Page 43 of A Touch of Chaos

He grinned before walking away, and Dionysus glared, unable to suppress the jealousy and anger that shot up his spine.

“Really? Sooner?” he asked.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” she asked between her teeth. “We had an agreement.”

“You wanted to go back to work,” he said.

“Thisiswork,” she snapped.

“Really? Because I happen to know your boss put you on traffic duty.”

“Are you stalking me now?”

“Never stopped,” he said, though it wasn’t stalking, and she knew it.

They’d agreed that she could go back to her day job as a detective for the Hellenic Police Department, but she had to accept that the maenads would also watch her every move. He was going to have to have a conversation about this, however.

“Did you arrive with him?”

Her eyes were like fire, and they singed every inch of his skin.

“Is this about my job or the men I fuck?”

“I thought this was work,” he shot back.

“You are such an asshole,” she seethed.

She spun and stormed away. He followed, catching up to her.

“Ari—”

She rounded a corner and turned toward him abruptly. “Don’t call me that!” she snapped.

“What? Your name?”

“That is a nickname. It denotes familiarity, a privilege I have not given you.”

“I fucked you. I’d say we are pretty familiar.”

“I gave you access to my body,” she said. “That doesn’t mean we’re close.”

Her words stung, and Dionysus tightened his jaw against the terrible things he wanted to say. He wasn’t sure what he’d expected but he’d hoped that when they returned from the island, she’d still want him.

It turned out to be the opposite.

“Do you regret it?” he asked after a moment, unable to keep the pain from his voice.

“We’re not talking about this here,” she said, averting her eyes, glassy with anger.

“Now seems as good of a time as any,” he said, because he knew outside this moment, she would continue to avoid him.

When she met his gaze, the full force of her fury hit.

“Every time you do this, I regret it more and more.”

He searched her face desperately for any sign of a lie but found nothing.

She was telling the truth.

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