Fantasy Lover

Chapter 16

Neither one spoke much the entire day. In fact, Julian avoided Grace entirely.

That more than anything told her what decision he'd made.

Her heart was broken. How could he leave her after all they'd been through? After all they'd shared?

She couldn't stand the thought of losing him. Life without him would be unbearable.

At sunset, Grace found him sitting in the rocking chair on her deck, watching the sun as if for the last time. His face was so stern that she barely recognized it as belonging to the playful man she had grown to love so much.

Finally, she couldn't stand the silence any longer. "I don't want you to leave me. I want you to stay here in my time. I can take care of you, Julian. I make plenty of money, and I can teach you anything you want to know."

"I can't stay," he said between clenched teeth. "Don't you understand? Everyone who has ever been close to me has been punished by the gods. Iason, Penelope, Callista, Atolycus." He looked at her as if dazed. "Dear Zeus, they crucified Kyrian."

"It will be different this time."

He rose to his feet and gave her a hard stare. "That's right. It will be different. I'm not going to stay here and watch you die because of me."

He walked past her, into the house.

Grace clenched her hands into fists, wanting to strangle him. "You stubborn… man!"

How could he be so impossible?

It was then she felt the diamond of her mother's wedding ring cutting into her palm. Opening her fist, she took one long look. She was through letting the past haunt her. For the first time in a long time, she had a future to look forward to. One that filled her with happiness.

And she wasn't about to let Julian throw it away.

More determined than ever, she opened the door to the house and smiled evilly. "You're not going to get away from me, Julian of Macedon. You might have beaten back the Romans, but I assure you, they were wimps in comparison to me."

Julian sat in the living room with his book in his lap. He ran his hand over the ancient writing, despising it more now than he ever had before.

Closing his eyes, he remembered the night Grace had summoned him. He remembered what it felt like to have no real identity. To just be the anonymous Greek love-slave.

Long ago, he had lost himself in a painful place of dark obscurity, and yet Grace had found him.

Through her strength and kindness, she had braved the worst of him and brought him back to humanity. She, alone, had seen into his heart and found it worthy.

Stay with her.

Gods, how easy that sounded. How simple. But he didn't dare. He'd lost his children already. The only part of his heart left alive was Grace, and to lose her because of his brother…

It would be more pain than he could bear.

Even he had a breaking point. And now he knew the face and name of what could bring him to his knees.

Grace.

For her own sake, he had to let her go.

He felt her enter the room. Opening his eyes, he saw her standing in the doorway, looking straight at him.

"I wish I could destroy this thing," he snarled, returning it to the coffee table.

"After tonight, you won't have to."

Her words made him ache. How could she do this for him? Her worst fear was to be used, and here he was using her the way he, himself, had been used so many times.

"You're still going to let me take your body just so I can leave you?"

It was the sincerity in her gaze that held him transfixed. "If it means your freedom, yes."

The next question stung his throat, but he had to know the answer to it. "Will you cry when I'm gone?"

She looked away and he saw the truth of it in her eyes. He was no better than Paul had been. He was every bit the selfish abuser.

But then, he was his father's son. Sooner or later, bad blood always showed itself.

Grace turned then and left him alone with his thoughts. Julian let his gaze roam around the room. When it fell to the space in front of the couch, his chest tightened even more.

He would miss those nights of hearing Grace's voice. Her laughter.

Most of all, he would miss her touch.

It was so tempting to stay, but he didn't dare. He hadn't been able to protect his children, how on earth could he protect Grace?

"Julian?"

Julian started at Grace's voice coming from above. "Yes?"

"It's eleven-thirty. Shouldn't you be up here?"

He glanced down at the swollen lump in his jeans. It was time to finally put it to use.

He should be delighted. It was all he'd wanted since the moment he'd first seen her.

Yet, for some reason it pained him to think of taking her now.

At least you won't hurt her.

Won't I?

Indeed, he doubted if Paul had done half the damage to her heart as he was about to do.

"Julian?"

"I'm coming," he said, forcing himself to leave the couch.

At the doorway, he took one last look around.

Even now, he could see Grace lying on the couch, her breasts drenched in whipped cream as he slowly, carefully licked them clean. He heard her drifting laughter and saw the light in her eyes as he brought her to climax.

"Don't leave me, Julian." Her whispered words had scorched him last night when she'd uttered them while she thought he was asleep. Now they lacerated his heart.

