by Penny Cavan
“Meg, I don’t think the King of the Underworld is going to be inspecting me for stray hairs,” I giggled.
“No but wait until you see the outfit you’ll be wearing. You’ll thank me for it then.”
Chapter Thirty
Midas
I knew I shouldn’t have stormed from the room, but it was hard seeing Harlow so free with Meg. I wanted that with her, but it was too dangerous. I sat on the bottom of a set of stairs and sighed, staring at my gloved hands. Maybe this was a sign that I wasn’t supposed to have her.
“You look like you haven’t slept in a week,” a man said above me. I looked up and found a slim young man staring down at me.
“How is that any of your business?” I asked him, and he shrugged.
“It’s not, but someone slammed a door and it woke me up. Thought I’d come see what was going on and found you looking miserable.” He leaned his head on one hand. “Want to talk about it?”
“No.” He shrugged and headed back to his room. It wasn’t as if anyone else could understand what I was going through. Meg came striding from her room with Harlow behind her.
“Hayden!” she called, and the sleepy headed blonde poked his head out of the kitchen. “We’re going to need tea, a bath, Grayce, Helen, and Merrit.” Meg ordered. Hayden nodded and yawned. “There you are, Midas. Come along,” she said, striding past me and into the same room we’d sat in when I had first met her. Harlow grinned crookedly at me and shrugged. With another sigh, I stood and followed them.
“Now, Aita is a brilliant man,” she said, pulling a piece of paper from her desk. She lit a small candle to light the end of a writing taper, but I cleared my throat and handed her a pen. She looked at it with a raised eyebrow.
“It’s a pen,” I told her. “It writes without needing to burn the end of a taper.”
“Thank you.” She set the tip to the paper and wrote something. “I don’t think I’ll give this back, if that’s all right with you. Back to Aita. He doesn’t expect gifts, per se, but it’s always smart not to show up empty handed. The trick is figuring out what will appeal to him.” She made brief notes on the paper.
“He did say something about Midas’s gift,” Harlow said. “That information is a very closely guarded secret.”
“That should work,” Meg murmured. An older woman came in carrying a tea try. “Oh, Merrit. Perfect.”
“Hayden said you needed me,” she said with a yawn. “I don’t know why at this hour.”
“My friends here have been invited to Aita’s house tonight,” Meg said. Merrit eyed me, then turned to Harlow. “A suit should do for him; I’m sure he has plenty of his own. For her,” she said, and paused, coming to study Harlow closer. She walked around her, lifting an arm and skimming a hand down her back. I almost growled when she cupped Harlow’s breasts and slid her hand down her stomach. “The blue green silk would make a wonderful overdress,” Merrit said. “Open back, halter top, open from the bust down. With a moonstone colored sheer skirt, I think. Aita appreciates beauty, and she is lovely.”
“How long will it take you to prepare?” Meg asked.
“I have a skirt that should fit her with few alterations,” Merrit said, “although Milya will not be pleased. With a few of the girls working, the overdress should be easy enough. Seven or eight hours, I should think.”
“Perfect,” Meg said with a smile. “She’ll be with Helen and Grayce if you need her for fittings.” Merrit nodded and turned to the door.
“Also, you should give him a haircut,” she said nodding towards me.
“She’s not wrong,” Harlow said, eyeing my hair. “It is looking a little ragged.”
“I’ll have Niko take care of it,” Meg said, making a note. “Also, Midas, do you have a suit?”
“I can have Nigel bring one,” I said with a sigh.
“Good. Now, if I’ve learned anything about men, it’s going to take you about ten minutes to get ready, so you, unfortunately, get to spend a lot of time sitting around today. Harlow, you’re all mine.” Meg stood, tucking the pen in a drawer and folding the paper in half.
“What am I supposed to do all day?” I asked.
