Page 22 of Hades and Persephone: Keeper of Sins

I don’t bother with makeup while working during the day, because I’m constantly reapplying sunscreen, and I’m not trying to impress anyone. So, I don’t have to think about that as I splash cool water over my face, dabbing it dry with the softest towel I’ve ever touched. It’s really true when they say rich people live different.

Everything feels so different here. My senses are somehow both soothed and stimulated. Everything is so beautiful and pleasant to the touch.

I can’t help but think it’s going to be difficult when September comes, and I’m sitting coach as I travel home to my closet-sized room with the normal, rough from one too many washes, towels.

I findHades in the kitchen, pouring two glasses of crisp champagne. I know it’s champagne by the little bubbles that dance inside the glass. He’s removed hissuit jacket and unbuttoned the first few buttons of his black shirt, rolling the sleeves up forearms that ripple with muscle under tan skin.

Good God, and I thought he couldn’t get any hotter.

His lips twitch, but it’s faint. “Do you like champagne?”

“I have the few times I’ve had it.” He raises a brow in question that I answer, “I don’t drink much.” I smile with a huff of laughter. “I don’t really drink at all, actually.”

“I like a glass with dinner.”

“I’ll remember that.” I take the glass he offers me as my eyes slide to the kitchen beyond him. “Speaking of dinner—what kind of foods do you like?”

“I’m not picky.”

I frown. “That’s not helpful.”

He takes a swallow of the champagne, his penetrating eyes coming to me. “I will like anything you make for me, Persephone.”

“You really should call me Annie. Everyone else does.”

“I like Persephone.”

I pull in breath. My odd name isn’t a hill to die on. “Is there anything youdon’tlike?”

He considers, and then he shakes his head. “No.”

I tease, “So, I can make you grilled cheese and chicken nuggets in the shape of dinosaurs, and you’re telling me you’ll be happy?”

“I won’t complain,” he says with sincerity. “As longas you promise they really will be in the shape of dinosaurs.”

I laugh. It bursts from me entirely unexpected, because I didnotexpect his reply. “You can’t be serious.”

In all seriousness, he says, “I would never joke about dinosaur nuggets.”

“You’re handsome, wealthy, and funny,” I observe. “You’re the whole package, Hades, so why are you hiring me?”

His mouth turns up at one corner. “You think I’m handsome?”

“You know you are.”Why do I feel so breathless?

That light in his eye turns devilishly dark. “What matters is that you think I am.”

I push. “Why did you hire me, Hades? There has to be so many women throwing themselves at you all the time.”

“Maybe that’s why I hired you.”

I cock my head, confused. “Sorry?”

“You have yet to throw yourself at me.”

So, I was right. He feels wanted for little more than the things he can offer, not the man he is beyond the riches he can provide.

“If I threw myself at you?”

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