Stalked by the Gods, Blessed by the Moon

Ch. 11 - Bed Negotiations

AYLA’S POV

“It looks like a fine bed.”

I threw up my hands. “It is a fine bed, but that doesn’t mean you’re sleeping in it. Do Gods even have to sleep?”

Ares shrugged. “Not really. But I like to when I’m not ‘doing war things,’ as you say.”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re not sleeping in my bed with me. If you want to sleep, you can sleep on the couch.”

Ares arched an eyebrow at me. “You expect a God to sleep on your couch?”

“And you expect to just take my bed from me? Yeah, right, buddy.”

“I didn’t say you had to sleep elsewhere. We’ll sleep together,” he insisted, crossing his arms.

I sighed. We’d been arguing about this for what seemed like half an hour. Or more. He wasn’t backing down. As annoying as he was before, he seemed to up the annoyance factor tenfold since I found out he was a God. First, he didn’t like the dinner I ordered. Second, he was bored while I sat there, playing on my phone and ignoring him pointedly. Third, he wanted to take my bed from me. He was like an oversized child.

“Fine. Leave, though, so I can change into my pajamas.”

He tilted his head at me, keeping his arms crossed as he walked out of the bedroom. The door slammed behind him, causing me to jump. I rushed over to my dresser and started digging for my winter pajama sets. I did not want to be wearing booty shorts and tank tops while sleeping next to a God. I needed something less revealing.

Groaning when I realized I had put them all in a bag of clothes at my dad’s to make room for more clothes, I let out an annoyed breath. Grabbing shorts and a tank top from the top drawer, I shimmied out of my jeans and shirt, quickly changing. Ares knocked on the door. “Are you decent yet?”

I flew under the covers on the bed, smoothing them down before calling out. “You can come in. Or stay out there. And sleep on the couch.”

The door swung open. “You wish,” he said, eyeing me suspiciously.

As he rounded to his side of the bed, I watched as he began to unbutton his shirt and swallow. “What are you doing?”

“Surely you don’t expect me to sleep completely dressed?”

My jaw dropped. “What are you going to wear then?”

“I’m going to go nude. How I always sleep.”

I threw a pillow at him. “Over my dead body.”

He smirked as he dodged the pillow and continued to unbutton his shirt, causing my mouth to snap shut. With each button, more of his skin and the tight muscles on his chest and stomach were revealed. He was built like a Greek God. When he was finished unbuttoning, he shrugged off the shirt and tossed it to the ground. His hands went to his belt, and I snapped to attention. “No.”

He didn’t even bother to argue as he undid his pants and let them drop to the ground, revealing that he was wearing tight briefs, nothing to conceal his prominent bulge. He wasn’t even hard, and he was massive. I gulped. “I…”

A soft chuckle brought me back to reality. “Enjoying the show?”

“Can you at least keep those on?”

He looked down at himself and then at me, shrugging. “Sure.”

I watched as he started to crawl under the covers. In another life, if a man this wildly sexy were crawling into bed with me, I’d be a puddle of goo by now. But this wasn’t just a man. This was a God. And he was not crawling into bed with me other than to sleep next to me. That was all. Sleep. Next to, not with. I shook my head, turned over, snapped off the lamp light, and buried my face in my pillow.

ARES’S POV (NO LONGER AARON!!)

I had my arms crossed under my head, hearing Ayla try to pretend to be asleep. I wasn’t sure at which point I decided I’d sleep next to her, but it felt like the right move. As the night drew on, watching her play on her phone and learning more about her favorite foods had been fascinating to me.

And I’d be mad not to admit that I was more than a little attracted to her. I was blinded by it. I just wanted to bury myself between her thighs and hear her call out my name. Not Aaron, but Ares. I should have made my move when I was a mortal, though. Now that she knew I was a God, she may be the type to fear my touch rather than welcome it.

I let out an exasperated breath. She was an obstacle to my return to my everyday life. I’ve spent the last 21 years with bated breath, waiting to discover if this curse was over. Only to find out that it wasn’t. All that time wasted and a promise now broken unless I could fix this now. Ayla had no idea how important she was.

I turned on my side, facing Ayla, even though she had her back turned to me. I closed my eyes and started to make sounds as if I was asleep as well. Light snoring, deep breathing. I slung my arm around her waist and pulled her back against me, causing her to cry in surprise, but I kept my steady breathing.

She struggled to get away, but I tightened my grip. I hadn’t slept next to someone in…I wasn’t sure how long. But her next to me, in my arms, felt right. This is how I was meant to sleep. I felt that odd pull at my chest, directed towards her. But then she slapped my arm. “Ares!”

“Yes?” I asked in a fake groggy voice.

“Stop cuddling me.”

“Just go to sleep, Ayla,” I said, burying my face into her hair.

She struggled a few more moments and then let out a sigh, resigning herself to being my bedmate. I could get used to this, I thought, a small smile playing on my lips. When her bottom squirmed against me as she tried to adjust to a more comfortable position, my eyes shot open. She had rubbed right against my shaft, which had only been semi-hard before and was now as stiff as stone.

She froze as if sensing what she had done. Neither of us moved. I pressed up against her softly so as not to seem too obvious. And she quivered. And then I scented it. She was becoming aroused. I grinned.