Page 15 of Loved By Aphrodite

“Nothing solid. Twelve hours maybe? Check in after then, and I’ll have more to tell you.”

“Alright. Thank you, Hephaestus.”

Even after she hung up, he found himself staring at the phone, as if her image was still burned on the screen. Or maybe it was in his brain. How could one woman be so beautiful that it could affect him so, even after thousands of years? Sure, he had been with other women after the divorce, many of them stunning, but none of them made him feel this way. Like he’d been empty and?—

“So, are you guys getting back together?” Artemis interrupted as she skipped over to him.

He spun around. “What did you hear?” For now, they had kept Eros’s misdeeds under wraps, but if the council found out…

“Nothing, I wasn’t eavesdropping. That’s why I waited for you to finish your call.” She grabbed onto his arm. “Well? You guys are talking again, is it a good sign?”

“Er…” Fuck, he hated lying to anyone, especially to Artemis, who had been a great friend for the past thousands of years. But if he told her about the app and the chaos it caused, she was bound by the rules of the council to report it. No, it was best to keep her in the dark. “I mean, I don’t know how she feels, but I’ve been, uh, thinking about it.” Not exactly the truth, but not an outright lie.

“Oh. My. Gods.” She covered her mouth with her hands as if she couldn’t contain herself. “That’s so great! I mean, you don’t talk about what happened with you guys, which is totally okay, by the way, because that’s your business, but I always wondered if there was something there.”

“Er—”

“So, what are you gonna do? Will you ask her out? Do you think she knows you want to try again? Have you told her how you feel?”

“Artemoula, calm down.” He rubbed his hand down his face. “We just saw each other a few days ago after a couple millennia.”

Her jaw dropped. “My baby shower brought you together? How cool. Ah!” She hopped around like an excited child. “We need to make this happen.” Pursing her lips, she narrowed her eyes at him. “But that won’t happen if you look likethat.”

“Excuse me? Look like what?”

She rolled her eyes. “Like a mountain man who hasn’t seen civilization in years. I mean, no offense, H, but when was the last time you had a haircut?”

He thought for a moment. “I chopped off a couple of pieces…three months ago?”

“You cut your own hair?” She slapped a hand to her forehead. “Of course you do. No, no, no.” She tsked. “That won’t do, not if you wanna bag a woman like Aphrodite.” A gleam appeared in her eye, and she rubbed her hands together. “What you need is a glow up.”

“A…glow up?”

“Yeah. A makeover.” She let out an excited cry. “And I know just the place! Roberto, my hair guy in San Francisco, works wonders!”

He grunted. “I amnotgetting my hair cut at some girly salon. No thank you, I’m fine.”

“B-b-but…” Her eyes rimmed with tears. “I’m so bored here. You have to let me give you a makeover. Please?”

“What about Cade? Didn’t he say you can’t leave?”

“He said I couldn’t go into town to shop,” she qualified. “Besides, he’s in San Francisco right now. After your makeover, I’ll show up to his hotel room and make him forgive me for leaving the house.”

“Then why don’t you just do that and leave me out of it?”

“Because you need this.” Tapping her foot, she looked him up and down. “And maybe some new clothes. Come on, we should get going. Roberto will fit me in, no worries. Unless…”

“Unless what?”

“There’s a different reason why Aphrodite is calling you?” The former goddess’s keen blue eyes zeroed in on him. “It wouldn’t happen to have something to do with Eros crashing my party, would it?”

“You know what, my beard’s starting to itch,” he said quickly. “Do you think your guy could trim it back a bit? I don’t want it shaved, just tamed.”

Her face brightened as she smiled. “Of course he can. Roberto’s a miracle worker, he can do anything.” Artemis slipped her arm into his. “Now, let’s go.”

I hope I won’t regret this, he grumbled to himself as they disappeared from the living room.

Chapter 5

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