Rock Hard (33 page)

His Tess whimpered for more, and he removed his mouth to give her two of his large fingers, cupping the rest of her with his palm and exerting pressure on her spread lips and swollen clit. He worked her flesh, and found the bundle of nerves that sent her a-quiver. As he rubbed, he could feel her tensing up as an orgasm wound her up tight.

He knew the moment she sucked in a breath and stilled, that she was poised. That’s when he spread his fingers and thrust as deeply as possible into her wet heat. She exploded around him, crying out and grabbing his hand to bring him even harder against her. Her climax seemed endless as she gasped at him.

He smiled when she came down from her high, his own nerves strung taut. She must have read his mind.

“You! Now!” She didn’t have to tell him twice. Marduk leaped to his feet and shed his jeans, joining her once again on the bed.

“Protection?” she rasped.

“We don’t need it,” he assured her, his voice sharp with passion. “From this moment on, you are mine and mine alone!” He resisted the urge to plunge inside her. He could feel his body expanding. He could tell his cock size would be overwhelming, but luckily her eyes were closed and she was unaware that any change had occurred.

He rubbed the thick head of his dick in her now flowing wetness, up and down. Blood rushed to fill that engorged, most sensitive part of his body. He sank into her heat, just an inch. Her eyes popped open.

“Marduk!” she squeaked, attempting to scramble backward. “You’re…you…” She didn’t have the words. Marduk groaned. He knew he must feel enormous to her, but could he stop now if she asked?

“It will be okay,” Marduk gritted out, holding himself still, his jaw clenched. He refused to let Tess go. Slowly, Marduk pulled his cock out, then stroked her clit with it again, to tease and prepare. If he wasn’t careful, he was going to come before he fully penetrated her, then they’d have to start again. Would she trust him now that she knew he’d grown so much larger? He met Tess’s eyes. Ah! Thank the gods. No fear remained, even though he was now full size.

Tess must have seen his hesitation, because she took matters into her own hands. She cried out his name and grabbed his flanks, sinking her fingernails deep into his ass. He hissed at the pleasure.

Huge or not, she left him no doubt that she had made up her mind. “Please,” she clamored, wet and prepared. “I need you inside me, now!” And losing resolve, Marduk drove in, stretching her and taking them both over the edge with one swift plunge.

He roared, “Tess!” as they came together in a maelstrom of pleasure. Marduk’s seed spilled and pulsed, flooding her with his warmth, and still he felt her muscles clenching and gripping him for more. His orgasm seemed never ending, the amount of cum, intense. His breath, which had been stolen by the maelstrom, flooded back into his lungs. He gulped it in, as he returned to earth.

In the aftermath, he moved off and to her side, still joined. Tess grabbed his face and dove for his tongue, sucking and mashing her nose into him, burrowing closer in a frenzy of emotion. He twitched within her.

“Marduk, Marduk,” she murmured between kisses, which were slowing now, being sprinkled all over his face in sated leisure. “That was…” She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged tightly. He knew what she was trying to say.

“That was amazing,” he finished, honestly. “Unreal. I’ve never felt anything like that before.” He became replete at her boneless sigh.

They lay tangled in the sheets and still joined, staring at each other in wonder. Marduk stroked her full bottom lip.

“And I really held out like a man,” he joked, slightly embarrassed that he had lasted only seconds inside of her before exploding.

“Worked for me,” she murmured, trailing her finger through the crisp hairs on his chest. “We’ll just have to see if we can last a little longer next time.”

His sex stirred deep within her pussy, eager to prove her words, but Marduk ordered it to quiet down. They needed to talk first.

“So what’s with the fe-fi-fo-fum impression?” she asked, voice quivering a little.

“I didn’t want to scare you.” Marduk strove for calm. “But when my control is gone, I…well, grow.”

“And you didn’t want to tell me because…” Tess left him to finish the sentence, even though she knew the answer.

“…because I knew you’d had a hard time with sex before, and I didn’t want to scare you away.”

“Not a chance.” She nipped his ear. His mouse was feeling confident. His penis nestled comfortably inside her. “As a matter of fact,” she teased, “it’s kind of a turn on.”

Tess expected some teasing in return or maybe a little after/foreplay, but was completely blown away when his demeanor turned serious.

“I have something I need to ask you.”

