Lover, Divine

by A. Star

  His brow rose at my boldness, but I hardly gave a damn. My glare didn't falter.

  "Hiding my true identity was necessary," Apollo said, choosing to ignore my bad manners. He actually seemed sort of amused by them. "I wanted you to come to me on your own accord. Not because you thought you had to."

  I snorted. "Come to you?"

  He nodded once, his beautiful young face almost making me forget that he was three thousand years old, give or take a few centuries. "As I said before, I want us to be friends, Siobhan."

  Now it was my turn to laugh at him. "I think not, my lord."

  "No?" He looked genuinely annoyed with my reply. "Why not?"

  "Because," I said, "I don't keep friends tha' I can't trust. And I don't like liars. Not even divine ones."

  "I thought we were both liars, and besides, I don't lie. I manipulate the truth."

  Unbelievable. "There's no difference."

  "Of course there is. Did you ever ask me if I was a god, or did you automatically assume I was an immortal celeste?" He grinned when I didn't respond. I hated that damned beautiful smile of his. "I only ever admitted to being an immortal, and I am. So if you feel deceived, Siobhan, the fault is yours."

  If I thought it would have hurt him in any way, I would have cracked my beloved violin over his head without regret.

  "Shouldn' you be preparin' to tune us, my lord concertmaster?" I gritted out, refusing to meet his forever blue eyes. Most of my fellow strings filed in and took their seats. Several glanced in our direction, straining to contain their smiles, while others, such as Vicky and Rupert, openly gawked at us. A couple of viola players stopped to stare, then scurried off to their seats, their amusement obvious. Whispers and giggles circulated the pit and I swore someone whistled. I couldn't make sense of it, outside of the probability that everyone had lost their bloody minds.

  "It's still early," Apollo said, drawing my attention back to him. Why was he smiling like that? "Corrigan has not even arrived yet."

  I forgot about my bandmates for the moment. "Yes, but if he arrives and we're not already tuned, he'll be very upset."

  "Your point?"

  I bristled as I shifted around to face him. "This is all a game to you, isn' it?" Apollo opened his mouth to respond but I cut him off. "Well, I'll have you know tha' I take this very seriously. This orchestra is my life. Well, part of it, but a very important part. Don't ruin this for me, my lord. I need this. I need to be here."

  Apollo sighed as the performers started warming up their instruments. I wondered how I could still hear him over the clamor so easily. "I removed us one dimension over from reality," he said. "As for the other mortals, they're aware of us, but what they're seeing and what we're actually doing are two different things."

  I glared at him. "Can you read my mind?"

  He chuckled. "I tell you I've removed us to another dimension and you don't even blink an eye."

  "I don't know why you'd expect me to react to somethin' like tha'. I know wha' gods are capable of. Besides, it's not even tha' amazin' wha' you've done. I'm not really impressed tha' much at all."

  Apollo's brow lifted. "Not even a little bit?"

  "No."

  My answer seemed to amuse him. His blue eyes sparkled. "Well, I must try harder to impress you next time."

  I rolled my eyes, not saying that there would be no next time. "You didn' answer my question."

  "What question is that?"

  "Can you read my mind?"

  "Sometimes," he replied.

  Sometimes? "You shouldn' ever read someone's mind without their permission," I snapped.

  "You may be right."

  I stared at him. He stared back. "Wha' do you mean by sometimes?"

  "It depends on your mood. The more riled up your emotions are, the easier it is to slip inside." He spoke of my mind but his eyes ran over my entire body. I yanked at the hem of my skirt, trying to make sure he didn't get any ideas. He smiled and reached out to grab a hold of my hand. For some reason—maybe because he actually appeared to think I'd forgive him that easily—the gesture pissed me off and I let him have it.

  "Don't touch me!" I hissed, snatching my hand away. "Don't ever touch me again!"

  "Siobhan..."

  "No! Why are you here? Why did you lie to me? Why did you hide yourself from me?" I shook my head when he didn't answer. "Jus' go, my lord. Let's jus' end this now and pretend it never happened. Let's pretend we never met and tha'...and tha'..." I was getting more and more upset by the second and I hated that. "Please, jus' go away, my lord," I pleaded.

