Eros' Arrow

Eros Arrows By Annmarie Ortega

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Dedication For Mike, who is always willing to inspire me...

thanks for being so damned sexy.

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Eros Arrows by Annmarie Ortega Red Rose Publishing Copyright© 2007 Annmarie Ortega ISBN: 978-1-60435-002-9 Cover Artist: Mari LaCroix Editor: Kayelle Allen All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews. Due to copyright laws you can not trade, sell or give any ebooks away. Red Rose Publishing www.redrosepublishing.com 12065 Woodhull Road Forestport, NY 13338 Thank you for purchasing a book from Red Rose Publishing where publishing comes with a touch of Class!

***Note this is a reedited story that has been previously published some where else.

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She was having the dream again; the same one she’d had every night for the past month. She was naked, straddled on this god-like man, his cock buried deep inside of her as she started rising and lowering herself, grinding him deeper inside of her. In the dream, she always did the same thing; run her hands up her thighs, across her stomach, to her belly button, sliding up to her breasts and palming each one, rubbing her rocklike, stiffened nipples as she threw her head back, allowing her long auburn hair to brush down her back around her waist. She’d have her eyes closed; eyes closed, lost in the sensation of him so deep inside her. When she would look down through hooded eyes at the man beneath her, she always started to tremble at his appearance. The man who buried so deep within her was male perfection. His appearance was the only way she knew she was dreaming and that what she was experiencing wasn’t real. She didn’t know anyone in her life that looked like him, and even if she did, she didn’t think there’d be a chance in hell someone like him would be looking at someone like her. A man who looked this drop-dead gorgeous would walk right past her without a second glance. He was god-like and she was average. Her looks, height, weight were all simply average; nothing exceptional at all. This man had long, dark hair that almost touched his shoulders and brown eyes that sucked her in so deep that she almost couldn’t find her way back from them. When he looked at her it made her heart race and her stomach flip. His gaze was intentionally intense so she knew she had his full attention. With just one of his stares he could make her entire body warm. His skin was a deepened tan and contrasted greatly to her pale freckled Irish skin. His body—his body was the most marvelous creation she’d ever seen; what any woman with a pulse would dream about. His shoulders were wide and sculpted, his arms bulged with muscles and whenever he moved she could see them flex under his skin. His pectoral muscles were perfectly formed. His abdominal muscles so sculpted, she couldn’t help but run her fingers up and down their finely chiseled contours. In the dream, she never questioned who he was or that she didn’t even know his name; that was all inconsequential. She wasn’t embarrassed being naked in front of a man she didn’t even know either, even one as exquisite as him. All she did know was that, when they were

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together, she experienced the hottest sex of her life even though it was just in a dream. As she slid herself up and down on him, she panted and moaned as his penis inside her rubbed against her swollen clit. The inside of her thighs were wet with all the juices that were escaping from her, small tributaries snaking down her legs. As she started to come, she looked down at him again. His eyes were so full of passion and hunger for her, she could hardly stand to look him in the eye. Her orgasm rushed over her so hard, it almost knocked her over and she could feel her muscles clench around him, squeezing him as he came, too. She leaned down to kiss him fully on the mouth before she woke alone in her bed, bathed in sweat and still experiencing the final contractions of her intense climax. When she had finally recovered from her orgasm she rolled over on her side, adjusting her pillow. The man of her dreams was so amazing. Even though they had never even spoken to each other in any of her dreams she wished he was real. She knew he wasn’t though; no man could be that perfect in real life. ***** Eros woke from the dream sweaty and out of breath, same as all the other times he’d had a dream about this woman. The way she made him feel was like nothing he’d ever experienced before in real life or in a dream. Sure, he’d made love before with the occasional goddess, but never the way he did with this woman. She was his ultimate fantasy. A woman who could make him rock hard with just a look from her beautiful blue eyes. He had no idea how much longer he’d have the dreams, so he enjoyed each one. It was fantastic being with a woman who was able to give him the most pleasure he’d ever experienced. If what the two of them shared was what mortals felt when they were in love… Eros had to make himself stop thinking about it. It was a feeling saved only for his dreams. He wished more than anything that the woman was more than a dream, but even if she were real, he knew they couldn’t be together. He knew from his dreams that she was a mortal human woman and he, Eros, was a god. Rising from the bed, Eros went to the table where he kept his bow and arrows in their quiver. the new list of people he’d be shooting with love that day. It was a list of people who by that night would be deeply in love. After he had glanced at the names on the list, he put it down and went to go get ready for the day. He thought of how easy it was for humans to fall 5

