Page 24 of Hera

“For you, yes.” Hera raised an eyebrow at Chloe’s pout. “Sorry, sweetie. You won’t even be able to tell the difference, I promise.”

“It’s not like it’s coffee. Decaf is nasty.” Heidi shuddered.

“You haven’t had Demi’s decaf, then,” Hera said, pulling out her own chair and sitting down. She pulled her pad of paper and pen closer and took a sip of tea. “Are you ready to start?”

“Definitely not!” Chloe said, leaning forward eagerly. “I want to hear all about the guy you brought home from Valhalla’s!”

“What’s that?” Heidi asked, cocking her head to the side the way her black wolf shifter form would.

“It’s an underground fight club,” Hera told her. To Chloe she added, “And I didn’t bring anyone home that night.” She flushed. “The one man I wanted turned me down and I was sent home licking my wounds.”

“I find that incredibly hard to believe,” Heidi said disbelievingly. “Look at you!”

“Thank you,” Hera replied with a chuckle. She reached over to the buffet and picked up the crumpled note she had written, passing it to the girls. “But he didn’t look at me. I wrote him a note, because he was one of the fighters and I wasn’t allowed in the rooms without an invitation. He replied quite firmly, ‘Not interested, thank you.’”

“Well, there’s your problem,” Chloe said after reading it. “He didn’t see you first. You hadn’t already established that connection. So, what’s your plan?”

“I don’t have a plan.” Hera shrugged. “Water under the bridge.”

“No way!” Heidi said, crumbs from the oatmeal chocolate cookie she’d been eating falling from her lips.

Chloe narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “All right, spill. Who is it?”

“Who is what?” Hera replied innocently.

“Demi told me you went to speed dating a couple weeks ago, the night after the fight club. You met someone, didn’t you?” Chloe bounced in her seat and then put a hand on her belly with a wince.

“Did you really?” Heidi asked. “How was it? I met my husband there, too, you know.”

Hera’s eyes widened. “Those ladies really do have quite a good track record, don’t they?”

“Spill!” the women half-shouted.

Chuckling, Hera held out her hands. “All right! We’ve been on a couple dates, and I think it’s going well. He’s really sweet and gentle, despite his size.”

“Supe?” Chloe asked, leaning her chin on her hand.

“Shifter, I think.” Hera frowned. “He hasn’t come right out and told me, even though he knows I’m a Goddess.”

Heidi snorted. “Sorry. Kinda hard to hide that.”

“Well, yes.” Hera shook her head ruefully. “Not when my damned wings popped out during our speed date.”

The other two laughed uproariously at that.

“It wasn’tthatfunny,” Hera pouted. “Ruined my dress. Thank Goddess for Aphrodite.”

“It’s hilarious and you know it,” Chloe said, gasping for breath. “Ow, I need to pee. No bladder control.” She left the room after heaving herself up from her chair with only a tiny bit of difficulty.

“Oh, I needed that,” Heidi said, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes. “I feel like I haven’t had an adult conversation in months, unless it’s about the babies.”

“How are they doing, if you don’t mind my asking?” Hera wasn’t sure how she felt about infants, but Heidi’s twins were pretty cute.

I wonder if Augustine wants kids?

She pushed the unexpected thought away with a slight shake of her head.

“Romulus has finally mastered crawling, but Ronan hasn’t quite figured out how to coordinate his legs yet, so he ends up going backward.” Heidi laughed. “I’ve had to rescue him from underneath every piece of furniture in our living room this week alone!”

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