A Taste of Greek (Out of Olympus #3)

by Folsom, Tina

  “They’ll never agree to it,” she guessed. And why would they? They had no idea what was at stake. Neither of them would lift a finger for her.

  “They will. And as long as they do their jobs right, they will want for nothing. Kenton will have access to as much Greek mythology as his little heart desires, and your father will be kingpin, never having to answer to anyone, never having to beg or steal. It’s a perfect solution.”

  “And Zeus agreed to it? Why? He didn’t get anything out of this deal! He would have killed them anyway, so they would have ended up in the underworld in any case. What’s in it for him?” Somehow she got the feeling that Hermes wasn’t giving her all details of the deal that had been struck. “What are you not telling me?”

  “Nothing,” he claimed and looked away. “It’s time. We have to go to the hospital to present our offer to your father and to Kenton.”

  “But they’re both still in a coma,” Penny informed him. “I called just a few minutes ago.”

  Hermes smiled. “Don’t worry, Zeus will take care of it. Now, put your arms around me. We don’t want to lose time.”

  She did as he requested, and he teleported them right into the ICU, landing behind a screen that separated a sink from the beds in the large room. The constant beeping of the monitors to which the patients were hooked up echoed against the walls.

  “Somebody’s going to find us here,” she whispered to Hermes, stepping out of his hold.

  “No they won’t. Zeus has made sure that the door to the ICU can’t be opened right now.” He winked. “Minor technical problem.”

  Panicked, she pressed her hand against her chest. “But what if any of the other patients needs a doctor quickly?”

  “Zeus will make sure it won’t happen.” He took her hand and stepped out from behind the protective screen, pulling her with him.

  Penny pointed to her father’s bed. “There he is.”

  “And Kenton?”

  “Two beds farther down.”

  Hermes nodded, and moments later, he was wheeling Kenton’s hospital bed next to her father’s.

  “What are you doing?”

  He grasped Kenton’s forearm with one hand, and her father’s with the other. “Hold on to me. I’m going to teleport all of us down to the entrance of Hades.”

  Without protest, she did as he asked, and felt herself whirled around in dark nothingness once more. She didn’t know if she’d ever get used to this. Luckily, it didn’t last long. Seconds later, they were back in the familiar boiler room. Hermes had transported not only them here, but also the two hospital beds.

  “Let’s push them through.”

  It took only moments until they had reached the River Styx where Hermes turned to the two unconscious men and snapped his fingers. On cue, both opened their eyes and sat up.

  “What the hell?” her father cursed.

  “Huh?” Kenton let out.

  Both looked confused as they looked around, taking in their surroundings.

  “Welcome to Hades’ Underworld, gentlemen,” Hermes greeted them, pulling their attention to him. Their gazes shot to him. Then her father’s eyes drifted past him and landed on Penny.

  “Penny?”

  “Hello, Dad.” Despite all he’d done, she felt tears rise to her eyes, grateful that she had a chance to talk to him.

  “Let’s get this over with. We don’t have much time,” Hermes announced. “We know what you both did. But it’s clear that neither of you is aware of what chaos your actions caused. You didn’t just steal any winged sandal. You stole my winged sandal, and thus robbed the gods of their power of teleportation.”

  Kenton’s body went rigid and his eyes went wide. “What?”

  “I’m Hermes. Messenger to the gods.”

  Her father started shaking his head. “Bullshit! That’s impossible! You expect me to believe you’re a god and we’re in the underworld?” He motioned to the river and the masses of people lining its bank. “More like a movie set and a bunch of extras.”

  “Shut up!” Kenton interrupted him, then looked back at Hermes. “Prove it! And know that you can’t fool me. I know everything about the Greek gods.”

  “As you wish,” Hermes agreed and levitated, then rose higher, made a loop, and came back down.

  Kenton stared at him wide-eyed. “Fuck!”