"Julian?"

Turning away, he went to the stairs and dragged his hand up the banister. This would be the last time he climbed these stairs. The last time he walked down the hallway to her room.

And this would be the last time he ever saw her in her bed…

His chest tightened to the point he couldn't breathe.

Why did it have to be this way?

He gave a bitter laugh. How many times had he asked himself that question?

When he reached her door, he stopped. The room shimmered in candlelight, but what caught his attention most was Grace wearing the red negligee he had picked out.

She was breathtaking.

He suddenly felt the need to pick his tongue up off the floor and roll it back into his mouth.

"You're not going to make this easy on me, are you?" he asked, his voice hoarse.

She smiled mischievously. "Should I?"

Transfixed by her, he couldn't move as she approached him. "Aren't you a bit overdressed?"

Before he could respond, she grabbed the bottom of his shirt and pulled it off, over his head. After dropping it to the floor, she reached out and placed her hand on his chest, just above his heart. In that moment, she was the most beautiful woman in the world to him. Not even his mother's beauty could compete with hers.

Julian stood as still as a statue as she ran her hands over his skin, raising chills all the way through him.

No, she wasn't going to make this easy at all.

He felt her fumble with his button and fly. "Grace," he said, pulling her hands away.

"Hmm?" she asked, her eyes dark with hunger.

"Never mind."

She left him and climbed into the bed. Julian sucked his breath in sharply at the sight of her bare bottom through the sheer negligee.

She lay down on her side and faced him.

Shedding his pants, he joined her. As he rolled her onto her back, her gown parted, gifting him with her right breast. Julian availed himself of it.

"Oh, Julian," she moaned.

He felt her quivering under him as he swirled his tongue around the taut peak. His body was liquid fire as it screamed in need for hers. But it wasn't just her body he wanted. He wanted her.

And leaving her was going to destroy him.

Julian swallowed as he pulled away. He had waited an eternity for this night. An eternity for this woman.

Tenderly, he brushed his hand over her face, committing every pore and curve of it to memory.

His precious Grace.

He would never forget her.

His soul weeping for what he was about to do to her, he parted her thighs with his knees.

Involuntarily, he shook with the force of how good she felt lying beneath him as their bare skin touched. And then, he made the mistake of looking into her eyes.

The sorrow there took his breath. "You never had anything in your life you didn't steal from someone else." Julian tensed at the sound of Iason's voice in his head. The last thing he wanted was to take from the woman who had given him so much.

How can I do this to her?

"What are you waiting for?" she asked.

Julian didn't know. All he knew was that he couldn't tear his gaze away from her sad, gray eyes. Eyes that would cry if he used her and left. Eyes that would cry in happiness if he stayed.

But if he stayed, his family would destroy her.

And in that moment, he knew what he had to do.

Grace wrapped her legs around his waist. "Julian, hurry. We're running out of time."

He didn't speak. He couldn't. In truth, he didn't trust himself to speak for fear he would change his mind.

Over the centuries, he had been many things: an orphan, a thief, husband, father, hero, legend, and finally a slave.

Yet, never once had he ever been a coward.

No. Julian of Macedon had never been craven. He was the commander who had stared down an entire legion of Romans, and laughingly dared them to take his head.

It was that man Grace had found, and that man who loved her. It was that man who refused to hurt her.

Grace tried to move her hips to bring his body into hers, but he wouldn't oblige her.

"You know what I'll miss most?" he asked as he reached down between their bodies and gently touched her core.

"No," she whispered.

"The way your hair smells when I bury my face in it. The way you cling to me and cry out my name when you release. The way you laugh. But most of all, the way you look first thing in the morning with the sunlight on your face. I'll never forget it."

He moved his hand, then rocked his hips against hers. But instead of sliding into her body, his move ended up as nothing more than a glorious caress that made them both moan.

Julian dipped his head to her ear where he nuzzled her neck. "I will love you forever," he whispered.

Grace heard him draw a deep breath in her hair at the same time the clock struck midnight.

In a bright flash of light, he vanished.

For several heartbeats, Grace couldn't move.

Horrified, she kept waiting to wake up, but as the clock continued to chime, she knew it wasn't a dream.

Julian was gone.

He was really and truly gone.

"No!" she screamed, sitting straight up. It couldn't be! "No!"

