by Sam Cheever
Lachesis set her empty wineglass on the counter and grabbed the bottle off the counter. She poured her sister another glass and started to pour herself one. But then she shrugged and just drank right from the bottle.
I sighed. The gods should really give me a grocery allowance to account for the Fates.
“We can’t tell you what Mr. Leandar is up to, Athena. You just need to trust us on this. He’s bad for you.”
Bad for me. Which, translated, meant he was probably the key to my finding out something the Fates didn’t want me to know. “Okay, what about the gorgons? What’s going on there?”
Clothos had finished her cookies and was eyeing the wine bottle. “They escaped their handlers on Olympus and have come here for some reason.”
I lifted an eyebrow at the pretty goddess. “I’d figured that much out for myself, Clothos.”
She grinned at me, showing me chocolate-covered teeth.
“We almost had them last night but they managed to elude us again.”
I looked at Lachesis “What were they doing at that building today?”
She shrugged slim shoulders and tipped the bottle again. I watched a thin stream of high-quality wine dribble down her chin and onto her pretty dress. She was like a high-class gutter bum. All she needed was a brown paper bag to complete the picture.
I frowned, grabbing the bottle from Lachesis and taking a slug from it. Maybe a good drunk would stop my poor head from spinning.
*
Once the Fates left I was at a loss, restless and unsure what to think about recent events. I finally decided a hot bath would settle me down so I could get some rest. I started the water running and added bath salts before pulling off my clothing and throwing them in a smoky pile on the floor.
My cell phone rang as I immersed myself in the hot, fragrant water.
“Hello?”
“Ms. Googlios? Have you set up the meeting with Damian Leandar yet?”
I closed my eyes and settled chin deep in the hot water, biting back a sigh of incredible pleasure as the water soothed my taut muscles almost immediately.
At first her name escaped me. “I’m sorry, Ms…”
A disgusted sigh slid through the phone line. “Megan Megara. I spoke with you yesterday.”
“Oh yes, sorry, Ms. Megara, it’s been a difficult day.”
“Well? Did you set up the appointment?” Apparently Ms. Megara couldn’t care less about my difficult day.
I lifted a foot out of the thick mound of bubbles at the top of the water and examined my toenails. My dark red nail polish was still holding. But the nails could use a trim. “Not yet, Ms. Megara.”
“What’s taking you so long?”
There was a scraped area on my kneecap that I figured must have happened when Damian threw himself at me to save me from my flying car.
“Ms. Googlios? Are you there?”
I sighed inwardly. “I’m here, Ms. Megara. I still need some information from Mr. Leandar for his application before I can schedule a meeting. He’s not officially in the Cupid’s Arrow system yet. As soon as I have that information we can proceed.”
“How long will that take?”
“That depends on Mr. Leandar. I can assure you I’m doing everything I can to expedite the process.”
The woman actually snorted. “I’ll bet you are, honey. Don’t even think about keeping him for yourself, Ms. Googlios. He belongs to u…um…me. If you interfere with that I can’t promise you’ll walk away unscathed.”
Now that got my attention. I sat up straighter in the tub. “Are you threatening me, Ms. Megara?”
“Are you simple, Ms. Googlios?” And the woman hung up on me.
I pulled the phone away from my ear and stared at it with my mouth hanging unattractively open. I’d never been threatened by a client before.
Surprise slid away and my Greek heritage kicked in. I frowned, slamming the poor phone down on the toilet seat next to the tub. We’d just see if Ms. Megara got away with threatening me.
We’d just see who held the power on this one.
Feeling only slightly better, I settled back into the cooling water, trying not to remember how good Megan Megara had looked on that horse.
Damian Leandar was too good for that horrible woman. I’d be damned if I’d match her up to him.
To hell with Megan Megara and her threats. If I had my way she’d be a lonely old woman, riding a wrinkled and crotchety old horse along a polluted stream.
All by herself.
*
A heavy weight pressed me deeply into my soft bed. Strong, warm hands slid across my belly and northward, gliding over the eager peaks of my breasts and giving each happy nipple a little tug.
In response, hot cream flooded from between my legs and my body tightened with need.
The slightly calloused fingers were replaced by moist heat and I moaned, arching my back to drive the painful peaks of my nipples into the warm cave of an invading mouth. Soft lips trailed from my breasts downward, creating a tingling trail toward the place where I throbbed with need.
The fingers slipped down my sides, toward my hips, and slid over my hipbones, into the crease between my thighs and my hips. They swirled against my skin, creating sensuous circles on the tender skin of my inner thighs. I sighed and tried to pull my legs apart, but they seemed to be weighted in place by a heavy body.
A hot tongue laved my belly, causing my skin to quiver happily under its attention. The tongue rimmed my bellybutton and I shivered, eager for more.
I plunged my fingers into thick, silky strands of hair and encouraged the invading head downward with gentle pressure from my fingertips.
As the weight on them shifted, my legs spread wide and warm breath centered over the throbbing bud of my clitoris.
The head lowered.
A hot tongue flicked out.
Cream ran in a soft trickle from my pussy.
The hard, slightly rough hands slid beneath my buttocks, lifting my hips toward heaven.
