Shaking his head, Mars tossed the water bottle into the air and flicked his fingers, making it disappear. “Doubtful. These were going to happen regardless of whether you hacked in or not. But you must be careful going forward. We have enough information now to formulate a strategy to defeat Pierus.” He arched a brow at Ian. “What will you do about approving the alternate solution?”
Ian frowned. “I’ll hold off as long as possible. But Cronin and Peltier are in an all fired hurry to push the chemical option into production. If I have to, I’ll quit my job and contact a friend who works for the competition. They’re doing research into the same thing and rejecting the inorganic answer for the same reason I am. I’ll give him the idea to use worms as sanitation cleaners.”
Mars looped a towel around his neck. “Plan B sounds like an excellent option.” He kissed her cheek. “Take care, Polly. Should you need backup, shout.”
Gripping Ian’s wrist, she began to mist away. “Always do.” She paused mid-mist. “Mars, I’m worried about Zeus. I believe he’s ill, even though the stubborn old goat won’t admit it.”
Mars’s expression softened and he smiled gently at Polly. “He would not have you worry about his health. Focus on your challenge. Gaia and I will have your father’s back.” He brushed his hands in her direction. “Now, go. Your sister and her mate grow impatient.”
He’d heard Clio’s voice as well. The fact made her happy she’d traveled the Hollow to speak to Mars instead of doing a mental shout-out. She nodded. Linking her arms around Ian’s waist, she misted them back through the Hollow.
An old Irish folk song played through the speakers in the bathroom while she remained cloaked, hovering them above the ground to determine if the room remained empty. Thankfully, it was a slow night at The Rowan, and there weren’t any women using the facilities. She rematerialized with a slight burst of light and lowered them to the floor.
“Okay, that was seriously awesome,” Ian remarked. He nudged her until her back was against the wall. “Best way to travel ever.” He was still smiling when he touched his mouth to hers.
His kiss turned greedy the instant she returned it, opening wide to let his tongue in. When he gripped her biceps, warmth from his palms seeped into her arms. Bolts of desire shot to her heart, softening on impact to a loftier emotion. As she owned her feelings of love for him, she framed his face between her hands, enjoying the clean smoothness of his cheeks.
Tingles brought her body to life as Ian leaned against her, his chest to her breasts, hips to belly. He was just as turned on as she was, judging by the hard ridge pressed into her stomach. She pushed him back until she could swing around and trade places with him, putting his back against the wall. He went willingly, drawing her tightly to his body as his kiss took a turn for the incendiary.
She speared her hands through his hair as he stroked her hips and butt. Flexing his fingers on her ass, he rocked his hips. Heat rushed between her legs, undeniable and insistent. Goddess, she wanted him in her right this moment. When he broke the kiss, she whimpered. But the whimper became a moan when he traced his lips along her throat. His mouth was warm and wet and insistent. Cradling his head between her hands, she held him in place.
“I know you’re back. Don’t have sex in that bathroom. That’s gross.” Clio’s voice echoed in her mind.
Polly released Ian’s head, and took a tiny step away, allowing reason to prevail. She grinned at Ian. “Clio is impatient to know what we learned. She thinks sex in the restroom at a club would be disgusting.”
“She knows what we’re doing in here?”
“One of the curses of being immortal.”
Ian cupped her cheek and she pressed her face into his palm.
She asked, “Raincheck?”
He slung one arm around her shoulders and reached for the door pull. “Most definitely.”
As he led her back to the booth, Polly realized that she’d follow the man anywhere. What started as friendship was tempered by the challenge and had become something stronger.
It had become love.
Chapter 18
Tolling bells played a mournful dirge, the ominous tones reverberating against her skull like a jackhammer. All around her was dark, except for a speck of light barely visible down a long tunnel. As Polly headed toward the pinprick, her feet dragged, as if weighted down. She struggled to move one foot in front of the other, but the viscous sludge around her ankles resisted her efforts to break free. The solemn noise grew louder and she covered her ears, pressing her hands hard to drown out the noise.
