by Lynn Tyler
Aaron let out a laugh, but it was harsh and rough. “Of course you won’t believe me. I haven’t proved it to you yet. How do you think my bedroom at my house was so big? I made it that way with a single thought.”
Clearly, Aaron truly believed that he was a god. Neil reached for his phone but stopped when he realized he didn’t know who to call. It wasn’t like Aaron was acting dangerous or anything. Maybe he should run an Internet search and find the closest shrink and then drag Aaron there.
“Okay,” Aaron said. “Clearly my bedroom wasn’t a good example. What can I say? My cousin Dion’s wine is nothing if not potent. Promise me you won’t freak out?”
Aaron didn’t wait for their promise. He just picked up his hand and waved it in the air.
Instantly, Neil’s house shimmered and vanished, and they were grouped in a small huddle in the middle of the most luxurious room Neil had ever seen. “Where the fuck are we?” he shouted.
Aaron looked up at him with huge, sad eyes. “We’re in my temple on Mount Olympus.”
Neil couldn’t believe what he was saying. Talia’s eyes were wide and glittering. “Aaron?”
“Please don’t call me Aaron. It’s just a human name I picked out to help me blend in with your world better. My real name is Eros.”
Chapter 14
Oh, sweet baby Jesus. She was sitting in the temple of Eros on Mount Olympus. With the god of love himself.
Talia could see Neil working through things in his mind, trying to make a logical excuse for everything that had happened in the last few minutes.
As if there was any logical way to explain how the three of them had started off in Neil’s kitchen and ended up in this…palace.
“Come on,” Eros said, standing up and swaying a little. “If you need even more proof, follow me.”
She didn’t need more proof, but she could see Neil did. But she wasn’t about to decline the chance to wander through the streets of Mount Olympus. She took Neil’s hand and tugged him along, following behind Eros as he led them out the golden doors and into the street.
The sight that met her eyes took her breath away. The streets were lined with temples, each as splendid as the last. A huge gilded fountain stood at the end of the road, and she could just make out little figures diving in and out of its water. Nymphs? Water sprites?
A woman dressed in a Grecian toga wandered by, carrying a bow and arrow. “Don’t look at her,” Eros whispered out of the corner of his mouth. “That’s Artemis, and she’s a little bit of a man hater.”
A tall blond man waved at them from the temple across the street. He seemed to glow from the inside out.
Eros waved back but kept on moving. “Apollo. He’s a nice guy but a little full of himself. You know, pulling the sun around every morning does tend to inflate a guy’s ego.”
They passed a giggling trio made up of a girl, a young woman, and an old lady. “The Fates. I owe them a favor, and I’m sure they’re just scheming up the best thing they can think of.”
A huge forge belched black smoke from behind one of the temples. “That’s my stepfather’s workshop, and this is my mom’s temple. She’s been after me to introduce you to her.”
Shut the front door. She was about to meet the goddess of love and beauty herself. She fought the urge to smooth out her hair. No one could compare to the goddess of beauty, she was sure.
They followed Eros into the temple and looked around. Portraits of the most beautiful woman she had ever seen lined the halls. “That must be his mother,” she whispered to Neil. “Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty.”
Neil blinked at her. “You really believe this?”
She linked her fingers through Neil’s and squeezed his fingers. “I do. How else do you explain this? Have you had anything to drink today? Done any drugs lately? Do you have a history of hallucinations?”
Neil pulled his lips back and bared his teeth, but she sensed no real heat in his expression. “Okay, I got you. I’m just having a little problem processing this all.”
She understood completely. “Let’s just go with it and see where Aaron…I mean Eros, goes with this.”
“Mom?” Eros called. “Hephaestus?”
“Baby,” a tinkling voice answered. “I’ve missed you, darling.”
A gorgeous blonde rushed toward them, stopping when she saw them. “Eros, baby! You didn’t tell me you’d be bringing guests. I would have taken a little more care with my appearance.”
