by Skyler Andra
I thumbed my lips. “I doubt you’re known for letting people out of their contracts.”
“I am not.” He smiled. “But everyone can have exceptions. You could be mine. If you cannot do this or will not–”
I shook my head. “No. A deal’s a deal. You need this done, and there’s no one else, right?”
He shook his head.
“Then I guess you’re stuck with me and all the jars in your trunk,” I said with a faint smile. “Might as well get used to it for however long we’re together.”
The thought of this trip with Hades ending, me left with my payment, and The Lord of the Underworld returning to his realm filled me with a dreadful sorrow.
“Might as well,” he agreed.
“Hope you like pickles,” I shot, starting down the porch steps.
Hades caught my hand, stopping me halfway. When I looked up at him, my heart beat double time. I didn’t have time to think about it; I didn’t have time to do anything but notice how good this felt or how much he cared and how just looking at him made me want to put my lips against his.
Flashing lights pulled my attention away, however. Red and blue. A dark car drove up Mae’s driveway.
“Hades,” I murmured, starting to shake as the cop car pulled up in front of Mae’s house.
Chapter 12
Autumn
Not going to lie, it looked bad. I was painfully aware of the fact that there was a dead resident upstairs and a trunk full of our ill-gotten gains.
The cop got out of his car, coming to the porch, all the while glaring at us.
“You two don’t live here, do you?” he inquired, taking in Hades’ suit and car. “Mind telling me what you’re doing?”
For a moment, I had a vision of Hades telling the truth. And then not only would we be two city weirdos on some nice old lady’s porch, we’d be two crazy weirdos on a dead old lady’s porch, and I just couldn’t see that going well for either of us, ever.
Hades took charge. “What’s the problem, officer?”
The cop’s eyes narrowed. “An alarm was tripped by an intruder.”
Junipers!
“My aunt, Mae,” I blurted. “We’re passing through, and she said to stop and pick up some preserves to take home with us, sir.”
The cop looked at me suspiciously, the cool air in front of him steaming up with his exhales as if he were a dragon. “That’s what you say. What about you, mister? What do you say?”
Hades shrugged. “I say that my wife has the right of it. We’re driving through, headed home.”
I hid a wince at his odd diction. I’d started to get used to it, like it even, but he sounded odd and maybe foreign, and that had never been a winning combination for a cop.
“Right.” The cop’s stare turned back to me. “And your aunt, where’s she now?”
Moved on to her reward? Dead upstairs? Oh, God.
“On a visit in the east,” Hades supplied easily. “She left us a key.”
“And where are you from?” The cop gestured with a finger. “Let’s see some ID from both of you.”
Trying not to panic, I went to Hades’ car, accompanied by the cop. The whole time I freaked out that the officer might clue into what was going on and discover the body upstairs and accuse us of foul play.
“Show me your wallet, nice and slow,” the officer advised and I pulled it out of my purse real slow and handed the officer my ID with shaking hands.
Oh, God!
I swallowed the lump in my throat. My ID wouldn’t have the same address as Hades, and the cop would realize we were full of it.
Okay, if you really are an underworld god, now is really the time to, like, open up a portal in the ground and let us walk right through. Now is the time to… I don’t know, turn into a snake and scare this guy into running for the hills.
Instead, Hades reached for a wallet I didn’t even know he had and pulled out what looked like a very normal driver’s license that he handed to the cop.
“Stay right there,” the cop ordered, going back to his car to run the licenses.
I grabbed Hades by the arm and squeezed.
“What’s he going to find when he checks those?” I hissed out of the corner of my mouth. I was still thinking of the dead body he had left so politely arranged in the bedroom.
“A happily married couple,” Hades said calmly in a lightly amused way. “I mean, it is not all sunlight and roses, of course. I have a few reckless driving citations.”
“You… do?” I glanced at the officer’s car, squinting through the flashing lights.