“Watch the flowers grow?” Meg said. “I’ll have meals sent in, and I’ll send Niko your way when he’s awake.” She put her arm through Harlow’s and they headed for the door. She paused and turned at the door. “Do not think I have forgiven you,” she said acidly. I sighed and wrote a quick note on a piece of Meg’s paper then found a boy to deliver it to Nigel. I grabbed a muffin as I walked back through the kitchen and then I had nothing to do but sit. Eventually, the boy returned with one of my suits and a book, what I had requested from Nigel, and I sent him off with some coins. I settled into a couch and opened the book to the page I’d left off on.
“Would you look at that, you’re all mine,” I looked up at the man leaning against the frame of the door. It was the same man who had wanted my story earlier. “Meg tells me that you need a haircut. And that you have a few specific requirements.” He came in and sat across from me. “Are you going to sulk the whole time?”
“I’m not sulking.” I wasn’t. “And if I was, I don’t know you. Why would I tell you anything?”
“Sometimes it’s easier to talk to someone you don’t know about hard things,” he said with a shrug. “There’s no preconceived judgements. And I can take a guess it has to do with Harlow.”
“You know her, so there’s preconceived judgement there,” I said, throwing his words back at him. He grinned.
“Don’t get your boyvaries in a twist, I don’t know her that well. I only met her a few times before your little kidnapping escapade, so nothing to worry about there. It was an itch to be scratched for both of us. Come on though, you can talk while I cut your hair.”
“Boyvaries?” I asked, ignoring all talks of itches.
“More fun to say than balls,” he said dismissively. “Do you want to keep your hair long like that, or something shorter? I’m thinking shorter on the sides and longer on top.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Harlow
Meg waited until I was naked on my back with Helen applying warm sugar wax to my legs before starting her interrogation. “The last time I saw you, you were all touchy touchy with the hunk. What happened?” Helen ripped the wax off with a strip of material and I hissed.
“We had sex,” I told her, wrapping my arms around my head. Helen ripped off another strip. “It was good.”
“You had good sex and now he can’t look at you for more than thirty seconds but still has a jealous streak a mile wide?” Meg asked incredulously.
“I told you, Meg, I don’t know what happened,” I snapped. “Everything was good and then it wasn’t. I think he just got tired of me.” Helen and Meg exchanged a look and burst out laughing.
“If he’s jealous, Harlow, he’s not tired of you,” Helen said, nudging my leg so she could apply more wax to my inner thigh.
“You woke me up by kissing me and he was turned on and upset,” Meg added.
“He didn’t try and join the two of your?” Helen asked.
“Midas can’t touch without turning things to gold,” I said, dropping my head back. The legs were going to be the easiest part of this.
“You look decidedly not golden,” Helen snorted, ripping off another strip of wax.
“Harlow here is the exception,” Meg said slyly.
“Yes, he can touch me without turning me to gold. He’s fucked me as many ways as a virgin could dream. And then he turned cold as ice.” I jumped a little with the next strip of wax pulling off.
Helen raised her eyebrow at me. “How much are we taking off her pussy?” she asked Meg.
“I was thinking of just neatening it up before. The skirt is going to be sheer enough for a tease, but I think we should take it all off to show Midas what he’s missing,” Meg said. I sat up.
“It’s my pussy, do I get a say?” I asked.
“No,” Helen said. “You clearly
need help getting your man back, so lay back and let the grown-ups work.” She pushed down on my shoulder. I rolled by eyes. Meg came over and pulled my hair loose, starting to work a comb through it. “What are you thinking for her hair, Meg?” she asked.
“Her outfit is going to be backless,” Meg said, “so I’m thinking of keeping it all up off of the back of her neck. Maybe a braided ring.” I relaxed into my own world as the two talked, flinching whenever Helen pulled a strip of wax off. I found it easier to sink into my own world, especially when the strips got closer and closer to my pussy. I groaned and cursed my way through that, moaning in relief when Helen started to rub soothing cream on my skin.
“You’re lucky your skin doesn’t get red with this,” Helen said, moving to my top. I eyed her.
