by Helen Scott
The black granite countertops combined with the pale wooden cabinets to make the place feel bigger than it was. He had a stove, a microwave, and if the silver doors she could see were a refrigerator and freezer, then it was the biggest one she’d ever seen. There was even a small section of cabinets that formed a breakfast bar.
There were two doors coming off the side of the kitchen that she assumed led to a bathroom and bedroom, next to which was a set of stairs. Her gaze followed the stairs up to find a loft-type area. Her mind raced at the ideas of what was up there.
“You like it?”
“It’s incredible. I can’t believe you built this by hand.”
Her eyes wandered over everything again. He began to walk her over to the couch as he watched her take it all in.
“Do you think you can rest here?”
“It’s nothing like anywhere I’ve ever stayed before, so I can’t see why not.”
He set her down on the couch as gently as he could. It was only then that she noticed the wall of windows opposite the couch, punctuated on one side by a stone fireplace that made up the corner of the room. Hal went over to it and moved some logs into place, along with some kindling. Before she could even ask how he knew what to do, the fire was roaring and warmth spread throughout the cabin, licking at her toes.
It was by far the coziest place she’d ever been. The rich red fabric of the couch seemed to echo the warmth of the fireplace, and when he brought a blanket over to cover her, she thought she could stay here forever. Not that she would, of course.
“Want me to fix you a drink? Tea? Whiskey? Water? Whatever sounds good.”
“Tea would be nice, thanks.”
“Coming right up.” He winked at her, and she turned into a pile of mush on the couch.
Robin was torn between watching the fire and watching Hal move about the kitchen. Hal won out. He moved with a fluid grace that she didn’t expect from a man his size. Her mind snapped back to the feeling of being in his arms. She watched his muscles flex and release as he reached for the kettle. His T-shirt rose slightly as he grabbed the box of tea from the top shelf of a cabinet.
She must have made a noise, because he looked over at her then. All she could do was offer him a weak smile. He grinned at her and went back to making tea. She had the sneaking suspicion that he knew she’d been watching him the whole time, and was putting on a very subtle show for her.
A mischievous thought ran through her mind. She could tease him just as much as he teased her. Was she ready for that, though? She’d only just left Randall and Eclipse. Could she be so carefree after that? What if when he touched her, it felt like Randall? The questions knocked around in her head as she stared at the fire. The likelihood of Hal feeling like Randall was very small, but it sent a shiver of ice down her spine.
The last thing she wanted to do was corrupt her safety blanket.
Robin looked over at him again, only to find he’d been watching her.
“I haven’t been in front of a real fire in years,” she offered as a way of distracting herself from the thoughts going through her head.
“Well, you’re welcome to sit in front of it as long as you want, but you should probably get some sleep soon, or you might pass out on me.”
She smiled at that, and he handed her the mug of tea he’d brought over before sitting in the armchair.
“Can I ask you something?” She stared at the fire as she spoke while the warmth from the mug seeped into her hands, making her realize just how cold she’d become.
“Anything.”
“How come you don’t think Randall will find me here, but he will at a hotel?” She glanced at him at the end, unable to keep her eyes away.
“The island is warded against anyone searching for it. Planes and boats all move around it without ever realizing it’s here. The gods can’t come onto the island without one of us escorting them. Neither can anyone else, for that matter. We set it up to be a private area for us, where we wouldn’t have to worry about people who were tracking magical objects coming to steal them, or Zeus dropping by unannounced. Things like that.”
“Wow. Okay. So you know Zeus?”
“Kind of. We aren’t friends or anything. Sometimes we are more like his employees, but we have spoken on occasion.”
“His employees?”
“We keep mankind safe from the dumb shit the gods do and have done. Plus, their kids are just as reckless. We spend most of our time cleaning up their messes, or wrangling Objects of Significance away from people who try to use them without fully understanding them.”
“Like Randall’s portal.”
“Maybe.”
“Traveling with you has a certain amount of synergy or harmony with wherever you are or are going to. Randall’s portal, I don’t know if you were still conscious when he opened it at The Farm, but his portals feel as if the universe is trying to crush you and flay you alive all at the same time. His seem to be working against the world. They create friction and offset the energies of the planet.”
“That makes sense now.”
“There is a lot more I need to tell you and your brothers, but I would rather just do it all at once, if that’s okay?”
“No skin off my nose.”
Robin lost her thoughts in the hypnotic dance of the fire once more while she sipped on her tea.
“Do you want anything to eat?”
“No, thanks, but don’t let me stop you if you’re hungry.”
They sat in silence for a while, both watching the fire and occasionally glancing at each other. She had never felt so relaxed or content in her life. It was as if she’d finally been allowed to draw a deep breath, and now she was almost dizzy from all the oxygen. Or maybe it was because the kindness Hal had shown her since he’d rescued her left her breathless.
