Page 11 of For the Gods' Sake

“You didn’t check it?”

“No one came to the gate,” he explained, finally standing. “I didn’t see it until you opened the door. You shouldn’t touch something that I haven’t checked. It’s not safe.”

Under any other circumstance, he would be right. There was an inherent risk with being a member of a famously wealthy family. Anyone with enough misplaced courageand desperate for money would have an easy target in me if they wanted to extort my father.

“Oh,” I said, waving my hand in dismissal. I had no idea why my face felt hot as I said, “Um, all of this is…I was expecting—well, not expecting but…this is all fine.”

Titus looked at me under raised brows. “Want to try that again?”

I did, actually. “All of this is fine. No threat.”

“Not Damon?” My ex did have a penchant for the dramatic.

“No,” I said shaking my head.

Titus’s eyes narrowed at my evasiveness. “As your head of security, I must demand that you tell me who sent this. You wouldn’t want my boss upset with me, now would you?”

I didn’t know if he was talking about my father or Lilah Ares, who’s command over warfare and the military extended to private security.

I let out something close to a seethe, then answered him reluctantly. “It's from Adrian.”

Titus almost fell over. As in tripped over his own two feet, face planting from standing, fell over. “Please tell me you know another Adrian.”

I shook my head, fighting a wince. I was supposed to be selling this. At least the blush on my cheeks could be attributed to butterflies instead of embarrassment.

Mostly.

Titus barreled his way past me, bending down to scoop up the box. I chased after him into my kitchen, watching as he slid the box onto the white marble counter.

I walked over to my cabinet to grab a vase, choosing a bright ceramic that would compliment the flowers nicely. While Titus busied himself studying the ribbon on the box, I took a deep inhale of the roses.

I really needed to steady myself to Adrian’s charms before they knocked me over.

“I’m only letting you off on telling me the whole story because I’m far more curious what’s in this box,” Titus said as I trimmed the stems off the roses.

“There’s not much to tell,” I said, filling the vaseup with water then positioning it in the center of my counter top. “We met at Daphne and Lukas’s wedding.”

It was the truth, just not all of it.

“And?” Titus asked, dropping down to his elbows and resting his head expectantly in his hands.

I shrugged my shoulder. “We hit it off, I guess. I think we are going to dinner tonight or something.”

“Either you’re being intentionally evasive, which we both know isn’t your style,” Titus said, “Or you’re nervous and don’t want to admit that you like him.”

My mouth dropped open, ready to spin some denial. But I caught myself at the last minute. I was supposed to be convincing people of this arrangement. I let the blush on my cheeks speak for me then said softly, “I like him. It’s just early.”

I might as well have given Titus a year off and a financed trip around the Mediterranean, he looked so happy. “Open this box,right now.”

My hands drifted towards the box greedily, going right for the bow. It slipped between my fingers easily, and I carefully untied the knot and looped the ribbon for safe-keeping.

Obviously, because it would be weird if I threw it out. You didn’t throw out things people you liked gave you.

Whatever. The logic made sense to me.

Shimmying the top off, I peeled back the gauze and gasped.

Titus leaned over to sneak a glance. “For the love of Jupiter. Literally.”

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