Page 37 of For the Love of the Gods

“Maybe I will,” I said, then excused myself. I’d uncover that information from Rose slowly. She’d get suspicious if I all the sudden started asking about her life.

She didn’t trust me. She was smart for that.

I didn’t trust her either, but that didn’t stop the image of her chest, heaving with the force of her irritation after our spat, her breasts pushing over the neckline of her tight shirt, from forcing its way to the forefront of my mind.

Or the way her face looked, with her eyes closed and chin tipped toward the sun.

Or the feel of the soft skin of her throat under my hand.

Or the flutter of her heartbeat in her neck, the slight part through her lips when my hand brushed her collarbone.

Or whatever. The point was the day was fucked.

Chapter 10

Rose

“Well, isn’t this cozy?” was the first sentence Dominic directed at me the next day.

I was wrapped in a blanket with a book in hand on the settee closest to the kitchen. I was enjoying a peaceful, Dominic free day. The constant back and forth felt like winding one of those children’s toys higher and higher, heavy with the risk of exploding.

I looked up from my book to see him leaning (again) against the door frame, crossing his arms over his chest in a stance that was so indecent it was enough to make the blanket feel oppressive on my skin.

Especially when combined with the intensity of his stare, like he was trying to catch every minute expression and thought on my face.

I shifted a little, but refused to take the blanket off. He didn’t get to ruin my peace. “It is cozy, thank you very much. I’ve been trying to get up and make tea for the past hour, but I can’t bring myself to move.”

Dominic walked up to me, staring down at his immense height, hands on his hips in mocking judgment. “You’re weird.”

“Thank you,” I said, winding the blanket a little tighter. I had the itchy feeling on my sternum of a forgotten task, which was why I’d come down to the kitchen in the first place.

Dominic spun on his boot and headed into the kitchen. He yanked open the fridge brutally, like he didn’t know his own strength.

“Careful, strong man,” I said, eyes on where his back flexed under his black t-shirt. Where it bunched against the band of his black jeans low on his hips. “You’ll break the door.”

“Sit there and be quiet,” he shot back, slamming the door closed with the cream in his hand.

I listened. Only because he was filling up the kettle. Five minutes later, he was back in front of me with a cup of tea in one hand and his own coffee in the other.

He shoved it towards me with the most force he could without splashing the tea everywhere. I wedged my hands out from the blanket and grabbed it. The color was exactly how I’d make it.

Guess he remembered that.

He stared at me as I took a sip, the tea just on the right side of hot. Dominic took his own sip, not breaking eye contact. I took another one. He took another one.

I was enjoying whatever weird game this was when Raiden came bursting into the kitchen, pinning us with an accusatory stare.

“What are you two doing?”

“Having an afternoon beverage?” Dominic responded, taking another sip with his eyes locked on the rim of my cup, where it was pressed to my lips.

Raiden muttered something from somewhere behind Dominic. I couldn’t see him with Dominic’s head eclipsing the light in the room and shrouding me in comfortable shadows. “Any plans for getting ready at some point today?”

“Ready for what?” Dominic asked.

Raiden cursed, “These two,” right as the domino fell inside my head.Shit.

“It’s Council weekend,” I said. Once a month, the Roman and Greek gods met at Olympus, Adrian’s home (read: fully formed town) to go over issues and generally make sure the humans weren’t planning to topple the whole system in retaliation for Adrian’s birth.

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