"You win. We'll go home tomorrow," he murmurs breathlessly.
His panty-dropping tone is enough to provoke the goddess, but I hold her back. I'm too excited, and I have to sweep this craziness under the rug.
"Good. I've got so much to do," I sigh out.
He tilts his head. "What do you have to do?"
"I need to go beg the bitch from hell for my job back. I need to get my mail, clean my air filters, water my flowers that are probably pitiful by now, empty my refrigerator... the list goes on and on," I murmur in exasperation.
He looks confused, and his confusion is baffling me.
"What?" I ask impatiently.
"You can't just return to your life as if all is normal. There are people looking for you, and there will be everyday for the rest of your life. Our world is one giant pissing contest, and you just learn to adapt," he murmurs with a touch of sadness in the underlying tone.
"I'm sorry Aphrodisia, but he's right," Persia adds. "This is your life. It's the same as ours now."
I feel my shoulders slump, and Devin shifts his weight to show his hesitance to say more.
"So I have to start all over? I just got that apartment a year ago, and my job sucks, but it's a good paying job."
Kry starts laughing. "Why go back to that little apartment when you have Devin's big ass spread? Not to mention, it's not like you really have to work to earn money."
I flop to the ground. "I can't take his money or his house," I mumble.
I know we're incredibly intense together, but I still barely know him. I barely know myself anymore.
"I've got money, so don't worry about that," Persia insists. "I have numerous properties all over as well, but you can't stay alone. I think you staying with Devin is a good idea because I have to do some tracking."
"She is staying with me. It's not even up for debate, so I'm not sure why we're discussing it," Devin says with a wounded, insulted, and slightly angered tone.
I frown a little. He shouldn't feel like my keeper. Now I feel like an imposition instead of a girlfriend or whatever immortals call each other.
"You don't have to do that. I've put you out enough," I say with a guilty rattle.
His eyes blaze with anger, and I don't know that I've ever seen him mad at me until right this moment. What did I do?
"I can't believe you'd say that. I'll get our stuff ready, and I'll tell Ther to bring us a new car," he says curtly, and then he turns to walk off, leaving me stumped.
Kry rubs the back of his neck awkwardly from the absurd outburst and follows Devin. I look at Persia with complete bewilderment drenching my face.
"What did I do?"
She stifles a grin, but her eyes hold a condescending, patronizing smirk.
"Oh, dear. You're with an immortal. You're time is so different from his. The men from your time are, well... a little meeker. Men from his time are so much stronger, more possessive, and a hell of a lot more protective. He's not going to let you out of his sight, and he took offense to your brushing him off as if he doesn't care enough about you to take care of you," she explains in a low, almost muted tone, her smile only growing.
"Why? Because I feel like I should take care of myself before I let someone I barely know take care of me? That's stupid and a little irritating," I growl.
She laughs a little louder at my apparently naïve notion. I assumed we were living in the twenty-first century.
"It's the way the men from our world are... well, the real men. He's not taking care of you because he's expected to; he's doing it because he wants to. You really don't understand the difference, do you?" she says with sad fascination.
"I really don't see why he got so mad."
She smiles with her older-and-wiser grin before speaking in a nurturing tone.
"Because he's falling in love. He may already be there."
Yeah right.
He's known me for a minute. He's not in love with me. He's gorgeous, rich, powerful, so sexy, smart, and fucking immortal. I can remember it taking months to get such a confession from far lesser creatures. I'm not having this argument with her though.
"I need to go see if I can make peace. There's nothing I hate worse than a brooding man."
She laughs hard and follows me back to the hotel - where we opt to take the stairs instead of playing another game of leaping lizards.
She pats me on the arm as she passes me to head on to her room, and I take a deep breath before I walk in. Kry puts his headphones on when he sees me. I see a small grin playing on his lips as he pulls up a magazine to be in front of his face.
I roll my eyes at the juvenile joy he's relishing from our little spat. Asshole.
