Fiancée. The single word soothed Luci more than she thought possible, especially given the last hour or so of insanity. What the hell was wrong with her? She’d known this guy for a few hours, he’d already threatened to uproot her life, and she was crushing on him? She stuffed any further reactions deep down inside, focused on being calm and logical, and smiled at Marley and Eli.
“Fuck.” Eli drummed his fingers against his legs. “You still have the copies of the Celtic myths surrounding Morrigan, correct?”
Something resembling a growl rumbled from Blake’s chest. “What do you think? And why are you in my house? A phone call wouldn’t do?”
“We’re here because the old filing cabinets that had the documents with your name are here.” Marley looked at Luci. “Goddess in your apartment? You have my sympathy. Are you all right?”
No one seemed to have any issues with this entire bizarre conversation besides Luci. “I’m really fucking confused, and someone promised me an explanation.”
Marley reached for Luci’s hand and squeezed her fingers. “Don’t blame them. They’ve had centuries to deal with it.”
Blake sighed.
Eli wrapped an arm around Marley’s waist and pointed her toward the front door. “We’ll catch up soon.”
Luci’s head spun, as silence engulfed her and Blake again. He finally spoke. “Do you want something to drink?”
“I want answers.” She hated to sound like a broken record, but the last of her restraint was slowly slipping away, leaving in its place a panic she couldn’t define and didn’t think she could contain.
He nudged her to the right, toward an open room. It was the embodiment of the term sitting room brought to life. A fireplace dominated the far wall, and leather sofas and chairs were arranged to face each other. Blake took a spot on one of the two couches and waved for her to join him.
She couldn’t sit. Too much energy thrummed through her. She folded her arms, to keep herself from shaking apart. “I’m waiting.”
Chapter Five
Blake was done searching for the best way to phrase things. At this point there was no reason to try and break the news gently, or ease Luci into things. He hated the worry lines around her eyes, and the way she chewed the inside of her cheek, but something told him meting out information wouldn’t ease her expression.
Besides, as gods they didn’t keep their immortality and power secret because of things like concern for their safety. Once upon a time, they’d worn the label proudly. It was just that these days, no one believed them anyway. The numbers of people who kept the faith were so small, a god wearing his birthright like a badge didn’t make any sense.
Luci stopped her pacing, and started at him. “Well?”
He sucked in a deep breath. Might as well start at the beginning. “Morrigan, the woman in your apartment, is a god. She’s not the only one. Eli and I are as well. Marley wasn’t, but she is now, and...” He trailed off when Luci’s brow furrowed and confusion settled onto her face.
“And at least one of you wants me dead. I get that. But why?” she asked.
“I’ll back up.” He patted the couch next to him. “Sit. It’s going to take a while.”
She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, and then dropped into the chair across from him. She drew her mouth into a straight line and watched him, eyes wide in expectation.
“Every pantheon… you would call them mythologies”—he hated that term, but he needed to make her understand this was real, not a children’s story about imaginary creatures—“has their own curses, fates, and texts surrounding the end of the world.”
She held up her index finger. “Stop. I’m not super up to date on my mythology, but I’m pretty sure there are no gods named Blake. Or Eli.”
He resisted the urge to roll his eyes, not at her but at destiny. “It’s not our fate for people to know our names.”
”Really.” Her tone was flat.
“I’m not just saying that,” he said. “The text around us specifically says only our brother will be famous. But you’re right. Eli’s full name is Byleist, and mine is Helblindi.”
“I guess I can see why you don’t go around calling yourself that.”
He scowled. “Thanks. Anyway, besides stripping away our notoriety, our legends say a lot of gods will die, and others will take their place during and after the rebirth of the world as we know it. As you can imagine, not everyone’s so keen on seeing that happen. Especially those gods who aren’t supposed to survive. None of us took it seriously until a few months ago, when the poems and rhymes we’d recited for centuries started coming true.”
“Let’s say I believed you.” She wrung her fingers together. “Why do any of them care about me? And how did—” She clenched her jaw and shook her head. “Why me?”
He wanted to push her question, find out what else was in her head, but something told him that wouldn’t get him anywhere right now. “That’s what Eli and Marley are trying to figure out. It’s why...” He let out a slow breath. “It’s why I’m looking for contractors. All of this information is written down in so many random places, we need to pull it all together. Digitize it.”
“But it’s not like you can tell someone what you’re working on, without them thinking you’re insane. So you’re having it built in separate modules.” She filled in the rest of the thought for him.
“Exactly. Apparently there’s a reference to you in one. We’d have known that if we already had the system online.”
She flopped back in the chair and turned her gaze to the ceiling. “And it’s completely a coincidence that I showed up on your interview list.”
The way she said it made the entire thing sound so... conspiratorial. “It is. We still would have found you, but not like this.”
“Wow. That makes me feel so much better about the entire thing.” Sarcasm dripped from her voice. She dropped her chin to her chest and locked her gaze on Blake. “When can I go home?”
“I don’t know.”
She rubbed her face, and a tiny whimper escaped from her throat. Her frame shuddered. She dragged the back of her wrist across her cheeks, and looked at him again. “What now?”