  “Now that we’ve established that I speak the truth, let’s discuss what’s going to happen to both of you. Zeus is asking for revenge. And given that the two of you are involved in the theft, and are the only two he can touch, because Penny is my wife and therefore—”

  “Your wife?” her father piped up. Stunned, he stared at her. “You’re married to this guy? When? How did that happen? How come I have to find out like this?”

  “Dad, it’s not what you think. We had to get married.”

  Her father’s chin dropped. “You’re pregnant by this guy?”

  “No, of course not! Why would you think that?” Her chest heaved, and her heart beat frantically. “We had to get married so that Zeus wouldn’t kill me.”

  Hermes’ hand on her forearm stopped her from continuing. “Be that as it may, what’s important now is for you to understand the following: you’re both in a coma. And Zeus will kill you if you don’t agree to the deal I’ve struck with him to spare your lives.”

  “I’m not in a coma!” Kenton protested, waving his hands around. “As you can see, I’m moving and I’m talking.”

  “Yes, for the moment. But as soon as I return you to the hospital, you’ll be in a coma again. What happens afterwards is your choice. Now follow me.”

  Curiously, both men got out of their beds, dressed only in their hospital gowns, which gaped open at their backs. Penny averted her eyes. This wasn’t an image she was interested in carving into her memory.

  Hermes led them past the long line of people who waited along the riverbank and toward the large ferry that looked something akin to an old slave ship with unfortunate souls manning the oars.

  “Why are all these people here?” her father asked, pointing to the waiting souls.

  “They’re dead souls waiting for admittance into Hades’ Underworld,” Penny explained.

  As they passed the crowd and walked onto the ramp leading to the ferry, Hermes turned to the people and removed the long rope that kept them from boarding. “Please, board one at a time. There will be no food or drinks allowed on the boat. Only 150 allowed per ride.”

  A cheer went up from the crowd, and the first souls filed onto the vessel.

  “I don’t understand. What are we doing here?” Kenton asked, his eyes watching the goings-on.

  “This is your future if you choose to accept it,” Hermes answered.

  “What do you mean?” Kenton said.

  “The underworld needs two men to operate the ferry day and night. Rules and schedules must be maintained. The operators we had before weren’t working. Zeus agreed that he’ll spare your lives if you accept the job.”

  Her father stared at Hermes in amazement. “You’ve got to be kidding me!”

  “Us?” Kenton said, gesturing between himself and his partner in crime. “Are you nuts? We have lives! We can’t just disappear to the underworld to operate a damn boat.”

  Hermes mollified him with a quick hand movement. “There’s more: you’ll receive generous pay, as well as two weeks vacation every year, which you’re allowed to spend in the mortal world.”

  “But—”

  Kenton’s protest was cut off by her father, whose eyes now glinted with interest. “Shut up. And my mother? What will I tell her?”

  “You’ll tell her that you got a fantastic job abroad, and that you’ll visit her once a year,” Hermes answered. “And there’s more. You’ll live forever. You won’t age. In addition, Hades has offered something else: you, Kenton, will become Hades’ personal historian. See that palace up there on the hill? That’s Hades’ palace. It’s filled with ancient weapons, artifacts, scrolls, everything a schola
r in Greek studies could wish for. He’ll give you free access to it.”

  Kenton’s mouth gaped open as his gaze locked onto the castle. “Free access to all artifacts?”

  Penny smiled at Hermes. She was sure he’d struck this deal with Hades to make the decision easier for Kenton.

  “Free access,” Hermes confirmed once more. “And you, Bart, you’ll run this place. You’ll also oversee a construction project. I want you to build a bridge over the river. You’ll have plenty of workers to choose from. You’ll be the boss. The man. What you say goes.” He pointed to the crowd filing onto the boat. “They’ll have to listen to you.”

  A wide grin spread over her father’s lips. “Sign me up.”

  Hermes turned to Kenton. “And you?”

  “When do I get to start?”

  A sigh of relief burst from Penny’s chest, and her gaze collided with Hermes’.

  Thank you, she mouthed.

  40

  Hermes locked eyes with Penny for a long moment before dropping his lids. Now the moment of truth had arrived. “There was one other condition.”