Devin is putting all of his numerous things in his pockets, and I sit down on the edge of the broken bed.
"I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to make you mad. I'm used to being self-sufficient. I'm not sure how I feel about you feeling like I'm your responsibility."
He stops loading his pockets back down and picks up his phone.
"What's up, Dev?" Ther says on the other end.
"Ther, hey, grab me a car on your way in."
"Okay. Anything in particular?"
"Nothing red, blue, yellow, or any other prime color. Nothing with more than two doors. Don't even think about getting me something you would drive," Devin says dryly.
I can hear Ther laughing, and then he speaks through his chuckles.
"No prob. I'll see ya when I see ya."
Devin puts the phone in his pocket and resumes picking some of the pieces of the room up.
He kicks Kry's foot, and Kry jerks down the blaring headphones.
"What's up?"
"Take my card and pay for the damages," Devin instructs.
"Yeah. No problem," Kry chuckles out as he takes Devin's credit card.
He disappears from the room, and Devin sits down beside me. He hands me a cell phone, and then he speaks coolly.
"It's an untraceable cell. Try not to call home too often for a little while. I got you a local Frankford number so as not to arouse suspicion from anyone getting too close. We can head to your apartment and get anything you're attached to. Anything else can easily be replaced. I'm sorry you don't want to stay with me, but I'm not going to let you put yourself at risk."
I huff slightly. "Devin, don't make this out to be that. I love staying with you, but we barely know each other. This is a very new relationship we haven't even defined yet. I have no idea where we are or where we're going because we haven't discussed it. The closest thing we've had to a date is Clara's wedding and rehearsal dinner, which you left me afterwards. I feel uncomfortable moving in and taking money. It's just weird."
His eyes soften, and he purses his lips.
"We're all family. I pay for all kinds of shit for Kry and Ther on a regular basis. It's just the way we do things. It's not like I have to work hard to earn money. I can see the future. It's very easy to gamble on an investment when it's not actually a gamble. I don't hold money to the same high respect you do. It's just something to buy stuff with in my eyes. I could clean out a casino in hours if I wanted to.
"As for the living arrangements, I've not wanted you to leave my side since the first night you stayed with me. I know it's a little unorthodox, according to the rules and guidelines you're accustomed to, but it's not so bizarre to me. I want to be with you, you want to be with me, so the end result should be fairly simple. Not to mention, everyone new to their powers lives with someone until they are as comfortable as they can be.
"You deserve a date, and I've actually tried to take you out to dinner, but you objected to that suggestion due to our scandalous endeavor moments earlier that day. I want to take you out. I want to do things with you and for you.
"As for your point of defining our relationship, I've been yours since I met you. I realize there was a moment of a breakdown, but I thought I was hurting you. I never really left you, and I never plan on leaving you again. If you need a defining term, then pick one, anything at al
l," his genuine voice relays.
He really doesn't regard money the same way I do. Any term? There's really only one I can think of, but I just don't know if I can say girlfriend or boyfriend out loud without sounding like a sixteen-year-old girl.
I think I'll skip the defining terms for the time being, although technically he has told my family he's my boyfriend. Why does that sound so yummy and so silly at once?
"I just don't want to ruin things by living together this early on in the relationship. I like you, and I like where we are. I'm afraid if we push things too fast, we'll lose it all too soon."
His kind eyes hold such promise, and his lips whisk away my worrying mind with their supple touch. He pulls back and stares into my eyes again as he speaks so softly.
"We're not going to lose anything. I won't ever give you up. Haven't you learned that by now?" he murmurs with his wickedly seductive tone that makes my heart flip-flop in my chest.
I blush in response and stare bashfully at the floor. I'm falling harder and harder for him with each passing moment. I hope this is real. Please let it be real.
"Tell me about your past relationships," I prompt, catching him off guard.