“It is a problem.” Hades pretended to be remorseful. “You have spoken to me about it a few times. It has put some stress on our marriage. I have resolved to do better.”
“Have you? Do I believe you?” I asked, aware that my voice had taken on a slightly hysterical lilt.
“I hope you do. I really do mean to do better,” he said, his voice perfectly sincere. “I know that winning back your trust will be a process, however.”
I was just stifling back a giggle when the cop came back.
“All right,” the officer said reluctantly, handing back our licenses, “looks like it all checks out. Don’t think that you can speed on these roads, all right? I swear if I see you coming down a county route hitting ninety, I will come down on you like a load of hammers, understand?”
“Perfectly,” Hades acknowledged, and I almost buckled with relief when the cop got back in his car and reversed out the drive.
“Ugh, I’m shaking,” I said, looking at my hands as I approached the car.
Hades glanced curiously at me over the roof. “Why? You must know that I would have protected you.”
“No, I don’t,” I retorted as we both got in. “And um, no offense, but you don’t have much of a bedside manner, you know?”
That startled a soft chuckle out of him. “Do you think that is something that I actually need?”
He started the car and drove off the property.
“Well… I guess not. I guess you’re a lot more about what comes after you don’t need the bedside manner anymore, huh?”
“Yes, something like that. I guess I am not known for my pleasant conversation.”
For some reason, despite a flaming curiosity about the whole process and the world he lived in—were there other gods? Was Hermes in charge of high-speed internet? Did Hephaestus watch out for ironworkers? I didn’t want to get too much into what that particular world was like.
“How’s your arm?” I asked instead.
He looked at me quickly, then looked away again. His sleeve had been rolled up to hide the tattered edge, and the long scratches were livid against his pale skin but looking far better.
“Just fine. It does not hurt anymore.”
He didn’t look at me as he spoke, and I wondered if he was feeling a little awkward about being caught out like that. It must have been a bit of a comedown for the Lord of the Dead to be scraped up by a nice old farmer.
Maybe I can teach him a bit about taking things a little easier. They’re dead; they’re not children. I bet he would be a lot more popular if he just remembered that one little thing.
I told myself I was being an idiot. Hades was a literal god. That meant that he likely knew his business pretty well. He’d done it for thousands of years. I bet he’d been pretty good at it, too, until the dead stopped showing up in the Underworld. Me, on the other hand, I hadn’t even gone to college. So what did I know?
We drove in silence for a short while. I started to yawn as the adrenaline of our encounter with Ms. Mae began drained away, leaving me simultaneously exhausted and restless. I shifted in my seat, unable to get comfortable. As the light of dawn rose, it stabbed my eyes. I toughed it out for almost an hour until Hades pulled off the highway into a hotel lot on the edge of a town.
“We’re stopping?” I inquired, wondering if the god needed rest because he seemed to go, go, go all the time.
“You look tired,” he
said, not looking at me. “You are going to get a crick in your… everything if you keep twisting around like that.”
A faint tremor rocked his hand as he parked the car. The hard way he clenched his jaw told me I wasn’t the only one who was tired, but it probably wasn’t smart to point that out to a god.
“Thank you,” I replied. “But the motel we passed on the way in was really more my speed.”
He switched off the engine. “I’m not sleeping at an establishment with a flickering sign and a vending machine for toiletries in the front.”
I grinned. “Like I said, more my speed.”
No matter what I could afford on my own, the truth of the matter was that I was pretty impressed with the bed and breakfast townhouse Hades had chosen. Five-star, a cabana, our own private pool, kitchen, and dining room. The room was bigger than my apartment, not that that was really hard because I lived in a shoe box. Impressed, I gaped at the room overlooking the gardens.
At that point, I realized I was more than a little shaky with exhaustion, so I dumped my bags at the foot of the bed. The only problem I could foresee was that the establishment didn’t have any room with double beds, so Hades and I had to share one. Not sure how I felt about that yet, especially after our earlier kiss. But I’d admit a shiver of delight ran through me at the thought of being closer to him.