“How much are you waxing?” I asked.
“I still have your underarms and some tweezing on your eyebrows,” she said, studying my face.
“Don’t worry Harlow,” Meg said cheerfully. “You’re getting a whole beauty day today. After the waxing I’ll get Niko in for a massage, and then we will rub you down with sweet oil and fix your nails.”
“Is all of this really necessary? I’m not trying to sleep with Aita, I just want his information.”
“Oh, at first this was to make you presentable for Aita. Speaking of which, he loves when ladies flirt just a little. He knows you’re taken, obviously, but he will still appreciate it. Now, I’m trying to get you back into Midas’ bed.”
“I’d rather have tips for dealing with Aita,” I grumbled. “And what’s your connection to him?”
“We’ve had some business dealings in the past,” she said smoothly. “He’s a man, just like any other. He’ll play games with you, not fully saying what he means. He wants you to figure out his meaning. To be honest, I think you’ll like him a great deal.”
“Close your eyes,” Helen said, coming over with a pair of tweezers. My stomach rumbled.
“Meg, what are the chances of something to eat?” I mumbled, trying not to move my face. “I haven’t eaten since last night.”
“I’ll bring you something,” she said, patting my shoulder. I lay comfortably while Helen plucked my brows, shaping them. I smiled internally listening to her talk to herself. I stifled a yawn.
“Done,” Helen said, setting down the tweezers. “Let me help you sit.” I took her hands and sat up slowly. “I’d suggest trying to nap while Niko’s here,” she told me. “You look exhausted.”
“I am exhausted. It was a long night, and not the quietest of them either.” I sighed. “I’m getting too old for this life, Helen.”
“Well, you know that Meg will always have a home for you here.” Helen’s eyes twinkled.
“I don’t know that this is the right home for me either. I thought I might have found one with Midas.”
“Don’t give up hope. Men are strange creatures. They fight against what they want and get scared easier than a kitten in a thunderstorm. You just have to remind him what he’s missing.”
“He got me a cat,” I said, a smile slowly crossing my face. “Well, actually the cat invaded his office to have kittens before I met him. I asked if she could come home and he didn’t argue.”
“A man doesn’t let a woman have a pet if he’s not intent on keeping her.” Helen blew out the candles warming the wax and set the lid on the small pot.
“I named her Delphina, but I call her Delly. You are much better at advice that she is.”
“I imagine she just meows,” Meg said at the door.
“Sometimes she just purrs.” I smiled, thinking of the cat. “She’s probably curled up on Midas’s pillow. He grumbles about kicking her out of bed every night, but I caught him cuddling her in his office the other day.”
Meg chuckled and handed me a muffin. “Eat quick. I saw Merrit headed this way with a bunch of fabric. Niko will be by when Merrit is done.”
“I don’t see why we’re putting this much effort into this,” I grumbled, tearing off a piece of the muffin.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Midas
If it took Harlow any longer to get ready, we were going to be late. It wasn’t as if this Aita fellow had given us a specific time to show up at the appointed address, but he had said evening. I straightened my cufflinks and paced in the garden.
“Well don’t you look lovely,” Harlow said, and I turned.
“Finally! We’re going to be—” I stopped, stunned. Harlow looked amazing. A full skirt fell from hips, but it was sheer enough that I could see the shadows of her legs and that amazing pussy. A blue-green overdress wrapped around her breasts, held there by a thin circle of jewels. Amber henna formed a pattern wrapping under her boobs and down to her belly button. Her eyes were rimmed with some dark makeup that made them shine and that golden hair of hers curled and fell down one shoulder.
“We’re going to be late?” she asked, spinning slowly so I could get the full view. The dress, if one could call it that, dipped down far enough to see the dimples at the base of her spine. I growled. “We’ll only be late if you want to do something about that hard cock you have now,” she giggled.
