Page 54 of Iron Blade

It didn’t escape me that she may have a lover. But, then again, I had written off that possibility. Because if she had, she wouldn’t have allowed me to kiss her palm. That tender place, where a scar would bisect, binding us as man and wife, if she ever agreed to be handfasted to me.

She bit her lower lip.

“What’s on your mind, love?” I said, softly.

“Nothing.”

I lifted a brow, waiting for the real response.

She let out a long sigh.

“Nothing. I just skipped dinner today, and I’m just…” Her slight chuckle was sad. “Rent is due soon, is all.”

She was still cleaning me up, her gentle hands running over my skin. I wanted to hold her, and feel her against me, just as I had this morning. The air was crackling between us. We were so close, but I needed so much more.

“That causes you stress?” I asked, feebly. Annoyed that this was the only thing I could think to say.

“It does to most people. New York isn’t exactly a cheap place to live.”

That was incredibly true. But a Goddess shouldn’t have mundane stresses. She shouldn’t worry about trivial things like rent, and groceries.

“Do you have enough?” I asked, wondering if that was the problem. Was Gallery Four not paying her enough?

“Yes, it’s just… heartbreaking to see the money run through my fingers like sand, sometimes. I’m being silly.” She waved her hand in front of her face. “It’s just mundane, normal stuff.”

“Let me help you, Miss Kekoa,” I said, reaching into my pocket. I flipped my bifold open and pulled out a black card. “The pin is 1206. Irish Independence Day, December 6th.”

She looked at it as if I was trying to hand her a stack of drugs, while a cop was looking over our shoulder.

“Take it, Kira,” I begged. “It’s hard to swim when you’ve got weights tied to your ankles. Pay your bills.”

She dropped her head, swallowing hard, her fingers coming together in front of her. She shook her head.

I placed my bruised hand on her cheek, and whispered, “I want to see the load off your back, so it doesn’t drown you.”

I would know. I had sent many a man to their doom, with weights holding their ankles together as they fell into the depths of the many New York City rivers. I had planted enough dead men that I bet they were growing like seaweed.

“And what will I have to do in return? Take off my clothes? Get on my knees?” Her lips pursed, her nose flaring. “I’d have to spread myself for you, whenever you snap your fingers?”

“As alluring as all those images are…” I felt a shudder, as the image of her on my bed, legs wide open, ready to receive me, as I pumped myself into her again and again. “I don’t have to pay for sex, love.”

I took the card and placed it on her desk.

“But I would pay for you, if that was what it took.” She stiffened, but I didn’t let that deter me from what I said next. “I’d do whatever it took to get another kiss. Another embrace. Another moment to sketch your beauty.” I bit my lower lip as I looked at her from head to toe. “Make no mistake, Miss Kekoa, my goal is not to get you into bed. I have no need for a one-night stand. My goal is to make you Mrs. Green.”

“What if I don’t want to change my name?”

“So be it.” I chuckled. “So long as you become my wife.”

She looked askance, as if she was afraid to meet my gaze. She squeezed her arms closer around her, until she was practically hugging herself, her shoulders up. She was so defensive; it was hard for me not to grab her to me and offer my body as her shield.

“I have no interest in becoming a man’s property. Maritally, or…” She let out a small sigh. “I don’t have any wish to be indebted to anyone, ever again. To be that vulnerable again.”

Again? Who had made her feel that way? I’d find out, and beat him to death.

“Is that what scares you, sweet Muse?” I said, tapping the card on her desk. “You’re afraid to be beholden to me?”

I pushed off of her desk with my hip, stepping up to her until my chest almost brushed against those arms she had crossed defensively over herself. I leaned down until we were almost eye-to-eye.

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