“Mind if I shower?” I asked Hades and he shook his head.
I was in and out fast, back to admire the view for a bleary moment and then crash into what felt like endless miles of white linens.
As my eyes drifted shut, I heard Hades chuckle a little as he sat next to me on the bed. It should have been too intimate for a boss and employee relationship, but it felt terribly right. The same went for the gentle hand he put on my lower back. The warmth of his skin soaked through the place the ancient fabric of my favorite T-shirt met my pair of shorts.
“Delicate thing,” he murmured. “You should have told me that you were so worn out.”
“I’m not delicate,” I grumbled. “I regularly heft forty-pound bags of fertilizer.”
His soft laugh sent a sweet thrill down my spine. I liked it when he laughed. It broke up his hardness. Who knew what else I might have made out of the sexy huskiness in his voice if I was a little less tired?
“I stand corrected,” he said. “You have always been so tough, haven’t you?”
“Darn straight.”
“You can say damn, you know. You’re an adult.”
“And as an adult, I chose not to swear. Very mature of me.”
“I’m sure.” He leaned down, smoothing my hair out of the way to place a soft kiss on the back of my neck.
If I had actually been firing on all cylinders, I probably would have thought it was out of line. Flat on my face on the softest bed I had been in ever, however, all I could think was that it felt good.
He was saying something else, but right then nothing kept me from falling into a deep, dark sleep.
***
This time it was spring. Not just calendar spring, but the real deal—that first day when you can step outside of your house after winter has finally given way. Temperatures where you still need your coat to chase off the remaining chill. I glanced at my arms, finding them bare, and I didn’t even care because the trees were misted with fresh green buds, the soil black as coffee, and I was out of the house.
I walked through open wrought-iron gates into a public park, following a path. It was empty except for the birds that perched on the branches, chirping their springtide song. In the back of my mind, I knew that it was wrong somehow—their bodies the wrong shapes, each singing the wrong melody. But it didn’t matter at all because I’d finally escaped a deep winter.
Within the logic of my dream, I knew I was searching for someone so I hurried along the path. My heart beat a little fast, and I couldn’t stop smiling as I sped along. I came to what my dream told me was a duck pond. A silly interpretation for a body of silvery water where I couldn’t see the opposite shore. Still, I wandered along the edge of it, letting the wavelets tease at my sandals as I picked up shells. I’d been in such a hurry to get there, but now that I reached it, a deep anticipation made me squirm with pleasure. I kept my eyes deliberately on the water because I knew he wouldn’t appear to me from that direction, wanting to hold onto my anticipation.
One moment, I was alone with the water and the faraway quacks of ducks, and the next, a whisper of fabric brushed my arm. A thrill of heat went straight to my core, along with the sense that I was so, so very happy.
“Well,” he said quietly.
I leaned back, and he wrapped his bare arms around me. There was no need to turn around; he would tell me if he wanted me to do so. The extent of his strength was communicated to me when I pressed into him. His immediate response pushed into my lower back and I ground myself against it.
“You sound shy,” I murmured, as his hands came down to wrap around my wrists. The feeling, slightly claustrophobic and enthralling, made me lean into him more firmly.
“Why shouldn’t I be shy?” he breathed. “You’re beyond beautiful.”
“Flatterer…”
He put his mouth right next to my ear, so close that when he talked, it sent another shiver of pleasure and need through me.
“You don’t get to tell me what I think,” he murmured. “Did you already forget?”
I whimpered a little because past shreds of that lesson still clung to my distant memory—memories that weren’t always my own. Tied down to his bed, spread open, and reminded in the most sensual way that he had his own views of what I was and what he thought of that.
“What if I say yes?” I asked, faintly breathless.
He laughed, placing a soft kiss on my ear.
“Then I suppose I will have to remind you.” Yes, he had fond memories of that night as well.