Chapter 11
Robin woke up in a bed, but she had no idea where she was. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves, and the scent of Hal filled her nose. Her pulse slowed, and she rolled over in bed, luxuriating in the super soft sheets and the weight of the comforter on top of her. She knew she should kick it off because she was overheating, which was probably what woke her up, but it smelled delicious. Her brain deviated from her normal wake-up routine and was laser focused on what Hal would look like in bed, sheets pushed down so they barely covered his hips.
Her mouth went dry at the thought.
She remembered coming to the cabin and having some tea, but she must have fallen asleep on the couch downstairs before she was somehow transported to the bed. Stretching, she realized just how soft the mattress was. The single bed that she’d been given at Eclipse barely even moved when she sat down on it. She pushed herself up on her elbows and took in her surroundings. Well, she tried to. Her contacts were drier than the Sahara right now, and she was fairly sure that Hal didn’t have any contact lens solution hanging around.
Blinking furiously, her eyes began to water, and the contacts unstuck themselves from her eyeballs. She could not wait to get her glasses back. Seriously, she was never going to wear contacts again.
Now that she could see what was around her, she realized she was up in the loft of the cabin. The bedroom opened out onto the living area below. She could look straight out of the windows and see the sun starting to rise on the horizon. The light was that weird gray where shapes faded into one another, and she couldn’t distinguish anything without really concentrating on it. She knew that soon enough there would be pinks and yellows and oranges slicing up over the water, heralding the oncoming sun.
She was tempted to stay in bed and watch the sunrise from this vantage point, but she had to pee, so that wasn’t really an option. She slid to the edge of the bed and quickly pulled the blankets off, suppressing the inevitable shiver that shook her body when the cooler air hit it.
Swinging her feet down, she tentatively put some weight on her bad ankle. It wasn’t good news. She looked down at it more closely and realized it was swollen, with a lovely pu
rple bruise spreading from the base up and around the arch of her foot.
Great. This was just what she needed.
She pushed herself up, balancing with most of her weight on her good ankle, and hobbled over to the railing of the balcony. Reassessing the layout of the loft, Robin realized that there wasn’t a bathroom up here. It was just a bed, albeit a huge one, and a couple closets. Downstairs it was. She looked over the railing, only to find the vision that her brain had presented her with when she had first woken up almost completely recreated on the couch below.
Hal was sprawled out across the cushions, his legs sticking up and hanging off the armrest on the far side. His smooth oh-so-touchable skin was bared to the night, with a scrunched-up blanket around his hips. Hair was strewn all around his head as though he had been tossing and turning. The position he was in combined with the slight part of his mouth made him look so at peace, she almost envied him. Robin didn’t want to wake him up, but she also had to get downstairs.
Hopping down the first two stairs almost led to her falling on her face, so she sat and slowly slid from one stair to the other while holding her leg out in front of her. The only trouble she had was when the stairs turned. She did an awkward crab-walk-hop thing that got her around the bend. Of course, she hit her ankle a couple times, barely able to hold in the grunt of pain that shot through her as her heel made contact with the ground.
Finally, she was on the ground and pulling herself back up into a standing position. The bathroom had to be one of the two doors to the side here. The trouble was, there was nothing to really hang on to between the bottom of the stairs and the doors. She hopped over as best as she could, but she almost lost her balance and had to put weight on her ankle.
A sharp gasp from the pain escaped her.
She froze, praying she hadn’t woken Hal up. When she didn’t hear any movement, she continued her hopping to the first door. Cracking it open, all she found was a workout room. A quick glance showed her a heavy-duty treadmill, a punching bag, a rowing machine, and rows upon rows of free weights going up to sizes she’d never seen before, which was saying something since the gym at Eclipse was professionally stocked.
The second door yielded her goal. She hopped into the bathroom, silently closing the door behind her and turning on the light. The room was bigger than she’d expected. A large shower was next to a sauna and a monster-sized tub. The only bathtubs she’d seen outside of movies were the kind that had the walls built in for the showerhead to sit up top. This was not that. It was big enough for Hal to lie down, and stood on massive clawed feet. A big vanity and a mirror were positioned opposite.
She had no idea how he’d built all this himself. Sure, the appliances and the tub weren’t his, but the chairs in the dining area, the table, the bar stools, and the vanity cabinet had the same feel of craftsmanship to them. Robin would bet the clothes she wore that he had made it all by hand.
As she finished up and hopped out of the bathroom, an awake Hal greeted her. All her effort not to wake him up had failed.
“Hey, sorry I woke you.”
“No worries. I’m an early bird, anyway.”
She began to hop toward him but didn’t even make it three steps before he was there swinging her into his arms once more.
“A girl could get used to this.” She smiled up at him.
His dimples popped out as he grinned at her. “I’ll carry you wherever you want, my lady.”
“The couch would be good for now.”
“That’s where I was going. I want to take a look at that ankle.”
“I think it’s sprained.” Looking at it now, she realized it was the same ankle that she had twisted when Randall had taken her to see Nimue. Maybe her fix had only been temporary? Or maybe the initial injury was worse than Nimue had thought.