“You can’t go dressed like that. It’s an open invitation for anyone to touch you.” It was an open invitation for me to touch her, and that was more dangerous than she realized.
“You’ll just have to stake your claim,” she said. She reached up and adjusted my tie and smoothed the lapels of my jacket. It was more intimate than I could have imagined, and I wanted her to do it every day for the rest of my life. She let her hand trail down the front of my shirt and cupped my cock through my pants. She could do that every day too. “Midas, I want you in my bed tonight,” she whispered, meeting my eyes. I cleared my throat and turned away. I wanted things I couldn’t have. I heard her sigh. “Let’s go then,” she said. “Meg had Nigel bring the car to just outside of the district.” She walked around me and out the side gate of the garden, pulling the bottom of her dress up so it wouldn’t get dusty.
“That was not your best moment,” Niko said. I turned and glared at him. He was sitting in one of the windows eating an apple. “Seriously. If I had a woman who looked like that, she would be so satisfied that she wouldn’t be leaving my bed.”
“Says the man who services how many women a night?” I asked dryly.
“I’ve got to spread the love around,” he said with a wicked grin.
“Are you coming, Midas?” Harlow called.
“I’d like to be,” I muttered, following her.
“Be good, kids! Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” Niko called laughing.
“There’s not much he wouldn’t do,” Harlow told me when I caught up to her.
“Oh, I know. I spent quite a bit of time with him today, and he never seems to stop talking.” I ran my hand through my newly cut hair. Harlow looked up and smiled. “Harlow, we need to talk.”
“Tonight,” she said, turning back to the path. I could see the gleam of the sun on the windows of the car. “I can only stress about one thing at a time, and right now it’s this meeting with Aita.”
“Tonight then,” I said, reaching around her to open the car door for her. She carefully climbed into the car. I followed, meeting Nigel’s eyes. He nodded and handed me a box as I settled next to her, pulling the door shut behind me. “I had Nigel bring this for me,” I told her as Nigel pulled away from the curb. “These were my mother’s, but she would have wanted nothing more than for you to have them.” I opened the box to show her the earrings.
“Midas they’re beautiful,” she said, reaching out to gently touch one. “They aren’t gold?” she said curiously, looking up at me.
“They’re platinum,” I told her with a smile, handing her the box. “Each one is a tassel of twelve chains with moonstones embedded on them. Mama always said her coloring wasn’t suited to gold, and had several pieces made of her own.” She carefully hooked the earrings into her ears and looked at me.
“Well?” she asked.
“They’re perfect,” I told her, setting the box next to me. I settled back into my seat for the drive, watching her out of the corner of my eye. She played with her hands and smoothed her skirt. I had never seen her this nervous before.
The car had barely stopped when two men stepped up on either side of the car to open the doors. I stood and turned, watching Harlow smile at the young man helping her from the car. She murmured something and he blushed, bowing deeply as he stepped back to let her pass. I walked around the end of the car and held out my arm. She took a steadying breath and wrapped her arm through mine, pasting a smile on her face. She didn’t even glance around at the opulent surroundings as we mounted the stairs to the door, where another man bowed us through the door.
“I like your place better,” she murmured to me, making me grin.
“Good,” I told her. “And anything you don’t like you can change.”
“Does that mean I can paint the bedroom pink?” she asked. I shuddered.
“If you must.”
“Welcome!” a man called out and we both turned to the man coming down the grand staircase.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Harlow
“We got dressed up for this?” Midas muttered, staring at Aita coming down the stairs. I admit, I was a little peeved myself. I had expected someone older, maybe in his seventies, dressed to the nines as we were. This man was maybe ten years older than I was, and if I wasn’t completely head over heels for Midas, he might have won me away. He had long blonde hair so pale that it looked white. It was tied back in such a way that it twitched behind him, making it look like he had a tail. He was barefoot, but that was my smallest concern with his outfit. His pants were an almost electric blue and over top he was wearing a green bathrobe that looked as if it glowed.