"Your woman?" Ceres asked, amusement lacing her tone as she carefully tended to the cut on Zeus's lip.
They were inside her bedroom, the dim lighting casting a golden hue over the two of them. She was straddling him while he sat on the edge of her bed, her delicate fingers moving with precision as she applied antiseptic to his wound.
Zeus couldn't speak.
He had lost count of how many times he had claimed Ceres as his in front of others, always without her knowledge. In his mind, she belonged to him.
But the truth was, despite the nights they had spent tangled together, despite the way she now treated him with warmth that hadn't been there before, there was no label between them.
Not because he didn't want one.
God knew how much he wanted to make things official, to hear her say that he was hers.
But he couldn't bring himself to ask. He couldn't demand a place in her life.
Because for all the power and ruthlessness that the world feared in Zeus Falcon, when it came to her, he was afraid.
Afraid that to Ceres, what they had was just sex.
Afraid that nothing had changed in the way she saw him.
Afraid that he was simply a tool, one she could use and discard when she no longer needed him to destroy her enemies.
"I…" Zeus started, his throat tightening. He didn't know how to finish the sentence.
His anger at Ryzel earlier had made him reckless. He had blurted the words without thinking while she was there to hear them.
"I like the sound of that," Ceres mused, a teasing smile playing on her lips as she dabbed more antiseptic onto his wound.
Zeus fell silent again. He should be used to this by now.
This woman, this alluring, infuriating vixen, was the only person who could leave him speechless. Who could knock him off balance.
"You're blushing," she pointed out, her voice laced with amusement.
His heart pounded so hard he swore it would break through his ribcage.
"Love…" His grip on her waist tightened, his fingers pressing into her skin as if grounding himself. But still, no words came.
Ceres reached for a small jar of cream, dipping her fingers into it before gently tracing the salve over his wounded lip. Her touch was soft, too soft for someone as ruthless as her.
Then she met his gaze, her golden eyes gleaming with something unreadable. "If I am yours…" She paused, her fingers lingering against his skin. "Does that mean you are mine, too?"
Zeus sucked in a sharp breath, his chest tightening.
Before he could think, before he could even comprehend what he was doing, his body moved on instinct.
"What the?!" Ceres yelped as, without warning, Zeus flipped them over, pinning her beneath him on the bed.
In the next breath, his lips crashed against hers.
"I have always been yours, love," he murmured, voice laced with sincerity before he kissed her again, deeper, hungrier, like he needed her to breathe.
"Zeus Falcon! Don't you dare!" Ceres scolded, eyes flashing with warning, but the amused smile playing on her lips betrayed her.
She gasped when his hands slipped under her bathrobe, fingers tracing the soft skin of her thighs.
"Haven't you had enough?" she teased, exasperated. "How many times did we do 'it' today?"
Zeus only smirked, his grip tightening on her waist as he leaned down. "I will never get enough of you, love."
And to prove his point, he kissed her again, his fingers finding the ribbon of her robe and slowly untying it.
"Your lips taste like Betadine," Ceres muttered against his mouth, making him chuckle.
Zeus didn't care. He moved to her neck instead, pressing soft kisses along her skin before biting down a little harder, earning a sharp inhale from her. His tongue soothed the mark immediately after.
He pulled back slightly, eyes darkening with satisfaction as he took in the new bite marks littering her skin, each one proof that she was his.
His smirk faded as something heavier settled in his chest. His throat tightened as he swallowed hard, forcing himself to speak the words he had been too afraid to ask.
"Can I assume that we're together now? Officially?" His voice was quieter now, laced with uncertainty. "That I can call you my girlfriend, my woman?"
Ceres held his face between her hands, her touch grounding him, her golden eyes filled with something he couldn't quite decipher.
"Why assume?" she murmured.
She took a deep breath before speaking again, her tone steady, serious.
"Zeus… even if I can't bring myself to say 'I love you' every time you say it to me, even if I know it's selfish of me to just keep taking from you… I know I will take and take anything you give me. I can't promise that I can love you the same way you love me. But if you're okay with me being selfish for the rest of our lives…"
She smiled, a rare, genuine smile that made his heart feel like it was about to explode.
"Mr. Zeus Falcon… will you be my boyfriend?"
Zeus froze.
Then, without hesitation, he grinned, his heart soaring.
"Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes, and yes to all of that!" he exclaimed, laughing as he pulled her into his arms, holding her so tight she squeaked.
He didn't even try to stop the tears that slipped from his eyes.
He didn't care if people thought men shouldn't cry.
Not for her.
Not for the love of his life.
For this woman, he would be anything she needed him to be.
Even if it meant being a fool.
Even if it meant becoming weak in her eyes.
He would gladly do it all for her.
Then, without hesitation, he kissed her. A deep, passionate kiss that stole their breath, sealing the fact that they belonged to each other now. His hands held her firmly, possessively, as if he wanted to memorize every inch of her, while she clung to him just as fiercely.
But their moment of bliss was abruptly shattered.
"Ceres!"
A loud, scandalized voice rang through the room.
Zeus and Ceres instantly froze.
Standing at the door was none other than Ceres's nanny, who had just walked in on them in a very compromising situation.
"My gosh! Nanny!" Ceres screeched, shoving Zeus off her and hastily tying the robe around herself. "Why don't you ever knock?!"
"I did knock, but you didn't answer," the older woman replied, shaking her head in amusement as her sharp eyes darted between them.
Zeus, still lounging lazily on the bed in nothing but Ceres's bathrobe, smirked at the woman's unimpressed stare.
"Your father wants to talk to you both in his home office when you're finished... getting dressed." Nanny's lips twitched into a teasing smile. "Should I tell him you're still busy?"
Ceres groaned, her face heating in embarrassment. "Nanny, stop!" she whined, pouting.
"Zeus doesn't have any clothes," she added quickly, grasping at an excuse. She had just remembered that his clothes were soaked, and he had no spare change of clothes.
The older woman merely shrugged. "I'm just the messenger. It's up to you two to figure it out."
With that, she turned on her heel and exited the room, leaving them alone once again.
Ceres sighed, rubbing her temples before glancing over at Zeus, only to burst into laughter at the sight of him.
He was still sitting on the bed, wearing her extra bathrobe, which was far too short for his broad frame. The robe barely covered him, leaving his toned legs exposed.
"I feel sexy in this." Zeus grinned, waggling his eyebrows playfully before striking an exaggerated pose.
Ceres couldn't help it. She laughed hard.
"You stay here," she managed to say between chuckles. "I'll grab some lounge pants and a T-shirt from daddy's closet. I'm sure he has something that will fit you, or at least, something that won't make you look like He-man."
Zeus only smirked. "You like it, don't lie."
Ceres rolled her eyes but couldn't stop the smile that tugged at her lips as she left the room.