in love with a simple shot of his arrow. He wished love could be that easy for him, but knew full well it was not. ***** She was dreaming again of him, but this time the dream was different. It had changed. This time she was on her knees, her forearms down on the bed as he entered her from behind. He was sliding in and out of her as a low growl came from him behind her, his balls pressing against her every time he drove himself deep. She reached down and touched herself, finding her clit swollen against her fingers. As he pumped himself in and out of her, she rubbed her clit and gasped at the overwhelming sensation. Then the man’s own hand reached around to hers, moving it to the side so he could touch her and play with her clit himself. She closed her eyes as she pushed herself back against him and noticed his breathing becoming strained. His pumping into her accelerated and she knew he was ready to come again. Suddenly he removed his hand from her clit and pulled himself out of her, shooting his semen on her buttock’s milky white skin. After he had removed his hand from her clit to pull out of her, she had quickly placed her own finger back on her clit. She rubbed and flicked at it so she came as he shot his warm semen onto her. After his cock emptied, he leaned down over her and placed a single kiss on her shoulder so hot his lips almost branded her skin. Even though they didn’t speak that kiss spoke volumes to her. It was full of affection and tenderness. She woke with her hand inside her satin panties, her fingers dripping wet, a fiery aching between her legs and her breathing labored. If sex was so incredible with him in a dream, she could only imagine what it would be like to make love to him for real. As she got up out of bed to go to the bathroom she wished he would speak to her. She longed to hear his voice, to hear him say his name out loud to her. ***** Eros woke up feeling spent, as if he really had just made love to a woman. If only the woman in his dreams was real. If she was so incredible in a dream, he could only imagine what it would be like to make love to her in real life. But then he remembered the rules for him to be with a mortal, and knew it didn’t matter if she were real. They still wouldn’t be able to be 6

together. For him to mate for life with a mortal, she would have to be a virgin, and Eros could tell the woman was no virgin. There was no chance he’d ever see his mate-mark with her, even if they made love in real life. Eros sighed, thinking of how he’d almost forgotten of the mate-mark. He’d given up so long ago of ever seeing it on him. He had been told when he made love with the woman he was meant to spend forever with; her name would appear on his left pectoral, above his heart branded into his skin. He’d made love with goddesses in the past he thought he loved, but the mark never appeared on him. He had given up long ago on finding his mate, and simply resigned himself to helping others fall in love with no concern for his own love life. After a few minutes he got up from bed and found the new list for the day on the table as usual. Glancing down at the names printed on it, he thought of how he’d never seen his own name on the list. How unfair that he so easily gave love, yet could never receive it. ****** Eros was at the home of one of the names on the list, standing next to the woman he was supposed to shoot, dumbfounded. He was in her living room. She sat curled up on the sofa watching television. She was not even aware he was in the room with her. The people he shot never saw him since many mortals in the past had found it alarming having a stranger pointing an arrow straight at them. Being invisible to mortals made his job easier. Chasing people and shooting them in the back hardly fit the image of a god. He was standing next to the woman of his dreams, the woman he’d made love to night after night. He stood so close he could reach out and touch her. He looked down at the list in his trembling hand reading the name. Amanda Jonson. Finally the woman of his dreams had a name, and he thought it was the most beautiful name he’d ever heard. She was dressed in her green flannel pajamas, her long hair up in a ponytail, green fuzzy slippers on her feet. She was the most adorable creature he’d ever seen. This was the first time he’d ever seen her dressed. In his dreams, she was always naked. Eros had been fighting the urge to touch her since he first recognized her. He finally couldn’t help himself and he reached out to touch her cheek softly with his fingertips as he whispered her name. Amanda startled and reached up to brush her cheek with her hand, as if she felt something there on her face and was trying to brush it away. She took the remote and 7