Eros kissed the woman on the cheek. “You’re ravishing, as usual, mother. I wanted you and dad to meet Neil and Talia. Is he here?”
Talia squirmed as Aphrodite’s gaze fastened on her and Neil. “Yes, he’s in his forge, darling. Why don’t you go get him.” She waved her hand dismissively at her son.
Aphrodite turned her attention on them, and Talia had to order her body not to squirm. How often did you have a goddess sizing you up?
She smiled and gestured to them. “Come, have some refreshments.” The goddess led them into a beautiful kitchen, all modern and white and sexy. The only color in the whole room was the bold red painting that hung on one wall, taking up nearly the entire surface, and the sleek black dining table. It was totally at odds with the ancient exterior.
Talia sat in a chair next to Neil and blinked when a cup of steaming tea and a plate of sweets appeared in front of her. “Um, thank you.”
“Oh, so polite,” Aphrodite gushed as she sat down across from them. “So many humans have forgotten their manners these days, don’t you think?”
Crappers. This was so bizarre, sitting with a goddess and discussing manners.
Talia swallowed and nodded. “Of course.”
Aphrodite smiled like she was pleased Talia was agreeing with her. The goddess waved her hand toward the trays on the table. “Please, have some ambrosia and nectar.”
If it was possible for a human to swallow their tongue, Talia would have been choking to death. Eros’s mother was offering them the food and drink of the gods.
The shocked look on Neil’s face told Talia that even he knew the significance of what she was offering them.
A duet of male voices echoed through the house—temple?—and Eros appeared with a huge male following behind him. The man had streaks of soot on his face, which only served to highlight his sharp cheekbones. But what really stood out on the guy was the abundance of bulgey muscles that were all over his body, especially his biceps. Well, that and he limped, just slightly, favoring his left leg.
Hephaestus.
“It’s a pleasure to finally meet the two young ones who’ve made our Eros finally fall in love,” he boomed. He winked and grinned mischievously. “Tell me, did those handcuffs I made work well?”
Well, now Talia knew for sure she’d lost her mind because there was no way in hell Aaron, Eros or whatever his name was, would have his stepfather fashion him a sex toy, even if it was just a restraint.
But the blush creeping up Eros’s neck told her that it was exactly as it sounded. “Great Zeus, dad. Have a little tact, will ya? I mean, come on, you’re what, four thousand years old? You think you’d have learned a little bit of discretion by now.” Eros dropped into a chair and smiled at Neil and Talia weakly.
“Aw, now, Eros. Discretion gets you nowhere. Being blunt is the way to go. Just like the time when we told you the story of your birth. It was kind of like ripping off a bandage. The quicker, the better. Besides, I really want to know if they work on humans as well as they work on goddesses.” Hephaestus smirked and waggled his eyebrows at Talia.
Aphrodite came to the rescue. “Hephy, darling, you’re embarrassing the poor children.”
A door slammed, and yet another voice called out. “Yo. Heph? Dite? You guys have any idea where Eros is?”
Eros groaned and dropped his head onto the table with a thunk. “In here, Hermes,” Hephaestus called back.
Yet another stunningly beautiful creature walked into the room. This one had wings on his shoes. Of cou
rse they would be seeing the god in charge of messages, Talia thought.
“Good seeing you again, dude,” Hermes said to Eros. “Look, Hera wants to see you. Something about setting up her Internet connection so she can watch her soaps from her computer?”
Eros rose and touched Talia’s cheek before leaning over and kissing the top of Neil’s head. “It’s not a good idea to keep the queen of the gods waiting. My mom will help you guys get home. Will you wait for me at my place?”
Talia nodded, pleased to see Neil nodding as well.
Eros sent them another hesitant smile and left with Hermes. An awkward silence settled around the table. A quick look at Neil told Talia that she would have to break the silence. “So, what are you working on in your workshop?” she asked Hephaestus. How exactly did one address a god?
