by April Zyon
“Now that I know, I can see the resemblance.”
Ares pulled the container from the fridge. “So was that a yes, Camilla?” The woman threw him a look that had the big man grinning. “She’s a little temperamental today because she’s been missing the boys. There’s enough here if you want some too, Kasper. Care to join us?”
“Thank you, but no. I’m good. I ate gobs of it yesterday, and I don’t think I could eat any more. I want to be able to enjoy it on the rare times that it’s made.”
“More for me.” Shooting her a grin, Ares opened cupboards until he found dishes.
Kasper watched Ares and Camilla. She smiled as she did so. “I can see why Mikhail and Gareth are so fond of you. I’m honestly surprised they aren’t both down here yet.” It was odd; she would have thought that the two men would have been there with their woman instead of leaving her alone with Kasper and Ares.
“They’re close,” Ares said. He moved to the table and took a seat. “Besides, if Mikhail didn’t trust you fully, he would never have given into Camilla, no matter how whiny she got. And she can reach levels that even amaze me.”
“I am not whiny, I just don’t take disappointment well and like to ensure I let everyone around me know it.”
“Oh honey, we all know. But it still doesn’t mean we’re going to give into every whim you have. You know as well as I do that when Mik or Gareth put their foot down, it stays there until they determine all is safe.”
“It’s so damn sexy when they try to be firm with me,” Camilla said with a small smirk.
“There is something just super sexy when your guy—or guys, in our case—try to put their foot down and get all pouty. I look forward to learning if James and Victor do that as well. You know them—will they?” Kas asked with a smile to the woman.
“I do know them, but I can’t say for sure if they will. I’m going to guess they probably will get that way. All men seem to at some point. What you need to watch out for is the fake out. They think they’re being all clever by pretending something isn’t as important, or serious, as it truly is. They do it in the hope that we won’t clue into the fact that something’s up. Little do they realize we’re brighter than they are.”
“I think I like you already, Camilla. Do you think you can help me with that?”
The other woman stared at her for a long time before finally nodding. “I think I can do that. I think you and I are going to end up being good friends.”
“I certainly hope so,” Kasper agreed. “I hear your guys coming this way. How about you grab your food and enjoy your meal with your guys? They’ve missed you.”
“Which is my cue to get a second serving, and go hide out for a while,” Ares said. “Why don’t you and I go get to know one another a little better, Kasper? You might even be able to convince me to share some dirt on your Aunt as well.”
“I bet that I would have some stories you wouldn’t know, too. Did you know that she took me to a strip joint when I turned eighteen? It was hilarious. The way that the woman acted. The men, though—holy crapballs, the men were all over her. Is it always like that?”
“Pretty average,” he said. “It happens when one of us forgets to dampen down our natural effect. We usually clue in, and then it’s a relatively normal reaction to the slightly unfair beauty advantage most of us have.” He headed for the doorway with her. “We can also amp it right up to the max. Talk about an instant orgy.”
“Artemis must have done that more than once. I love her, but that woman, I swear she loved being with men. Lots of them. She claimed that she had to do it because I couldn’t. Said that since I could feel everyone’s truth when naked with them, then she had to ensure to have my share of men as well as her own.”
Snorting at that Ares, moved to settle on the sofa. “It’s okay, kid, you can call it like it is. The woman is a bit of a strumpet. Everyone is always on about Apollo, but he’s a fucking monk in comparison to Artie some days. Though there are a couple others that even put her to shame, but I won’t mention names on the off chance you meet them one day. Don’t want the first thing to pop out of your mouth to get my ass in hot water. They all claim she’s the virgin goddess, but none of us gods have ever or will ever be virgins. That’s just man back then wishing and hoping. She turned some asshole down who was writing her creation story, and that’s when he made her a virgin because he felt that no one would ever turn him down. He was very attractive and a rather good fuck, I will say.”