Polly was dreaming, something she rarely did. Subconsciously she knew the world around her was built from spun webs and memories. She didn’t try to break free of the dream. Experience had taught her that in a dream state, her brain was communicating something she’d overlooked. Something vital. Her dreaming mind forced her to lower her hands and open her mind.
The solid warmth at her back seeped through and she felt safe. Ian was in the bed next to her. Her partner in the challenge.
Maybe her partner in life?
The small dot of light grew larger and pulsed like a lightning bug flitting over a meadow. She tracked its progress as it moved erratically toward her, zipping high then low, left then right. Soft, subtle humming replaced the clanging bells. Her heart surged as she recognized the tune, and the voice.
His face came into focus. His beard gleamed white in the dimness, his deep-set eyes shadowed.
“Leonardo? Why are you here?”
“You called me.” He scratched the tip of his long, patrician nose, the gesture telling of his confusion.
“I have missed you, my friend.” Odd, here was another man whose friendship she’d treasured, but she had grown to love with all her heart. Just like Ian.
“Bah! You have moved on. But I’ve watched you throughout the years. You little minx. You never spoke to me of your immortality.”
“It’s not something I’ve ever divulged.” Until two days ago. She reached toward him, but her fingers slid through his hand. Just a dream. But since he was the smartest man she’d ever known, she jumped on the opportunity. “I need your help, my love. Another immortal is trying to conquer the world, with the intent to impoverish humans and fatten his own purse. His plan could result in thousands, maybe millions of lives lost.”
Da Vinci’s low chuckle twined through her brain. “How Machiavellian of him.”
An idea flickered to life. Machiavelli’s life purpose had seemed to be acquiring wealth at the expense of others. The man had peddled influence and control. Just like Pierus.
“More like the Medici, or the Borgia.” Awful despots under whose influence cruelty and pettiness plunged citizens into the depths of despair.
“What has this to do with me?”
“Leo, mi amore. I don’t know. But one of the problems I must solve in order to beat this immortal is an issue I know you are familiar with. Sanitation.”
Leo laughed, his belly and shoulders shaking. “Merde. You have landed squarely in a shitty problem, haven’t you, my dear?”
“Good one, Leo. But seriously, my challenge is to stop Pierus from ending progress that has been made based on your canal designs.” In her dream, a stone bench materialized. Leo sat, then patted the spot next to him. When she joined him, he laid his fingers on hers, his form solidifying enough to feel warmth from his hand. Her heart swelled with his touch after hundreds of years. What she’d had with him had been comfortable, not heated like what she and Ian shared.
“Sweet Polly. I believe your friend Ian has taken my idea and refined it in a most unexpected manner. I know of the efforts of his company to improve the lot of less fortunate souls. I also know of, and strongly despise, the faction that would contaminate that which Ian seeks to clean.”
“I need a way around it.”
“You already have one at your disposal. Two ways, in fact.”
Polly rubbed her temples. “What is clear to you is not as obvious to me.”
Well, duh! Why hadn’t she considered digging in and sharing the story of deceit and corruption through the media? Her focus had been split with the challenge and her growing relationship with Ian.
A new sound interrupted their conversation. The flap of wings, the screech of a large bird. Who had invited Greed to this reunion? The gigantic magpie swooped toward her, feathers fluttering wildly as she beat her wings.
Polly flashed up her hand, smacking into a solid plane. “Go away, evil one. You’re not welcomed here.” The bird froze in mid-flap, hovering over them. Something pulled her forward from the dream. Her shoulders shook as she turned back to Leo. “What of the other solution, my love?”
“Your father owns a great city-state. What you would now call a corporation. Perhaps, it is time to expand his influence into another field of endeavor.”
The weight of Leonardo’s hand diminished as he faded from her dream. Her shoulders and body shook as she fought his vanishing act. “What do you mean? What can my father do?” She gripped his hand and pulled it to her chest, desperate to hold him in place until she understood his meaning. He always was a great one for puzzles.
