"This is the one," Megara whispered, checking over her shoulder to check that Hercules hadn't lost his nerve and that nobody was pursuing them.
His eyes were on her, and his hunger was evident. Well, she could give that back tenfold after how long Aphrodite had given her with that scroll.
She leaned against her bedroom door and took Hercules by both hands. "There's still time to back out if you're scared," she said.
"I told you I'm not," he reminded her, but he still faltered. "Are you scared?"
"No! I want you." She slid her hands up his arms and felt the pulse jump in his veins.
Hercules's lashes drooped low over his eyes, and he leaned closer to her as if he might fall on top of her right there.
Megara nudged the door open with her hip and pulled him along with her. "Try to stay conscious long enough for us to have some fun… You went to the trouble of dressing your best for the coronation; you ought to enjoy looking this hot."
"You think I'm hot?" he asked, amazed. "But look at you!"
"I'd rather look at you." She purred up at him as she cupped his chin between her fingers. "You're beyond handsome, you know…"
Hercules's legs buckled beneath him, so she neatly nudged him onto the bed and climbed into his lap. Still holding his chin, he upturned his face toward her.
"You're like a bronze sculpture in your perfection," she whispered and stroked his bare shoulder. "Your skin is like gold to the eyes and silk to the fingers, but warm like a welcoming hearth… I've missed you so much…" She bowed her head to join Hercules for a kiss that he was reaching for as well.
From the shadows behind them, a woman cleared her throat.
Megara jerked back from Hercules, but he held her tight about the waist.
"I see you've wasted no time in disgracing our family," Antigone said. "Who raised you to be so loose, Meggie?"
"Did I not punch you hard enough?" Megara sighed. "Go be someone else's disaster, Tigs."
"It looks like I'm the only one willing to hold you accountable, Meg. You're a disgrace to the family name."
"At least I'm engaged to someone who loves me. Have you ever considered what Haemon thinks of you right now? Does it bother you that he shuts you down instead of defending you, or is he nothing but a duty to you? If that's the case, break this thing off immediately so he can find someone worthy of him."
"You have no regard for any feelings other than your own, do you?" Antigone snapped. "You think the world should be just as you see it, and no other possibility may prosper?"
"It sounds as if you've thoroughly described yourself, so you can understand why nobody likes you," said Hercules. "Get out of here, or you'll see me undress your cousin."
Megara raised a brow at him. "Are you planning to do that?"
"I've been thinking about it ever since finishing that scroll… I've seen the pictures. Now it's time I saw the real thing." As he spoke, one of the hands-on her back slid up toward her neck. He tilted it backward to kiss her throat.
The sounds that escaped Megara would have embarrassed her under normal circumstances, but now that it would irritate Antigone, she had no such qualms. She moaned and giggled to her heart's content, expressing in turns how much it heated her skin and how it tickled.
Hercules pulled his kiss away to breathe his supercharged heat against her skin. "Antigone, I don't know you too well, but if there's one thing I know, it's bullies. I'm not putting up with the way you treat my future wife. She needs to be spoiled because you've done a great job of the opposite for too long."
Megara was aware in the back of her mind that Hercules wouldn't punch Antigone the way she could. Still, she wished she could compare swings.
"Don't think just because they call you a hero, you get to be clever!" Antigone snapped. "If you're a hero, why are both my brothers dead?"
"Isn't that self-evident?" Hercules asked, trailing one hand down Megara's side to squeeze her thigh. "I'm a hero, and so your brothers are dead. Simple."
"You really have been taking notes from me!" Megara noted in amazement. "That was downright ruthless."
"I didn't lie, though," Hercules shrugged, and suddenly she was distracted by his shoulders.
"I'll tell everyone how cruel you are, and they won't think of you as such a hero anymore!" Antigone took a step closer to the pair.
Hercules rested his cheek against Megara's collarbone. "Have you always been like this?"
"She has. It's kind of sad, actually." Megara decided Hercules had had enough of the fun. While watching Antigone over her shoulder, she unpinned the only fastened side of his tunic so it opened over his powerful pectorals.
