Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 107826 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107826 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
So I don’t argue. I run my hands up her sides as she steps closer. In her heels, I barely come up to her shoulder, which puts me right at the perfect height to appreciate her breasts. They’re truly lovely breasts. I would very much like to get my hands and mouth on them.
I clear my throat, trying to focus. “You’re not going to have time for me if you’re running around the city putting out fires.”
“I’ll make time for you.” She skates her fingers up my arms and cups my face. “I’ll always make time for you. Thank you for breakfast.” She presses a kiss to my lips, light and teasing. “And thank you for being the voice of reason last night. Bringing in Adonis might not have gone how you’d thought it would, but it truly did help.”
I pull her close and kiss her properly. Eris tastes like mint and I’m smudging her lipstick, but I don’t care. I think my hands might be shaking, but I can’t be sure. When she finally eases back, I’m clinging to her. “I was worried about you. I am worried about you.”
“I know.” She wraps her arms around my shoulders and holds me close. “I know.”
Ironic that it feels like she’s comforting me when she’s the one who was hurt. I’ve known this woman a few weeks, and I have no business feeling like the world would be significantly dimmer without her in it, but I don’t make a habit of ignoring hard truths.
I care about Eris. A lot. Sometime in the last few days, I’ve slipped right over the edge of enjoying her company and fallen into…falling. Maybe that should bother or scare me, but there’s no use railing against fundamental truth. It simply is. And the fundamental truth of this situation is that I’m falling for Eris. “Stay safe today.”
“I promise that I’ll try.” She gives me one last squeeze and steps back. “Feel free to stay at my place if you’d like. As you found out this morning, you have access.”
Granting me access to her home was no doubt part of her ploy to seduce me, but it warms me all the same. “I might do that.”
“Good.” She pulls a compact and tissue from her purse and somehow manages to fix her lipstick in a few swipes. “You stay safe today, too.”
I’m about to point out that the entirety of Olympus isn’t after me, but I don’t get a chance before a trio of people in black tactical gear approach. I tense, ready to grab Eris and haul her back into the elevator, but she sighs. “My sister would send Achilles as part of my team.”
As soon as she says it, I recognize the unreasonably handsome white man in the center of the trio. He’s the one who fought the Minotaur in the final Ares trial. It’d been a fearsome fight, going well past the point when the Minotaur was eliminated.
For his part, he doesn’t seem any happier with the arrangement than Eris is. He gives her a cold look. “Aphrodite. We’re here to escort you.” His lips thin. “You were supposed to wait upstairs for us.”
“Oh, that.” She waves it away. “I needed to have a private conversation with my dear Pandora. I’m sure you understand.”
He turns that steely gaze on me. “What I understand is that any danger to you will be eliminated.”
I go cold. No mistaking the threat being directed at me. Eris steps between us and drawls, “Aw, Achilles, I didn’t think you liked me that much.”
“I don’t. But if you get hurt, it will make Helen sad. I go out of my way not to make my woman sad.”
“Lucky me.” She turns and presses another quick kiss to my lips. “See you tonight.”
I watch them walk away, my heart in my throat. There’s no denying that Ares set Eris up with the best people she had, but will it be enough? When every citizen of this city is a possible enemy, the chances of making it out of this without losing someone I love…
It feels impossible.
28
HEPHAESTUS
I watch Adonis do dishes over the rim of my coffee cup. My wife was right; I need to get moving if I don’t want to be late. But I can’t leave before I button things up with him.
He seems fine enough, but I don’t know if I trust that. He’s Olympian. He lies as well as the rest of them, even if he doesn’t seem to lie to me all that often. “You good?”
“Not really.” He rolls his head, his neck popping. “This whole situation is messy.”
“Messy” doesn’t begin to cover it. There were a few moments this morning in the kitchen when I forgot all about that, though. It was just nice to be there with Pandora while Aphrodite and Adonis drank their coffee. The casual intimacy relaxed something in me that I can’t afford to have relaxed, but I didn’t want it to end.