muted the TV as she looked around the room, listening intently for any noise out of the ordinary, her head cocked to the side. After a moment of listening, she turned the volume back up on her television and continued to watch her movie. She had felt his touch! She shouldn’t have felt a thing, but she’d even seemed to have heard him say her name. He pulled his gaze away from her to her name on the list, thinking about everything it implied. He was supposed to shoot her with his arrow tonight so by tomorrow she would be madly in love with someone, someone who wasn’t him. The thought of her being touched by another man, caressed, made love to by another incensed him and filled him with unbearable rage and jealousy he had never known before. He knew they couldn’t be together, but at the same time, he didn’t want her with anyone else either. Eros shook his head in denial as he made a fist. What consequences would he face if he didn’t shoot her with his arrow? He wasn’t sure. He had always completed every list he’d gotten, never leaving even one incomplete in all his years. The more he thought about it, the more he thought to hell with the consequences. He crumpled the list in his hand. He disappeared from Amanda’s living room with one lone arrow still left in the quiver he wore on his back. ***** Amanda was dreaming of him again and the dream was different yet again. The man was holding himself up over her, his cock already deep inside of her, stroking in and out. He leaned over and whispered her name in her ear, sending goose bumps down her entire body and giving her the strangest sense of déjà vu even though she had never heard him speak before. “Amanda. Amanda,” he repeated in an accent that Amanda couldn’t recognize. He said her name with such tenderness; her heart ached in her chest. She wondered how he knew her name since in all the dreams she’d never told him. In fact, she realized she still had no idea what his name was and suddenly felt at a disadvantage. When he held himself up over her again, she looked up at him. She brushed his hair back from his face and tucked it behind his ears. “What’s your name?”

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He paused as if thinking for a moment then said with that romantic accent that sent her heart fluttering in her chest, “Eros, Amanda. My name is Eros.” After hearing him speak again, she thought his accent might be Greek. “Eros,” she repeated, looking at him, staring into those unbelievable brown eyes. “I want to make love to you forever,” she confessed to him, baring her very soul to him. She didn’t know why she had felt the urge to tell him how she felt, but the moment seemed right. Maybe it was because this was the only time they’d ever spoken to each other and Amanda didn’t want to lose the chance to tell him how she felt. After she spoke the words though, she was sorry and wished she could take them back while embarrassment reddened her fair skin. Eros leaned down again, his warm breath against her ear, giving her the chills again before he had even said a word, all the while his cock sliding in and out of her. “I would if I could,” he whispered to her. She squeezed her eyes shut at his response, her head spinning with what he had just said. Just as she had bared herself to him, she knew he was baring his own soul and desires to her and it moved her. He wanted her just as much as she wanted him. Amanda sucked in her breath as that tell-tale heat started at the core of her body, radiating outwards, her orgasm at its brink of overwhelming her. As she came, her body tensed and she dug her nails into Eros’ muscular back, crying out his name to him. She was still gasping his name as he came inside her, his warm seed shooting deep inside of her. ***** As his orgasm ebbed, Eros reluctantly pulled himself out of her, then lay down next to her and gathered her into his arms. She turned towards him and reached one arm across his chest, holding him tight. Eros sighed, thinking how easily he could be like this with Amanda every day, if it were possible. How cruel the Fates could be! He pressed his lips to her hair before he woke up. When Eros opened his eyes, his first thought was of Amanda and he smiled to himself. The way she’d said his name had aroused him immensely, then when she’d told him the rest, about wanting to make love forever; it had just pushed him over the edge. His response to her had been the truth; he would love to spend forever with her if there was a way. He didn’t see how it’d be possible though with the rule of mating with a mortal hanging over him. Eros got up out of his bed and turned to go to the 9