A crease formed between her brows. She thought they were playing. Where was this going?

“Tess, I love you.” She gasped and felt his cock flex in her still-sensitive core. “I want to spend eternity with you. I can’t imagine existing in this world without you. You’ve become everything to me in the short time we’ve known each other, and I know I might be rushing things and you’re probably unsure…”

Tess pressed her fingers to his mouth, stopping his words. She watched him swallow tightly. Was he worried that he’d said too much? He shouldn’t be.

“I love you, too.” Her eyes shone up into his and she gave him a tremulous smile. “I knew that night in the hot tub when you joined me and stopped short of…taking what I offered…” A blush rose up on her cheeks. “I knew then that you’d never hurt me. That you were gentle and kind and…” Suddenly she looked impish, “…really well built!” She glanced down to where they were still joined.

Tess had obviously said the right words. Marduk’s arms went around her, pulling her close. He began to move again, slowly this time, stroking her with long, exquisite thrusts. She felt every last velvety steel inch of him filling her pussy, dragging with torturous pleasure against her clit with each plunge. She quickly spasmed around him, reached for her peak, and came again in a clutching frenzy which had her once again crying out his name. Marduk proved his worth this time by prolonging his performance by a full two minutes.

Sated for the time being, and spooned together under the blankets after a quick clean-up, Marduk doggedly brought the subject of eternity up again. “When I say that I want to be with you forever, I kind of mean forever.”

Tess turned her head back to look at him over her shoulder, and saw him watching her face closely as he kissed her upturned chin.

“Marduk,” she sighed. “I appreciate the sentiment, but I’m human and probably have, oh, sixty years left if I’m lucky.” It made her sad to think she would age, while her beautiful god remained, well, beautiful.

“That’s what I’m getting at, Tess.” He placed her right hand on his left shoulder, and instantly he started to shine again. “Do you see what you do to me?” There was certainly no mistaking it. “That is my life essence as a god. It’s like your heart, except it’s an amulet, embedded deeply in my body.” Her eyes were curious.

“It’s the only way a god can die—to have it removed from his body, or incinerated. But when an immortal finds a true mate, and the amulet reacts to her presence as mine does to you,” he paused with infinite seriousness surrounding the moment, “then it can be split in half and shared with the god’s mate.” Comprehension dawned on Tess’s face.

“And you want to…” she paused, as if afraid to make assumptions.

“I want to share mine with you,” he confirmed, holding his breath and waiting for her reaction.

She ran her fingers over the spot again and watched it pulse to life for her…only her. “What would it mean,” she asked, not accepting what he said outright, but not rejecting the idea.

“It would mean that we would be forever joined. Linked. I would feel your pain and you would feel mine. We would always be able to find each other, anywhere in the world.” He paused, gathering his thoughts. “You would have the same powers as me.” A teasing glint came to his eyes as her face lit up.

“Would I grow big when I get excited?” The hope on her face was almost comical.

“No. That’s my special side effect. Eventually, you’ll see that most of the gods have one, although they’re all different.” How would she take it, seeing a few of the more bizarre metamorphoses?

“And the down side,” she asked hesitantly, as if afraid to give in to the joy their joining would bring.

“The down side is that when one of us dies, the other dies as well.” She raised her hands to hold his face and pull him close, nose to nose.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” She looked into his eyes and captured his lips.

Marduk sighed. The deal was struck and sealed. Gods, how he loved this woman!

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Tess and Marduk were starving, and at ten o’clock the next morning, Tess was making a third omelet, hoping this time that she’d be able to take more than two bites before Marduk inhaled the rest. He was already starting to sneak forkfuls right out of the pan.

“Hold it right there, buddy.” Tess held the spatula in front of his nose threateningly. He grabbed it easily.

“This game, I like!” He grinned wickedly. “Bill Murray…” He leered comically. Tess caught her bottom lip between her teeth. She was ready for him.

Tess squealed as Marduk lifted her onto the counter, scooping the spatula under her posterior that peeked from his over-sized T-shirt. His hand soon replaced the spatula to tease the softness of her folds. Tess pushed his hand away and gathered him close with her legs, wrapping them securely around his waist. She ground into a hard morning welcome. Mmm…lovely.