“Leonardo, don’t go!” Air concussed around her, pressing on her heart and lungs, forcing her to hold her breath.
The voice she’d heard only in her head amplified, as though Leo remained seated next to her not faded away. “Pierus isn’t the only immortal capable of a takeover.”
“Polly!”
Her eyes popped open to reveal slats of sunlight painted on the ceiling. Not her room. She fought to hold on to Leo’s last words in her dream.
Ian rose above her, brow wrinkled, his lips in a grim line. “Polly, you were dreaming.” His hair flopped forward, grazing her chin.
She shut her eyes and gasped, forcing air back into her lungs. He squeezed her hand, drawing attention to the fact she clutched his between her breasts. “Oh, goddess.” She eased oxygen in and out, slowing her racing heart. The answer was right there, but she couldn’t make it coalesce in her foggy brain. “What time is it?”
Ian twisted, drawing their locked hands over her left breast. “A little after six.” He nestled, drawing her over his chest, and wrapping his arms around her. “Are you okay?”
His heart thudded soothing and strong under her cheek. She slowed her breath to match. “Yeah, just a dream.”
Drawing her closer, he kissed the crown of her head. “I almost hate to ask, but who’s Leonardo? You sounded panicked and bleak when you asked him not to go.”
Polly feathered her fingers along the dusting of hair on his chest, chasing the action with her lips. “da Vinci.”
“Weird. Why would you dream of him?”
“A very long time ago, in the last years of his life, I was his mistress.” Sadness filled her and she closed her eyes against growing tears. She hadn’t cried about him in three hundred years.
Ian’s chest rose and fell steadily, his throat convulsed as he swallowed. “Did you love him like you loved your husband, Lysander?” He trailed his fingers on her upper arm.
“I loved him because he was a brilliant, thoughtful man. But not as I loved my husband.” Her love for Leo had been…comfortable. For Lysander, she’d felt passion and affection like none before him.
He stilled the stroking motion of his hand. “Oh.” His voice held a note of disappointment.
Hiding her smile against his chest, she kissed his pec. “And not as I love you.”
The up and down movement of his chest stopped and he tightened his arms around her. A gust of his breath stirred her hair as he heaved a great sigh.
Wrapping his fingers around her shoulder, he urged her to her side, and followed, until his cheek rested on the pillow they shared. His dear face was somber, but a warm glow lit his eyes. “You love me?”
“The first time you offered to talk dirty to me, I fell.”
His quick smile dimmed and he shrugged. “How can you be sure? What if you only feel this way because I’m the man who is supposed to help you defeat Pierus and Greed?”
The stubble on his chin scratched her fingertips when she smoothed her hand along his jaw. “If you recall, you offered your excellent form of communication before Greed appeared for the first time. Later, when I was sure you were the man to help me, I debated not getting you involved. But your kiss is very persuasive.”
He hadn’t said he loved her yet, but she believed he did. And she certainly understood any hesitation on his part. She and her immortal family had been rocking his world and his beliefs steadily since that kiss on the dock.
A smile grew on his face, creasing his dimples deep in his cheeks. Golden flecks set in his brown eyes glittered in the growing sunlight. “When you kissed me after we got back to shore, I knew that was the very last first kiss I’d ever experience.”
Her heart melted with his words. Not the words of love she craved, but the sentiment was there. Sliding her hands around his shoulders, she drew him forward, and touched her lips to his, sealing their lives together as easily as their mouths. She traced her tongue around the rim, loving the smiling curve of them.
Ian shifted his top leg, nudging it between hers. Holding her close, he rolled, putting her under him. His weight pressed her into the mattress and she basked in the heat of his chest over hers. Moving until she could cradle his hips between her thighs, she moaned when his erection prodded her opening. The skin of his butt was soft and smooth under her fingertips, and she sighed her contentment and passion into his mouth. Muscles flexed under his flesh when he rocked his hips and slid into her.