table and the day’s list. He stopped abruptly, startled to find his mother, Aphrodite, standing next to the table unannounced. “Damn it, mother, you know I hate it when you do that.” He ran his hands through his hair as he approached his mother. Aphrodite stood next to his bow and arrows in their quiver, holding his new list in her perfectly manicured hands. The expression on her face told him instantly she was none too pleased with him and what he’d done; or rather what he hadn’t done the day before. Somehow she had already found out he had broken the rules. The news had traveled fast. Had the Fates turned him in? “Honey, is there something I should know about?” Concern warmed her eyes. “I was told that yesterday you missed a name on your list, and that you didn’t shoot some woman named Amanda Jonson. What happened? You’ve never made a mistake before, ever, which makes me think you skipped this woman on purpose…Why?” Eros ran a hand through his hair again before he tried to explain to his mother that he couldn’t shoot Amanda because he had fallen in love with her himself. Even though he knew he couldn’t have her, he had hoped to find a way to keep her for himself. “I couldn’t shoot her, mother,” he started to explain. “You see, I have been having dreams of this amazing woman for a month, at least, and then last night I ended up at her house. I stood in her living room, close enough to touch her. I just couldn’t shoot her. The truth is I love her and I don’t want her with anyone else. I want her more than anything in the world.” He paused before continuing. “But there’s a small problem, she’s a mortal and…” he trailed off, not finishing his sentence as he started to pace back and forth in front of his mother. “If you want her, there should be no problem, Eros. If she’s mortal and as long as she’s a virgin…” Aphrodite trailed off just as her son had moments before. She looked at her son’s face and immediately knew what the “small problem” was when she saw the expression on his face. “Oh no, sweetie,” she started as she shook her head. “You know the rules. If she’s an immortal her virginity isn’t an issue, but for a mortal, then she has to be a virgin.” “I know,” Eros stood in front of his mother. “There’s no way around it?” There had to be a way for him to be with Amanda. “Eros, I’m so sorry,” she shook her head, her voice full of compassion. “The rules are the rules with this one. If she’s not a virgin then you can’t have her. You just have to let this woman fall in love with the man she is supposed to be with. It’s not fair to her to not let her live her life, to 10

not be happy and in love just because you’re jealous,” Aphrodite reasoned to her son. “You know you have the Fates all worked up over this by the way. I made them promise me they’d not say anything to anyone else until I spoke to you. I told them that it must have been a misunderstanding and I would get it straightened out. You have to fix this, today,” she commanded, looking Eros in the eye. “I don’t know what I was thinking,” he confessed. “I know I have to shoot her. I was just hoping for some way ... it’s just, when do I get to be happy and in love? Do I ever get to find someone for me? I’m beginning to think the mate-mark is a story you made up for me and that it doesn’t even exist,” he ranted “Look, I’ll do it today, I promise,” he told his mother as she handed him the day’s list and leaned over to kiss his stubble covered cheek. After kissing him, Aphrodite took his face in her hands and looked him eye to eye. “Eros, you will have your true love, I know it. It will happen when the time is right, when it’s the right woman. The mark will appear and you will know she is the one,” she brushed back the hair from his face then suddenly disappeared from his room as quickly and quietly as she’d arrived. Eros let out a heavy sigh and picked up his bow from the table, holding it in his hands. He and Amanda would never be together. Never! He turned and threw the bow across the room. It hit the wall and broke into pieces. “Damn it!” he went to pick up the pieces of the bow. As soon as his fingers touched the broken wood, it turned back into one solid piece again. He picked the bow up and tossed it back on the table, totally exasperated with everything in his life. ****** Eros completed all of the names on his list that night but one; Amanda Jonson. He told himself he was doing the right thing, that his mother was right and that she deserved her own happiness even though it wouldn’t be with him. He convinced himself he would just go to her, shoot her and be done with it; it was out of his hands now anyhow and there was nothing he could do. Eros appeared in Amanda’s bedroom to find her sitting up in bed awake, reading a book. As he took a step towards her and reached behind him for an arrow from the quiver, she looked up at him, directly into his eyes making him stop dead in his tracks. 11

