Tempting, but a lie.
What he wanted, what he needed, would never be his.
She lifted her hand and brought it towards his chest.
Daimon seized her wrist and stopped her.
“Spare yourself the trouble and disappointment, Cassandra, and give up now. Nothing can melt my heart.” He tightened his grip on her wrist, driving his point home, and pain flared in her eyes as his power finally managed to make contact with her, breaking past whatever spell she was using to protect herself from him. “Nothing.”
He cast her hand away from him and didn’t look at her as he moved past her, heading for his house. His feet dragged, his steps slowing as the distance between them grew, filling him with a need to stop and look back at her, to forget everything and take her up on her offer.
No strings attached.
That’s what she wanted.
It had been right there in her eyes.
For some reason, that irritated the hell out of him. Why had she targeted him? Because he was single? Because she believed he would be easy to sway because of his problem?
It definitely wasn’t because she viewed him as anything more than a brief fling, a nice conquest to add to what was probably a long line of them. Was this how she operated? Seeking men out to satisfy her needs? How many had she been with? How many more would she be with once she was done with him?
He curled his fingers into fists and clenched them, his arms shaking as the darkness rose within him again, fuelled by the thought she wanted to use him.
That she was determined to break him.
He looked back at her, and not a single ounce of regret or guilt shone in her eyes. Maybe her heart was as cold as his was and she didn’t know how to be warm, only knew how to take what she wanted, regardless of the consequences or devastation she might leave in her wake.
Well, he wasn’t going to give her what she wanted.
He wasn’t going to break.
He needed to remain faithful to Penelope.
But gods, Cass made it hard. He stared at her, drawn to her even as he wanted to push her away, aching with a need to feel her skin against his and know her taste.
He silently cursed her, hated how easily she stole his focus and how readily his body responded to her, even before he had known he could touch her. Now, her presence was a torment.
No, it was a test of his strength.
And he wouldn’t falter.
The feelings he had for Cassandra were just lust, fuelled by how long he had gone without a woman’s touch. It was infatuation. Nothing more. In time, it would pass. She would move on and he would return home.
“I can see the battle in you, Daimon,” she whispered and canted her head to her left. “Why fight this? Why fight me? This attraction between us isn’t going anywhere. Just surrender to it.”
He stood his ground.
“I told you before, Cassandra. I’m not interested. You’re attractive, I’ll admit that, but this… between us… this isn’t going to happen.”
He turned his back on her.
“I meant what I said. My heart belongs to another.”
“I don’t want your heart,” she whispered.
And it hit him.
That was the problem.
She didn’t really want him. She wanted his body. He was just convenient. Attractive. Feelings didn’t come into it for her.
She just wanted something fast and fun to pass the time.
He wanted something else.
Something more.
Something he had no right desiring.
A cold hollow feeling opened in his chest.
He wanted her.
All of her. Nothing held back.
Not just for now.
The darker side of his blood snarled at the thought of giving her up.
He shoved his fingers through his wet hair.
What was she doing to him? He had been fine before she had come along, his heart constant and his mind clear, his focus on his mission and on returning to the Underworld.
He closed his eyes, shutting the world out.
He hadn’t been fine.
He could see it now that Cass had opened his eyes. He had been lying to himself for centuries, slowly falling apart and trying to hold himself together by pretending being loyal to Penelope was everything to him, telling himself that he was noble for remaining faithful to her, and it was what he wanted.
When it wasn’t.
He wanted more than this hollow existence, more than drifting through the years alone, lying to himself to stop him from crashing and burning. He wanted to feel again, wanted what others had, yearned for it with a ferocity that shook him and had him wavering on the edge, on the verge of doing something foolish.
Like surrendering to Cass even when he knew it would only end badly for him.
He wanted her.
She wanted him.
It didn’t have to be complicated.
All he had to do was turn and she would see his fight was over, that he couldn’t go on resisting her. All he had to do was let her take the reins.
He turned to do just that, his pulse hammering in his throat.
And cursed.
She was gone.
Chapter 9
Cass stomped around her room in a very unladylike manner, uncaring of whether anyone saw her. Her skin felt too tight, flushed hotly whenever she thought about Daimon and how delectable he had looked in that pool, almost naked. Heat rolled through her veins, stoking her temperature as she ran her fingers over her wrist, recalling how firm his skin had felt against hers, how cool he had been to the touch.
She shivered as she let that moment play out again, loving the way his eyes had changed, the flare of passion she had ignited in him warming them as they had tracked her fingers.
For a moment, she had felt as if she had been getting somewhere with him, and then he had shut her down with his ridiculous talk of hearts.
But she had seen the interest in his eyes,