“We keep you safe until we have answers and a plan.”
“That’s swell”—she was on her feet again, pacing—“but it’s not going to work for me. I have a life. Things to do. And that doesn’t involve sitting around in the middle of—where are we, anyway?—just waiting for the other shoe to drop.”
“We’re in Nevada. About ten miles outside of Las Vegas.” He didn’t understand why, but it tore at him to see her so upset. It knotted his muscles and coiled his instinct, making him search for a target he wouldn’t find. He stood and stepped in her path. She huffed. When she tried to step around him, he rested his hands on her shoulders and forced her to look him in the eye. He kept his voice low and calm. “It sucks. I get that.”
She let out a snorting laugh. “How could you? If this is true, you have no idea how I feel.”
“You’re right, I can only guess. But I can still tell it sucks. I’ve had my home, my life, and the people I love ripped from me enough times...” He clenched his jaw at the surge of memories. Grace, in nineteen-twenties’ New York. Sayuri, with the flowing dark hair and kimono. Elizabeth, in the silk Victorian dress. An ache throbbed in his chest. “You don’t have to just sit down and surrender, but we do need a plan, and we need information first.”
“Then let me help.”
A compulsion sped through him, and he brushed a thumb over her cheek. The direct contact added another wash of color to the images vying for his mind’s attention, blurring her face with others and morphing them together. Except instead of drawing his attention from her, the memories honed his senses in on her presence. On top of it all was heat and desire and the need to protect Luci. “I will. But right now, if we dive into a random spot and start digging, we’ll be spinning our wheels. Once Eli has more information, he’ll let me know.
> She nodded and covered his hand with hers. Lust jolted through him. She licked her lips. “What do we do until then?”
Find out if Luci tasted as delicious as she looked. “I’d still love to buy you a drink,” he said.
Some of the lines on her face faded, and the corner of her mouth pulled up. “The last thing I need right now is to be drunk. Though, trust me, it’s tempting.”
The slightest twist of his hand, and he could wrap his fingers in her hair. A dip of his head, and he could claim her mouth. Ancestors, she was wreaking havoc on his thoughts. “I’ll buy you dinner, then.” Or make her the main course. Trace his tongue down her chest. Dip between her breasts.
“Dinner. Crap.” She frowned and stepped out of his grip. “I completely forgot I ordered pizza before my reality imploded. The poor driver is going to be pissed. I need to call them and apologize.”
Desire still skittered over Blake’s skin. He clenched his fist, to bring his racing pulse under control, and tried to ignore the strain of his cock against his slacks. He was disappointed at the lost moment, but something about how flustered she looked over a forgotten dinner delivery was still enticing. Flushed cheeks, wide eyes. He laced his fingers through hers. “Calling them will wait.”
She caught her bottom lip between her teeth. Did she have any idea how seductive that was? “I feel bad,” she said.
He could think of a couple very specific ways to distract her into feeling something else, but the moment was gone. “I don’t suspect they’ll hold a grudge. If you’re that worried about pizza, I can have something more authentic delivered.”
“Authentic pizza. In the middle of Nevada. How do you define authentic?”
He knew the perfect place in Naples. Italy. And the goddess who ran the place just happened to be a close friend. “Trust me.”
Luci’s smile slid back in place. “Oddly enough, I do.”
Chapter Six
Luci struggled to wrap her brain around the entire situation. Gods. Myths. Fate. There was no way any of it existed, let alone that she played any part in it. Her logic said it would be just as stupid of her to ignore what was right in front of her as it was to believe it. That included the way Blake kept looking at her. The way his gaze dipped over every inch of her. The flashes of unfamiliar but sharply sensual images every time he touched her. It should be the last thing on her mind, but it consumed most of her remaining mental resources.
She was certain of some things. The pizza he’d ordered had been almost heavenly—hand tossed crust, brick-oven crisp, and like nothing she’d ever tasted before. And she was sure that when she said she trusted him, she meant it. The idea of giving her faith to someone she barely knew terrified her. Now that it was clear what he’d been hiding that morning, the lingering uneasiness vanished. Whatever else happened, she believed him when he said they were working to find answers and keep her safe.
She settled back onto one of the couches after they finished eating, a permanent smile on her face from the conversation that had drifted from one topic to the next with ease. “You really got the pizza from Italy?”
He took the seat next to her, and his thigh brushed hers before he turned to face her. “You meet people when you’ve been alive as long as I have.”
Part of her wanted to know how long that was. Numbers ticked through her head. Five hundred years? One thousand? Her mind twitched at the logic of someone actually living that long. She could only handle so much reality in an evening. “I bet you’ve seen some amazing things.”
He furrowed his brow for a second, but his smile returned so quickly she thought she’d imagined the change. “I have. There are a lot of pluses to being immortal. It gets a little lonely at times, though.”
“But you saw so much as it happened. The moon landing, right? Were you there for that?”
“On the moon? No.” He winked. “But yes, I remember that. And hearing about the Wright Brothers taking their first flight. And watching large portions of Europe sail to the new world...” He trailed off. “But it all blurs together after a while. There are so many new and amazing things that new and amazing becomes passé.” He shook his head, as if to clear away a fog.
