trying to find his inner Zen. “I want you to know right now that it won’t deter me from getting to know you better.”

Tess was silently thrilled that he wasn’t going to give up on whatever they’d been feeling. Maybe he was sorry for coming on so strong. His hormones must have exploded past his good intentions.

“What I want more than anything else is to protect you from your fears. You need to know that the things we will do together won’t cause you pain. I will never hurt you.” He took her hand. “Anything that happens between us will be beautiful.” Tess’s mouth parted slightly, feeling the sincerity behind his words.

“Don’t mistake me,” he warned softly, “I want to hold you and touch you all over. I want you to feel all of the mind blowing and wonderful things that your body is capable of…and,” Marduk’s voice went very low and raspy, “I want to make you come in all kinds of ways that you never thought possible. Do you hear what I’m saying?” His eyes glowed. “We can do this, Tess…together.”

Tess stood, transfixed. She was definitely wet again. That was just about the sexiest declaration that she’d ever heard. Part of her wanted to weep with relief that he was going to pursue her, but another part was scared shitless. In either case, humor had always been her best fall-back position, and she stirred herself now to do something funny that would break the palpable tension.

Tess remembered the movie Marduk had referenced in the hospital, and cleared her throat. She turned, shakily, walking down the hall, her voice wafting back over her shoulder.

“Buffalo gals, won’t you come out tonight, come out tonight, come out tonight. Buffalo gals, won’t you come out tonight….aaaaand dance by the light of the moon.”

If she’d been watching his face, Tess would have witnessed the enormous grin that swept across Marduk’s features when the tune reached his ears.

Chapter Fourteen

Marduk didn’t remain immobile for long. He caught up with Tess, amazed at how quickly she’d recovered from his little speech. He hadn’t meant to blurt things out quite so crassly, but he hadn’t had occasion for “sweet talking” in hundreds of years.

Tess further surprised him as she slipped her hand into his and squeezed. His spirits soared and he let her know by returning the pressure and also by giving her a peek into his head.
My arms wrapped around your naked form, chest to chest, stomach to stomach, groin to groin.
Maybe they could make this work after all.

“Don’t get your hopes up, god-man,” responded Tess as she read his thoughts, and blushed. “Sometime I’ll let you know just how fucked up things are with me, and you’ll be lucky not to run screaming in the other direction.”

Marduk took that as a promise and, with positive resolve, pushed open the door to the meeting room. He knew everyone inside was holding their breath, hoping beyond hope to regain their body in the presence of the woman at his side. Marduk sighed to himself. No additional bodies. No such luck.

Tess was aware only of Enlil and the man standing next to her, but she felt the strangest surge of frustration as she walked into the room.

So, not this time,
she heard murmured.

It’ll be fine. We’ll get our turn.
She wasn’t hearing things. These were her gods.

She shook her head as if to clear the cobwebs and, all at once, voices crowded into her brain.

So this is the one, eh Marduk?

Man, would I like a piece of that!

She’s got a sweet little body…

Have you given her a ride?

Tess was fully aware of how guys bantered, having spent a lot of time in her brother’s gym. She wasn’t offended. Tess hid a grin. It wouldn’t hurt to give them back a little of their own to let them know she was no push-over.

“No, we haven’t fucked yet,” she supplied flippantly, “but I plan on giving him a blow job later if you’d all care to watch.” She mentioned this smugly to the room while studying her cuticles and was greeted with stunned silence.

“Uh, guys.” Marduk swallowed, attempting to unstick the tongue from the roof of his mouth, thinking about Tess’s lips wrapped around his aching cock. “Did I mention that Tess can pretty much hear everything we say?”

His friends were mildly embarrassed, all except for Anshar, who spoke to Tess.
I wouldn’t mind getting front row seats to thunder-boy’s boner. Will there be an admission charge?

The room erupted in groans and cat calls before Marduk had the chance to call for order.

“All right, enough,” he shouted over the crowd. “Tess also has the ability, with a little help, to see what I see, so I’m going to introduce all of you. Tess?” He pulled out a chair at the head of the long table and indicated that she should have a seat before he settled in beside her. “Just like before, okay?”