I whimpered, frantic to feel the warm, wet tug and pull of talented lips on that painfully expectant bud.
I waited, holding my breath.
Thick fingers slid into me. My thighs spread even wider in expectation.
Attentive lips lowered onto my throbbing clitoris, enveloping the sensitive bud in moist heat. The phantom lips and tongue pulled gently on the expectant nub. I arched my back and sucked air into my starving lungs.
Long, thick fingers plunged deeply into my heated channel and then scraped slowly back out. With every sensual stroke the lightly calloused fingers created toe-curling friction on the tender skin inside my body.
Feelings of pure contentment spiraled through me, my skin warming and my limbs growing soft with pleasure.
My pussy clenched under the tender ministrations of the ghostly lips, drenching the probing fingers in warm cream.
My pleasure built, spiraling through my pussy and shooting outward to pull my limbs into rigid expectation.
Release called to me, waiting just beyond the next stroke of a thick, strong finger, or the next pull of firm lips against my clitoris.
My face heated with expectation, my breasts swelled, and I arched my back as the wave started to break over me.
Then, just as I prepared to meet sensual divinity…pain cut through me like jagged glass.
I gasped and sat upright in my bed, panting from the close call of a truly hot dream and found myself face-to-face with a horrible thing.
A gorgon, in full gorgon mode, breathing her horrible stench over my face and driving a single, curved metal claw into the soft flesh beneath my chin.
I barely remembered in time not to look directly into her eyes. Jerking my gaze downward, I focused on the thick, scale-covered chest, which was a slimy, seaweed green color and the rough bristle of the beard that rested against it.
“Hello, Athena, Cupid goddess.”
I grimaced against the foul expulsion of breath and tried to lean away from
the razor-sharp claw. “What do you want?”
She laughed, spewing even more fetid air in my direction.
Though I didn’t look at her face, my peripheral vision caught roiling, frantic movement around her head that made me shiver with revulsion and fear.
She leaned closer, following my movement across the bed as I scooted backward. I shrieked as one of the snakes on her head slithered across my skin, wrapping its dense coolness around my upper arm to hold me in place.
The sound of hissing grew in proportion to the monster’s nearness. “You have been plotting against us, pretty Athena.”
Keeping my gaze on my hands, I forced breath back into my lungs and responded. “I’ve done no such thing.” I forced myself not to think about my recent conversation with the Fates.
She laughed, creating a strange echo in the room that made my blood run cold.
There were two of them.
I nearly wet myself from fear.
“We want what you cannot give us. But you might create the right incentive to the person who can.”
I really didn’t like the sound of that.
“Come!” I was jerked off the bed by the slithering appendage on my arm and was being dragged toward the open French doors of my bedroom before I had time to even gasp in horror.
As soon as we cleared the door, the heavy wings spread and flapped, startling me into screaming as my feet left the ground.
Something slashed past my face and the creature holding me screamed as I fell backward. I hit the ground hard enough to knock the breath from my lungs and rolled away. The thing on my arm hissed and writhed as blood spewed from the end that had been hacked away from the gorgon’s nasty head. In its death throes, the snake spun and sank its nasty teeth into the breast nearest its flailing head and I screamed, yanking the nasty thing from my flesh and flinging it as far away as my quickly fading strength allowed.
I huddled under the heavy stone table of my patio, dimly aware of the sounds of fighting nearby as consciousness dimmed and light faded from my struggling sight.
The last thing I heard was a bloodcurdling scream as something heavy crashed to the ground beside me.
Then the gray edges of my vision met in the middle, closing off the light completely.
*
I woke slowly, squinting against a thin stream of light that was focused on my eyes. I could feel heat and hear birds singing somewhere in the near distance, so I figured it was the sun on my face rather than artificial light.
After a few tries I managed to get my eyes open slightly and was alarmed by what I saw.
I didn’t know where I was.
The heavy bed of some kind of dark wood I was lying on was massive and incredibly soft. The thick comforter that was tucked under my chin was a deep gold color with chocolate trim and appeared to be made from Egyptian cotton.
The room was bright, with one whole wall taken up by windows and a sliding door that led outside to a small deck. In the distance, past the narrow railing, I could see the ocean.
I pushed the heavy comforter back and slipped out of the bed. Squinting against the bright sun, I slid the door open and walked outside. Wrapping my arms around myself in an effort to rub the chill from my arms, I looked around. It took me a moment to figure out where I was.
“Good morning. Are you feeling okay?”
I swung around to face Damian Leandar. “How did I get here?”
He leaned against the doorframe, crossing arms dense with muscle and covered with soft, curly gold hair across his chest. Despite my best intentions my eyes slid down to assess the nicely rounded front of his jeans and over the well-formed thighs.
He was barefoot. He even had sexy feet.
“I brought you here because you need to be protected.”
“Protected? From what?”
He cocked his dark head at me and lifted one eyebrow. “Haven’t you been paying attention, Athena?”
I frowned, not sure how much he knew about my brush with death by gorgon, I was reluctant to bring it up.
“I found you bleeding on the ground. Someone had attacked you.”