“Finally,” she stated as she put her book down at her side. “I’ve been waiting for you all night you know. It took you long enough to come back,” “You can see me?” he whispered “Yes, I can see you, Eros,” she told him sarcastically. “You were here yesterday when I was watching TV in the living room, right? You touched me here,” she brushed her cheek exactly where he had touched her the night before. Eros nodded. He didn’t know what was happening and he certainly didn’t expect to have a conversation with Amanda. He assumed that somehow the Fates were behind this, screwing with him for not shooting her when he should have. They were big on payback. “How can you see me? You’re not supposed to be able to see me at all,” he moved closer to her next to her bed, only an arms length away. “And you’re real, not just a made up man in my dreams. Who are you?” She looked at him seriously as she brushed her long hair back off her shoulders before she continued. “I deserve an answer, you know. I love you and I don’t even know who you are.” Eros swallowed hard and felt his heart flip in his tightened chest at the words she’d spoken. He loved Amanda too with all his heart, but he knew it wasn’t meant to be between them. “Amanda, those are the most incredible words anyone has ever spoken to me, they really are. But after tonight you won’t even remember me,” he told her as he reached out and touched her face again, his open palm against her softest cheek. Amanda turned her face into his open palm smelling the scent of him for the first time before she spoke again. It was a new, wonderful sensation for her. She had never smelled him in her dreams. “Why? What happens after tonight?” Fear made her voice quake. She couldn’t think of anything that could ever make her forget him. “Amanda, this might be hard for you to believe, but I’m Eros, the god of love. Tonight I’m supposed to shoot you with my arrow and tomorrow you’ll be in love with someone else. You’ll be in love with another man and you won’t even remember me being here tonight, or the dreams we’ve shared together.” “But why tonight? I don’t understand. You were here yesterday. I know you were. I felt you. Why didn’t you do it yesterday?” “Yes, I was supposed to shoot you yesterday, but I didn’t,” he confessed to her and those amazing blue eyes of hers that held him enthralled. “Why didn’t you shoot me yesterday then? Why did you come here 12

and touch me and then leave?” She fixed him with a look that threatened to break his immortal heart into pieces. Damn the Fates and their cruelty for doing this to them, to him. All he wanted to do was gather Amanda into his arms and never let her go. “You love me too, don’t you? That's why you didn't shoot me the night before. You couldn’t do it, you couldn’t shoot me. And you told me in our dream you’d make love with me forever if you could. If you’re a god, why can’t you? Why can’t we be together?” Eros shook his head. “It’s just not meant to be between us, trust me. We can’t be together,” he stated to her matter of fact, hoping she would just accept his answer, but knowing from the way the conversation was going that his answer would never be enough for her. “But why? We’re fantastic together. You know we are,” Amanda's voice cracked and shook. This was the first time she’d seen him in person and he was already telling her it would be the last time as well. Amanda knew that tears were welling up in her eyes, and she fought hard not to let them start flowing because she didn’t think she’d be able to stop them once they started. Eros removed the quiver from his back, placing it on the floor along with the bow in his hand and sat down on the edge of her bed next to her. Eros reached over and took her delicate hands into his before he spoke. He had never hated being a god until that moment. He had never wished in his entire existence to be a mortal man, but now he would do anything to be human. “There’s a rule for me to be able to be mated with a woman, Amanda.” “What? What is it?” To be with him, Amanda would walk all the way to Hell and back. Anything she had to do to be with him would be worth it. Eros let go of her hands and placed his on his lap, uneasy at what he was going to tell her. He knew he had to tell her everything even despite his discomfort or her embarrassment. “Eros, what is it?” She looked up at him expectantly. The longer he waited the worse Amanda started to feel. She knew in her gut he was going to tell her something that she wasn’t going to want to hear. “The rule is the woman has to be a virgin,” he told her, trying to read her face for a reaction. Amanda turned her head away from him, not wanting to look at him after what he had just said. Well, she was certainly out of the running on this one she thought to herself. She had lost her virginity years ago and had a few lovers since then as well. 13