His head pops back in surprise, and his seducing tone turns to one of bewilderment.
"That's random." He laughs a little nervously.
"Not really. We're sitting here planning out a living arrangement in which we'll be sharing the same home. You know far too much about my past relationships, and I don't know anything about yours," I clarify.
He shrugs and weighs my explanation in his head.
"A few meaningless endeavors here and there, along with some nasty entanglements, as well as a few other forms of relationships," he casually replies with his nonchalant tone.
"A few other forms of relationships?"
That's just one of my many questions that has stemmed from his vague answer that insinuates he really is a playboy despite his numerous denials.
He laughs as if I've said something funny, but his perfect smile bears no influence over me for once. He strokes my reddened cheek as he pokes at my anger.
"It was long before you. There's no need in being mad. My past is completely in the past. Please don't overanalyze this," he says with a teasing tone.
Friends with benefits. That's got to be the other form of relationship he's talking about. Great. He's one of those guys. Those guys don't know how to stay faithful for long. What am I doing?
I pout like the pitiful teen whose persona I've suddenly taken over. This is so foolish. How can I be mad at him for having other relationships when I've had so, so many? Not to mention...
"How old are you?" I pop out.
"Again, very random," he chuckles.
Personally, I think this whole thing is anything but laughable right at this moment. I'm disgusted with the fact he's a playboy, I'm jealous of all the girls I've never met, and I'm curious how long he's been alive and with women. Okay, maybe it is a little laughable, considering how foolish I'm behaving.
"I want to know," I murmur in a less offensive manner.
"Well, I actually stopped counting a long, long time ago. Let's leave it at that. A number would just be intimidating, and I like you seeing me as a twenty-seven-year-old with nothing but time on his hands," he gleams.
That actually brings a smile to my face. Damn him and his cuteness.
Will I ever be able to stay angry with him? I haven't yet.
He abandoned me in the middle of the night, he broke up with me over the phone, and he kidnapped me for heaven's sake. If that doesn't keep me mad, what will?
His lips swell in desire against mine, and my lips pulse against his. His hands grip my sides as he pulls me closer, and all my anger runs away as Aphrodite stretches her muscles and brings the green eyes to life.
He smiles behind our kiss as I slide over to straddle him, and he pulls my body tighter against his the second I'm fully astride. The abrupt tug at my hips awakens the lusting goddess fully, and she almost consumes me.
Such small, seemingly insignificant actions can be the sexiest when I'm with him. No man has ever made me feel so alive, needed, or wanted.
His hands slide up my waist and then over my breasts until they reach my neck. He cups my face gently, and then the fire consumes me.
I hear my pants sizzling as he pries them from my legs, and I smell the stench of burning fabric as my shirt scorches too much before he frees me from it.
I smile as the spark between us becomes visible, and my currents spread over me with their delicious snaps. He smirks as they move around his body to deliver a pulsating, erotic sensation.
"That's new," he breathes with a squirming indulgence.
A smug grin tugs at the corner of my mouth, and I feel the currents magnetizing his body to mine. The eruption of our merging bodies is almost too much to endure without giving into the goddess, but then I remember... I am the goddess.
"Wow. I don't even know what to say after that. I don't know what you were doing with those currents, but I hope you can duplicate it," he gasps as he flops onto his back.
I smile with all the superior smugness of a queen as she acknowledges her bowing subjects. He rolls over to grab his phone out of his pants that are crumpled on the floor - slightly singed. I quickly indulge in a private victory dance that I will never let him see me do. He turns back around, and I halt my silly motion while playing the cool, composed goddess.
He smirks a little in a way that makes me squirm.
"I assume I wasn't supposed to see that," he snarks playfully while stifling a laugh.
My face floods with a wave of various reds. "I... uh... um... no," I stammer foolishly.
Stupid, stupid girl. The damn window reflection sold me out, and his supernatural eyes just busted my goofy ass.
