by Tina Folsom
Sophia shook her head, trying not to succumb to the warmth his touch created. “It’s all happening too fast. I’ve known you for less than a week.”
“Does that really matter?”
“I don’t know. Triton, I’m sorry, but I need to think. I don’t know what you want from me.”
“Sophia, I only have your best interest in mind. I’m here to take care of you. Nothing has changed. You can’t fault me for being attracted to you.”
“No, I can’t fault you for it. But I don’t have to allow it to continue. Not right now. Not with everything that’s going on.”
She jumped up from the couch and stepped away.
“Please, don’t shut me out,” he pleaded.
“Give me some time.”
With all the strength she had left, she found her way to the door into the house and ran up the stairs, when really what she wanted was to throw herself into Triton’s arms.
Twenty-One
The moment Orion had seen Triton kissing the woman, Sophia, he’d made up his mind. He would use whatever method necessary to make sure their fragile relationship wouldn’t survive. He wasn’t convinced that Eros’ plan to turn Triton into a lovesick puppy would work. When the man they’d called Michael had appeared, a plan had quickly formed in Orion’s mind.
Orion leaned against one of the trees lining the street, waiting for the man to exit the house. He didn’t have to wait for long—the fight had been a short one, and the words had carried well down from the terrace on the second floor. Already, Triton’s position was crumbling. All that was needed now were a few well-placed shoves, and Triton’s precarious house of cards would come tumbling down. And who better to deliver those shoves that a mortal Orion could easily manipulate?
When the front door slammed, Orion followed Michael along the sidewalk. Two blocks further, he figured it was safe to approach him without Triton getting wind of what was going on.
With a tap on Michael’s shoulder, Orion announced his presence, making the man spin on his heels instantly. Michael immediately pinned him with a furious glare.
“What the f—”
“Now, now. What a way to greet a new friend.” Orion grinned and put his arm around the man’s shoulder. “And I know we’ll be great friends indeed.”
Michael tried to pull out of his grip. “Hey, I don’t swing that way, buddy, so go looking somewhere else.”
Orion tightened his grip. “Believe me, if I were swinging that way, I’d have better taste than to choose the likes of you as my bedfellow.” He snorted. “But as it is, I’m not here for some little carnal diversion. No, you and I have a common interest.”
“What do you want from me?” Suspicion was evident in Michael’s voice, but equally strong was the curiosity that Orion discovered in him. Good, the little pup was going to play along. Mortals were so easily manipulated. One reason he both hated and loved them, depending on what he wanted from them.
“It’s not what I want from you, it’s what we can do for each other,” Orion alluded to his plan. “And how profitable this could be for both of us.”
He could fairly smell the greed on the mortal as it seeped from every pore of his body, poisoning the air around him. Orion swallowed his disgust. He hated greed—it led to nothing. Now lust, that was an entirely different matter. And lust was what was driving him. He couldn’t allow Triton to come back and continue his pursuit of the choicest morsels on Olympus, the beautiful goddesses Orion wanted to claim for himself, above all the fairest of them, Artemis. No means was too low to prevent Triton from returning home. And if a few mortals suffered along the way, so be it.
“Profitable?” Orion heard Michael stammer. Just like he’d thought—pure greed drove the man. This would be easy.
“I get the feeling you don’t want this stranger to end up in bed with your pretty little woman,” Orion hedged.
“She’s not my little woman, she’s my cousin, and she’s out of her mind,” Michael bit out.
“Well, good. But you still don’t want her to land in bed with him, do you? Or did I misinterpret your little fight with them just now?” Orion grinned.
“I’m not going to have some gigolo go in and take away what’s mine. I should have gotten the house, not that little two-timing bitch. And if she hooks up with some man and has children, I’m out of it forever.”
“And I’ll help you get your hands on the house, as long as you help me make sure she doesn’t fall in love with him.”
“What’s in it for you?” Again, suspicion had crept into Michael’s voice.
“Let’s just say I have an old score to settle. He doesn’t deserve the love of a woman, and you and I will make sure he doesn’t get it. And once we’ve booted him out of her life, you can continue doing what you’re doing, and I go back to what I do best.” Seducing goddesses.
“And the profit part?” Michael insisted.
“You shall be adequately rewarded.”
“How?”
The mortal was getting annoying, but so what if Orion had to lie a little to get him to do what he wanted him to do? No water off his back. “How does the tidy sum of fifty-thousand dollars sound?” If push came to shove, Orion could always conjure the money out of the safe of any bank in town and give it to Michael. What did Orion care about where it came from?
A self-satisfied grin came over Michael’s face. “Now you’re talking my language. What do you need me to do?”
Orion’s mouth twisted, half in amusement, half in disgust. “And now, you’re talking mine.”
***
It took Michael an hour to figure out that there were three agencies in Charleston that hired out home healthcare workers. This complicated things somewhat. A phone call to the first one on his list confirmed his suspicion that the agency’s privacy policy prevented them from giving out information about their clients or employees. He had to come up with a ruse.
When he walked into the reception area of Professional Home Healthcare, Michael pasted a pleasant smile on his face and approached the middle-aged black woman who was typing on a computer. She looked up from her work as he stopped in front of her.