  Several minutes passed before Apollo spoke. Music was being made all around us, but because we were in the other dimension, none of it kept me from hearing him when he said, "I didn't mean to hurt you, Siobhan."

  "I'm not hurt," I snipped. "I'm...I'm...disappointed."

  "Disappointed?"

  "Aye."

  "In me?"

  "Yes," I said, softly. "In you."

  "Siobhan..." he breathed as his hand slid over mine. Without thinking about it, my fingers curled around his.

  "I don't like the way I feel," I said.

  "How do you feel?" His hand came up to capture my chin and turn my face toward him. My eyes met his and literally, I became lost in them.

  "Like I'm fallin'."

  "For me?"

  I didn't respond to that. "I don't even know you," I said. "Not outside of history books."

  "Do you want to know me outside of what you've read in tomes?"

  I hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

  "Then I'm here. I'm yours. Get to know me."

  "I already thought I was."

  Apollo brushed a thumb over my lips. "I'm sorry, beautiful. I'm sorry I had to keep the truth from you."

  I studied his face for a moment, trying to gauge his sincerity. "You're the god of Music," I said.

  "Yes," he replied. "And?"

  I pointed at his violin still in its case. "Tha's your legendary lyre?"

  His eyes never left me. "It is."

  "Is tha' wha' you do, then? Go around pretendin' to be some handsome violinist from Greece, jus' so you can...can...do wha'ever you do?"

  Apollo chuckled. "I usually don't have to pretend to be anything, Siobhan. But with you, I felt it was necessary."

  Gods and all their "necessary" lies. "Why with me?"

  He cocked his head as if he couldn't believe I had asked such a question. "If you need me to say it again, I will. I desire you, Siobhan. I need you. Desperately."

  I sniffed and looked away, letting my hair swing forward to hide my face. I didn't want him to see my burning cheeks. "I'm not interested."

  "Excuse me?"

  "I'm not interested," I repeated as I pulled my hand out of his and arranged my sheet music. "I don't want to be your lover."

  Apollo chuckled again. "That almost sounded like you meant it."

  I chose not to respond to that. I knew I was lying. He knew I was lying. "Where are your scores? We can share if you don't have them."

  He let one of his fingers slowly slide down my bare arm, leaving a trail of delicious goosebumps in its path. "You wore your hair down for me today. You have no idea how sexy I think you look right now."

  My cheeks flamed. "Your scores, my lord. Do you have them?"

  His deep voice rumbled. "We both know I don't need scores. But if you insist on keeping up pretenses for your fellow mortals, then I guess we should share."

  In a flash, we were sitting so close together that a single movement would have put me in his lap. I gaped at him in surprise. His eyes were already on me, burning holes through my soul. The lust in them was so hot I should have melted. No man had ever looked at me like this. But this was no mere man. Apollo was a god, one who probably wouldn't have blinked an eye if I started taking off my clothes right there in the auditorium.

  Auditorium. Orchestra. Practice. Oh gods.

  I jerked back to reality and looked around, well aware that we were no longer in the o
ther dimension. The goofy smiles and kissing noises being made had me wishing the Earth would open and swallow me up. Apollo didn't seem to care. I wanted to crawl under my seat. What all had they seen?

  When Apollo realized that I was on the verge of bolting, he stood and walked up to the conductor's podium. Producing a baton from his back pocket, he raised it and the drone of murmurs that had started circulating the pit died down instantly. With my face burning hot, I scrambled to position my instrument under my chin. I could feel the eyes on me and it took everything I had to stay seated. I glanced at Apollo and was less than thrilled to see how amused he was. This was all fun for him and that annoyed me to no end. I didn't enjoy being made fun of and I wasn't going to be used as any man's amusement. Not even an Olympian god.

  Apollo's keen ear made even more sense now, and we were perfectly tuned by the end of our warm-up, same as the times before. He returned to his seat beside me and I was quite annoyed that Corrigan had yet to arrive. He was late and he was never late. Chatter soon rose up among the performers and most of the attention was taken off of Apollo and I, though a few eyes lingered. Brittain and her chits glared at us while Rupert and Vicky observed us from their seats. I could only imagine all the dirty names my best friend was calling me.