Her heart pounding, she ran from the bedroom, downstairs to where the book was still lying on the coffee table. She flipped it open to see Julian standing just as he'd been originally. Only now, there was no devilish smile in place, and his hair was short.

No, no, no! her mind repeated over and over again. Why would he have done such a thing? Why?

"How could you?" she asked, as she cupped the book to her breasts. "I would have given you your freedom, Julian. I wouldn't have minded. Oh, God, Julian, why would you do this to yourself?" She wept. "Why?"

But in her heart she knew. The tender look on his face had said it all. He had done this to keep from hurting her like Paul had done.

Julian loved her. And since the moment he'd appeared, he had done nothing but protect her. Guard her.

Even at the end. Even when it meant he'd lose his own freedom from eternal imprisonment and torment, he had placed her first.

Grace ached at the truth and at the sacrifice he had made. Now, all she could think of was him being condemned to the darkness. Alone and in agony.

He had told her of the hunger he felt when he was trapped in the book, the thirst. And in her mind, she saw the way he had been tortured on her bed. But most of all, she remembered what he told her afterward.

"The pain on the bed was nothing compared to what it's like inside the book."

And now he was in there. Suffering.

"No!" Grace said. "I won't let you do this to yourself. Do you hear me, Julian?"

Cradling the book to her breasts, she ran to the back of her house. She slung open the sliding glass door and moved to stand in the moonlight.

"Come back to me, Julian of Macedon, Julian of Macedon, Julian of Macedon!" She repeated it over and over again as she begged for his appearance.

Nothing happened. Nothing at all.

"No! Please, no!"

Her heart broken, Grace returned inside her house. "Why? Why?" she sobbed as she sank to her knees and rocked back and forth.

"Oh, Julian!" she whispered brokenly as memories assailed her. Julian laughing with her, holding her, or just sitting quietly in thought. The feel of his heart as it beat in rapid time to hers.

She wanted him back.

She needed him back.

"I don't want to live without you," she breathed against the book. "Didn't you understand that, Julian? I can't live without you."

Suddenly, there was a flash of light in the room.

Gasping, Grace looked up, expecting it to be Julian returned to her.

But it wasn't Julian. It was Aphrodite.

"Give me the book," Aphrodite said, reaching for it.

Grace pulled it back. "Why would you do this to him?" she demanded. "Hasn't he suffered enough for you? I wouldn't have kept him. I would rather he be with you than trapped like this."

Grace brushed away her tears. "He's alone in there. Alone in the darkness," she whispered. "Please don't leave him that way. Send me into the book with him, please. Please!"

Aphrodite dropped her hand. "You would do that for him?"

"I would do anything for him."

Aphrodite's gaze narrowed. "Give me the book."

Blinded by her tears, Grace handed it over, praying Aphrodite would help her join him.

Aphrodite took a deep breath and opened the book. "I'm going to catch serious hell over this."

Suddenly, another light flashed, making Grace's eyes sting. Her head spun in a dizzying blur that made her feel sick to her stomach. Everything around her swirled.

Was this what Julian went through every time someone summoned him? She didn't know, but this alone was sheer torture, and terrifying.

Then suddenly, everything went eerily black.

Grace fell into a deep hole where the darkness pressed in on her, stinging her lungs, making her eyes burn like fire.

She reached out to stop herself from falling and felt a peculiar softness beneath her.

The lights came back and she found herself lying on her bed, with Julian on top of her.

He looked around as if dazed. "How-"

"You two better not screw this one up," Aphrodite said from the doorway. "If I try this again, there's no telling what the powers that be might do to me."

She vanished.

Julian looked from the doorway back to her. "Grace, I-"

"Shut up, Julian," she said before he wasted any more time, "and show me how the gods meant for a woman to know a man."

Then, she pulled his head down to hers and gave him a hot, penetrating kiss.

He kissed her fiercely, and with one, strong masterful stroke, he drove himself deep inside her.

Julian threw his head back and growled at the warm, sleek heat of her body welcoming his. The feel of it shook him so profoundly that even his bottom lip quivered. Dear gods, she felt even better than he had imagined.

And he remembered what she had said to him.

"/ don't want to live without you. Didn't you understand that, Julian? I can't live without you."

His breathing ragged, he looked down at her face as he felt her body so warm and tight around his shaft. He ran his hand down her arm to capture her hand in his grip and hold it tight. "Am I hurting you?"

