Megara slept so deeply that someone may have mistaken her for a wax figure of herself. Her body had never felt so thoroughly relaxed. Even her mind, steeped in Theban tragedy before she had a chance to draw breath, couldn't conjure a single nightmare for her. All she could comprehend were the memories of her night with Hercules. She could get used to this…
A part of her dream broke off, and she felt his kiss against her ear that electrified every nerve in her body. Memories of the night before swirled through her, and all of the acts replayed all night in her dreams, rushing back to her in one wave.
Shaky, helpless music of pleasure escaped her lips, not quite a cry or a groan or a moan, but all three at once. Then her eyes were open, and she could see the innocent surprise on Hercules's face.
He'd been hovering his face close to hers after bestowing his kiss upon her. Now, it seemed like she'd taken him by surprise and ruined the whole effect with a lewd sound like that.
She covered her mouth, blushing hard behind her hand. "I'm sorry, Herc. Are you… leaving?"
"Sorry?" Hercules repeated. "I startled you, and… are you okay?" He placed one hand on her arms and gazed directly into her hotly blushing face. "Are you all right?"
"Oh, I'm fine!" she gasped and looked away. "You were leaving, weren't you? I didn't mean to distract you!"
"Hold on, we're talking about you right now." His lips twitched into a broad smile. "That was quite the pretty sound you made…"
Megara was increasingly embarrassed as she thought about that chaotic and passionate sound. "Please don't remind me… Malaka!"
He tossed his head back and laughed, his golden-tinged ginger curls bouncing around his face. "No, no! It was adorable! And it was actually…" He lowered his brow so his hooded eyes met hers. "I was thinking I'd like to hear it again…"
"What is it with you and hearing me make noises?" she folded her arms and tried to scoff. "Forget it. It was embarrassing, and as a good boyfriend, you don't want me to be embarrassed."
"Oh, no, I don't," he said, still grinning as if she hadn't said anything sobering. "But you know what? I'm choosing to handle it by making you more comfortable with that sound so I can hear it over and over again!"
Something between her tiredness and the mortification of hearing herself make that lewd noise made Megara frantic. "No! That sound was your fault!"
"Yeah," he said with a now-cocky smile. "And I'm gonna figure out how to make you sound like that whenever I want."
Megara shook her head. "I should go back to sleep. I'm clearly too tired to deal with you and all your nonsense."
"Aw, c'mon…." Hercules patted her head and then stroked her curls back from her face. "You're too cute! You can't blame me for that, can you?"
"Yes, I can!" in the back of her mind, she knew she was being ridiculous, but she was too grumpy and defensive to pull back and retrain herself toward normal.
"You're like this adorable fussy cat!" Hercules gushed. "Your hair is so silky, and you smell amazing…" He drew in a deep breath that even made Megara shudder. "Theoi, Meg… Phil wanted me to head out today, but you're making it so difficult to leave you…"
"I'm not doing that on purpose. You can do whatever you need to do. I'm not holding you back." Her own words echoed back through her mind, making her remember the other times he'd had to leave and how she'd been left with a bitter taste in her mouth. She'd fallen in love with a hero. It didn't matter how important he was to her. She could never outweigh the world. "If you're going to help people, you should…" She winced even as she made the suggestion.
Even though she was still grumpy, it only served as a crust over the soft, unfurling fear in her heart. When would she see him again? She'd have to be tough while he was gone.
"What does Phil want you to do?"
"Shh…" Hercules kissed her forehead. "You sound so sad when you ask me that…" He gathered her into his arms and squeezed her close against his heart. "I gotta go, Meg, but that doesn't mean I wanna."
"I know…" she groaned.
"You really are too cute."
"You're the cute one. I'm the small, spiky one."
"Don't forget you're also the curvy one…" Hercules's sly smile reappeared, and he traced a hand down her side. "Y'know, if you're up for it, we can get breakfast before I go anywhere."
She shook her head and covered her eyes. "It's too bright out. I will hide under the blankets until Apollo gets outta my way."
"I'll bring the food to you!" Hercules exclaimed with the thrill of his new brilliant idea. "I'll be right back!" He pulled her close for another kiss, even though he'd startled her with that smile, and she'd put her hands up to get some space from that radiance. "Hey, not fair," he moved her hands away from her face. "Will you just lemme kiss you?"
She gasped when, rather than kiss her lips, he dipped in and kissed her earlobe precisely the way he'd done when he woke her up.
"Malaka–ahh!" Megara groaned until it crescendoed into that same cry he'd won from her earlier.
"That's it, just keep doing that…" Hercules murmured right against her ear. As the sound continued, Hercules closed his lips around her earlobe and lightly sucked on the spot.
Megara's body was flooded with stimulation, and her body arched off the bed. "What are you doing to me?" she demanded.
"Playing?" he suggested in the most infuriatingly innocent voice she had ever heard.
"You call that a game?" Megara lay shuddering in his arms, one hand clasping a bulging muscle in his forearm for support. "When you're doing all that to me, you consider it playing?"
"Well, yeah! I found something new that makes you happy, so I'll keep doing it forever!"
"Malaka!" she exclaimed as a war chant against her passions. "You just keep tormenting me with those ear kisses! You can't do that and then leave me. It's cruel!"