Kasper didn’t know what to say to the words that tumbled out of Ares’s mouth so she shook her head and chuckled. “Yeah, that might be a bad thing. She’s not so much a…” Kasper trailed off and grinned. “Okay, so she is a bit of a slut, but she’s safe in what she does and loves it. I can’t fault her for that. Can you?”
“For that, hardly. For a number of other things, abso-fucking-lutely. The woman has the audacity to poke fun at my wardrobe. Yet on more than one occasion she’s ‘borrowed’ something of mine, reinvented it, and then wears it out. She’s a little klepto, I tell you. But it only seems to effect items she first disdains. She’s a weird bird.”
“Artemis is a weird bird, but you have to love her. However, she’s a fabulous woman to have in your corner.”
“Oh, I know she has been, and she always will be, Kasper. She considers you family, as do the rest of us gods, and we’ll always have your back. Like we do Camilla’s and the others. No, not saying anything more about others. One problem at a time, if you don’t mind.”
“Mik doesn’t let a lot of people in close,” Ares continued. “Except for Gareth, the rest of the team took a long time to earn his trust. He loves you, Kasper. While he may not say it, know that he definitely does. He’d go to the wall for you. It might be early but he’s worked it all out in his mind and he’s got it now. You are his baby sister and he loves you.”
“I know. I feel it in here.” Kas put her hand to her chest and bowed her head. “I love him, too. I’ve never had a sibling, but now that I do, I’ll do everything that I can in order to make sure the man is happy, healthy, and lives a very long time.” She would do whatever she had to so she could ensure that she kept her brother for a long while.
“Just be yourself and always be completely honest with him even when it pisses him off. Not that it’s all that easy to tell when he has a shift in emotions. I’ve never met anyone outside the gods so hard to read. Then there’s Stefan, who hides nothing. You know exactly what that man is thinking or feeling just from his expressions. Sometimes it’s way too much information.” Chuckling, Ares shifted around to face her and propped an arm on the back of the sofa. “So, how are things going with you, James, and Victor?”
“Good. Very good. They’re amazing men. I like them a great deal. It seems a little soon, but I really adore them.” It was far deeper than that and she knew it, but she was worried about accepting that fact.
“When you make a solid connection, nothing is too fast. Follow your gut, Kasper. You have excellent instincts, and you need to listen to what they’re telling you. They are good guys who deserve everything from you as they are giving you everything of themselves. Nothing in life is without risk, but if you don’t take that last step, you could very well miss out on something amazing. Think on it.”
That had her smiling, and she nodded. “You’re a very smart man. I’m impressed. You’re right—nothing is too fast when it feels right.”
Ares glowered at her. “That sounded like a bloody insult, woman. Here I am giving you some sage advice and you’re dissing me. Damn, that’s just cold.” He gave her a wink and grinned. “But I do like your sass.”
“You should, I took a great deal of it from Artemis, and the rest I took from my parents. So my sass is not only bred into me, but it’s also a learned trait. So yeah, you’ll just have to deal with it.”
“You’re adorable. Your guys are also hovering outside the room waiting to find out if you survived meeting the soon-to-be in-law unscathed. Best go reassur
e them, and then it might be a good idea to give Camilla the tour. I’d also warn her about your gift. She’s a bit of a hugger once she knows you well.”
“Thank you for that. I don’t think she would want me to know every single thing there is to know about her in one touch. So yes, warning her would be good. And thank you, by the way. For taking your time to talk to me and all that. And for steering her toward her guys instead of letting her stick around and talk my ear off.”
“She’ll get around to that eventually. Apparently, we’re sticking around for a while because she misses them.” Ares rolled his eyes. “I love that girl, but she gets all weird when those two are around. Sort of like what you do when those two hanging outside the door are near. Go and reassure them. I’m going to check in with the others.”
“Thank you.” She didn’t hesitate; she raced away and began to search for her men. Kas followed James’s laugh. When she found them, she moved closer to James and slid her hand into his. Giving it a squeeze, she looked up with a smile. “Hey, you.”