The new world. He really was that old. She struggled to place herself in that frame of mind. “It does sound like a lot, but I still bet it was awe inspiring. The world doesn’t do incredible things anymore.”
“Sure it does.” He slid his fingers under hers, where they rested on her knee. “It’s not a matter of scope; it’s what you remember. The day you graduated high school. Or college. You remember those?”
Should she pull away? No. This was comfortable. Reassuring. But she did wish it wasn’t all focused on her. “Of course. But those aren’t the kind of things that change the world.”
“They change someone’s world. Yours, and that’s important. Mine, since it’s part of what makes you who you are now. You remember your first kiss, right? The anticipation. The buildup. The nervousness?”
His smooth voice glided under her skin and summoned every sensation he described, until her pulse sped through her veins and her lips twitched from the suggestion. “How awkward it was.”
He dipped his head in, until his mouth hovered millimeters from her neck, close enough his breath shifted across her skin with every word. “But you had to start somewhere, right?”
Her chest constricted as he traced a line up to her jaw, never making contact. He rested his hand at the back of her neck. Tiny sparks danced through her entire body at the barely-there caress of his lips brushing hers, and she whimpered. He pulled back, but his gaze still lingered on her face, desire darkening his eyes. “It’s not about the big things. It’s about enjoying those things that are significant to you.” His tone was low. Hypnotic.
She wanted more. She licked her lips and tried to make her vocal chords work. “Like meeting a stranger in a coffee shop, who turns my entire world upside down?”
His grin was sinful and hungry. He traced tiny circles along the base of her neck with his thumb. “Exactly. Like that the most gorgeous woman who was in that room is sitting on my couch now.”
The compliment nudged a corner of her mind she was trying to keep locked, and her insecurities flooded back in. “You don’t have to say that.” Damn it, she hadn’t meant to let that slip out.
“Say what?”
“That I’m gorgeous.” Negative thoughts clawed their way to the surface. She wasn’t pretty. She was pudgy and clumsy and plain. Sexy guys like him—he was a god, for hell’s sake—didn’t look twice at women like her. His gaze said he meant the words, and his touch lit her nerve endings on fire, but her stupid self-doubt screamed in her skull.
“You are.” He glided his hand from her neck, to trail a finger down her cheek, gaze never leaving her. He traced her bottom lip. “Every inch of you is stunning.” He sounded sincere. He looked genuine.
But her mind still refused to accept it. “I bet that’s one of those things you don’t forget—the beautiful women you’ve loved in your lifetime.” Why had she said that? There was something wired wrong in her head. Maybe it would take the focus off her, though. Give her a chance to rebuild her walls and stash her uncertainty again.
He intertwined his fingers with hers. “I’m no more likely to tell you that, than you are to tell me about your past love life.”
Now he was keeping secrets from her. It was an irrational reaction, but knowing that didn’t stop her from feeling it. Her own insecurity was sabotaging an amazing conversation, and she couldn’t make herself stop. “I’ll tell you about my past loves. I was engaged once. To a handsome, smooth-talking, well-dressed guy, who turned every head when he walked in a room.” Shut up, shut up, shut up. It was too late. Blake’s frown told her that.
“And madly in love with him, I assume.” His seductive tone was gone, replaced with something unreadable. “I suspect a guy would have to be pretty spectacular, to catch your attention like that.”
He was making fun of her, was
n’t he? Except despite his flat words, there was no malice in his gaze. Not that she was any good at recognizing things like that. “He talked a good game. Even convinced me to go into business with him. Let me handle the accounting. Brought in huge sales.” She swallowed the growing lump in her throat at the swell of unpleasant memories. It was good she’d dredged this up. A painful but appropriate reminder she knew better than to lose herself in someone’s attention. “Until he skipped town, and I was brought up on money laundering charges.” That had been painful, humiliating, and incredibly difficult to clear her name of. If they were talking about moments burned in their memories, the day she testified against her ex was one of the most bittersweet of her life.
“Fuck, Luci.” His expression softened. “You didn’t deserve to go through that.”
“It was my own fault. I let myself be sweet-talked into oblivion and ignored some really obvious signs. I know better now than to trust too-good-to-be-true, all-encompassing lines like ‘you’re gorgeous.’” A new ache joined her discomfort when Blake frowned. She shouldn’t have said that. Her subconscious seemed to know better than her, though. Even if she took the words back, she wouldn’t sound genuine.
Blake cupped her chin and forced her to look him in the eye. His voice was firm but calm. “I’m not him. And I mean what I say.”
She wanted to believe him, but the mental floodgate was open, and she couldn’t convince herself he was sincere. Then again, she also couldn’t make herself pull away. “I spilled my guts. Now it’s your turn. You must have someone who’s left an impact on you. Some stunning beauty from the centuries of your life.”
He clenched his jaw and stood. “And if you weren’t using it as an excuse to sour the conversation, I might tell you about one of them.”
Seducing Destiny (Brothers of Fate Book 2) Page 3