“Oh…” she mumbled to him as her face turned red, embarrassed. She didn’t know why it bothered her so much that he knew she wasn’t a virgin. She was an adult in her thirties. Finally, a few moments had passed and what he had said had the time to sink in. Amanda looked back at Eros. “Well then, if those are the rules, I guess there’s nothing we can do about it then. But I do have a favor to ask of you Eros. Can you make love to me one more time before you shoot me?” Eros looked at her shocked by what she had just asked him. It wasn’t the exact reaction he was expecting from her. “What?” he asked her in disbelief. Maybe he had misunderstood what she had said to him. “Can’t we make love one more time, but for real? If I’m not going to remember anyhow, can’t we just have now, this moment?” Amanda quietly asked him. Even if she wasn’t going to remember being with him after that night she thought the idea of experiencing him for real might make everything easier for her to bear. Eros looked at her sitting there, waiting for his answer, her hair tousled and full lips slightly parted. He felt a tightening in his groin as he turned hard just from looking at her. He rationalized to himself that their making love just one time before he shot her would be all right. They’d be able to experience being together one sweet time, and by tomorrow, she’d forget it even happened. He on the other hand would be able to carry the memory of having her with him.. He decided he would give her the moment she wanted, and that he wanted as well … maybe even more than she. Eros leaned into her to place a kiss on her lips. Without thinking her face was suddenly between his open palms, his tongue caressing hers, rubbing against hers. There was a heat between them that hadn’t existed in their dreams. It was real, tangible. He moaned as her tongue found his again and his cock hardened to the point of discomfort. Amanda turned her head and Eros started kissing her neck, finding her earlobe and lightly nipping at it with his teeth, sending shivers down her body. She pulled away from him and pulled off her cotton nightgown throwing it to the floor, letting Eros now see she had worn nothing underneath. “How can you be more beautiful?” he stood up and undressed. Amanda was lying on her back, waiting for him to come to her. Once naked, he joined her on the bed, and climbed over her, straddling her. Amanda reached up to run her fingers along the contours of his abs just as she’d always done in their dreams. They were exquisite. She looked 14

up at him as he was looking down at her, his hair falling forward around his face but not enough to hide the smoldering look in his eyes. She sat up while he still straddled her, desperate to experience his soft lips somewhere on her body. Anywhere. She didn’t care. He leaned in to kiss her again and she ran her hands through his silky dark hair that flowed through her fingers. She grabbed a fistful of his pulled his head back so his neck was exposed. She leaned in and ran her tongue down his neck as her hands held his muscular shoulders. He let out a moan of pleasure as her tongue moved from his neck across his shoulder. She moved her mouth down to one of his nipples and the tip of her tongue circled the hardened nub. Finally Eros couldn’t take it any more and reached up to move her hands from his shoulders. He placed them on her own thighs and started kissing her neck. He then eased her gently back down onto the bed, resting her head on the pillows. He worked his way down to her breastbone with his fiery kisses. He paused for a moment considering which breast to go to first. As his tongue started circling an erect pink nipple his hand palmed the other, so both were tended to at the same time. Amanda closed her eyes and a low purr, almost inaudible, escaped from deep in her throat. She doubted if whatever magic Eros possessed would ever be able to make her forget this night. Every touch of his lips on her body seared her. Eros raised his head from her breast and looked up at her with the most adorable boyish smile before he bent down and planted a raspberry directly into the center of her belly button, causing her to squeal out in delight and try to push his head away. “I always wanted to do that,” he laughed at her as he raised himself on his knees and moved his body back, down to her knees. “I hate raspberries on my bellybutton,” she told him trying to sound angry, yet not quite succeeding as she rubbed the spot where he had blown on her stomach. He was still smiling as he shifted his body above hers to part her knees so that he was now kneeling between them. With one hand, he softly grazed the dark red hair between her legs before he looked down to her sex and slid a lone finger inside of her. He inhaled a sharp breath as her body’s tight wetness surrounded him. He was only able to slide his finger in and out of her a few times before the urge for his fully aroused erection to be buried inside of her consumed him. He removed his finger, coated with the cream from inside her. He placed himself up over her body and placed one arm on the bed next to Amanda’s side then raised his body up over her. With his other hand, he 15