Hephaestus took pity on her and plopped down next to her, grabbing one of the cookies and jamming it in his mouth. “Well, I’m working on a sword for Ares in between working on something new for the bedroom.”
“You make art, too?” Neil finally asked.
She had a feeling she didn’t want to hear Hephaestus’s answer.
Hephaestus grinned through his cookie. “I suppose you could call a vibrating cock ring that can control orgasms a work of art. It’s for you, actually.”
Neil began coughing, choking on his tea. Aphrodite reached over and thumped him on the back. “Don’t worry, dear. Sexual stamina is usually achieved by years of practice.”
There was no way Talia could smother her giggles. She laughed until tears rolled down her cheeks. This was just too crazy.
“Are you quite sure you’re feeling all right, dear?” Aphrodite asked.
Talia wiped her eyes and nodded. “Yes, I’m fine, thank you.”
Aphrodite rose from her chair and put the kettle on. When she came back, a serious expression had settled on her face. “Eros has waited a long time, thousands of years, to find those he could love and be loved by. Please remember that. He loves you both, desperately and completely.”
Talia opened her mouth to ask what Aphrodite meant and why she was so concerned, but the room suddenly spun, and then she and Neil were sitting in Eros’s kitchen.
Neil blinked once, twice, and a third time before saying anything. “Are we back on Earth?”
They’d never technically left Earth, but she knew what he meant. “Yeah, it looks like we’re back in Aaron’s house. I mean, Eros’s. But the furniture is gone.”
“God, I think I need a drink. Hopefully he’s still got the good stuff around here and a water glass or two,” Neil muttered and walked over to the fridge, bending down to rummage in the back. He came out with a bottle of beer and a chilled bottle of vodka, examining them as if trying decided between them. “I think this calls for hard liquor.”
A single glance at the clock told her that only ten minutes had passed since they’d pulled up in front of Neil’s house. Crazy. It would have taken them more than thirty minutes to drive to Eros’s house from Neil’s. Apparently time moved much quicker on Mount Olympus that it did here.
Suddenly, a drink sounded like a good idea. “He got any cranberry juice in there?” she asked Neil.
He cracked the fridge open again. “Yup.”
“Make me a crantini, please?”
Neil rummaged around in the cabinets until he found a martini shaker. “Don’t you have to work tonight? Or work on your undergrad thesis?” he asked even as he dumped in the juice, alcohol, and ice and began shaking the hell out of her drink.
“Both, actually. But I’m going to call in sick. And I don’t think I’ll be able to concentrate on writing about Greek gods right now.”
Neil served her the drink in a water glass, and she downed half of it in one swallow.
Okay, maybe she wasn’t handling things as well as she’d thought.
“Yeah, I’d be drinking, too, if I’d just had my whole world turned upside down.” Eros walked in, head down and hands shoved in his pockets.
Chapter 15
Eros gazed at his lovers drinking alcohol in his kitchen, looking like they’d been through some kind of trauma. He’d have preferred to bring them home himself instead of having his mom flash them in, but one just didn’t ignore a summons from Hera. Even Zeus cowered when Hera was in a rage.
Luckily, setting up Hera’s computer to stream to her huge flat-screen television hadn’t taken too long. Not that time moved the same on Mount Olympus, but it appeared to be the same day as when he’d brought them home to meet his parents.
He walked over to the cabinets and grabbed a glass. He slid it toward Neil and nodded at the bottle. He didn’t even choke when he downed it in a single swallow.
The tension was so thick, Eros could hardly breathe. His hope that they could work things out was slowly dying, and he didn’t know what to do to save his relationship.
A glass thunked as it hit the counter, and Eros jumped at the sound. “Did you really influence our feelings?” Neil asked icily.
Well, that was blunt.
On the other hand, Neil’s matter of cutting straight to the core of the issue was one of the things that Eros had always found attractive about him.
Sweat was starting to bead on his upper lip from nerves, but there was nothing left to say but the truth. He just hoped that Neil and Talia wouldn’t be too angry with him.