“May I help you?”
Oh, I sure hope so, Ma’am. Fred Harlow is my name.” He laid on a thick Southern accent, figuring the more ‘hick’ he sounded the more the woman would take pity on him. “I’m here because my grandma needs someone to take care of her, you know. I’d do it myself, but I work two jobs, and she really needs help around the clock.” The lies came easy to him.
The woman nodded and reached for a form, pinning it on a clipboard. “You’ve come to the right place.”
“I’m so relieved to hear that. Because, you know, my neighbor, Miss Baker, Miss Sophia Baker, she just hired somebody from your agency, and she’s totally over the moon. Can’t stop raving about you folks. You know, she’s blind, and you sent her that excellent young worker …” He searched her face for any signs of how much thicker he had to lay it on and noticed her eyebrows pull together. “You do know Miss Baker, right?”
“Mr. Harlow, I’m not sure who this Miss Baker is, but I can assure you, our agency is the best in town, and we’ll be happy to help your grandma.”
“Oh, are you saying Miss Baker didn’t hire you?” He scratched his head, putting a confused look on his face.
“No, but don’t worry, we get many referrals from other many satisfied clients.”
Well, that confirmed it. Sophia hadn’t hired Professional Home Healthcare. Time to make his exit.
“Oh, I’d better go back to her and ask the name of the other agency then. Should have written it down in the first place. Nothing personal, Ma’am, it’s just she insisted I’d get the best for grandma.”
“But, Mr. Harlow—”
Michael turned and stalked out the door, ignoring the woman’s protest. It was time to move onto the next company.
But at Executive Home Healthcare, he ran into a problem: he recognized the woman sitting at the reception. S
hit! Before she could see him, he backed out the door and cursed.
He’d dated Carol for a very brief period of time, and his prior association with her threw up two issues: she knew he had no living relatives apart from Sophia, and she was fully aware of what kind of scoundrel he was. He’d ‘borrowed’ some money from her and never returned it, and if she saw him now, she’d only hurl insults at him. No way was she going to give him the information he needed. He could only hope that the last place, Selective Home Healthcare, was the one Sophia had hired, or he’d have to come up with something else.
Twenty-Two
At some point, he and Sophia would need to have a proper talk, but in the meantime Triton had to work on practicing his speech about what to say to her, how to convince her that it didn’t matter that things were developing quickly between them.
What he wanted from her was plain and simple: her love. For one reason, and one reason only: so he could return home.
Liar.
Triton shut the door of his bedroom and grabbed the remote. He flicked on the TV, not bothering to change the channel from the dull news program he’d watched the night before to bore himself to sleep.
So what if he was lying to himself about why he wanted Sophia to love him? It wasn’t like anybody would ever find out. He sure wasn’t going to broadcast it when he was back home. He’d keep that little secret safely tucked away in the dark recesses of his mind, never to see the light of day again.
Triton let himself fall onto the bed. His hands went over his head touching the wall. She was right there on the other side of it.
Sophia. By the gods, how this woman stirred him. The way she’d kissed him, pressed herself against him as if she never wanted to let go, he’d gobbled it up. And the taste of her sweet lips, the soft touch of her tongue, the scent of her arousal. No, it hadn’t escaped him. Nothing about her escaped him: the hotness of her skin, her fast heartbeat, her breathless voice. He knew he didn’t leave her unaffected.
Triton sighed and closed his eyes. He wanted her love, not to return home, but for himself. If that meant he was selfish, so be it.
“...and now the weather,” the woman from the news channel droned. “A storm is building off the East Coast.” He listened up and stared at the TV screen. “It is expected to affect states as far north as Rhode Island and as far south as Florida. The National Weather Service has not released any precise predictions yet as to the strength and direction of the storm, but they are saying it will be a big one. We should know more in the next three to four days. At this point the storm is still far out over the Atlantic. Over to you, Jim.”
Triton jumped up. “Shit!”
This was his job. With his powers, he was the only one who could divert the storm. While his father was the god and supreme ruler of all seas, once he’d passed the power to calm storms onto Triton, Poseidon couldn’t interfere. Only he, Triton, could pass the power back voluntarily, but since he didn’t currently command that power, there was nothing he could do. Only Zeus was powerful enough to rob other gods of their powers.
Triton cursed. Mortals would suffer, be hurt, even die, because he couldn’t do what he was meant to do. Triton’s millennia of experience with storms had taught him not to underestimate the warning of the Weather Service. He’d seen the exact same storm pattern many times before. And each time, it had led to devastation. Even without his powers, he knew that much.
Had Zeus thought about this when he’d punished him? Had he taken into account what this would do to the mortal world?
Triton paced frantically. He had to do something. He couldn’t allow this storm to make landfall and devastate the coastal cities. As callous as he was about his relationships with women, when it came to his duties as a god, he was serious.
And if this meant crawling to his father for help, then that was what he would do. Since Poseidon wasn’t one to come onto dry land, the only way Triton would be able to talk to him, would be out at sea.
