AllsFair

by AlexandraOHurley

  “If I didn’t like you so much, I would just go back to Olympia for your mocking attitude. I shouldn’t tell you at this point just to punish you for your impudence.”

  “Apollo, please, can we just stop with the games?”

  Eros watched Apollo, his mighty arms crossed over his massive chest, lips out poutily, with a demeanor of arrogance chiseled all through his golden expression. Apollo released a deep sigh and dropped his arms. “At least I got a little ass out of the deal, so I will let it go. This time.”

  “Thank you, Apollo.”

  “Don’t thank me yet, as I am not bearing good news. It seems that Eris has been spending a lot of time in the Underworld.”

  “The Underworld? For what reason?”

  “That, I could not find out. But who else would she be spending time with other than Hades?”

  “They have never overly liked one another. I can’t see why they would work together. What does Hades benefit? That these mortals die unhappy and alone? I would think that would make the Underworld even more dismal and tormented.”

  “Hades feeds off their fear and unhappiness. This would make him even stronger—to fill the Underworld with unhappy souls.”

  “Perhaps. But there must be more to it than that.”

  “Well, we need to get back to Olympia. I have to wipe you from their memory, and I think I need to give these two one more arrow, just to let them get past the embarrassment of the last hour.”

  Pulling two special arrows out of his quiver, Eros aimed at the pair, waiting for the moment they were both completely dressed. Releasing one into Kami and then the other into JC, Eros stood back to see if his plan would work.

  * * * *

  Scratching his head, JC looked around his office as if he was missing something but had no idea what. He looked across the room and his gaze rested on Kami seated in same chair she had sat while he had pleasured her with his mouth. Something twisted inside him when he saw her uncomfortable smile. What they had just shared was something incredibly special, and he would not let her feel ashamed of what they had done together.

  Walking across to stand before her, he kneeled, grasping both sides of her face softly between his palms. Nuzzling her nose and then planting a soft kiss on her trembling lips, he wanted her to know how much he cared for her. He knew he had crossed a professional line with her today, but he was on the other side now, and he refused to let it go back to the way they were.

  Feeling her arms stretch around his neck, he relaxed into her hold, his mouth moving along her jawline to eventually rest on her neck where he nuzzled the soft skin there. He felt the inward rush of air as he nibbled the tender skin where her shoulder met neck. She stirred against him, and he felt himself swell, wanting desperately to be inside her, just him and him alone with her, to lay his claim on her without another man to confuse the feelings he wanted to share with her.

  Feeling her soften to his touch, he removed the sweater she had just put back on moments before and grasped the soft mounds of flesh behind the silky black-lace bra. So enamored with the moment during the last escapade, he had not been able to enjoy the simple act of appreciating the beauty that was her. Bound inside the sexy lingerie, she was erotically beautiful, and he tugged at her worn jeans to see more of her.

  Seeing the black lace of her panties revealed as he lowered her pants from her thighs, he felt his erection lengthen farther, pressing against the fabric of his jeans. The blood pulsed through his flesh, creating a staccato beat in his head that pressed him to move ahead. He had to touch every inch of exposed flesh and then some.

  Pulling her nipple into his mouth through the black lace, he wet it with his tongue before biting it hard enough to make her moan with pleasure. Grasping the other firm globe with his hand, he massaged her flesh all while tasting her as well. Sliding his hips closer to the cradle of her thighs, rubbing his engorged flesh against her, he knew he was as close to bursting as he was moments before.

  Moaning in delight, Kami arched her back, forcing her nipple deeper into his mouth and breast farther into his hand. Nipping at the flesh between the globes, JC moved farther up toward her elegant neck, pressing his erection to her pussy as he moved farther into the span of her hips. The feel of her fire was too much for him to bear as he slipped one hand inside the waistband of her delicate panties.