The fullness he created as he moved within, each slow stroke, each easy withdrawal sent emotion swirling up and up, climbing her spine with light and color. She matched him stroke for stroke, accepting each push deep in her, chasing him as he pulled away to begin again. The rhythm they settled into pushed them higher, nearer the edge. Needing to get closer, she locked her ankles behind his back, tipping her hips until his pelvis rubbed her clit, centering her world with delicious friction, leading to a glorious release. His breath shortened as he moved over her, each pant tickling her ear.
She raked her fingers down his back as he pushed her toward the shimmery edge. Body convulsing, she dropped over it, and light exploded in her. He groaned long and low as he reached his orgasm in time with hers.
When he collapsed on top of her, she couldn’t help thinking they were two people in sync, body and mind.
Together, they had to be unbeatable.
“What do you think the dream meant?” Ian asked as he spread cream cheese over his bagel.
Polly shrugged, eyeing his careful attention to his task. “I understand the first part. I’m a reporter. There’s a story here. I need to follow my instincts.” When he set down the knife, Polly took the bread from his hand and sank her teeth into it.
Smiling at her, Ian reached for the other half of the toasted bagel. “You’re planning to do an expose style piece on who? Eos?”
“Nope. My target is Argran. I’m planning to look into the company’s monopolistic practices. I’m sure they are benefitting from someone in the Trade Commission taking bribes to look the opposite direction. I have an obligation to shed some light on their behavior.”
“If Pierus is in charge of Argran, won’t that leave you in a vulnerable position?”
“Maybe, but I’ve exposed this type of story for many years. I do have First Amendment protections available.” The coffee machine beeped as it finished brewing. Polly rose, then moved to the counter where Ian had left two mugs. Fragrant vanilla-scented steam rose as she poured.
Ian snorted. “Do immortal corporations abide by constitutional amendments?”
“We adopt the rules and policies of the nati
ons where we do business.” Polly set a mug in front of him then settled on the stool next to him.
“Are there many supernatural corporations?”
“Not tons and tons, but a few.”
“Example?”
Polly wanted to laugh at his curiosity, but resisted. “Hermes works for my dad in the communications department, but he has a world-wide delivery service on the side.”
“Hold the phone! Mercury Express is his?” When she nodded, he continued, “I’ve worked with them on some large equipment field deliveries.”
“And Apate’s sister, Aletheia, runs a national polygraph service, Veritas.”
“So she’s the opposite of the goddess of deception. That seems appropriate.” Ian wiped crumbs from the table into his hand then dumped the napkin on his plate.
And still, this conversation did nothing to help her solve Leonardo’s last riddle. “I need to talk to my dad. Leo intimated that he holds the key to implementing your idea and short-circuiting Pierus’s plan.”
Ian rested his hand over Polly’s on the counter. He rubbed his thumb along the top of her wrist in a slow, stroking motion. “And if we stop it, you win, right?”
“Provided Pierus doesn’t try something sneaky.”
“What do you need from me?”
“Can you print hard copies of the balance sheets you looked at yesterday? I can start there looking for proof of Argran’s duplicity.”
“Sybil copied everything to a flash drive yesterday. She has it all already.”
A weight lifted off Polly’s shoulders. Less involvement for him in the subterfuge meant she could keep Ian safe. “Efficient. I’ll contact her later.” She stood and smoothed her hands over Ian’s shoulders. “I need to get to work. Once I get in touch with Sybil to determine what she’s found out, I’ll let you know if we need you to snoop in Eos’s records anymore.”
“Will you call me, or…” Ian touched his fingers to her forehead, then to his.
She groaned. “We’ve created a monster.” Shaking her head, she told him, “I’ll call on the phone, or email. But not to your Eos account. I know that’s not secure.”
Greed: Goddess of Delphi (Goddesses of Delphi Book 3) Page 16