AllsFair

by AlexandraOHurley

  There was another spot where the flames had erupted when he had been standing in the kitchen with Kendall, but he saw neither accelerant nor a source, which thoroughly intrigued him. He had never heard of a countertop spontaneously combusting.

  Perhaps it was less intriguing and just gave him an excuse to remain in Kendall’s presence. He was already going to rule on the case, signing off that it was bad wiring since he had found no proof one way or the other that they had been tampered with.

  He filled out the rest of the paperwork she would need for her insurance company. Gathering the remnants of his tools, he was quite satisfied to stand around listening to her melodic voice as she answered questions from her agent regarding the damage. He snuck a peek at her and was fairly positive she had been staring at him. The pink hue that cast a pretty blush to her face proved it.

  Hanging up, she sighed, putting the phone down before rubbing both of her palms against the sides of her temple.

  Pushing off the counter, he walked over to her, kneading the stress from her shoulders. “What did your agent have to say?”

  “I had not updated my insurance to include all the new appliances, so I will have to try and dig up all of my receipts to prove I had everything improved, and then I still may not get full value. Which means I may have to fight with the contractor to get everything fixed. I really don’t feel like waging a battle after all this.”

  “If the contractor is worth his salt, he will be more than willing to come correct the damage. Plus they should have insurance to help cover situations like this.”

  “Well, I suppose that remains to be seen. But I still can’t stop thinking that I waited so long to have this kitchen perfect, and as soon as I get it, it’s gone. Seems ironic.”

  “I have a good feeling that everything will work out in the end.”

  “Oh, why is that?”

  “Because this fire has impacted me positively already.”

  Turning to look him squarely in the eyes, she looked up at him, and he felt the heat of her desire burning in the hazel orbs. “And just how has this been positive?” The delicate arch of her brow and smirk on her lips told him that she already thought she knew the answer to that question.

  Leaning forward, he ran his lower lip along the sensitive shell of her ear, and he basked in her warmth. His whispered response, spoken against the delicate lobe, made her shudder in his arms. “Because I met you.” Rubbing his hands along her arms, he continued, “I held you in my arms.” Wynne ran a palm under the bottom of her shirt and placed one finger under the waistband of her jeans as he went on. “I felt you shudder in need when I touched you.”

  She shivered at his words, and he felt desire rage through him. Lifting her to the scarred countertop behind her, he pushed between her thighs, rubbing his aching cock against the inferno of her pussy. Both hands grasped her face, his thumbs caressing her lower lip, and he smiled as he gazed into her eyes. Lowering his head, he barely whispered a kiss against her mouth. Pulling back, he looked at her, amazed at the height of her passion, knowing innately that he wore the same expression of pure, unadulterated need on his own face.

  Just as he was lowering his head to capture her lips once more, the front door burst open, and as they startled at the noise, Ronald walked through the door.

  “Howdy, neighbor. Thought you might need some help with the cleanup efforts. I saw the fire department pickup out front and figured you were back.”

  “Back? How did you know she was gone?” The unconscious protective instinct came out in Wynne full force. He did not like this man. Not at all.

  Walking around the kitchen as if he owned the place, Ronald wiped one bony finger through a patch of soot on the center island before rubbing it on a towel beside him. “I was trying to be neighborly last night and checked in on her. I figured she would need something to eat, and I was going to invite her over to my house, but she wasn’t here.” The man ended the comment with a raised eyebrow aimed directly at Wynne, as if he was challenging the man.

  “No, she was not here. She was with me.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Wynne regretted them, and at the sharp intake of breath from Kendall behind him, he knew he had definitely opened his mouth and let his foot inside.

  The smirk on Ronald’s face was unreadable. “Well, she is home now and will need to eat.” Turning to Kendall, he added, “You are welcome to come over and have dinner with me tonight.”

  “She has plans tonight,” Wynne nearly growled at the man.