He grew firmer against me, his body holding a tension that hadn’t been there before. I could never decide what I liked best when I was with him, whether I liked his reactions to me, mine to him, or the strange and wonderful alchemy of what we were when we were together.
“Then remind me,” I said sweetly, my heart leaping at the low and determined growl in his throat.
As he turned me around, however, I immediately woke up, staring at the ceiling, my entire body feeling fevered and restless, aware that my breathing was coming fast.
Wow. Talk about bailing out of the best part of a dream. The dream had left me aroused and in need of an outlet.
The memory of where I was and what I was doing came back to me. The room was dark except for a crack in the curtains that exposed a bare bar of sunlight. Low and gold, it told me we were coming up on late afternoon if not evening.
Okay. Okay. I’m on company time. That means there’s no time for exploring the ending of my dream with…
My thoughts trailed off as I realized that I wasn’t alone on the enormous mattress. Hades slept next to me, sprawled out with his head tilted to one side.
Okay, I guess I just dove into bed without thinking about where my boss was going to be sleeping.
A half dozen things went through my head about appropriate boss and employee relationships, but they all vanished when I started examining him the way I wanted to since we met and never quite had the nerve to do.
With his face relaxed in sleep, his lips slightly parted, he looked a bit younger. He had surprisingly long eyelashes—long enough that I almost wanted to run a fingertip over them. His long, elegant fingers spread out next to his face, nails trimmed neat and short, and I had to pull myself back from kissing his palm. The need to do so was so intense that I shook with it and it had me gripping the sheets tightly.
Come on, Autumn, what the heck? What are you doing?
Before I could figure myself out, Hades snapped awake and he stared straight at me with something in his eyes that made me want to whimper. I yelped and almost rolled off the bed. Burning red, I opened my mouth to apologize, or maybe make a smart r
emark about staring at him like a creepy stalker while he slept. But I never got the chance because his hand came up to cup the back of my neck, drawing me down for a long and drugging kiss.
Oh, God, I needed him.
Chapter 13
Autumn
There was nothing reminding me of the hurry and the weirdness between us in the cornfield. In this kiss he was entirely in charge, commanding and sure of what he wanted, and because he was so certain, I realized that I was sure as well.
He explored my mouth with thoroughness, a lingering urgency lacing it. He needed to know what I tasted like, and I let him do as he liked, leaning forward on my elbows to explore him as well. God, he tasted good, fresh from sleep, so perfect, and with just a bare edge of dominance to it as well. He nipped at my lower lip, eliciting a whole-body shiver. And when he felt that, I felt him grin against my mouth.
“You like teeth, little darling?” he whispered.
“Ye-yes, I do,” I stuttered because apparently, I did when I was with him. Everything was different with him. Fresh, raw, and new, yet like the most amazing homecoming at the same time.
“Precious little thing,” he rasped.
With a strength I had only begun to guess he had, he reached out and hauled me onto his body, making me yelp with surprise. He chuckled at my reaction. Pushing the covers aside, I noticed that he’d stripped down to a pair of black silk boxers. Perfect for the Lord of the Dead. I straddled his thighs, my body hot against his. My head felt a little faint when I sensed the enormity of his erection pressed against my thigh.
“I’m too heavy,” I told him, slightly self-conscious.
He shook his head, his eyes dark with desire. “Never. Put your weight on me. I want to feel you, every part of you…” Soft and commanding at the same time, I was absolutely drunk off of his voice.
I did as he said, whimpering a little when he reached down to run his hands up my bare thighs.
Those thousand and one things that most women felt when they were about to do something intimate with someone new cascaded through my mind. I wondered if I was pretty enough, sexy enough, presentable enough, washed enough, and if I smelled okay. Then it abruptly stopped when his hands curled back around my thighs, fingers digging in. Not hard enough to hurt, but enough to make me gasp and pull back to look at him.