Page 9 of The Devil and His Goddess

“Morning, gorgeous,” I greeted, slapping her butt on the way by. I dug through the fridge for a water. “I’m surprised you aren’t still asleep since it’s a Saturday and you just flew back in.”

“Believe me, I wanted to,” Aiysha laughed, hopping up on the island. She ran a hand over her black hair and met my eyes. “But I wasn’t sure what your schedule entailed today, so I wanted to get up to make sure we got to hang out. I need to refuel my Harper battery.”

I laughed and leaned on the counter across from her. “I missed you, too. A week without yousucked.”

She and I had both gotten back yesterday after taking trips to see our families. We’d grown up here in Tennessee, but our families no longer resided here. My dad had gotten relocated to Florida for work during my senior year of high school. Seeing as I was almost done with school and had an entire life of dance here, mine and Aiysha’s parents decided I could live with Aiysha and her family. I missed my parents and little brothers like crazy, which made every weekly phone call and occasional visit all the more special.

The house I shared with Aiysha was one of her family’s numerous homes. Her parents mainly resided in California these days, but they had a couple houses throughout the country, depending on where they wanted to stay during different times of the year. This was the home Aiysha grew up in, which meant this place had always been my home away from home, too.

We’d been best friends since the age of four, so I’d practically lived here half the time growing up until I reallydidlive here starting senior year. The Jacksons thought of me as a second daughter, and I considered them my second family.

“So what’s the plan for today?” Aiysha asked.

I ran a hand through my long black hair and started pulling it up into a ponytail. “Work starts back on Monday, so I planned on doing some harder training today and tomorrow. You know, getting my body ready for a new dance season. Other than that, I figured I’d go along with whatever you had in mind.”

Aiysha hopped off the counter as the coffee finished brewing. She grabbed two mugs and poured the hot brew in each.

“It’s been awhile since I’ve done a full day of stretching and dancing. I think I’ll join you. Want to order in dinner tonight?”

Brightening at the idea of dancing with Aiysha all day, I nodded like a bobble-head gone wild. “A thousand percent, yes!”

I accepted my coffee. We clinked our mugs and each nursed our drink as we prepped a ballerina’s breakfast for the strenuous day ahead. Even though Aiysha no longer had to stick to a dancer’s diet, she followed my lead and ate the egg atop the avocado and sourdough toast.

It had been four years since Aiysha quit ballet. She and I had been dancing together since we were four, and I missed having my partner in crime in the studio.

I knew the day would come when Aiysha set aside her pointe shoes in favor of heels, but a part of me still broke the day of our final dance competition together. We’d had a duet that day, and as if the universe knew what the performance meant to us, we won, not only in our category but the entire competition. We’d hugged and cried, our stage make-up running down our faces, but we didn’t give a damn. She was saying goodbye to dance, and I’d been saying goodbye to my rock.

Despite missing her like crazy in the dance world, I couldn’t be more proud of her as she went to school to become a child psychologist. She was a badass of the greatest kind, and I couldn’t wait to see the impact she had on the youth of the world.

We cleaned up breakfast and each changed. I put on my favorite blush-colored leotard with tights and pulled on a small jacket to wear until I warmed up. Down in the home studio, I pulled on my flat shoe and got to stretching. Aiysha quickly joined me in her own athletic attire, her dark hair pulled back in a bun now.

“Shit. My muscles aren’t used to this anymore,” Aiysha groaned as we worked through the warm-up stretches.

Laughing, I continued stretching my legs and feet. “You’re welcome to work those muscles with me anytime.”

Aiysha’s brown eyes locked on mine as we shifted into a split. “So tell me how the party went last night. I passed out before you got back, so I’ve been dying to hear the juicy details all morning. You know, what everyone wore, who got wasted, what the new director was like. Tell meeverything!”

At the mention of the party and the director, I groaned. The mortifying night came rushing back. “I’m doing all this work right now, but honestly, who knows if I’ll still have a job come Monday.”

Aiysha’s eyes widened. “Why? What do you mean?”

“I flirted with my new boss,” I admitted, grimacing in shame.

Aiysha’s jaw dropped, and for a moment, it seemed I broke her. No words came out of her, and she didn’t even breathe.

I nodded, completely understanding the shock. “Yeah. I didn’t know who he was at first, so I said stupid stuff. Danced with him. It was hot, Aiysha.Hewas hot. Like,hot. I literally planned on hooking up with him since it’s been awhile for me. Until I realized who he was. Then, in an even more idiotic turn of events, I told him he wasn’t my type.”

Aiysha slowly shook her head in disbelief. “Oh, girl. You’re so fucked.” Her laugh filled the spacious room, and I shoved her over as I hopped to my feet. She laid on the floor, laughing at my misfortune.

“I’m glad you find my probable unemployment funny.”

I turned on a classical music playlist and found my place at the barre by the mirror. Aiysha joined me, still chuckling over the situation.

“I’m just picturing how you’re going to function at work when you have the hots for the director.”

Perseus’s charming grin and perfectly ripped body resurfaced in my mind. I hadn’t gotten to see all of it, but the little I had seen had been toe-curling delicious. The sliver of desire trying to settle between my legs warned me that thinking of him was dangerous, so I tried thinking of anything else to replace him—Swan Lake, zebras wearing rainbow onesies, balloons shaped like penises—but the golden-haired man stayed at the forefront of my mind.

Why did he have to be so damn good-lookinganda great dancer?

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