  Breathless with desire, JC was mindless with lust as their mouths collided and danced fluidly. His pants were lost along the way, their undergarments thin shields to the heat beneath, tempting the flesh below. Soon after the rest of their clothing was gone, JC slid his length inside her in one long, slow stretch. Using one hand to palm her mound, he caressed her clit in tune with the pace he set between her legs.

  Wrapping her thighs tightly around his hips, she swayed with him, the subtle ebb and flow of lovers of old. Kami caressed him with her eyes, her hands, and her hips, rubbing her feet along the back of his thighs as she met him stroke for stroke, and he powered within her depths.

  He filled her with all the emotion he had always been too afraid to speak, fearful of being the man he knew he wanted to be with her. Kami took all he had to give, holding him to her, allowing him to pour himself into her and take what he needed. As she reached the heights of her desire, she moaned her release into his mouth, holding his body tautly to her.

  Moments later, he found his release, and he pulled her onto the floor alongside him as he tried to make the world stop spinning.

  * * * *

  Kami snuggled into the warmth of JC’s body, feeling the aftereffects of her orgasm stretching through her limbs. After a few moments, JC turned to look into Kami’s eyes. “Where do we go from here?”

  “I don’t know. Where do we go?” Wanting to hear what her heart was screaming to drop from his lips, Kami needed him to tell her there was a happily ever after waiting for them in the future. Fear stitched through Kami’s chest as she stopped breathing. The quiet reverberating through the room spoke volumes to her. He did not feel the same for her as she felt for him.

  “It is going to make work a confusing place. This may have been a mistake.”

  Kami stiffened and pulled from his embrace, standing to gather her clothing once more.

  “Where are you going, Kami?”

  Tears burned behind her eyes, but she refused to let them fall while she was in his presence, refused to allow him to see how much he was hurting her. “I’m not feeling well. I need to head home.”

  “But the lunch crowd should be starting.”

  “I’m sure you and the others can handle it. Plus I would hate to make it confusing out there after our mistake.” Pulling on her clothes, she felt awkward as JC just lay there, wordlessly watching her. The unsaid was hanging thickly in the air, and she was choking on the tension.

  As she reached for the door, JC stood and stopped her. “Kami…”

  Forcing herself to turn and face him was the hardest thing she had ever had to do. “Yes?”

  He stared, silently, as if the words he wanted to say would not come. The pause was just a minute, but it felt like an hour, and she bit the inside of her lip as she felt the burn of tears once more.

  JC blew out a deep breath. “Will you be in tomorrow?”

  Her chest constricted in pain. He was more concerned about covering her shift than how she was handling his rejection. Kami felt duped. All this time, she thought he was perfect—gorgeous, smart, and caring. JC Elocin may be hot as hell, but he was proving to be a jackass.

  Grasping the doorknob, she gritted her teeth. “Find a new barista. I quit.”

  * * * *

  JC stood nude in the middle of his office, devastated. This was not how he had wanted this to end. She was an incredible woman, beautiful, smart, creative, and her smile sent his heart rate into the stratosphere. But this is what happens when you mix business and pleasure. Your stupid dick gets you into trouble!

  Even so, he had to fight the urge to run after Kami and stop her. They had been on an emoti
onal rollercoaster today, and she may need time with her thoughts. There was no way he was going to let her go. Pulling on his clothes, he thought back to the entire afternoon. The initial act of lovemaking was blurry, as if he had been drunk.

  Forcing his mind to remember all the events, he saw images blurring together, and he sensed there was something more he was missing. Was lust for Kami driving him crazy? Her sweet flavor was still on his lips, and he pressed his tongue to them, remembering the feel of her body against him. There was something troubling him. He sensed there had been another in the room with them, and he kept getting snippets of lovemaking where he was sharing her with another. Impossible. There is no way I forgot another person fucking Kami. I must be losing it. I would never share her. She is mine.

  Mine?

  No, there was no way he was letting her go anywhere. She was his.