  "The concertmaster is supposed to start rehearsals when the conductor is late," I said, though I had never had to since Corrigan was never late. Or absent. We'd had a few guest composers, but for most of my time in the band, Corrigan had always shown up. It really was odd.

  "I know," Apollo said. "But I'm much more interested in you and guessing the color of your knickers, as you call them. A kiss if I'm right?"

  I scowled at his impish grin. "They're blue."

  "Satin or lace?"

  "Lace. Game over."

  He laughed. "On the contrary. The game is just beginning."

  "Not if I don't play, my lord."

  His expression turned serious. "Oh, you'll play. By my rules even, and you'll love it." I felt myself flush to my ears. "Now, does your bra match your knickers?"

  I cut my eyes at him. "Wha' part of 'game over' did you not understand?"

  He chuckled. "You're no fun, Siobhan Law."

  "I'm plenty fun. I'm jus' not interested in playin' your games, my lord."

  "I see." He leaned in to kiss me, but I stopped him with a hand on his chest. I pushed. He growled. "Give me your mouth, woman."

  "No. Everyone can see us."

  "We're back in the other dimension. Honestly, Siobhan, pay attention," he teased.

  "Well, I still haven' forgiven you yet."

  "I know. I'm trying to remedy that now." He moved in on me again and I held him off.

  "There's somethin' I need to know, my lord."

  "Not until you let me kiss you," he growled, his eyes on my lips.

  "Answer me first, then we'll see abou' a kiss."

  He smiled and leaned back. "You are an Influential daughter indeed." He waved a hand. "Ask me anything."

  I turned toward him a bit. "Why me?" I questioned.

  "What do you mean?"

  "You know wha' I mean. Of all the mortal women in the world, why do you want me?"

  Apollo appeared to think it over, as though he hadn't been plotting since the moment we'd met. Probably even before that. "For many reasons, I suppose."

  "Such as?"

  His blue eyes twinkled. "Such as, I've had my eye on you for quite some time and had grown tired of imagining how it would feel to lick every inch of your body. I decided it was time to make my dream a reality."

  My mouth fell open, but Apollo didn't even pause to acknowledge my shock.

  "Such as, I wanted to know what it felt like to touch you, kiss you, be inside you and get caught up in the sweet shrill of your moans. Such as——" His expression softened a bit. "——I wanted to hear you play, Siobhan. I wanted to listen to the delicate sounds that only you and your violin seem able to produce. I wanted to see that look on your face as the melody pours from your soul. I wanted to watch your lovely fingers dance along the strings as your pretty lips curve into that smile that causes your entire face to radiate with the unbridled passion that music brings you. Simply put, you are the most beautiful creature in the universe when you play."

  I gasped softly as my fingers tightened around the neck of my violin.

  Apollo leaned in, putting his face close to mine. "You are beautiful, Siobhan. Witty, bright, and beautiful. And I can't wait to get you in my bed, under me, with nothing between us, because I know that you are never more beautiful than when you come."

  He pulled back just a bit so I could focus in on him. I saw it in his eyes and knew.

  "You," I breathed. "It's been you all of this time. You're the god tha' watches me. It was you watchin' me tha' night. It was you who spoke to me and gave me the...the..."

  "Orgasm. Yes." Apollo reached out and ran his thumb over my lips again. "You enjoyed it. Being watched."

  I found that I couldn't lie to him. "Yes."

  He smiled. "I knew that beneath those fancy clothes lay a voracious young woman. Now if I can only get those clothes off of you."

  I shivered as he ran a finger down my jaw. "Tha's not going to happen, my lord." Even I wasn't convinced by my declaration.

  Apollo chuckled and I actually felt us leave the other dimension this time. "Corrigan is here."

  Right on cue, our disheveled conductor burst through the auditorium doors and immediately started ranting about his many unfortunate mishaps that morning and questioning Liam as to why we weren't rehearsing. I shot Apollo a scathing look and he grinned. He got up to head to the podium, but turned back and leaned down until our lips were practically touching.

  "By the way," he said, "no need to thank me for the orgasm. You're welcome." Then he kissed me fast and hard, and was gone.