A few minutes later, Triton pulled the front door shut behind him, being careful not to make any noise. He didn’t want Sophia to notice he was leaving the house. He didn’t like the idea of leaving her alone, but he had no choice.
He glanced up and down the deserted street before he crossed it, protected by darkness and a burnt-out street light. On the seawall, he stripped himself of his shirt, pants and shoes and left them next to the guardrail that protected people from falling into the sea.
With another look up and down the street, Triton dove into the water. As the waves swept over him, he relished the feel of the water caressing his naked skin. With long, sure strokes he cut through the undercurrent before his head breached the surface.
Effortlessly, he swam out, heading for Fort Sumter. It was far enough out for his father to come and join him. The water was his element, and for the first time in weeks Triton felt at ease. The only thing different was that instead of his lower body transforming into that of a fish, he remained entirely human. If he’d had his godly powers, he would have been able to use his mono-fin and swim faster. But he didn’t mind. Swimming relaxed him, and his body went on autopilot while his thoughts went back to Sophia.
It took Triton less than an hour to swim to the small island on which the old fort was located. He pulled himself ashore and rested on the large rocks surrounding the island.
“Father! I need you,” he called out into the night.
He didn’t have to wait long. Within a quarter of an hour, a large wave swept ashore and with it, Poseidon made his appearance. He dropped next to Triton onto the rocks.
“It’s been a while, son.”
Triton nodded to his father. His father’s lower half was that of a fish, scales, fin and all.
“How is mother?”
“She misses you. It’s the first time no children live at home—so she’s taken to mothering me instead. It gets irritating at times.”
Triton laughed. “Admit it, you like it.”
Poseidon gave him a sheepish grin. “Don’t tell her that, or I’ll never hear the end of it. As long as I complain about it, she’s happy.”
Triton looked out toward the open sea. “A storm’s brewing.”
“I know. What are you planning to do about it?”
“That’s why I’ve called you. I need your help. You need to convince Zeus to give me my powers back.” He locked eyes with his father, knowing he had to convince him that he was serious if he wanted any help whatsoever.
Poseidon shook his head. “I’m sorry, son, but my hands are tied. Zeus and I have an agreement. No interference on my part, or he’ll make the punishment permanent.”
Triton’s breath caught. “Permanent? How can he? The lives of innocent people are at stake. If I don’t soothe the storm, people will die.”
“I know, Triton, I know. You know your duty, and that’s why I have every confidence in you that you’ll meet Zeus’ challenge and gain your powers back. You can do it.”
“Father, I didn’t come for a pep talk. I came for help,” Triton protested.
“This is all the help I can give you: advice from a father to a son.”
Triton ran his hands through his hair. Should he confess to his father how far away he was from his goal, how deep a setback he’d been dealt only hours earlier when Sophia had rejected him because her trust in him was shaken?
“What’s on your mind?” His father’s calm voice was soothing.
“I’m not sure I’ll succeed,” he admitted. “She’s rejecting me.”
Poseidon put his hand on his son’s shoulder. “Tell me about her.”
Triton looked at his father and suddenly smiled. “Her name is Sophia. And she’s exquisite, beautiful, strong, and the sweetest thing I’ve ever held in my arms.”
“You like her.”
“Yes, but don’t get your hopes up. This is only for the cause, for me to get my powers back. Once I have them back, I’ll be back home, and she’ll be forgotten.” Triton knew he was lying. How could he forget
her when all he could think of day and night was her lovely face, her sweet scent, and her soft skin?
“Of course.” Was his father mocking him? Triton cut him an annoyed glance, but Poseidon only chuckled. “So what’s the problem with her?”
Triton leaned back against the wet rock and looked up at the stars. “She doesn’t believe that I only have her best interest at heart.”
“Do you?”
“Do I what?”
“Have her best interest at heart?”
Triton snorted. “Of course, I do. I take care of her.”
Poseidon raised an eyebrow. “Take care of her, how?”
“She’s blind. Accident,” he explained. “Long story. She needs help around the house. I help her.” And he was pretty proud of himself with all the things he was doing for her.
“That’s good. So why does she not trust you?”
Triton shrugged, even though he suspected the reason. He was coming on too strong, too fast. She wasn’t ready. But he didn’t have time, certainly not now with the storm approaching. If anything, he had to move faster to reach his goal.
“She thinks my intentions aren’t honorable.”
“That’s maybe because they aren’t.”
“What are you saying?” Anger rose in Triton’s chest.
“All you want from her is your ticket home. All you want is to take something from her without giving anything back. A woman can sense that.”
Triton stared at his father. “I’m not taking anything from her. I’m not interested in her possessions. All I want from her is her love, so I can go home.”
“If you want her to love you, you have to give her something first.”
“Give her what?”
“I don’t know, son, but it has to be something she values highly, something that’s important to her, not to you. Love is all about giving and demanding nothing in return.”
“But you know as well as I do that I need her to love me so I can get back home.”
Poseidon shook his head. “You have to forget about that for a while. Your own needs and wants don’t matter. Only if you can step into her shoes and give her what she wants will you eventually get what you need. It’s that simple.”