  He’d teleported them back to the hospital and moments later, Bart and Kenton had made a miraculous recovery. Rose had rushed Penny’s grandmother to the hospital to celebrate the good news. Shortly after, Hermes had brought Penny back home, and now the two of them stood in the living room.

  One more condition. At his words, he could feel Penny’s heart stutter to a halt.

  “Don’t you want to know what the condition is?”

  He noticed the tears welling up in her eyes. But he didn’t want her to cry. There was nothing to cry about.

  “Penny,” he whispered. “Zeus wants a grandchild. From us. From you and me.”

  She lifted her eyes to look at him. “A child? You and me?”

  Was this excitement or dread in her eyes?

  He nodded slowly. “Yes, and you know what that means. We’ll have to have sex. Often. Practically all the time, you know, just to make sure that you’ll get pregnant. We wouldn’t want to anger Zeus since he’s been so generous by accepting the trade I proposed. We have to make absolutely sure that we can prove to him that we have a real marriage. You know, come to think of it, two kids would really cement it. Otherwise he might claim that the first one was just an accident and we didn’t really mean it.”

  When a tear rolled down her cheek, he wiped it away with his thumb. “So, what do you say? Do you think we can do that? Have a real marriage?”

  She sniffed. “But I thought you didn’t love me.”

  He chuckled. “Oh Penny, why would you think that?”

  “Well, you were forced to marry me. And you said we’d return to our lives after Zeus was satisfied.”

  “That’s true, but I didn’t say it meant that I would leave you.” He tipped her chin up. “I love you. I would have asked you to marry me even if you hadn’t needed protection from Zeus.”

  “Are you sure?”

  Hermes leaned closer, his lips hovering over hers. “Absolutely sure, baby. I think I finally know the exact moment I fell in love with you. I saw you in the soup kitchen at the church on Sunday night.”

  She gasped. “You were there?”

  “Yes, I watched you. And you know what I saw? I saw a woman who cared about others, who, despite her own problems, despite the fact that she was going to lose her job, still gave back to others.” He stroked his knuckles over her cheek. “You have such a soft heart. At that moment I realized that I had to protect this heart. I wish I’d known from the beginning why you needed tenure so badly, that it wasn’t because you were ambitious, but because you didn’t want to uproot your grandmother when you had to find another job somewhere else in the country. I understand that now.”

  “I didn’t want to burden anybody with it.”

  “Because that’s you, Penny. Always taking the burden on yourself. You won’t have to carry it alone anymore. I’m here now. I’m here for you.” He paused for a moment, watching how tears shot to her eyes. “There’s just one thing.”

  Her eyes opened wide, curiosity sparking in them. “What?”

  “I would like my wife to love me too.”

  Penny threw her arms around his neck and pressed her body against his. “Oh God, I love you, Hermes, I love you.”

  His heart jumped from joy, and his lips split into a wide grin. “In that case, I think I should take you on a honeymoon.”

  “A honeymoon? When?”

  “Now,” he whispered into her ear and teleported them away.

  Moments later, they arrived on the terrace of his home. He released her from his arms, giving her an opportunity to take in her surroundings.

  His villa stood on a gentle hill overlooking a white sand beach, a crystal blue ocean stretching before it as far as the eye could see. A garden of vivid flowers and stunning fountains surrounded the house, and a footpath led to the beach below.

  “Welcome to my home,” he said.

  With wide eyes and an open mouth, she turned three-hundred-sixty degrees and took it all in. “It’s beautiful. Where are we?”

  “On Olympus.”

  “Where is everyone?”

  He smiled. “This beach is private.”

  Penny turned to him. “It’s yours? All of it?”

  “Yes. And I can do here whatever I please. Nobody will see us.”

  “Nobody?” she asked, a strange glint suddenly appearing in her eyes.

  His throat went dry and blood shot into his cock, making him harder than the granite his terrace was made of. “I guarantee it.”

