"He braced for a blow, but it never came. The flat of her palm extended to him in a plea and she whispered, “Will you do it again? Will you…kiss my hand…again?”"

That quote did it for me.

He is an ex-military turned Phoenix, (wrongly) accused of betraying his country.

Luke had died many times before but he always came back as the same man; a different body for sure, but definitely the same memories and old wounds and the bitterness he felt every time he thought about the ambush, he was so lonely and lost, I felt sorry for him when he confessed everything to Phaedra.

She is a Fury at the service of the ruthless goddess Athena, with the sole mission to make him atone or drive him insane.

Phaedra never touched anyone but to inflict pain upon them; never anyone reached for her, to touch her intimately except to fend her off, she was even lonelier than Luke and she had more at stake to lose by their forbidden union. The way she craved the smallest touch was so moving which made that whole hand-kissing scene hotter than the actual sex scenes.

I really liked Phaedra and Luke, they were tormented by their pasts and their conflicting thoughts not to mention the sudden change in their feelings about who they are and towards each other.
They were so adorable: Phaedra who is experiencing a person's sensuous caress for the first time in a thousands years, and Luke whose hunger had never been sated until he fell for the very woman who wanted to make his life an absolute hell.

The ending felt a little rushed to me, I wish I knew what actually happened to them, the consequences of their decision, and if they made it without Athena ever founding out about them.

Logically, I should have begun with the first in the series, but I couldn't resist that blurb that smelled like simmering hot from miles away. Now that my assumption is proved right, I'll begin from book 1 very soon. ( )