  * * * *

  Shaking hand grasping keys, she pressed them into the lock of her apartment door. Kami felt as if she would be sick. Not only had she just quit the only job she had in the city, but she had given herself to JC only to have him reject her afterwards. Her new life in the big city ruined all in one afternoon. She might as well start packing her bags and get ready to return home with her tail between her legs.

  Dropping into her tiny office chair, she logged on to her computer to check out her miserable savings account, and her email loaded up immediately, and she saw an e-mail from the Ingram Museum of Fine Art. Trembling fingers moved the mouse as she settled down into her seat, crossing a leg under her butt.

  Kami sat there entranced by address, fearing that her bad day was about to enter into a trifecta. That’s all I need—one more rejection today. I just might go postal. Thankfully I don’t own a gun. Staring at the screen, Kami ran her fingers across her mouse, twisting the cursor to and fro. She was afraid to open it.

  “Well, here goes nothing.” Clicking the missive, she took a deep breath before focusing on the words. She scanned it quickly, as if ripping off a Band-Aid. She figured the faster she got it over with, the less it would hurt.

  Congratulations! We would like to offer you the Assistant Curator position in our European Art Department. Please contact…

  Holy shit! Kami sat frozen, forcing herself to reread the first two sentences a few times to ensure she was not hallucinating.

  I got the job! I got a job! Jumping off the floor, she starting pouncing around her little apartment, and she squealed for joy—that was until the cow downstairs started thumping on her floor and screaming for her to be quiet. Dropping one booted foot to the floor as heavily as she could, she then continued her dance.

  Moments later, a heavy knock sounded on her door. I can’t believe she came all the way up here to complain. As she unlocked the multiple deadbolts on the scarred wood, she screamed, “Oh shut up! I have had a bad day, and I deserve two minutes of celebration!”

  Whipping the door open, she prepared to let the grumpy old woman know exactly what she thought. Instead of her neighbor, she saw the last man she wanted to see in the entire world.

  “Sounds like a party in there. Are you that happy to have quit?”

  Bracing herself against the doorjamb, she tried to gather her composure as quickly as possible. “JC, what are you doing here? I thought I made it clear what my intensions were.”

  “If you’ll let me in, I will let you know about my intensions—the ones you never gave me time to say.”

  Looking across the room to her computer briefly, she eyed him squarely and opened the door wider to let him pass. Feeling a case of nerves, Kami stared at the screen, knowing she had to let him know she had to break away. No matter if it killed her inside to do just that.

  After a couple minutes of silence, Kami couldn’t take it any longer. “JC, I’m not coming back. I was sure of it the moment I walked out the door, and now”—she waved toward her computer screen—“now I know I made the right choice today. I have been offered a job at a reputable museum. I can’t pass up this opportunity. So, I am sorry for not giving you notice and just walking out, but I can’t be there now.”

  JC remained quiet, looking at the floor a brief moment. “Congratulations. I’m glad for you, because I wasn’t here to ask you back. I think it’s for the best that you no longer work for me.”

  What an asshole! “I’m so glad you felt the need to come tell me you didn’t want me after I walked out.” Kami felt her whole body slacken. “Just leave, JC. There is no reason to rub it in that you don’t want me.”

  “Stop putting words in my mouth.”

  Seconds later, Kami was engulfed in JC’s arms, his mouth covering hers with a kiss she felt all the way to her toes. Pulling back, he smiled sluggishly. “I didn’t come here to beg you back to work. There is a line you should never cross with your employees, and I crossed it today.”

  “What are you saying? I’m really confused.”

  * * * *

  Eros raised his arrow once more, afraid he would have to pelt the couple again. How difficult this twosome was, a pair that should have been easy. Standing firm, he pulled back his right hand, ready to release. Before he could let the arrow fly, he heard all he needed to.

  “I have wanted to kiss you for months, but I didn’t want to cross the line.” Licking at the corner of her mouth, JC continued, “Now we have jumped across that line. Working together will be hard. I don’t know where this is going, but I know I do not want this to end. There is something between the two of us, and I want to see where this goes.” JC looked at her with an expectant look on his face. “Outside the workplace.”