He laughs a little as I cover my head with the sheet. His lips find mine against the fabric shielding me from the embarrassment, and I succumb to a smile despite my humiliation.
"I have to make a few calls while we wait on the others. Kry will probably be back in a while," he says with a slight snicker still lingering in the back of his throat.
I blush under the sheet as I think of how Kry most likely tried to return while we were... indisposed. I'm sure heard the rather fierce commotion as the rest of the bed gave way to our savagery, and the animalistic sounds exuding from us as well.
Peachy.
I'm distracted as I hear the clanking of his belt popping against his body while he pulls his pants up. Oh, the sound of his pants scraping against his body is unnerving, even more so when the pants are heading in the other direction.
Then I grow curious when I hear both sides of Devin's phone conversation.
"Mr. Cole," a man answers, instead of using a hello.
"Greer, I'll be staying at my other apartment for a while, and I need you to set it up for me."
"Yes, sir. Should I move any of your things from your current apartment?" the man's strong voice asks.
"No. There's nothing I need from there, but I do need you to procure a few items for me," Devin requests.
"That's no problem, sir," the man replies with a happy-to-oblige attitude.
"I'll have a female companion accompanying me, so please make sure there's nothing she'll need. You'll be starting from scratch. I'll call Sheila to assist you with this," Devin says with his businesslike tone.
That tone is so, so sexy.
"Yes, sir. Anything else?"
Devin turns to smirk at me before responding.
"I need a reinforced steel bed frame, or a titanium one, or something of that nature. It needs to be the strongest you can find," he says casually, and I'm unmistakably mortified.
The man coughs in surprise and strangles on the air that has formed coarse bubbles in his throat.
"Sir? Okay... yes, sir," Greer says with an insuppressible snicker.
Oh please don't ever let me have to meet this man.
Devin grins a little wider when h
e realizes how obvious his request has been. His business tone has flipped to a more genuine tone mixed with a mysteriously hidden excitement.
"I have a special request for Sheila, but I'll email her the details. Just tell her to call me if there's any hitch in finalizing the details."
"Yes, sir," the man says as Devin hangs up.
He shrugs as I roll my eyes.
"Please tell me I'll never have to see that guy," I whine.
Devin laughs ridiculously hard at my blushing request, and then he pulls on his shirt, ending the peep show I was still reveling in. I huff slightly as he turns to start putting on his socks and shoes.
My clothes have been completely murdered by the vicious flames of passion... literally.
“I really have to start getting naked before we start getting hot. You need to invest in some flame-retardant sheets or something," I grumble while picking up the remnants of the brittle, scorched shirt that suffered the brunt of the passionate force.
He smiles with a bit of menace in his eyes daring me to take him again.
"I wouldn't complain if you never wore clothes around the apartment at all. Perhaps we should experiment with that idea and see how it goes."
I roll my eyes and toss the blackened shirt that once bore a vivid orange at him. He catches it and then drops it to the ground with a chuckle. He tosses me a new set of clothes from the bag, and I very languidly pull them on.
It's been forever since he called Ther. Of course, I know it takes a while to buy a new car. Only Devin Cole would send someone to buy a car for him as if it's a tiresome chore. Most people do cartwheels when they get to purchase a new vehicle.
Then I hear the roaring of an engine revving outside. Devin rolls his eyes as he shakes his head.
"I should have known," Devin grumbles.
"What?" I ask curiously.
"Ther's a corvette man," he sighs.
I walk out holding his hand to see the charcoal-gray corvette stingray Ther's giving hell. He smiles and hangs his head out the window as Devin leans over the railing to glare his disapproval.
"What you think?" Ther says excitedly.
"Ostentatious," Devin gripes.
Ther swats his scrutiny away as he counters, "It's not like it's a Lamborghini or something. It's not going to draw too much attention either. It's a sexy car, and now you have... well, you've got the queen of sexy. We'll put it that way," Ther chuckles.
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