“About time he let you go. We’ve been stalking by the doorway forever in the hopes he’d get the hint.” James looked her up and down. “You survived your first encounter with Camilla unscathed, I see. How did it go?”
“She was fine. I like her. I just hope that she listens when Ares tells her about my gift and doesn’t grab me suddenly skin to skin. I don’t want to know everything there is to know about that woman in the touch of a hand.”
“Or her sex life with big brother,” Victor said. Both she and James looked at him. “What? Come on, both of you were thinking it. I wouldn’t want to know what they get up to behind closed doors either. Especially not in graphic, full-color detail. With sound effects.” Victor gave a shudder and made a face.
“God lord, no.” She shook her head. “I know what the three of us like to get up to, at least I’m starting to learn, so I really don’t want to know if big brother is just as kinky as the three of us seem to be.”
“Damn, now I need mind bleach,” James muttered. “I’ll never be able to look at the three of them again without thinking about it. Thanks a lot, Victor.”
With a shrug, the other man grinned. “You’re welcome. Now why don’t we get out of the house for a while and go sit on the back lawn in the sun? With Camilla here, it gets us out of any work for the day.”
“You do know that we can hire tree cutters to come out and cut the tree line back, right? I really don’t mind footing the expense. It’s something that should have been done already, and it’s my fault it wasn’t. Besides, I’d like to have time to figure out what kind of things we can do together.”
“It’s better if we do it. That way we can figure out what’s best for security. They’ll trim them back so they don’t brush the wall, but they won’t consider the fact that someone could use a branch to breach security. Plus, we don’t want them seeing what we’ve already done. They might just have us arrested for some of the tree murders we’ve committed.”
“Tree murders?” She giggled at that. “I think that it’s going to be fun living with you guys.”
“She thinks I’m kidding,” Victor said to James. “I’m not kidding, sweetheart. We actually had to take one right out because of the way it was growing near the wall. When it can be used to get up and over with ease, it’s not a tree you want. We did say a little something, though, before taking its life. Hopefully it will find a new home in some carpenter’s workshop and become something useful, and perhaps beautiful as well.”
“Well, I’m sure whatever you guys do with the tree it will be good. If nothing else, we can make some log tables for the sides of the furniture and also a lot of firewood. Bon fires are awesome, don’t you think?”
“We’d need to put in a bigger fire pit,” James said. “The one you have is cute and all, but much too dainty for a group as large as ours. But that’s a project for another day when we don’t feel like being slave labor. Let’s grab some drinks, grab a couple of those folding chairs from the storage shed, and go get some sun.”
“I’m willing to work on the fire pit. Maybe I’ll be able to rope Camilla into helping me with it.” She saw their looks and narrowed her gaze at them. “Don’t even say what you’re thinking. We’re more than capable of digging a fire pit. We might need help with the manual labor of putting in some of the heavy rocks, but I think she could help me get things started.”
“James may doubt you, but I have full confidence you can do whatever you set your gorgeous mind to. The stones actually aren’t too bad one-on-one. You’ll need one of us to wheel them out to you since carrying them one at a time from any spot on the property sounds exhausting. But the project can be all yours, sweetheart.”
“Thank you. For believing in me. I won’t turn away the help. Now I need to talk Camilla into helping me with the fire pit. Hopefully she’ll do it and won’t be upset because I’ve volunteered her.”
“It’ll give her something to do while we finish with what we’re doing. It’s really a win-win for everyone. You can expand the fire pit and then maybe put down some more stones to create a surround for a seating area. Be nice for cooler nights or for nights we feel like roasting marshmallows,” James said.
“I look forward to it. Making it, that is.” It would be something she could deal with, something she would be able to do while her guys were working on other things. “The only thing that sucks is that she and I won’t be able to take off our shirts like you boys do.”