  Kami smiled as she took the breath she appeared to have been holding. “I don’t want it to end either.”

  Wrapping her arms around his neck, she cuddled into his embrace.

  Their reaction was music to Eros’s ears. He dropped the arrow, placing it back in his quiver before turning to a smiling Apollo. Knowing he had won this battle, he and Apollo quickly returned to Olympia.

  Standing in the middle of the Hall of Jupiter, Apollo looked to him, brows furrowed. “I fear that simply fixing one couple will hardly be enough to fight Hades’s plan. Are you going to run around trying to fix everything Eris pulls asunder?”

  Eros looked down into the Window of Earth, contemplating his next move. His instincts told him that he needed to tell Zeus of his concerns, but there was a part of him that wanted to fix this on his own without calling in reinforcements, especially considering Zeus may blame him for the entire fiasco. That same instinct told him there was more to this plot than met the eye, and he wanted more information before he spoke to Zeus.

  “Do you not think that if we continue to fix what they destroy that we could lure Hades out to see if he is truly involved? I can’t imagine that this is the work of Eris alone. The scale is just too large, even with Hades behind it. I think we need more information, and then we go to Zeus.”

  “What is this ‘we’ crap? I helped you with this one, but I never said I would keep helping.”

  “Do you want to go down to Earth and diddle with your precious humans?”

  “I do not diddle. I fuck them.”

  “Without your help, there won’t be any humans to fuck.”

  Apollo’s golden face turned pale for an instant just before he hid the emotion with a casual eye roll. “I’m in. What do we do next?”

  Chapter Five

  Eros looked down through the Window to Earth once more. “We pick the next meeting at random and do as we did before and again, fix whatever they destroy. Hopefully, we will piss off whoever is behind all of this and they make a move—potentially the wrong one. If that does not happen, we can at least gather more information, perhaps allow me to work on Eris some more. Something tells me she could be the key to this whole thing.”

  “Agreed.” Apollo scratched his silken blond locks as he watched through the Window at the faces streaming past. “Eros, there is another with Muse blood.” A shiver worked down Eros’s back at Apollo’s words, wonder
ing if immortal blood tied into the events in some way. Seconds later the two stood on a cold street corner. An arctic breeze blasted through that would have made human men run for cover, feeling every available appendage twist in frostbite. Snowflakes began to fall softly, and a quiet cocoon wrapped around them. The humans were smart. They were staying indoors. Almost no one was about.

  “What are we doing here?” Apollo looked around the empty street, no one in sight. “How are we supposed to help if there is no one around in need?”

  “Just wait.” Wrinkling his nose, he smiled. “Do you smell smoke?” Eros pointed his finger above him, and Apollo stepped back to look upward. A thin stream of smoke had begun to slide out from a red-brick townhouse that stood behind him.

  “Are we to play Superman and save someone?”

  “No, there are heroes here on Earth that are destined to save the one inside.” Before Eros had finished his sentence, he heard the clatter of sirens in the background and knew they approached. “How about we go view the scene?”

  Popping into the kitchen of the townhouse, they saw a curvy brunette slapping flames erupting from the stove she apparently was cooking on at some point. Cool and calm, the woman did her best to douse the flames with lids and oven mitts, but the more she attempted, the more the flames danced around her.

  “Most women would be screaming and crying. You have to respect her for keeping a level head.” Apollo whistled, watching the woman weave around the erupting conflagration.

  “That is part of her problem. She is too levelheaded. Perhaps she needs to be unleveled.” His bow appearing within his hands, Eros pulled an arrow and readied it, aiming for the woman’s curvy rear.

  Before Eros could release, a man came running into her apartment with a fire extinguisher. Spewing white foam all over the woman’s kitchen, he quickly doused the remaining flames. The woman turned to him, her shoulders slumping as she surveyed the damage, and then turned to the man who had run in.