"No," she said, her eyes warm and sincere as she brought his hand up to her lips and kissed it. "You could never hurt me by being with me."

"If I do, tell me and I'll stop."

She wrapped her arms and legs about him. "You leave me before dawn and I will hunt you down through eternity and beat you."

Julian laughed, not doubting it for an instant.

Grace ran her tongue along the column of his throat, delighting in the way he shuddered in her arms.

He pulled his hips back ever so slowly, torturing her with his fullness, and then drove himself so deep into her body she felt the stroke all the way to her toes.

She sucked her breath in at the incredible sensation of him filling her. Of the lithe, agile power of his body thrusting against hers.

Closing her eyes, she savored his muscles flexing against the entire length of her body. She wrapped her legs around his, delighting in the way the hair on his legs tickled hers.

Never had she thought to feel anything like this. She could only breathe as she felt her love for him flow through her. He was hers. Even if he left her afterward, she would enjoy this one moment of pure bliss with him.

Reveling in the powerful feel of him, she ran her hands over his back, down to his hips where she urged him on.

Julian bit his lip as she dug her nails into his back. How could such tiny hands have the power to break him?

He'd never understand it, any more than he would ever understand why she loved him.

He was only grateful for it.

"Look at me, Grace," he said, thrusting himself deep inside her again. "I want to see your eyes."

Grace stared up at him. His eyes were half shuttered, and she saw how he savored the feel of her in the way he breathed and looked every time he rocked himself against her hips. She felt his stomach muscles contract against hers.

Lifting her hips, she met his frenzied pace stroke for stroke. Never had she imagined anything feeling as good as he felt sliding between her legs as he dipped his head down and kissed her deeply.

Just when she could stand no more, her body burst in a thousand convulsions of pleasure.

"Oh, Julian!" she screamed, arching her body even more against his. "Oh, yes!"

He drove himself to the hilt and froze as she quivered around him.

When Grace opened her eyes, she met his devilish smile. "Liked that, did you?" he asked, dimples flashing as he rotated his hips and gave her one luscious caress deep inside her.

It took all her strength not to moan at the sensation. "It was okay."

"Okay?" he said with a laugh. "I guess I'll just have to keep trying."

He rolled over with her, slowly lest he be forced out of her.

Grace moaned as she found herself on top of him. He reached up and pulled the ribbon in the center of her breasts. The tiny nightie fell open.

The look of pure rapture on his face pleased her even more than the feel of him deep within her. Smiling, she lifted her hips, then impaled herself more deeply upon him.

She felt him quake all around her. "Like that, do you?"

"It was okay." But his ragged voice betrayed his nonchalant tone.

She laughed.

Julian lifted his hips then, driving himself even deeper into her.

She hissed in pleasure as he filled her. The sleek power, the hard feel of him. And she wanted more. She wanted to see his face when he climaxed. She wanted to know that she had given him what he hadn't experienced since time immemorial.

"You know, we're going to be exhausted by the time morning arrives if we don't slow down," he said.

"I don't mind."

"You'll be sore."

She stroked him with her body. "So?"

"In that case…" He ran his hand slowly down her body, to her navel, then lower through her moist curls until he found her nub.

Grace bit her lip as his fingers toyed with her in a perfect rhythm to match the thrust of his hips. Faster and faster he went, harder and deeper.

Julian placed his hands against her waist, helping her to maintain their frantic pace. How he wished he could withdraw from her long enough to show her a few more positions. But this was all they were allowed.

For now.

But come morning…

He smiled at the prospect. Come the morning, he intended to show her a whole new use for the Reddi-wip.

Grace lost track of time as they stroked each other's bodies, and reveled in each other's company. She felt the room spin around her as she surrendered herself to his expert touch. To the wonderful feel of her love for him.

They were both drenched with sweat, but still they savored each other, delighting in the passion they could finally share.

This time when she came, she sprawled on top of him.

His laugh echoed around her as he ran his hands over her back, her hips, then down her legs.

Grace shivered.

Julian delighted in the feel of her naked body lying prone against his. Her breasts were flat against his chest. His love for her welled up inside him.

"I could lie like this forever," he breathed.

"Me, too."

He wrapped his arms about her and held her close. He could feel her touches slowing down, her breath becoming smooth and steady.

Within a few minutes, she was sound asleep.

Kissing the top of her head, he smiled as he made sure he kept himself inside her. "Sleep, precious Grace," he whispered. "It's a long time until morning."