“Says who?” both demanded.
Victor grinned and pulled her in close. “I’m sure you’ll think of a way to do it if you set your mind to the task.” Dropping a kiss to her lips, he gave her a squeeze. “Let’s go grab something to drink. Preferably before I throw you over my shoulder and haul you upstairs.”
“Promises, promises.” She wouldn’t mind that in the least. “Do you want alcoholic drinks or non-alcoholic?”
“Nonalcoholic,” James said. “We’ll be out in the sun so it’s better to remain hydrated.” They were following her as she moved into the kitchen, and each grabbed a water from the fridge as well as a juice.
“Good point. Don’t want to do anything that will cause you boys trouble. Do I need to put some water into the freezer so that you guys will always be able to come in and get some icy-cold water at any time? Or I could put it into the fridge that’s out by the pool. There’s a full outdoor kitchen there.”
“We’re good,” he said. “Quit fussing, sweetheart. Let’s get a move on before someone decides they need us to do something.” Putting a hand to her back, James hustled her toward the door.
“Ah yes, we don’t want big brother to come hunting you boys down,” she said with a smile. “I look forward to watching you guys working. I know that’s bad of me, but I really do look forward to seeing you boys sweating and your muscles rippling.” She began to fan herself. “Mercy. Is it getting warm in here or is it just me?”
“It’s just you,” Victor said from behind her. “But we can dip you in the pool on our way past if you think it will help to get your hormones back under control for a while. The sun will dry you off reasonably well, but in the meantime, you’ll be cooled off.”
“No, it won’t help me at all. The only thing that’ll help me is getting naked with the two of you again and I don’t think that is going to happen anytime soon. I think right now I should just go along with you boys and watch you while we all sit in the sun together. You’ll take off your shirts, right? I’ll get my hormones under control. Promise.”
“Right, because having us take off our shirts will help you get your hormones under control.” James looked to Victor and shook his head. “I’m not seeing the logic in this.”
“She’s woman, logic is fluid,” Victor said. “It’s why they get away with that argument about being able to change their minds fifty times in thirty seconds. It’s best to go with the flow. Less whiplash from the sudden directional changes that way.”
Kasper began t
o laugh, then said, “Yes, I do change my mind a great deal. I happen to enjoy having you guys nearly naked around me. Like it even more when you are fully naked.”
“You’re really no subtler than a freight train when we’re tied to the tracks, sweetheart. You want us half-naked so you can sit there fanning yourself as your mind takes you on a naughty little trip. Then later, when you can’t stand it any longer, you’ll drag us up to your room to have your wicked way with us. For appearances’ sake, we’ll likely make a token protest,” Victor told her. After ducking into the shed, he came back out with a chair he handed to James, ducked back in for one for one for her, and then went back for a chair for him that he tucked under his arm.
“Appearances’ sake, huh?” She was giggling as they walked to a nice sunny spot on the lawn. “And yes, I’ll drag you boys up to our room and have my wicked way with you both. Besides, you need to make sure we get away clean so my brother doesn’t see us taking off for my bedroom.”
“He’ll be occupied for a while, I’m sure,” he said. Laughing, he fell into his chair, and stretched his legs out. “They haven’t seen Camilla in a couple of days. That’s the longest they’ve been apart since she came into their lives. On the up side, he’ll be much more relaxed when they finally resurface.”
“That’s a good thing, right? That way they won’t be ready to mutiny on him and tie him up so that they have a break.” Although it was a bit funny, the way that Mikhail worked the men daylight to dark. “I think I’m going to pay them for not only security but also tree work and so on. Don’t you think?”
“Hardly,” James told her. “We don’t mind doing it. It’s something to keep our days busy while Owen sees to finding the electronic trail of whomever might be after you. It also gives the illusion to anyone that might pass by, or a very nosey neighbor, that you’re getting work done on the place. Gives us a nice, safe, benign appearance instead of what we really are.”