Tess cleared her mind and that film overlay happened again. This time, instead of just Anshar, she was surrounded by a whole group of men dressed in all forms of…undress! The amount of male skin showing would put exotic dancers to shame.

She knew that the cloth draping each mouth-watering form was robes they obviously felt comfortable wearing, but for her, the temperature in the room spiked noticeably.

Tess could identify a few of the gods by name, but Marduk helped her out with all of them, going around the room.

“You know Enlil, who is a wind or storm god. Then there’s Anshar, who thinks he’s in charge of the whole sky.” The room erupted in jeers, while Anshar preened. Marduk continued in spite of the egos.

“Shamash meets out justice and salvation, but here on earth he’s kick-ass with our computers.” Tess recognized the curly haired god. Hmm… He sported an intriguing piercing straight through the bottom of his lower lip!

Marduk scowled his disapproval, but Shamash ran white teeth over the silver protrusion.
Any time you want to check it out, it would be my pleasure.

Apparently, as she could hear their voices, they could all read her mind.

You’ll get used to it,
Marduk thought at her.
There are skills you can learn. We can only hear thoughts you project outward. Anything you think to yourself, we can’t hear.

Works great during sex if you haven’t got a screamer to let you know when you’re hitting the right spot.
That was Anshar, Tess realized snickering, and was somehow not in the least bit embarrassed by his temerity.

“Moving on,” Marduk said pointedly. “We have Ishkur, god of fire and a few other things, who is in charge of our fleet of motorcycles.” Tess was intrigued. Here was one god she didn’t recognize, although he must have been one of the original thirteen.

He appeared much older than the rest, but Tess assumed that gods didn’t age. He looked to be somewhere in his fifties, his dark hair shot through with brilliant steel gray. The lines on his chiseled face made him even more handsome than he’d probably been in youth. She made a mental note to ask Marduk about him next time they were alone.

“Kulla is our resident architect and builder.” This one had hair the color of honey and eyes that reminded her of wine. “He’s responsible for all that you see here.” Marduk waved his hand.

“About that,” questioned Tess. “I’ve been meaning to ask. You guys are all invisible, but you have a house that I can see. And furniture and showers and…well, everything! Why is that? And not to ask too many questions at once, but where are we?”

A god from the back rose, one who was more slender than the rest—if anyone could use the word slender where this muscled titan was concerned.

“I’m Lahar,” he introduced himself. “And as I am the god of logic and intelligence…” He looked down his nose mockingly at the assemblage, who gave the appropriate “eat shit” and “screw you” responses. “I can answer your questions.”

He ignored the additional heckling that followed. “Have you heard of the Blue Hills?” he questioned.

Tess nodded, and Lahar continued.

“When we first found ourselves without a home in 1628, the Blue Hills was just a vast forest. We picked a spot hidden away from the prying eyes of nearby neighbors and used our combined talents to weave energy that kept it from being visible and discouraged people from coming near.”

“Once Kulla,” he indicated honey-hair, “got us started building, we pulled together bits and pieces from all over to put this place together. The building was grand, but we felt something was missing. Eventually, we all agreed that it would seem more like home if we made it visible, and filled it with things we would use if we had bodies. As each building element was put into place, we uncompelled it, and what you see here is the end result.”

“As newer styles and technology became available,” Kulla continued for Lahar, “I just kept everyone busy incorporating updates. No need to fall behind the times just because we’re invisible. Now we have every possible convenience and comfort. We even have food in our refrigerator!” He beamed as if this was the most magnificent accomplishment. “I sent Emesh out to obtain sustenance as soon as we knew you’d be joining us.”

The stunning bald, dark-skinned god did a pinky wave and flashed his pearly whites. “And just to let you know, I’m the god of abundance and summer, so whatever you expect to find for food, double it, and that’s what we have in stock.” They were all so proud as they revealed their god-like powers.

“I hope to do your food justice,” Tess said, without a bit of sarcasm. Now that she was over the pukes, she was damned hungry. “Marduk and Enlil can eat, too. Am I right?”

There was general muttering around the room, and Tess picked up on the jealousy. “Oops, sorry,” she apologized, then changed the subject. “Hey, I have another question for you.” She looked around at expectant faces. “Since you guys can take things—”