She could swear she was salivating as she pressed her palm against him.
"Stop that! Don't you have any sense of decency? Stop it!" Antigone shouted.
"You're the one who crept in here to berate us over nothing," Megara noted. "You're wasting your evening here with all this artificial drama. There's a feast going on out there, and all you can do is stand here and stamp your little foot like the world's tallest child."
"There's a feast going on in here, too, but you're not invited," Hercules told Antigone. His hand slid under Megara's dress to rest on her thigh. "If you don't remove yourself, I'll have to remove you, and you'll wish you walked out of here on your own when I do."
"I knew you were a brute!" Antigone snapped.
"The only people who hate Herc are jealous of him, but I tend to think you're jealous of me because, in spite of everything, I know how to have some fun," Megara said. "Well, you can't have any of this; he's all for me. This is your last warning. Grow some extra dignity or lose what little you still have."
"You don't know anything about dignity, you little hellion!" Antigone looked about to strike Megara but seemed to see something that stayed in her hand. It wasn't anything Megara was doing, but with Hercules's hair brushing against her chin, Megara couldn't see what expression he wore.
Antigone backed away. "One day, you will regret how loose and foolish you are, Megara."
"One day, you'll regret that you were never a friend to those who loved you or loved by those you admired," Megara replied, toying with the hair at the nape of Hercules's neck. "Begone and forgotten."
Antigone let out a high-pitched, frustrated noise and stalked out of the room, slamming the door behind her.
"I hate so much about being part of this family," Megara sighed.
"Does that door lock?"
"It does if you put something heavy in front of it."
"Define heavy."
"My footlocker." She nodded to the chest that waited near the door for just that purpose.
"Wait here." Hercules set Megara to one side on the bed, bent to move the footlocker, and rose to lock the door. Why was the arch of his back such a fascination?
"See something interesting?" he asked, smirking.
"You know very well I do." Megara crossed her legs from where she sat on her bed and twirled a finger in the air. "Since you're up, let me have a good look at you."
"You saw me at the beach," he reminded her.
"I'm sure you've had a growth spurt since then." Megara bounced her foot in the air and tapped her knee with impatience to be with him again. "Please turn around; I want to devour all of you with my eyes."
Hercules spread his arms to each side and turned slowly for her. "Good?" he asked.
Megara walked up to him and smoothed her hands from his shoulders to his wrists. "All for me?"
"As long as I can have everything of you, too." His arms wrapped around her and dragged her closer. "Please let me see some more of you. I've been thinking of how you looked that afternoon, and I miss you."
"I don't know. Are you sure you can handle it?"
Hercules closed his eyes and let out a heavy sigh. "I know you're toying with me, but it's starting to hurt that you're so close, and…" His body was pressed close enough to hers that she could feel his pulse against her.
"Very well. You can see me again, but don't damage this dress."
"I could rip this dress to pieces if it let me see you, but I'll be careful," Hercules replied, making her shiver. He took the straps of her dress and peeled them to either side of her shoulders.
There remained a linen wrapping around her chest, but she quickly unwound that for him. "Which of the acts from the scroll are we trying first?"
Hercules was blushing, and his eyes had become riveted to her chest. "Oh…" he groaned at the sight of her, nowhere close to answering the question. His hands were on her then, resting there with a gentle hesitance. "Don't let me hurt you, all right? You're so beautiful, I…" he shuddered.
"You won't hurt me," she reassured him.
Her mind wandered, and she smirked. "When do I get to play with you?"
"Aren't we playing now?"
Megara shook her head. She scratched up and down his chest, then trailed her fingertips over his abdominal muscles and even lower.
"Oh! That! But… that's dangerous for you. Even though… I'd really like to um… share it with you…" He blushed up to his ears.
"So don't point it at me." Megara walked behind him and traced the line of his tunic, which hung at his waist. "You should let me play with it."
"Where's it going to um… spill?" Hercules asked.