Eros had to clear his throat twice before he could answer Neil. “I influenced yours and Tal’s feelings for each other a little. I didn’t use my full power. I just let you discover your natural feelings a little quicker, that’s all,” he said in a rush.
“Did you influence our feelings for you?” Neil said very slowly.
“No,” Eros said with a quick shake of his head.
Talia raised her eyebrows and stared him down. “That was a little too quick. Besides, I know there’s something you’re not telling us. You always bite your lip when there’s something you don’t want to say.”
Eros let his lip slid out from between his teeth. Crap. It had been thousands of years since he’d displayed that particular nervous habit. “Um, well, I didn’t influence your feelings for me. But I can’t guarantee my mom didn’t use some of her mojo to influence your feelings for me.”
That was it. All his cards were laid out on the table, but it didn’t look like either Neil or Talia were about to pick them up.
“Now what?” Talia asked.
Wasn’t that the question? He did something he’d never done before and retracted all of his influence from the two people standing in front of him. “I just removed all my influence. I was also able to take away any residual influence from my mother, too.”
Neither Neil nor Talia moved. They didn’t even blink an eye. “Okay. Well, I’m going back to Mount Olympus. Zeus has recalled me. He said if I haven’t convinced the two of you to love me yet, it’s not going to happen.”
He waited for some sign, any sign that they would make a move to stop him, but his heart shattered when they stayed as still as the marble statues Apollo insisted on having displayed in front of his temple.
Not that he should expect anything different.
Snapping his fingers, Eros made both of their cars appear. “Your cars are in the drive. Don’t worry about locking up behind you. My cousin, Ares, rigged the house with enough booby traps to stymie the CIA. But they’re set to only detonate when someone I haven’t approved of tries to enter.”
“Will we see you again?” Talia finally asked.
Eros bit his lip again, hard enough that he tasted blood. Rooting around in his bag, he extracted two cell phones. “Just press any number. They’ll ring straight through to me.”
Talia reached out her hand and accepted her phone, but Neil remained still, his hands jammed in his pockets.
Eros sighed and left the phone on the counter. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I just wanted to have the two of you love me as much as I love you.”
Talia’s eyes were wide and sad. He couldn’t
read Neil’s face. Tears welled in his eyes, but he refused to let either of his lovers see them. He had to keep some of his pride.
The room shimmered and Eros re-entered the workroom in his temple. He grabbed the first slip of paper he saw and glanced at it. A plea for love in England.
At least his first assignment would take him far away from Talia and Neil.
Too bad he couldn’t get away from his heartbreak.
Maybe Dion could spare some wine or something. Anything, even the mother of all hangovers, had to be better than dealing with the gaping hole where his heart used to be.
* * * *
Neil stared at the cell Aaron—Eros—had laid on the counter and then at the place where Eros had disappeared from. He was confused as shit.
He rubbed his hands over his face and glanced over his fingers at the woman standing in front of him. Tears were running down her cheeks, and her chest was heaving with suppressed sobs.
The vodka was calling to him, but he ignored it. He needed a clear head to sort through his feelings.
It was strange. Eros had sworn that he’d removed all his power of influence from them, but he didn’t feel any different. He still ached to pull Talia into his arms and dry her tears. He wanted to feel Eros brushing up against him as he passed by. He wanted to feel both Talia’s fingers and Eros’s lips tracing over his body.
He still wanted to spend the rest of his life with his two lovers. God, he wanted them to be more than lovers. He wanted them to be life partners.
But how did he know that his feelings were genuine or the product of experiences while he was being influenced by some kind of Cupid arrow?
Screw it. He strode across the kitchen, covering the space in only a few steps, and gathered Talia close. She tucked her face into his throat and cuddled in. “How do you feel?” she whispered.
“The same.”
“Me, too,” Talia said between sniffles. “So what do we do now?”
Neil stroked her back, holding her even closer. “Why don’t we go out on a couple dates and see if we’re still compatible now that Eros isn’t using his voodoo powers on us.”
