Free The Ruins (An Avernus Island Tale) by Jennifer Kohout Page A

and her jaw quickly grew tired, but she didn’t care. She couldn’t get all of him in her mouth. Shifting onto her knees, Asterion’s thighs trapped between her spread legs, she changed the angle of her descent and gained another inch.  
    Opening his eyes, Asterion gave into the desire to watch Julia and saw another inch of his cock disappear into the wet heat of her mouth. But it wasn’t the only place she touched him. Her hands were all over him, sliding over the tops of his thighs to grip his shaft. From there, she dipped between his legs and cupped him, gently rolling his sac in her palm.
    “Julia, kardia mou , you must stop,” Asterion panted, his orgasm gathering. Another touch like that and he wouldn’t be able to stop.  
    Julia lifted her head long enough to say, “I want to taste you.”
    Asterion groaned and managed to hold out for another few seconds of blissful torture and then his release was rushing up his shaft and into Julia’s mouth.  
    Julia felt Asterion’s cock swell a second before he shouted her name. His body snapped taut, muscles quivering as he emptied himself into her mouth. Sensing he was trying to take care with her, she licked and sucked and stroked him through his orgasm, swallowing great jets of his seed until he finally started to soften.
    Asterion felt himself slip from Julia’s mouth and reached for her. The heat of her scalded him as he pulled her up to his chest, her knees on either side of his hips. “I did not intend for you to pleasure me that way,” he said.
    “I wanted to,” Julia said. Chin resting on his chest, she stared up at Asterion. She couldn’t quite stop the small yawn that had her covering her mouth.
    Asterion caught it and rolled them onto their sides and managed to get a light blanket up over them. “You’ve had a long day,” he said. “Sleep.”
    “But—”Julia hesitated. She didn’t want to sound like a harlot, but she wasn’t ready for the night to end.  
    “There are plenty of hours left,” Asterion assured her. “I will wake you shortly.”
    There was a hard line to Asterion’s face, and Julia suspected he wouldn’t be moved. Admittedly, she was tired but she didn’t think she could sleep.  
    I’ll just rest my eyes.
    Nodding, she scooted closer, tucking her head beneath Asterion’s chin and resting her hand against his chest. A thin three-inch scar marred the skin over his heart. Pale with age, she thought to ask him about it, but the beat of his heart was steady and the sound quickly lulled her to sleep.

    Asterion lay silent in the growing dark listening to Julia sleep. She had curled into him, and her hand still rested over his heart.  
    What have I done?
    He couldn’t keep her here, should never have asked her to stay, but seeing her poised on the path to freedom, a path he could never take; he wasn’t able to let her go.  
    It was selfish of him. No mortal was to be able to find their way into the labyrinth, and he had no way of knowing what would happen to her when she left. The gods were powerful, spiteful creatures, and he could well imagine their wrath at finding Julia here.  
    The thought chilled his bones. Fear, something he hadn’t felt in centuries, raised the hair on the back of his arms.  
    Julia had given herself to him in a way that went beyond what he had bartered for. She was an open spirit, holding nothing back in their love making.  
    A bed partner comfortable in herself was a gift even in his day. For her to be that way with him now was immeasurable in its generosity.
    Feeling the object of his thoughts–his desires–start to stir, Asterion quietly slipped from the bed. He watched, smiling, as she rooted around for him before settling deeper under the covers.
    He would protect her from the gods, should they make an appearance, and in the morning–
    In the morning, Asterion would let her go.

    Julia woke alone.
    This is getting to be a bad habit ; she thought. Kicking back the covers, she thought to