Grace came awake to the feel of something warm and full inside her. As she started to move, she felt arms as strong as steel hold her still.

"Careful," Julian said. "Don't force me out of you."

"I went to sleep?" she gasped, amazed she could have done such a thing.

"It's all right. You didn't miss anything."

"No?" she asked, wiggling her hips against his to stroke his body with hers.

He laughed. "Well, okay, you did miss a few things."

Grace leaned up to look down at him. She dragged her finger along the stubble on his cheek.

As she traced his lips, he nipped her finger with his teeth.

Suddenly, he sat up beneath her, holding her in his lap.

"Ooo, nice," she said as she wrapped her legs about his waist.

"Uh-huh," he agreed as he rocked his hips against hers.

Lowering his head, he took her breast into his mouth. His tongue toyed with her taut nipple, circling it in a torturous pattern before he blew one long, hot breath across it. She shivered.

He moved to her other breast. Grace cupped his head to her, delighting in his touch. Until she saw that the sky was lightening.

"Julian!" she breathed. "It's almost dawn."

"I know," he said, laying her back on the bed.

She looked up at him as he held himself above her and continued to thrust his hips against hers.

Julian stared at her in wonderment. The feel of her warmth, her love. She had reached him in ways he'd never thought possible. And she had touched him where he had never been touched before.

Deep within his heart.

Suddenly he wanted more. Desperate for her, he rocked his hips against hers.

He had to have more of her.

Grace wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his shoulder as he quickened his thrusts. Harder and faster he went until she was breathless from the frantic pace.

Again, sweat covered them both. She ran her tongue over his neck, delighting in the hiss he let out.

Still he filled her, over and over, until she couldn't stand it.

She sank her teeth into his shoulder as her release came fast and furious. He didn't slow down as she lay back.

Reaching up, she cupped his face in her hands and watched his pleasure.

Julian bit his lower lip and moved faster, driving her pleasure on, even deeper than it had been before.

And just as the first rays of sunlight shone through the window she heard Julian growl low in his throat as he closed his eyes.

With one hard, deep thrust, she felt him shudder all around her as he spilled his release within her.

Julian couldn't breathe as his head swam in pure, unadulterated bliss. He shook from the force of his orgasm. His entire body ached, and yet he'd never known such pleasure. He was weak from the night, weak from her touch.

And the curse was over.

He lifted his head to see Grace smiling up at him.

"Is it done?" she asked.

Before he could answer, he felt a tremendous burning on his arm. Hissing, he pulled back from her and covered the burn with his other hand.

"What is it?" Grace asked as he withdrew from her.

She watched, stunned, as an orange glow encompassed his arm. When he let go, the ancient Greek words were gone.

"It's over," she breathed. "We did it."

The smile faded from his face. "No," Julian said, trailing his fingers along her cheek. "You did it."

Laughing, she threw herself into his arms. Julian held her tight as they rained kisses on each other.

It was over!

He was free. Finally, after all this time, he was a mortal man again.

And it was Grace who had done it. Her faith and strength had seen him through.

She had saved him.

Grace laughed again as she rolled him over in the bed.

But her relief was short-lived as another, even brighter flash filled the room.

Her laughter dying instantly, Grace felt a malevolent presence even before Julian tensed in her arms.

Sitting up in the bed, Julian forced her back, placing himself between her and the handsome man standing at the foot of the bed.

Grace gulped when she saw the tall, dark-haired man who glared at them as if he could kill them where they lay. "You bastard upstart!" the man snarled. "How dare you think to be free."

In an instant, she knew he must be Priapus.

"Let it go, Priapus," Julian said with a warning note in his voice. "It's over and done with."

Priapus snorted. "You think to command me? Who do you think you are, mortal?"

Julian smiled evilly. "I am Julian of Macedon, born of the House of Diokles of Sparta and of the goddess Aphrodite. I am the champion of Greece, Macedonia, Thebes, Punjab, and Conjara. Known as Augustus Julius Punitor to my enemies who quaked in terror at my presence. And you, my brother, are a lesser known god who meant nothing to the Greeks, and only slightly more to the Romans."

Hell's wrath burned across Priapus's face. "It's time you learned your place, little brother. You took from me the woman who was going to sire my sons to lead my name into memoriam. Now I take yours."

Julian launched himself at Priapus, but it was too late. He had already vanished with Grace.