“Neither are your doubts,” her older sister retorted.
“I’ve put him through hell. Exposed him to my supernatural side, got him involved in a project that ultimately cost him a job that until very recently, he loved. Dragged him to a remote cavern where we could have died. Why would he sign up for more of the same?”
“Just shut up,” Lia snapped, uncharacteristically angry. “He was involved even without you. Eos was already gearing up for change. Plus, he embraced your immortality way better than Thomas did.” She looked to Nia for conformation.
Head bobbing vigorously, Nia said, “Lia’s right. You know Thomas resisted. Doesn’t seem to me that Ian even blinked about us being Muses.”
Lia jumped up. She paced across the antique Persian rug, wringing her hands together. “Damn straight. And look.” She stopped and pointed at Polly. “That cavern came with a pool and all the privacy you could want. And, you didn’t wreck that awful green beast of a car he loves.”
Polly had to laugh. Of course Lia would look on the funny side. “I might have wrecked the back seat of that car for any other females, though.” Heat blazed into her cheeks.
Every one of her sisters stared at her in shocked silence, brows raised to varying degrees, jaws dropped and mouths wide. Corie chuckled, Callie covered her mouth to hide a smile, and Lia and Mel both jammed their fingers in their ears and began a chorus of la-la-las.
Polly bent forward resting her forehead on her knees and laughed until her sides ached and tears streamed from her eyes. She couldn’t catch a breath. Straightening, she attempted to suck in oxygen. Her sisters, each laughing and crying, clustered around her. They hadn’t cut up so much since the challenge began with Clio. The hilarity was welcome, freeing. For a moment her troubles, even Pierus and his ridiculous daughters, disappeared. These women, her beloved sisters, always had her back.
Aerie brushed tears from her cheeks and pinned an earnest gaze on Polly. “None of what you two have been through in the past week changes the fact that you love him and he loves you.”
“Yes, he does,” Ian’s voice came from the doorway behind Polly.
Popping off the couch at the sound of his voice, Polly turned to face him. His eyes were soft and deep, the brown like smooth chocolate. He’d tucked his hair behind his ears, making her fingers itch to free it, and play with the strands. Stubble darkened his chin and emphasized the dimples carved in his cheeks as a smile lit his entire face. He’d relaxed, one broad shoulder against the door, and propped a hand on his lean hip.
Oh, goddess, he looked good enough to lick. Polly’s tongue snuck out, moistening her lips.
“Ian,” she breathed.
Behind her, one of her sisters snapped their fingers, breaking the spell among them. One by one, they filed by Polly. As they passed, they lightly touched her arm, prodding good thoughts into her. Last to leave, Lia stopped and pressed her forehead against Polly’s. The touch soothed the case of nerves beating condor-sized wings against her sternum.
Lia’s thoughts filtered straight into her brain. “You want me to nudge him to talk dirty to you?”
“Think he has that covered,” Polly whispered back.
With a giggle, Lia ended their traditional forehead press with a kiss on Polly’s cheek. “Knock it out the park, yo!”
With a confident swagger, Lia moved toward Ian. She paused in front of him, jammed her hands on her waist and tipped her head. “She’s afraid to love you for fear of losing you.”
“Lia!” Polly screeched as heat flooded her face, then drained out again.
Ian straightened in the doorway and sent Polly a look filled with longing and hunger. Tingling began in Polly’s stomach and inched through her system, melting her heart and sizzling low in her core.
Her sister, the normally funny one, shot her a serious look then focused on Ian again. “Prove her wrong, Ian Sommers. Prove me right.” She cupped his cheek and squinted up at him.
“No fair nudging him, Lia,” Polly barked.
“All’s fair in love and war.” Lia dropped her hand and tossed a saucy look over her shoulder. “Seems to me you two have been through both this week.”
Lia banged the door shut behind her. The sharp cracking noise made Polly jump.
Across the room, Ian began a slow prowl toward her.
Polly laced her fingers together, half to keep from trembling, but partly to keep from reaching for him. They’d conquered a lot together, but the world still wasn’t safe. “Did the experiment work?” she asked, hoping to distract him from talk of love and a lifetime together.