guided himself toward her and slowly slid inside her as far as he could enter. He couldn’t help but moan at the sensation of her totally surrounding him, her muscles tightly grasping his cock. He closed his eyes and lowered his other forearm onto her bed so he lay on top of her. He moved his hips against hers, grinding himself against her as she lifted her hips to meet his. Eros leaned down to kiss Amanda’s opened mouth, sliding his tongue into her mouth as he started to move in and out of her in slow, sliding movements. Suddenly he stopped, startled. A tingling sensation on his chest right above his heart stilled his movements. He pulled his head back from her and lifted himself above her again, looking down at his own chest, confused. He stopped moving though still buried deep within her. He stared at his pectoral where he could see the very faint appearance of letters forming there. He blinked. He must be mistaken. He was reading the letters upside down, but he could see that they spelled Amanda. How could this be possible? How could this be happening? His matemark was slowly getting darker on his skin, the name Amanda now totally legible. Amanda was looking to where Eros was staring and saw her name appear, as if someone had written it on him with invisible ink that had just started to show. “What is that?” she whispered to him. “Why is my name on your chest?” she questioned, reaching her hand to his chest. She didn’t touch his skin for fear of hurting him. As the letters became even darker, the skin started to slightly raise, her name appearing like a brand on his chest. “Does that hurt you?” she hoped her name wasn’t causing him pain or discomfort. “No,” he told her as he shook his head. “It just tingles, like there’s something there, but it doesn’t hurt at all,” he explained to her, seeing her concern for him in her eyes. He wanted her to understand he wasn’t in any pain. “I don’t know how this is happening,” he confessed to her. This was the moment he had waited for, Amanda was his mate. “For me to mate with a mortal woman, she has to be a virgin,” he told her still looking confused. “What did you say?” Amanda's eyes widened. Surely, she hadn't, heard him correctly. “To mate with a mortal woman she has to be a virgin,” he repeated. How could she not understand? “Wait. That’s not what you said earlier when you first got here,” she told him, suddenly knowing why his matemark was appearing. “When you came here earlier, you told me that in order to mate, the woman had to be 16

a virgin. You never said anything about being mortal,” she looked at her name on his skin. “Now I don’t understand,” Eros told her as he shifted his body’s weight, his cock still rock hard inside her. “It’s easy to figure out, Eros. You said a mortal woman had to be a virgin….I’m not mortal. Well half of me is, but the other half…” her voice trailed off letting him absorb what she was saying. “You’re only half mortal?” Her words surprised him just as much as the appearance of the mark on him. “I never sensed a god in you,” he told her, “only mortal.” “Yeah, well my mom was mortal and I mostly take after her, so I’m not surprised you missed it. Plus I’ve lived as a mortal my whole life. My mom raised me since my dad didn’t want a half mortal daughter, so I never even saw him. I never had any special powers or anything like that either; at least I never did until yesterday. I think that was how I was able to tell you were in the room last night.” She looked at the mark again, now written in bold letters clearly on his skin. “Can I touch it?” He nodded yes, and she reached up to touch her name with trembling fingers. She traced the letters, glancing at his face every so often as she did as if to assure herself she wasn’t hurting him. “So now, does this mean…” she started to ask, but felt strange saying the words out loud. He that he’d thought they were only going to make love one time, but now he’d ended up mated to her. She wasn’t entirely sure how he would feel about their situation, but she definitely knew how she felt. She would love him forever with her body and soul. “It means-- It means you’re my mate. It means now you’re immortal like me. It means I’ll never have another lover but you, Amanda, and it means I will love you and take care of you forever,” he promised to her as he started to slowly move his hips against hers again. As Eros began to ease himself in and out of her he kissed her gently on the lips. She thought of how he’d once told her he’d make love to her forever if he could. She looked up at him, into those intense bottomless brown eyes that were promising her unending love and knew he would do just as he’d said. The End

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You can find Annmarie Ortega’s books at the following places besides Red Rose Publishing.

New Concepts Publishing The Diary of Annalise

Twilight Fantasies Publishing

Possessing Poseidon What a Knight coming soon Whiskey Creek Press Torrid Summer Solstice Scorchers Jack's Frost coming this winter

Dark Castle Lords

Dream Man coming soon in print

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