Hercules's eyes widened, and then she watched them darken. "Cruel…." he repeated, covering both her ears in his hands. All confusion was gone, replaced now with a genuine smile. "Meg, do you think I can leave you when you're so cute and gorgeous like this?"
Megara's eyes slipped closed, reveling in the moment until it hit her. He'd found a new way to make her follow his lead. This was an unstoppable power he had over her… "Eh…" she opened her eyes in shock that he would press his advantage so quickly. "Herc, that's…" She started, but he had moved on to the next step.
When his hands were off her ears, Hercules began to untie himself from his armor. His quick, practiced fingers had the leather cuirass hitting the floor in seconds. He crossed his arms over his body to pull off the under-tunic and reveal himself muscle by rippling muscle. "I've gotcha, don't worry."
"What do you mean?" Her mind spun out of control.
Rather than answer, Hercules lowered himself atop her, removing the sweatband from his hair. His eyes were closed as if enjoying his favorite song. "Remember how I told you I couldn't wait to hear your noises?"
"That's your takeaway?" Megara squealed.
Hercules unwrapped her from her dress and easily slid between her thighs. "My takeaway is that my girlfriend needs me, and she's too embarrassed to ask because she always puts pressure on herself to be put together and reacts to being startled and embarrassed by acting offended. I've got you figured out, Meg. You're worried about me leaving so this is more than you just being tired or grumpy. We'll take care of all your problems in one go." He lifted one of her hands to his mouth and sucked on the fingers, and then he took her hand and trailed it down his chest.
"Herc!" The next sound to escape her disappeared into his kiss.
Despite the fact he was tiptoeing around her virginity, Hercules held her so firmly against his body she could feel his pulse race through his flesh. Rather than ease himself inside her, he pressed her close against his abdominal muscles and let her feel him against her back instead of inside. "Are you comfortable like this?" he asked.
"More or less…" she mumbled, thinking even more about his body than about her own pleasure.
"Is there anything else I can do to improve this encounter?" He traced a hand up and down her side.
"Ugh… you could… ah… we could try everything…"
"Everything?" Hercules repeated, his hand pausing on her hip. His tone of interest told her he knew what he wanted but wasn't sure he could ask for it.
"We could be more intimate… I know we've been wanting to–"
Something banged so loud on their door that Megara yelped and pressed herself closer against Hercules's chest.
Hercules wrapped his arms around her and rolled them to the opposite side of the bed, further from the door, and shielded her with his body while he kept one hand over her head.
"Kid! Yer not gonna keep yer perfect hero bod if you put off trainin' much longer!" Phil shouted through the door.
Hercules relaxed, but Megara decidedly did not. "Phil! Get lost! I'll join ya when I join you!"
"Careful, you're picking up his accent," Megara whispered.
"Phil likes the sound of his own voice," Hercules explained in an equally whisper.
"It's arena time, Kid! You think just 'cause you had a big shot parade yesterday, you get to go easy on yourself now?"
"I'm not going easy on anything," Hercules retorted.
"Dare I say I'm proud of you?" Megara whispered up at him.
"There's still time for me to ruin it," he said humbly.
"You've already made huge progress talking back to him."
"Phil! I'm going at my rate, not yours, Phil!" he called back decisively. "See if you can't just spend some time getting to know all the guests?"
"They're all gone, and the star hero must train!" Phil tried again to open the door, only for it to be too sturdily secured for him to get past.
"Yeah?" Hercules called back. I'll get training done, but first, I'm going to help my gorgeous fiancee adjust. A guy can only run so many laps before his brain starts blank."
"You're gonna go soft, and don't say I didn't warn ya!" Phil shouted back at him through the door. "Yer supposed to be out here getting ready for training! We have lots of interested parties who can see your workout!"
"So there's the real story!" Megara huffed.
"And so what if it is?" Phil demanded. "They're customers, right? They deserve what they pay for!"
Hercules set a hand on Megara's chin. "We'll get our time later, Meg. And it'll be as soon as I can make it. There are many better ways to let your mind go blank… Not that I want to complain about the results…" She traced a line down his neck and shoulder to his bicep, which she gave an affectionate squeeze. "But what if I showed up, brought you lunch, and we accidentally got locked in a closet? Just like back on the island."
He seemed to uncover and examine a new idea every second. "But we can't go now, not yet…"
She could practically see the thoughts racing through his mind while he chose then discarded a possibility for each flicker across all her features."That's an idea I can get behind…"
"Phil! We're waiting for Meg to feel better before I fly outta here. Everything else waits!"
"Everything?" Phil repeated incredulously.
"Send Hermes my way if there's a monster or something I've got to take over immediately," Hercules said. You should know better than to try and get between my fiancee and me, but I'll let you call yourself drunk and let it go. You've got to stop pounding on my door for that; it startled Meg."
The silence on the other side of the door made Megara imagine Phil seething.
"Okay! Okay! But if you lose some o' that muscle tone you worked so hard for, you can't blame me!"
Megara stroked Hercules's cheek and whispered. "We'll go make peace. That's what you wanted, right?"
Hercules pouted. He'd been looking forward to this as much as she was… but there was too much pressure. The moment was gone.
"We'll be back together soon," Megara promised. "And for this interruption, Phil has to let me go on one mission with you just to see if I can be helpful."
"I'd love to have you along if I knew you wouldn't be vulnerable the whole time," Hercules responded and sighed. "We'll get back to that later. Right now, I guess we'd better put on some clothes."