  He glided to the front of the pit, fake mortal persona back in action. I knew my face was flaming red and I avoided looking at anyone as I fumbled with my violin and prepared for rehearsal. My attention was eventually taken by Apollo and Corrigan's laughter. Just that fast, the conductor's foul mood was gone, whatever Apollo had said to him smoothing things right over. Apollo caught my eye and winked. I tried not to smile but failed. He was just too sexy and charming. I just managed to catch Vicky grinning like the cat from Alice in Wonderland. I sighed to myself, knowing there would be no stopping my friend's crude, sexual references to my love life now. Not after the kiss Apollo had just planted on me.

  Rehearsal ran a little long that day, which was expected since we were preparing for our first concert series of the season. Corrigan had chosen some really great pieces and I knew our show was going to be amazing. Still, I was overjoyed when practice was over.

  "So I guess the public make out session sort of makes you two official now?" Vicky asked as she and Rupert trailed Apollo and I out of the auditorium.

  I glared up at Apollo. What is she talking about? I thought, knowing he could hear me. He just smiled and I felt myself blush. So that's what all the silly looks and smiles had been about earlier. We'd been making out in front of everyone. Bloody son of a deity...

  "Are you two quite a thing now?" Vicky repeated when neither of us answered.

  "What thing would that be?" Apollo asked, taking my hand and lacing our fingers together.

  "Oh, you know, Liam. The kissin', datin', fuckin' sort of thing."

  "Vicky!" I exclaimed. Rupert groaned. Apollo burst out laughing.

  "I really like your friend," he said.

  "Hopefully not too much," I mumbled to myself. But he heard me and his face lit up with amusement.

  Outside, Vicky and Rupert said their goodbyes and Apollo walked me to my car. I still wasn't okay with his lying to me, but I just didn't have it in me to tell him to go away again. I was sure that made me foolish, but I didn't care. This was the most exciting thing that had ever happened to me and I wanted to know what happened next. It didn't matter what my family thought of it either, whether for o
r against. This was my decision and I wanted Apollo here with me. I wanted to see what the Fates had planned for us.

  Conor exited the car at our approach. He'd also gotten a piece of me on the whole Liam Argyros scandal, but I knew none of it had been his fault. Conor was a servant, and if my father had told him to keep quiet on the matter, he was obligated to do just that. I couldn't blame him for being obedient and doing as ordered.

  "Relax, Conor," I said, smiling at his tense expression. "Everythin' is okay with us."

  His entire body seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. "Thank Fates for tha', miss." He came around to open my door. "My lord," he bowed his head to Apollo.

  "I'll be riding along, Conor."

  "O' course, my lord." They shared a look and something clicked inside of my head.

  "You created him!"

  Apollo smiled. "I did."

  "When?"

  "We could drive and chat, miss, if you don't mind," Conor said, taking my violin from me. "It's freezin' out here."

  Once we were on the road home, I demanded an answer to my question.

  "1914, I believe it was," Conor said. "Is tha' right, my lord?"

  "I suppose so," Apollo replied, his eyes on me. The way he looked at me... I felt like he was trying to picture me naked.

  "Where were you from?" I asked after clearing my throat. "When you were a mortal?"

  "America, miss. New York. I haven' been back in decades." I'd always known Conor wasn't Irish. He'd adopted the accent the day he'd come to work for us five years before. Most of the immortals that worked for us did. Still, it was nice to know where he came from now.

  "Did you have family there? A wife? Children?"

  "My parents, yes, but no wife or children. I was a young fella then, all set to head off to war, when his lordship came along and gave me an offer I would have been a fool to refuse."

  I tried to ignore Apollo's roaming hands, but it was hard. They were everywhere. "Do you ever miss being a mortal?"

  "There's nothin' much to miss. Besides never aging, immortals celeste are jus' like mortals for the mos' part. We get hungry, we feel pain, all of it. If I miss anythin', it's my family. But they've been dead a long time now."

  "Wha' made you—Ah!—accept his lordship's offer?" I squeaked as Apollo buried his face in my neck. My face burned hot with embarrassment, but Conor didn't seem to care that his creator was feeling me up in front of him.