"Oh, good question…" She paused. "You know what? The scroll says it has some health benefits."
"...Which means…?"
"I should swallow it."
Hercules swayed on his feet, and of all things, Megara had to throw her arms around him to prevent him from falling.
"Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned it," Megara tried to laugh it off, but his near-collapse had her rattled. If she weren't careful, she'd lose him before they got to do anything fun.
"It's… not your fault." He looked down at her with a sloppy, uneven grin. "That just sounds… I dunno… disrespectful."
"Maybe I'd like you to respect me a little less."
"That's impossible, it only goes up."
"Does it?" Megara ghosted her hand over him, ready to squeeze if she got a signal he wouldn't mind.
"Whoa! Uh… it does… whatever you want it to. From now on, I mean. If it won't bother you or hurt you at all."
"If it's really for me…" Rather than encounter it skin to skin, she massaged him through his tunic.
He was so easily controlled. His legs buckled under him, and he dropped to his knees, groaning her name. "Meg… what're you doing?" he whispered to her.
"I don't know what it's called, but you're going to enjoy it." She'd followed him down and now had free reign to kiss along his back while she continued toying with him.
"This… isn't how it's supposed to go…" he groaned and placed a hand on her thigh. "I'm supposed to serve you."
"Who says?" She kissed further down his back and sucked on a spot just below his shoulder blade.
"Says…? Says me!" he turned to kiss her, and she allowed it. She was starting to enjoy having the strongest man in the world completely in her power when he hooked an arm around her and surged to his feet, bringing her with him.
"What–?" she started, but then she was against the wall.
"This will go a lot better if I can control myself," Hercules whispered to her. "I'm a hero, and you're not. You're not obligated to serve, but I am. I'm not ready to change that."
"You know it's a two-way street, right? We can exchange favors. Teamwork."
"Not yet." Hercules guided both her hands over her head and secured them over her head with one hand, then bowed his head over her chest and kissed first one, then the other of her breasts, while she arched her back and squealed.
"Turnabout is fair play," she forced between her teeth as she squirmed, "but don't you think we should–"
Hercules had eased his hand between her legs. "It's really there, just like the scroll said," he marveled. His fingers continued to explore while he kept her still so he could continue his explorations in both places.
For lack of anywhere else to vent her passions, Megara looped her legs around him. "You've got to let me use my hands, at least! You'll make me go mad if you don't let me do anything at all!"
"Then go mad," Hercules said with an impish grin. Now that her legs were around him, she'd unintentionally given him easier access to continue teasing her between the legs. He swirled his fingers, then, in a daring move, pushed a finger inside her.
"Oh!" Megara scrambled without purchase to lift off his finger, but then the heat that spread through her took over her mind. "You were the one concerned we'd make a mess!" she protested.
"Didn't you read the section right after this?" Hercules pulled back from her and held eye contact while putting that same finger into his mouth and cleaning it in that manner.
Megara stared at him, slack-jawed. "Who are you? Aren't you supposed to be my stuttering Wonder Boy?"
"I could st-stutter if you want me to," he replied, and his eyes flickered with mischief. "But you taught me better than that, didn't you? And so did Aphrodite."
"So you read the scroll but missed my notes of how I'd like to play with your hair while you did something like this?"
"All right. I'll play fair." He released her arms. "Once." He looped her legs over his shoulders and rolled her skirt back.
"You can't be serious!" she gasped.
"Okay, I'll tell a joke then." Hercules paused and slowly unveiled her with an air of curiosity. "I… can't think of any right now, though… It looks more detailed than in the pictures…"
"When they put you on a vase, they won't capture all the details I can see, either. That's just how it goes."
"Well…" Hercules smirked at her now. "Would you like me to capture some details of yours now?"
Megara glanced at the firmly locked door and mulled over his question and the raucous sounds of the party beyond it. "Fine. But next time, it's your turn. You must swear that I can play with you then."
"I swear I'll let you take over next time. But first…" he kissed her inner thigh. "It's my turn."