I jerked, my gaze flying to his face. “You found me? How?”
He stood there, staring at me. He wasn’t hostile but there was something in his eyes, an assessing quality. I kept my gaze firm and waited him out.
“I came to your house. I heard crashing and a scream. By the time I broke the door down and got inside you were just lying there. I panicked and brought you here.”
“Why did you come to my house?”
His smile was a little sad. “I was going to ask you out.”
Forget the blip, my heart did a bawhump, bawhump in my chest. Could it really have been that simple? Two attractive, lonely people just…going out? “And you didn’t see who attacked me?”
He shook his head. “I know you were dragged from bed by something last night. I saw the signs.” He narrowed his beautiful dark blue eyes at me. “I heard the sound of heavy wings on the air when I came outside and found you.”
I tried to keep my expression blank. “Really? How odd.”
“You’re different, Athena. I know that. And I’ve sensed that something is pursuing you. I’ve decided that you need to stay as close to me as possible until whatever it is stopped. Because, until you do, your life is in danger.”
I shook my head. He’d said “whatever it is” not “whoever it is” I didn’t think that was a mistake. “You’ve decided?” It was much easier for me to get angry than succumb to the panic that was beating in my chest.
He nodded as if the subject were closed.
We’d just see about that.
“I have to go to work.”
He nodded. “No problem. We’ll consider this the beginning of my pre-screening process.”
I frowned, thinking about whether that would work. It was highly unusual for pre-screening to occur during office hours but it had been done before. “I guess we can work around that. But you’ll need to give me space at the office.”
It was his turn to frown. “How safe is Cupid’s Arrow? Do you have any security there?”
“Of course!” We had protection spells throughout the building and on the perimeter. The Council of the Gods provided spirit warriors on rotation to protect us. And guardian angels had an office on the third floor. But I didn’t, couldn’t tell him any of that. “We’re well protected, with guards on every floor. We deal with crazies from time to time.”
“What about…” He hesitated as if he were struggling for the right words. “Non-traditional attacks?”
I lifted a dark eyebrow. “Trust me, we can handle anything that’s thrown at us.”
Damian nodded. “All right. I’ll deliver you to the building and come back for you at the end of the day.”
I sighed, remembering the warning the Fates had given me about spending time with Damian.
“What?”
My gaze jerked toward his face. He was very perceptive. I’d have to guard my face around him. And I still didn’t know why the Fates had warned me away from him. So I just shrugged. “I’m not comfortable having you squire me around all the time.”
He took a step toward me and, before I knew what was happening, I found myself in his arms. His lips captured mine and my breath left my lungs in a rush of excitement as his scent and warmth enveloped me.
His arms went around me and he pulled me up tight against his body. His hands slid up beneath my flimsy nightgown and pressed me close, smoothing my back in gentle circles that made my skin warm and tingle with pleasure. Something long and hard pressed against my stomach.
He smelled of soap, sun and salt air. His own personal musk. I found it extremely sexy and my knees weakened as it enveloped my senses.
A wave of helpless lust swamped me and I whimpered against his lips. I slipped my fingers into his hair and pulled him more deeply into the kiss. I hadn’t asked him to kiss me, hadn’t expected it, but now that he’d started I was desperate to keep i
t going.
Damian lowered his hands to my thighs. He slid them upward, toward my hips, carrying the hem of my nightgown up to bunch there. The fingers of his other hand tugged against the lace of my panties and slipped underneath.
I groaned against his mouth as one long, thick finger slid inside me. His free hand covered my bottom and pulled me against his hard cock, visible through the thin denim of his jeans. He pressed his cock against my thigh, grinding it into me as his finger worked inside my body and his thumb rubbed my clitoris in firm circles.
Frantic with need, I consumed his lips. My hands slid out of his hair, down his back and under the soft cotton of his shirt. His skin was smooth, hard with taut muscle, and impossibly hot under my fingers.
I pulled my lips from his and buried my face in his throat, sucking and nipping the throbbing vein while inhaling the warm, clean scent of him.
I was quickly losing all control and I didn’t care.
I couldn’t remember ever being so hot for a man. So free of sexual inhibition. It would have scared me to death if my mind had been working. But my brain had shut down under sensual overload.
Rational thought had been replaced with physical necessity.
And I was mostly okay with that.
Damian pulled away with a small growl and his teeth captured my bottom lip, tugging gently. His breath was warm against my face. “You turn me inside out, Athena Googlios. I don’t seem to have any control over my emotions when you are near.”
I sighed and murmured, “I know the feeling.”
He disengaged himself from my clutching fingers and stepped away, pointing toward a door at the side of the room. “There is a bathroom there. I took the liberty of bringing some of your clothing here. They are in the closet and dresser.” He moved to the door and looked back, his dark face unreadable in the shadows. “I’ll be waiting for you in the kitchen.”
He turned and left the room.
Leaving me standing there with a tsunami of emotions crackling beneath my chest and my thighs soaked with evidence of my own lust.
I leaned against the nearby wall and closed my eyes. I wasn’t sure how I was gonna get through the ten-plus hours I needed to spend with Damian Leandar for his pre-screening.