“Must you do this in the kitchen?” Anshar groaned, having just misted in. “And on the counter where I might be able to eat one day?” He looked longingly at the food in the pan and their obvious arousal at the counter. “I think it’s a toss-up which one I miss most.”

Tess saw the invisible god attempt a glimpse beneath the hem of her shirt and heard Marduk growl.

“If you weren’t my friend…” Marduk threatened. “I…”

The kitchen door opened.

“Shamash buzzed me in.” Huxley threw his pack on the kitchen table. He turned around and whistled. Archie came bounding in.

“Did he ride on your motorcycle again?” Tess asked, ready to bawl him out.

“New harness,” came his matter-of-fact answer, and he held up a complex piece of leather that was obviously meant to assuage her fears.

“We could use that later.” Marduk nuzzled her ear. She gave him a quick elbow, then raised her nose to sniff.

“Yipes,” she cried, hopping down off the counter. “Omelet on fire!”

She grabbed the pan and plunged it into the sink, turning the water on high.

“Too many distractions,” Tess said as she felt a blush spreading over her cheeks.

She shouldn’t have worried. Anshar and Huxley chose to disregard any further talk that smacked of sex and sat down at the table. Archie had his nose in the air, twitching, but obviously not because of the burnt omelet. He caught a scent he couldn’t resist and scrambled on the tile floor before bolting down the hallway.

“Archie couldn’t be consoled after Dumuzi left,” Huxley grinned, watching the dog go. “I told Dad not to expect him back.” He shrugged and looked longingly at the fresh eggs Tess cracked into the now clean pan.

“Fine, I’ll make you something too.” Tess was not getting food in her stomach anytime soon.

Marduk had noticed that Anshar looked decidedly uncomfortable during the banter, and not necessarily due to the amount of skin Tess was showing. “How did things go,” Marduk asked, about the task he’d sent Anshar to accomplish. He had his answer by the downcast look his buddy exhibited.

“We knew that Dagon was in Tasmania before us, but what we didn’t know is that he stripped the old mine of every bit of osmium. Now we’re going to have to find a new source,” Anshar responded grimly.

“Not so difficult,” replied Shamash from the doorway. “Hey, Huxley.” He raised a hand in greeting. “Just making sure you got in all right.” Shamash went back to addressing the problem.

“We have internet access, after all. I’ll just do a quick web search for osmium and see where else it comes from. It might take a little longer to get it, since you’ll have to take in the lay of the land and not disturb anyone if it’s a working mine. But it shouldn’t be too difficult. Wait right here.” He turned to go back to his office.

Tess served up the eggs to Hux, Marduk, and now Enlil, who had joined the group, while Anshar looked on with even more envy.

“Are you sure you guys want to eat all that,” he queried in mock concern. “Daytime talk shows say it’s bad for all that fat and cholesterol to go into your blood streams this early in the day.”

“I’m immortal, dickhead,” Enlil mumbled around a bite.

Marduk nodded. “Same.”

“I’ll beat the shit out of you later and work mine off,” Huxley promised. And none of them slowed down as they shoveled in the food.

Shamash returned with his laptop. “So let’s see what the World Wide Web has to say about osmium.”

The information popped up on the screen and Shamash read aloud. “The largest known reserves are in the Bushveld igneous complex in South Africa… Well, that answers our question.” He read on silently.

“Huh!” He seemed surprised by something he’d found. “Do you know that humans use osmium in the tips of their pens?” He snickered and looked at Marduk. “Maybe we could just draw a heart around your amulet instead of…”

“Enough!” Marduk stopped him mid-sarcasm. He wasn’t ready for Tess to know all that the ceremony entailed. If he had to admit it, he was a little keyed up about it himself.

Marduk’s phone rang, interrupting the conversation.

“Hello?” Holding the small device to his ear felt ridiculous after so much time without a corporeal form.

“Is this my dear friend, Marduk?”

“Dagon.” Marduk’s voice took on a sinister cast.

Tess snatched the phone from him and hit speaker, then laid it down on the table.

“I was so sorry to return to my cozy little cabin and see that you no longer remained as my guest. I was looking forward to entertaining you…or would that be making entertainment of you, again? Ah well, the two don’t have to be mutually exclusive. Anyway,” he paused, obviously relishing the drama, “I have something you might want, and you have some information that I’d like to trade for it.”