  “Oh, I am sure she does.” Ronald began moving his fingers around in an odd fashion, as he had done before. Wynne watched, unsettled, at the odd gesturing the man made. Just like the time before, his eyes grew wide, and he backed from the room as if afraid of something unseen.

  Ronald’s lips twisted in a foul grimace as he backed away. “You whore. I should have let your fucking kitchen burn down if I knew how much of a slut you were.” Running from the house with his tail between his legs, Ronald disappeared from view as his last epitaphs rung in Kendall’s ears.

  Chapter Nine

  Erebus saw Eros and Apollo enter the space and ran from them once more. Evaporating into smoke, he drifted back to the Underworld, the two gods hot on his trail. As soon as Eros and Apollo rematerialized, it was in Aphrodite’s temple instead of Erebus’s chamber in the Underworld.

  “Boys, it is about time you arrived. I placed that spell on you hours ago.” The deeply feminine voice rolled over Eros like syrup. Aphrodite had them in her clutches.

  Turning along with Apollo, both viewed Aphrodite at the same moment. Eros inwardly grimaced, knowing his surrogate mother had noticed all the time he and Apollo had spent on Earth. She would not let them go without answers to her questions.

  “Mother, you could have simply summoned us instead of placing a spell.”

  “Like you would have come? I am not that stupid, Eros.” Looking at her reflection in a mirror held by a muse, Aphrodite smiled at herself while fixing a loose lock from her coiffure.

  Eros stared around the golden opulence of the room, tables filled with fruits and sweets, fountains flowing with wine, vivid silks flowing from the walls. It was gaudily perfect. “I would have come as soon as I was able.”

  “Stop lying to your mother.” Smiling at herself yet again in the mirror, she turned suddenly, staring at Eros. “Why have you been spending so much time on Earth, away from Psyche? You never leave that awful woman for even a second.”

  Aphrodite still held a grudge against his wife. Psyche would never be good enough for her son. “I am attempting to take my job more seriously by personally ensuring that a few random encounters go well.”

  “Honey, I may look like I only have half a brain, but you need to do better than that. If that truly was the case, you would not have gotten golden boy here to go out with you. Something is amiss to have Apollo sniffing around, too.”

  Looking for Apollo for help, Eros turned to his uncle who only stood there looking devoid of any conscious thought. Shaking his head, he knew better than to continue to lie, so subterfuge would be best. “Mother, I would never assume you to be stupid. You are the most beautiful, intriguing, and witty of all the goddesses on Olympia.”

  “Flattery would normally get you, well, everywhere, but I will not be swayed this time.” Raising one eyebrow, she gave her son the once-over. “As I see it, you still owe me for saving your arse from Zeus.”

  “That was several millennia ago, and you have used that same bargaining chip at least five hundred times by now.” Eros grasped at straws at this point, not wanting to include Aphrodite in the chaos at this point.

  “Well, since you apparently do not think I am worthy to know your little secret, I won’t tell you my secret.”

  Eros grimaced inwardly, knowing that she was going to get it out of him either way. Just as he was about to tell her, she interrupted.

  “Can it. I already know what you are doing, and now I have neither the time nor patience to liste
n to you.”

  “And your secret.”

  “You will owe me.”

  “Fine, Mother. What is it?”

  A winning gleam settled in Aphrodite’s eyes as she smiled carnivorously at them. “Rumor has it that the Underworld is involved in ruining love in an attempt to wage war on the Olympians and that you have been spending time on Earth trying to fix fate and save us.”

  “And just where did you hear that?”

  “Eris. But considering the discord she enjoys, I knew not to believe all she said. At least, not until I spoke to you.” Smiling gleefully at the men, she sighed loudly. “And from your responses I know she was actually telling me the truth.”

  “Mother…”

  “Peitho is on Earth.”

  “And the Goddess of Seduction has what to do with all of this?”

  “She has been one of my attendants for eons, and it is unlike her to be far from my side. Seduction and Beauty go hand in hand, as you well know. So, I was curious as to why she would leave me and followed her to Earth.”