“Yes. And Hermes was successful at convincing the Liberian officials of the need to accept an organic option for the safety of their citizens.”
“Good.” She took a step away as he continued his slow advance. “So what’s next?”
“I’m going to Liberia the day after tomorrow. The government seized the Eos plant there and has offered it to me to begin breeding the nematodes to clean the sanitation pits. Zeus is sending Hephaestus with me to work on engineering a better canal system. Based, of course, on Leonardo da Vinci’s model.” Ian rounded the end of the couch, six steps away from her. He sat on the bolster, drew his foot up to the cushion, and rested his forearm on his thigh.
“Okay. Good.” They’d saved an entire civilization from disease and death. Turned a government focused on greed into one dedicated to the wellbeing of the population. And all she could say was good. Polly bit her lips and stared at Ian.
“Not planning to make this easy for me, are you?” He sighed. “Okay—full status report. Mars located Greed through his nifty tracking link. According to him, the molting process reversed and she is just an ugly magpie once again. The bitch is imprisoned in the aviary on Olympus. The reunion between the sisters wasn’t happy. Lots of squawking and pecking. That’s a dominance thing.”
“Hang on,” Polly said as confusion reared like a stallion within her brain. “Why do you know all of this?”
“Because I’m smarter than a fifth grader?” A smile tugged the corner of his lips.
“I’m serious, Ian. What’s going on?” she demanded.
“Zeus called a meeting of the Board of Directors an hour ago. He’s invited me to join the organization.” He stood. Took another step toward her. “He was in my lab most of the afternoon, asking tons of questions, getting acquainted with my staff. He’s a bright man.”
Her heart raced at what he wasn’t telling her. “I know. But why did he invite you to sit on the board?”
“Since he was in the lab all day, I pitched him the idea you and I had talked about. A new company under the Olympus umbrella. The world needs organic solutions for almost everything.” Ian took another step closer.
She stood her ground, mesmerized by the excited light beaming in his eyes.
“He even suggested a name for the new company. Demeter Sciences.”
“Leave it to Zeus to find the perfect Greek god name to represent.”
“It fits. We’ll be operational as soon as he works out a deal to buy Eos. He doesn’t want to reinvent the wheel and Eos is at risk of shut down since the deal with Argran isn’t happening.” He skimmed his knuckles down her arm, and then slid his hand into hers.
The touch of his fingers jerked to life the desire she felt for the man. Intense need nearly left her speechless. She eked out a tiny squawk that sounded suspiciously like good.
When he traced the pads of his fingers over her cheek, she nestled into the touch. A slow, sexy grin replaced his studious look. “I manned up and asked him.”
Her heart skipped a beat, then another. “Who? What?”
“I asked Zeus if I could marry you. Told him I wanted to spend every day of the rest of my life with you. Holding you…loving you.”
Her stomach pitched and rolled as her spirit took flight. “What did he say?”
“His exact words were ‘get it, dude.’” Ian laughed. “I took that for ‘You had better treat my beloved daughter right. Don’t make me regret
my decision.’”
“Ian, I…” A lump the size of the meteor that nearly destroyed all life on Earth grew in her throat. Zeus hadn’t offered him the type of immortality he’d offered Thomas and Jax. “I love you. But after spending this lifetime loving you, being with you, my next ten rebirths, every new incarnation of my life will be agony when I remember you. I’m not sure I can bear that pain again.” She pulled her hand from his and stepped back. Heart rending into small pieces, she moved to the ornate fireplace and turned her back to him. Burying her face in her hands, she bit down on the urge to wail.
A touch on her shoulder stilled her despair. Ian breathed against her neck as he leaned over her. “Zeus offered me immortality. The chance to come back and live with you for all eternity. I told him I’d only accept his gift if you wanted me to have repeated existences with you.”
“What?” Breath stuttered in her lungs as hope burst brightly in her chest. She turned and let her gaze search his, finding only truth, honesty and love in the deep pools of brown.