  Her gaze dropped to the bulge in his pants “Well, in that case . . . ” She gave him a little shove so he landed on one of the lounges. “Why don’t you lie back and relax, while I take care of my wifely duties.”

  “Wifely duties?” he choked out as her hands went to the button of his white linen pants, popping it open.

  He rested his head against the cushion and watched her as she unzipped him and freed his cock from its confines. Her palm wrapped around him, gripping him tightly. He groaned. Then she bent over him, bringing her lips to the tip of his cock. When she licked over the mushroomed head, he had to grip the sides of the lounge chair to stop himself from jolting upwards, so intense was the sensation.

  He needed her to slow down, or he would spill in an instant. “Gods, baby!” But before he could say anything else, she wrapped her lips around him and slid down his length, taking him into her mouth.

  “Fuck!” He breathed hard, trying to steady himself. “I should have gotten married earlier.”

  Her chuckle bounced against his tender flesh, nearly robbing him of his control. Then her warm tongue slid up and down his erection, her cheeks hollowing as she sucked him as if she wanted to suck the life out of him. If she continued like this for much longer, she would kill him.

  Of their own volition, his hips jerked upwards, thrusting his cock deeper into her delicious mouth.

  “You gotta stop, baby!”

  But she continued pleasuring him with her mouth and her tongue, sucking him so lovingly and with so much passion that he felt indeed as if he were in paradise. Nobody had ever shown him such tenderness and passion. Nobody had ever loved him the way Penny showed her love.

  Knowing he couldn’t last much longer, he put his hands on her cheeks and lifted her head up. Their gazes collided.

  “Ride me!”

  “Is that one of my wifely duties?” she asked coquettishly.

  “Yes! In fact, it’s one of your daily duties.”

  “And as a husband, do you have duties too?”

  He grinned. “Yes.”

  He snapped his fingers, ridding himself and her of their clothes. Naked now, he pulled her over him, so she straddled his hips.

  “One of my duties as a husband is to satisfy my wife at all times.”

  “I like that.” She lowered herself, aligning her sex with his cock.

  “My goddess!” he whispered and pulled her down onto his
hard-on, submerging himself deep inside her.

  When she started to move up and down on him, her beautiful breasts bouncing with every movement, he lost his ability to speak and could only moan and issue sounds of pleasure to let her know how much he loved her.

  Epilogue

  Four months later

  Penny hit print and snatched the piece of paper from the printer, before excitedly running down the stairs of her brand new home. No, she corrected herself, her and Hermes’ home. He’d purchased a house not far from her grandmother’s in Charleston so that they could remain close to her. Only rarely did they teleport to Hermes’ palace on Olympus to spend some quiet time there, away from everybody.

  She found Hermes in the kitchen where he was busy directing the servants of the gods—three pint-sized fairies—to prepare a sumptuous feast for the guests they were expecting for lunch: Triton and Sophia, Dionysus and Ariadne, and Eros.

  Penny smiled at him when he turned to her. “Hey baby, everything ready?”

  He nodded and pulled her into his arms. “Everything’s ready for the big announcement.” Then he dropped his head and slid his hand over her belly, stroking it gently. “How’s my other favorite person in the world doing?” he asked, motioning to her bump. “Are you feeling okay? Not nauseous anymore?”

  She shook her head. “I think that phase is over.”

  “I can’t wait to tell everybody today.”

  “And Zeus?”

  Hermes grinned. “Don’t worry, my love, Zeus already knows.”

  “What? I thought this was going to be a surprise!”

  He brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “You can’t hide anything like that from him. And may I just say, he’s very pleased.” Hermes pressed a gentle kiss onto her lips.

  “Oh, I almost forgot.” She pulled herself from his embrace and handed him the sheet of paper she’d printed. “Look! It got published. This will get me tenure!”

  Hermes’ eyes flew over the printed words, then he looked up at her. “I’m so proud of you, baby. And Hades is going to love it.” He chuckled. “But did you really have to lay it on that thick? Hades, the misunderstood god—Persephone not a victim, but the perpetrator.”