Hal set her down and lowered her carefully to the couch before sitting on the cushion next to her and pulling her leg into his lap. His fingers delicately explored the swollen skin of the joint, pressing in certain places, none of which hurt, surprisingly. As he explored her foot and up her calf, her skin broke out in goosebumps. The touch was luxurious.
It had been so long since she’d felt a kind hand that it made her feverish for more. His light gentle touches were like feathers on her skin, and she wanted the whole damn bird. Each time his fingers traced the joint, the flames of her need for his touch rose higher. Her heart rate had skyrocketed, and she struggled to keep her breathing under control. She didn’t want him to stop touching her, but both her emotional and her physical reaction to his touch scared her and excited her all at the same time.
“I can heal this, if you want.” His voice rumbled through her.
Robin didn’t realize she’d closed her eyes and let her head roll back. As she refocused on the world in front of her, she saw the naked desire in his eyes, and it turned her fever into a full-on inferno. Belatedly, she realized the position she was in had her breasts pointing skyward, straining against the thin fabric of the T-shirt. A blush suffused her cheeks.
“How?” She managed the one word without her voice betraying her too much. The need he had created in her was so strong, it was like its own living thing thrashing about inside the confines of her body.
“My brothers and I inherited some of Poseidon’s powers from when he blessed our father. Mine manifested partially as using water as a healing tool, so I can fix your ankle. If you want, that is.”
Hal’s eyes were dark, and while she didn’t doubt the words he said, she also knew on some instinctual level that he was enjoying watching her reactions to his touch. The curiosity in his gaze was only matched by the lust she saw there, and when that was combined with the huskiness of his voice, she was unable to resist.
“Yes, please.” Her voice sounded throaty to her own ears, causing even more blood to rush to her cheeks.
The lust and need vanished then, replaced by concentration and diligence as he pulled water from a glass sitting on the coffee table. Robin marveled at his control. She’d known people with these kinds of powers existed in the world, but she’d never seen one in person.
The water formed a barrier around her ankle, and the cool liquid pressed against her skin, slowly sinking into her. At first it hurt; not as badly as the scar on her back, but enough that it was uncomfortable. The pain slowly narrowed to a small pinprick right on the outside of her ankle. She felt a slight pop, and then the pain was gone.
“Good as new.”
“Thank you.” She wasn’t exactly sure what to say.
“Try and put some weight on it.”
Robin stood slowly, waiting for the pain to hit, but it never came. A smile spread across her face. “That’s incredible!”
Hal beamed at her as she walked around a bit, doing a little happy shuffle; at least, until she tripped on the rug and landed on Hal.
Chapter 12
A big boom of laughter escaped him, startling Robin. “I think you might be clumsier than I am.”
“I promise I’m not usually this bad.” She laughed as she tried to push herself off him.
When her hand slipped and almost ended up somewhere embarrassing, he held out his own hand to help her up. After an awkward moment, she was finally on her own couch cushion. The trouble was, she didn’t want to let go of his hand. Looking at the massive paw of a hand that engulfed her own, she tried to remember the last friendly touch she’d received. Her sister? Her mom? It definitely wasn’t her dad, since he’d pushed her into Randall’s arms as she screamed and tried to cling to him, before he turned and walked away.
“Do you know I can’t remember the last time I felt a kind touch?” Her voice sounded far away in her own ears, as if someone else was speaking.
“I’m sorry you had to go through that, Robin.”
Her name sounded like magic on his lips, a secret promise meant just for her. She let his hand rest on her thigh and traced the lines that crossed his palm.
“Before you, I think it was my mother, Tamar
a.” She breathed deeply, lost in the memory, while her finger mapped his hand. “She’d thanked me for doing something for her—I can’t even remember what anymore—and given me a hug. When my father, James, made the deal with Randall, my mother started treating me as if I didn’t exist. She wouldn’t look at me, wouldn’t touch me, wouldn’t respond to me. My sister cried the whole time. The night my father took me to Mr. Fields, my mom had taken my sister out shopping or to see a movie or something. I will probably never know what, but no one was home. No one fought to keep me. I fought for them. I fought to stay. I fought against my gut that told me to run away because I knew they would be the ones who paid the price. I wonder if my father ever told them that Randall killed two men in front of me?”
She felt Hal’s palm twitch as though he wanted to say something but didn’t want to interrupt her. “When we arrived at the meeting point, it was a dark warehouse, industrial-park-type area. Randall was standing next to two men. I knew who he was right away because he was so well dressed compared to the other two. I have no idea who they were to this day. As soon as we got out of the car, the scream started. It built inside me with the force of a wrecking ball, getting bigger with each step my father forced me to take. By the time we were halfway to the three men, the scream tore out of me, wrenching my jaw open and bellowing out into the world.
“I saw the exact scene we were standing in while I screamed. I knew Randall was going to shoot the man on his left with a smile on his face. I fainted then, but fortunately my future employer had planned for that and provided my father with a container of ice water, which he promptly threw over my head.