“I’d decided if you lost the challenge, I was going to ask Zeus to turn me in to a magpie, so I could spend my life with you.” Ian threaded his fingers through her hair, holding her in place. He pressed a soft kiss against her lips, a promise of more.
He pulled back and held her gaze. “Marry me, Polly. I love you, and if I only get one lifetime with you, I’ll be delighted. You are my inspiration.” He kissed her again. After he pulled away, he said, “But I’m greedy. I want more. I want the next lifetime with you as well. I want to be your inspiration, your incentive to take care of mortals. I’ll need the next twenty lifetimes to prove my love for you. Any lives after that, I’ll just call cake.”
“I do love you, Ian.” Polly wrapped her arms around his shoulders. She loved him enough that even if Zeus hadn’t offered the gift, she would have said yes to him. Better to have even the length of one lifetime together than to not have him at all. Tears spilled over, and she didn’t bother to try to stop them as they coursed down her cheeks. “For this lifetime, and all the rest. Say yes to Zeus’s gift, because I say yes to you.”
Coming Soon- Hunger
Available in January 2017
Lia Thanos, Muse of Comedy, has joked her way through hundreds of lifetimes. But the past two months have been no laughing matter. She and her sisters have been locked in a battle to save Olympus from a hostile takeover. Now, the god challenging them has upped his game and personally selected the only mortal man able to help Lia win.
Botanist Ben Jordan has his hands full; running a farmer’s market, helping his hearing-impaired sister, and trying to figure out why crops around the world are failing. If the trend can’t be reversed, mortals will starve and chaos will destroy the world. The only good news is the long-time famine he’s faced in his love life came to an end when he met Lia.
Despite the fact that he finds it hard to believe immortal gods exist, he accepts the challenge to help Lia, a woman he yearns to spend the rest of his life with. But Pierus and his daughter, Hunger, will stop at nothing to keep the two apart.
Hunger
Chapter 1
“This guy really should keep his day job.” Lia Thanos slapped the bar towel over her shoulder, crossed her arms and pinned her attention on the stage.
The wanna-be comedian, Paul something or other, stood in the center spotlight, sweating profusely and stumbling over his jokes. The dude’s delivery was wooden, his timing off and his face was blank like he’d never told them even once in public. Lia knew better, because she’d heard his gags before. On the demo tape he’d dropped by six months ago. At an open mic call two weeks ago. And then again, twice, in The Greek Chorus’s green room while waiting for his spot in the line-up.
One of the disadvantages of owning a comedy club was the need to instill courage in fledgling comics. And Paul was the newest newbie she’d ever offered a performance slot. Agitation churned in her belly, but she tamped it down.
Had to be performance anxiety. His delivery had been smooth and practiced each time she’d acted like an audience for him. Judging by his struggles at the moment, Lia doubted he’d ever done his routine in front of a live audience. Goddess knew it was intimidating to stand in front of her regular Thursday night crowd and recite humorous stories with timely punch lines.
Snagging a couple of fries from the plate George, her kitchen manager, had left for her, Lia slipped under the bar’s gate. She edged closer to the stage as she munched the salty snack. She drew a deep breath and expelled it in Paul’s direction, sending it with thoughts of a mirror, hoping to relax the man with her Muse gift. For the goddess’ sake, she prayed her mental trick worked before the comic completely melted down and the audience started booing.
She continued to send the nudge in his direction, maintaining the flow of carbon dioxide out of her lungs in a controlled, easy manner. She was the Muse of Comedy, and this funny man needed her special brand of calming thoughts.
Paul’s shoulders eased downward and he settled into a more comfortable stance as her nudge took effect. She’d effectively blocked the spectators from his sight, putting an imaginary mirror in front of him, so it would seem to him that he was in his own home, practicing his routine.
Chuckles rose around her as the poor guy recited the kicker of his joke about a priest, a rabbi and a sheikh in a rowboat. She waited a beat, until he’d launched into his next story about a blonde. When members of the audience burst into laughter and applause, Lia finally drew a deep breath and released the comic from her nudge. He was fine now.