  “And…”

  “She is seducing a human male. A happily married man. I think it may behoove you to find her.”

  Eros and Apollo turned from her dais, about to return to Earth.

  “Wait!”

  The pair of gods froze in their tracks and slowly pivoted back to face the glory that was Aphrodite.

  “You didn’t let me finish. You have always been in such a rush your entire immortality. One of these days you will understand the importance of slowing down. Enjoying the moment.”

  “This is not the time to enjoy the moment, Mother. We have little time to waste. If there is more, I would appreciate you telling us now.”

  “Fine.” Eros watched as her pouty lower lip began to puff out, knowing his coarse words would do nothing to aid him. Time was of the essence. He hoped her information would serve him instead of blowing more steam on this whole mess. “The Oracle of Delphi has released a new divination.”

  Apollo’s chest puffed as he stood beside Eros. “And why was I not called? She is my servant and renders her visions to me.”

  “You, my brother, were busy playing with my son on Earth, so I was called to sit before the Oracle in your stead.”

  “And what did she had to say, Mother?”

  “It made no sense to me, or to anyone else, but perhaps it will mean something to you. ‘The Seasons of the Immortals is the Key.’”

  Eros looked to Apollo, who looked deep in thought. As the Delphi Oracle was Apollo’s priestess, he had listened to the divinations set forth since the dawn of man. “What does it mean, Apollo?”

  “I am not quite sure, Eros. But my gut tells me we find Peitho and perhaps the meaning will become clear. We need to finish with these last two and move quickly.”

  * * * *

  Wynne burst forth, following Ronald, confident he would plow his fist through the man’s face. As soon as he ran through the door, Ronald was nowhere in sight. Looking both ways down the street, he saw absolutely no one, which only contributed to the overall creepiness of the man.

  Astonished at the disappearance, he turned back into the house, getting out of the cold, unable to rid himself of a queasy feeling when it came to Kendall’s odd neighbor. He did not want her staying in her house until he could talk to his buddies down at the police station and have Ronald investigated. Moving into the kitchen, he saw Kendall standing there, unshed tears glistening in her eyes, her face unnaturally pale.

  Rushing to her, he gathered her into his arms, only to have her push away.

  “I never asked you to fight my battles. I am thirty-one years old, and I have been on my own for a decade now. I work hard, pay my own bills, and even bought this house with my own money, and made it this far without alpha-male overprotective bullshit. Now I have my crazy neighbor making assumptions about my morality and a prehistoric caveman beating his chest in my destroyed kitchen. I don’t need this drama or a pig-headed boyfriend right now. I need to clean up the mess of my life, get back to the nice, neat, quiet existence I had a few days ago, and move on.”

  Wynne knew she was 150 percent right, his shoulders tensing at her admonishing tone. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to ruin your reputation. That guy just gives me the creeps.”

  “So some weird overprotective instinct comes flaring out?”

  “And it came out all wrong.”

  “Wynne, I don’t need you protecting me. I have been doing that for myself my entire adult life.”

  Running a hand through his hair, he looked at the floor, pushing a blackened spoon with his toe. “Kendall, I have screwed this up entirely, from taking advantage of you when you were in need to laying claim to you in front of some fucked-up neighbor who I think has some kind of obsession with you.”

  “Laying claim? What the hell does that mean? I just told you I don’t need this in my life right now.”

  Moving to stand right in front of her, he lifted her to the counter once more so she could look him in the eyes when he spoke to her. “This, whatever this is between us, it will happen. I am doing the best I can to not push it too hard or too fast, but there will be a you and I. And don’t lie to me and tell me that you don’t feel it, too, because you do.”

  “Get out of my house.” He felt her shaking as she said the words to him.

  Looking deeply into her eyes, he saw the desire swirling in the depths. He thought he saw the need she had—that she wanted him to stay, to be the big, strong man and carry her upstairs and ravage her in her bed. Her words told him to go, so he pushed away from the counter with the last ounce of his self-restraint.

