Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 93448 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93448 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Calder swallowed hard and had to look away from Lucien as unshed tears suddenly burned his eyes. Had to be the chlorine from the stupid pool water. That was all it was.
“I kept thinking that I had to give you a chance to get to safety with Gio,” Calder said in a rough voice.
Lucien placed his finger under Calder’s chin, forcing him to meet his gaze. “Thank you for protecting Gio, but I was never going to leave you alone with them. Even if I couldn’t use my powers, I wasn’t leaving you.” Lucien captured his mouth in a toe-curling kiss that helped Calder forget about all his aches and pains for at least a moment.
When Lucien pulled away, they stared at each other for a heartbeat. They kissed. At the house again. They kissed, and it didn’t have anything to do with unspoken sexual need or frustration. This had been something else, something deeper. An emotional tie that bound them together.
Calder looked over at Gio to see a question in his eyes and Calder could only smile. An emotional tie that Calder was sure wrapped around this man as well.
“Did I earn a kiss from you too?” Calder asked, trying to sound playful, but he was afraid that it came off sounding desperate. Did Gio even want anything to do with them after the insanity he’d witnessed?
The relief on Gio’s face was instantaneous, his smile growing so wide. “Definitely. You are my hero.” He punctuated that statement with a wonderful kiss, and then he lifted his face and directed that beautiful smile at Lucien. “And you are my hero. Both of you saved my life today.”
Lucien quickly snatched Gio’s mouth for a brutal kiss. Had he too been worried that Gio wouldn’t want him? Nope, Gio was too amazing for that.
A happy sigh left Calder as he watched the two men kissing over him. They were just too hot for words. If his body didn’t ache so badly, he might try to convince them they needed to celebrate in other, more fun ways.
Lucien broke off the kiss with a laugh. “I know that sigh. No funny stuff. You need to rest.”
Calder playfully jutted his bottom lip in a pout. “I was only thinking it for a second. Besides, orgasms are supposed to help you relax.”
“Maybe later. After the naproxen has had a chance to kick in.”
“Definitely later,” Calder corrected in a grumble.
“Since we’re trying to behave ourselves,” Gio started slowly, his eyes darting from Lucien to Calder, “would you be able to tell me what the fuck is going on with the homicidal Girl Scouts, magic spells, and the guy who’s threatening to wipe my memories?”
Calder bit his bottom lip and looked at Lucien. He’d been expecting these questions and, judging by Lucien’s expression, he had been too.
“I mean, if I’m going to lose my memories of it all anyway, what can it hurt?” Gio continued when they remained silent.
“I vote for Lucien to tell it since he’s been here longer than me,” Calder quickly said with a cheeky smile.
“He has?”
Lucien snorted, but there was still a hint of a smile on his lips. “By only like a month.” He sighed dramatically before propping himself up one elbow while sliding his other hand across Calder’s bare stomach. “Get comfy.”
“Oooooh…is this like a fairy tale?” Gio asked as he snuggled closer to Calder so that they were now sharing the same pillow. “Are there charming princes and dragons?”
“God, I hope there aren’t any dragons,” Lucien moaned.
“Unless we can get Baer to give that a try,” Calder suggested.
Lucien chuckled and shook his head. “He’d probably hurt himself.” He cleared his throat and smiled beautifully at Gio. “No, it’s more like an old Greek myth.”
“That’s scary. A lot of those don’t have happy endings.”
Calder found himself capturing Lucien’s hand under the blankets and threading their fingers together. There was a good chance their story wouldn’t have a happy ending either.
Gio must have seen something in their expressions, because the open joy drained from his face. “Maybe I don’t want to know.”
“We don’t know the ending of our story yet, but we’re hoping it has a happy ending,” Calder said.
“So…once upon a time,” Lucien started with a sly smile.
Gio settled back on the pillow, and one of his hands came to wrap around Calder’s and Lucien’s hands as he listened to Lucien weave a tale about pestilents from another dimension trying to save their world by robbing Earth of its energy. When the three goddesses failed to banish the pestilents, they chose six souls to serve as their warriors. Each warrior was gifted with a power they would use to fight the pestilents. Together, they would finally cast out the pestilents and save the Earth once and for all.
“That…wow…that’s insane,” Gio murmured softly when Lucien finished. He pushed on his hand so he could look down at Calder. “So, your power is to control water?”