“Kind of hard to argue with that statement.”

I smirked, but it quickly faded. Lifting my hand, I traced the line of his jaw with my finger. His eyes drifted shut and thick lashes fanned the smooth skin under his eyes.

“I keep saying it, because we have to,” he said, “We don’t have a choice.”

Seth was right.

We had to figure out so much that it left little room to focus on the pain and fear or anything else, but what had Seth said when he walked in?

I had time to take it easy?

In all honesty, we really didn’t have the time. Every waking second needed to be focused on finding a way to entomb the Titans and stop the pure-bloods who were attacking the half-bloods.

A sharp pain pierced my chest, and it felt so real that I sucked in air. The image of Colin started to form, his face waxy and eyes unfocused—

I cut off that train of thought, refocusing on Seth. He was staring at me in that intense way of his, the way that made me feel like he could see inside my very head.

I didn’t want to think or feel any of the heartache waiting for me or the fear of the vast unknown waiting for both of us.

Not right now.

My gaze traveled across his face, committing the angles and planes to memory with more than just my eyes. I traced the curve of his cheek with the tips of my fingers and then mapped the bridge of his brow with my thumbs. From there, I trailed my finger along his upper lip and the fuller bottom one.

“I like that,” he said, his voice rough as he tilted his head back, eyes closed as he exposed his throat to me. “It feels good.”

I could tell that he did thoroughly enjoy this, because he was hard against the curve of my ass.

Then again, I had a feeling that if I looked at him a certain way, he enjoyed it, and I loved that. I may have been an awkward, uncomfortable mess ninety percent of the time, but Seth always, always made me feel beautiful and wanted, desired and cherished.

Dragging my fingers down the center of his throat, I lowered my mouth to his, kissing him softly. Seth made this pleasant little humming sound against my mouth. I kept lowering my fingers, marveling at the way his stomach muscles clenched in response. My palms pressed back against the loose sash on my robe. Seth’s lips parted on a soft inhale, and I took advantage of it, dipping my tongue in as I wrapped my fingers around the sash, pulling it free. The robe parted and, with a wiggle of my shoulders, it slipped down my arms, stopping at my elbows. I reached between us, my fingers going for the button on his pants.

Seth groaned into the kiss as he gripped my arms, pulling my hands away and holding me back. Breaking the kiss, he opened his eyes. They were pools of liquid amber.

“Babe,” he murmured, his gaze dropped and drifting over my bare chest. “What are you doing?”

“What does it look like?”

His chest rose sharply. “I think I have a good idea, but we really shouldn’t be doing that right now.”

“Why not?” I pressed my mouth to his, and Seth’s opened, welcoming the kiss.

He was breathing heavier. “Do I need to remind you that you were just hurt? And Dr. Morales said—”

“I have a pulled muscle, Seth.” Smiling, I rocked against him, rewarded by another deep rumble coming from within him. “And we can take this easy.”

“Josie,” he all but groaned. “You know I want you. Always. But when Apollo came for me tonight, I thought…I feared the worst.”

I squeezed my eyes shut.

“Those seconds that it took for me to get back here, I feared the worst. That there’d be no more moments like this,” he continued, stopping to groan as I moved. “They were only seconds, Josie, but they felt like an eternity.”

“Seth,” I whispered against the knot in my throat. “Then let’s take back those seconds and make them ours.”

He started to respond, but I brought our mouths together, silencing his fears, and we kissed…we kissed like we’d never have the luxury of doing so again.

“I don’t want to think about anything right now,” I told him, moving away from his mouth to nip at the delicate skin of his throat. “I just want to feel the good that we have. I just want you, Seth. I just want these moments.”

Seth shuddered as he let go of my arms. “How can I say no to you?”

“You can’t.” I reached for the button on his pants again. “Because you love me.”

“I do.” One hand curled around the back of my head as the other slipped inside the robe, settling on my waist. “I love you so fucking much I think it’s killing me sometimes.”

I shuddered and almost lost sight of what I was doing, but I got his pants unbuttoned and the zipper tugged down. Seth’s arm tightened around me as he lifted up just enough for me to get his pants down to his thighs. His entire body jerked when I reached between us, wrapping my hand around him.

“Josie,” he growled my name.

I rose up. His breath fanned my throat as I positioned him where I wanted him. Seth’s other hand found its way between the halves of the robe and tightened on my hip as I slowly worked my way down his length, inch by inch. I got halfway down and started over. I had to.

Seth groaned. “Gods, you really are killing me.”

My gaze flew to his. “Am I…am I doing this right?”

“There is literally nothing about this you could do wrong.”

I stopped moving. “Really?”

His head tilted and his lips brushed across mine. “Well, if you bit me, and not in the fun way—”

“Seth,” I laughed.

“No, babe. There is nothing you could do wrong.”

I grinned then, but the grin slipped from my face as I gasped at the pressure, the fullness, and I let go, sinking down the rest of the way.

Seth shuddered all around me as his hands opened and closed on my hips. For a moment, I couldn’t move as liquid heat poured through my veins.

Then I had to move.

I wasn’t exactly all that skilled and I really wasn’t the one to take charge like this, but I pushed past the uncertainty and just relied on instinct and what my body wanted to do.

And it knew exactly what it wanted.

Him.

Always him.

Shifting forward, I lifted up and then pushed back down, gasping at the delicious tug and pull as my chest flattened against his. My fingers sifted through his hair as our foreheads pressed together.

“You feel so damn good,” he whispered in the space between our mouths. “Every single time, Josie.”

We took our time.

We did take it easy.

And Seth…gods, Seth just held me as I moved on top of him, lifting and rolling my hips, taking it slow and taking him deep. Somehow it made everything all the more intense, more consuming, and the sweetest fire burned its way through me. When I finally broke apart, I shattered into a million little pieces. It was like every part of my body experienced release. Maybe even a part of my soul found some semblance of peace.

Sometime later, Seth was on his back and I don’t remember exactly how he got his pants off, but they were balled up at the foot of the bed. My robe was still caught around my elbows, but I was too lazy to shrug it off.

As I lay there, still sprawled on top of Seth, tracing tiny circles on his upper arm, my thoughts began to wander. I didn’t even try to stop them, not even when I started thinking about the Titans.

The only good thing we had going was that not all the Titans had been unleashed. We had Tethys and Oceanus and Cronus left to deal with. Three. We also had a buttload of shades, but when the Olympians fought the Titans before, the Olympians went up against all of them.

How did the Olympians defeat the Titans?

I knew what I had read in the Myths and Legends book and what I’d been told. That it took all of them to take them down, but…

I tried to remember the legends I’d read ages ago, before I realized that gods were real. I couldn’t remember the details, but something wasn’t adding up. It was like a word lingering on the tip of my tongue. “Seth?”

“Hmm?”

“How did the Olympians defeat the Titans?”

He didn’t answer for a moment. “That’s a random question.”