  Pulling out his wallet, he yanked out his business card and left it on the counter beside her. “When you change your mind, call me.”

  * * * *

  Seething as she sat on the counter watching Wynne’s back retreat out of the hallway, she jumped at the loud thud of the door as he closed it behind him. The sound seemed to echo within her, and she ached at the loss his presence caused.

  She had done the right thing. The man had suddenly become this arrogant caveman, and after how wonderful he had been the night before, she was shocked. Last night, they had talked late into the night, watching the fire while cuddling together under the blanket. At some point in the night, she had fallen asleep, only to awaken in his bed, alone.

  He had slept on the couch, and as large a man as he was, she knew there was no way he had fit. When she had awakened, her nose had been filled with the wonderful smells of coffee, and as she had approached the kitchen, she saw him cracking eggs over a bowl on the counter. They had finished making breakfast together before showering separately and heading back to her house.

  When he dropped a big chauvinistic bomb in her kitchen, a place that needed no bombing at all, she was stunned. She shouldn’t have been, as he was acting just like every other man she had ever known.

  Too bad the whole act had gotten her hot. Almost hot enough to forgive his caveman act.

  Jumping down from the counter, she thought again to the night before. He had gone out of his way to treat her with respect, to fight their collective urges and be a gentleman, and she had responded to that. Perhaps she should have been more lenient when he had only been trying to protect her from weaselly Ronald, even if the protection he offered was way out of line.

  It’s the thought that counts, right?

  Her phone rang at that moment, and it was her insurance agent calling back. He was sending over an adjuster to determine the damage and look over the receipts for the new appliances and contractor. Shuffling around, she searched for everything she had, and thankfully she was fairly meticulous with her paperwork, finding everything in her office upstairs.

  Hours later, she had toured the wreckage with the adjuster and shown him all the paperwork, and apparently her insurance company was going to fight with the contractor for her to get the damages corrected.

  One piece of good news for the day.

  Escorting t
he adjuster from her home, she bundled her sweater tightly against the chill and waved good-bye to him at the front door when something caught her attention from the corner of her eye. The red fire-department pickup sitting across the street in direct eyesight of her front door was hard to miss.

  Her anger making her forget the chill, she stalked up to the vehicle, seeing that it was running, and Wynne was inside. She looked at him through the window and felt one eyebrow rise.

  Rolling down the window slightly, he shook his head at her, nodding to the opposite door. “Jeez, get inside. It’s freezing out here.”

  Jumping to the other side, she climbed aboard the super-tall truck, which was no small feat at her height. Slamming the door, she turned to him, angry as hell. “What are you doing sitting outside my house? Are you stalking me now?”

  “No!” He rolled his eyes and looked away from her. “Ronald makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, and I trust my gut. What I don’t trust is him being right around the corner from you and you being in that house alone.”

  “And who made you my protector?”

  “I did!” Dropping the paperwork he had apparently been trying to do as he kept watch over her place, he threw it on the dash so he could turn toward her. “I know I just met you, but I don’t want anything to happen to you. And with that crazy guy running around, walking into your house like he owns the joint, I just don’t feel like you are safe right now.”

  Her heart tugged at his words. How long had it been since someone cared enough to make sure she was safe? She wanted to be mad at him, to push him away and bask in her own independence, but his protection felt too damned good.

  “Kendall, I get that you are a very independent woman, and I know you are very proud of all you have accomplished on your own. I think you are incredible, and I want to know you on every level, and if that psycho were to hurt you, I would regret it to my dying day.”

  The sincerity that radiated from his eyes enveloped her and rendered her speechless. She did not know how to respond to his declaration, because in all actuality, he should not have made it after knowing her less than twenty-four hours, but it all felt so right. She knew it, and apparently he did, too. This thing that was blossoming between them was good, and she needed to let down her barriers.