As she pivoted to return to the bar, she lifted her hand and waved to Stewart and Jeremy, two of her really-regulars. Jeremy possessed fallen dark angel looks, contrasting sharply with Stew’s hearty Norseman heritage. Together, they shot her two thumbs up, signaling their approval of the new comic. Normally, her job as a Muse was to provide inspiration for material for comedians and actors, but if she needed to exert a calming influence on performers, she was on it. Her club had been the launching point for many of today’s brightest comics and she’d nudged several of them.
Including Barry Burnie, the newest darling of late night television. She’d also, for kicks and giggles, nudged one of the reality TV housewives. That woman’s entertainment factor and audience appeal skyrocketed when Lia inspired her. The one-line zingers Lia’d provoked in the actress were legendary.
She ducked under the gate again, moving behind the bar.
“What hell is his problem?” Celeste asked as she nodded to the far end of the twenty-five-foot bar.
Lia followed the bartender’s gaze. An older guy sat hunched over on the stool, not appearing even halfway interested in the comic routine happening on stage. Light from a phone reflected on the man’s face. The glare illuminated a prodigious scowl, like he’d received some really bad news. Didn’t alter the fact that somebody had hit him with the handsome stick.
The man sitting next to Mr. Grumpy prodded him when the rest of the audience guffawed and clapped vigorously. The pair exchanged words then the friend turned his back to the bar and stood, moving to a nearby table. From the warm welcome the guy received, and the shrugging of shoulders and entreaties for Mr. G to join them, they were friends. The dude on the stool lifted a finger to wave them off and hunched over more. His only movement came as he swept his thumb up the screen and continued to read.
“Don’t know,” Lia replied. “Who comes to a comedy club to read?” She wiped her hands on the towel over her shoulder, picked up her plate of fries, and sauntered to the end of the bar.
Taking a position directly in front of the now morose looking guy, she waited for him to acknowledge her presence. Whatever he read on the screen had him riveted.
While he continued to scan his phone, she studied him. Closely cropped, super thick brownish hair, with an abundance of gray. Rather than make him look old, it made him look dignified. Even though he scowled, his forehead was unlined. His skin was deeply tanned, except under his eyes, as if
he worked outdoors and wore sunglasses. Although his lips were compressed into a thin line, she could tell they were full and firm. His jaw was strong, no-nonsense, and covered in a delightful scruff.
He wore a plaid shirt, open at the front, over a long-sleeved white T-shirt. The sleeves had been pushed up, revealing a dusting of dark hair on muscular forearms. Unable to help herself, Lia licked her lips at the guy’s rugged, outdoorsy appearance.
He hadn’t noticed her yet, so she let the plate clatter to the counter next to him, and shot her weight onto one hip. “Can I get you another beer?”
When her question still didn’t get his attention, she sent him a swift mental poke to look up.
Which he did immediately, pinning her with an ice blue gaze. “Sorry, did you say something?”
Oh man, those eyes came served with a super-sized side of sexy. Lia huffed out a pent-up breath and shot him a toothy grin. “I asked if you’d like another beer.” She nodded toward his mostly empty glass.
After a fast glance back at his phone, he heaved a deep sigh. “Since the chances are good that beer as an American staple will be vanishing, yeah, I’ll have another.”
When Lia turned away to pour a glass full of the brand he’d requested, Tall, Dark and Pre-occupied returned his attention to his phone. Irritation trickled down her spine as she narrowed her eyes at him. What was his deal? After drawing the perfect draft, with just the right amount of foamy head, she slapped the lever backward. Sauntering his direction, she telegraphed instructions to put down his phone. To her surprise, he waved a hand in front of his face, like he’d swatted a fly, but didn’t take his eyes from the device in his hands.
Hmm, that hadn’t happened before to her. The skin on her spine prickled.
She slowed her step and studied the man again. Her sisters Polly, Nia and Clio had all had weird things happen with their inspirational abilities recently. When it had been their turn to face the challenge set for them by the megalomaniac, Pierus.
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