She wandered out of the bathroom, careful to avoid bumping up against her host again as she found her way down the hall. She twisted this way and that, frowning when she couldn’t spot what she was after.
“What closet?”
He pointed.
“That’s just a giant mirror.”
With a touch of his hand, the mirror spread apart, and she found herself staring into a long closet. “How do they hide the seams like that?”
He didn’t answer, nor had she really expected him to. She wandered up, mesmerized by the gowns and short dresses whose sensual fabrics called to her every feminine sense. Some were thin as air, while others were rich and hung in soft drapes. All were gorgeous.
“I have my own clothes,” she said, even as she fingered the material of a peacock-blue gown in buttery-soft chiffon.
Her eye traveled to the gown on the very end, and her breath caught. Never had she seen anything so pure white, though the living room had come very close. It shimmered as though the fabric itself were made of crystal, and was so long that it pooled on the bottom of the closet. What looked like seed pearls and opals were crusted along the edges of the plunging front, back, and all around the hem. She reached for it.
“You are welcome to wear any you like,” he said, “except that one. It’s off-limits.”
Her hand retracted immediately. “I’m sorry. I don’t need to wear any of them, really. I did bring my own clothes. It’s just so lovely.”
He smiled. “It is for a special occasion. The rest you can wear as you like. You’ll find they are fitted to you perfectly.”
A warning bell sounded in the middle of her too-good-to-be-true moment. “How do you know these will fit me?”
“Your arrival was not unanticipated.”
She took a couple steps back. “What are you talking about? You don’t even know me.”
“Don’t I? We’ve met before. Don’t you remember?”
She stared at him, shaking her head. “Not my dream.”
“I told you, Lex Ann, that your reality was about to change.”
“Lexie,” she breathed. “No one calls me Lex Ann.”
“He does.”
Her mouth dropped open, and she couldn’t speak.
“You are here on the island because you were summoned. You were compelled to make this journey, because you are following the path to love. Am I right?”
She swallowed hard. “How do you know all this?”
“And you are here in this room because he is preparing to join you on that path.”
Lexie took two more steps back, her thighs hitting the back of the bed. “I think it’s time for some explanations. And for you to tell me who you really are.”
A knock from out in the hall halted the conversation.
“Sounds like your things have arrived,” he said, moving toward the door. “You will have your answers, Lexie. As many as I can give.”
She sank onto the bed while he left the room and stared at the vacant doorway. She’d let him bring her up here because she’d wanted answers. Now that they were beginning to trickle in, she found this all more than a little unsettling. A man she’d never seen outside her dream shows up and knew who she was and about her other dreams? It was what she’d wished for, but it was still bizarre.
Lexie stroked the bedding absentmindedly while she considered what this meant. The spread was thick velvet and felt cool and smooth under her hand. Then she realized this was not where she wanted to have her questions answered. It was far too intimate a setting in which to have a chat about erotic dreams and the “path to love” with a handsome stranger.
She hurried from the room while her host stood at the front door talking to a bellboy. On tiptoe, she raced to the sitting area. After everything she’d been through the past twenty-four hours—the past year, really—nothing should have shocked her anymore. Yet the sight that greeted her in the living room not only stopped her cold, it tore a small shriek from her throat.
“Mm, a sound I recall was most delicious,” he said. “Back for more?”
Mr. “I am what you’re feeling” had draped his rippled, gleaming body over a giant armchair. He wore nothing but a pair of black slacks and an expression that was part smug, part smolder. The too-good-to-be-true scenario now made a whole lot more sense, and being the chump that she was, she’d played right into it. Damn.
She lifted her chin. “I was just leaving.”
He was in front of her by the time she’d spun around to do just that. “Oh, but I much prefer you when you are coming. And coming.”
She threw him a disgusted glance and tried to duck around him. “Get out of my way.”
She slid against his superheated flesh when he again stepped in front of her, his grin showing he was very much enjoying their little dance. “No.”
She pushed him away, ignoring the feel of his rock-hard chest. “Don’t you ever wear a shirt?”
He waved a hand in the air. “We’re in the tropics, fair one. It’s hot. Besides,” he stalked around her in a circle too quickly for her to dart out of, “this way, there’s less to take off.”
“Yeah? Why don’t you take off? Right off the balcony.”
“Such a lack of gratitude for one who saved your life.”
A sound that turned out to be her suitcase hitting the floor stopped them. Love stood nearby, his arms folded. “You two have met?”
She snorted in disgust. “Don’t pretend you aren’t in on this.”
“In on what?” Love’s gaze flicked to the other man. “What is she talking about?”
“Oh, come on!” she said, grabbing her bag from the floor beside him. “He used you to lure me up here so he could get another shot at me.”
She started for the door, but Love grabbed her arm. “Meaning what?”
She ignored the tingle of his touch. “Stop pretending you’re that dumb. I would rather set up a tent in the middle of the construction zone than stay here.”
“He actually is that dumb,” the dark-haired man said. “He has no idea what happened last night. He wasn’t even here.”
Love’s fingers gripped her flesh tighter. He leaned close into her ear and growled, “Something happened last night?”
“You could say that. You may have guest starred in my dream,” she thumbed a gesture at the other man, “but this one showed up later on to drag me around in the living flesh.”
He let go of her and spun around to the man facing them. “You’ve touched her?”
Obsidian eyes rolled. “Try not to frame it in a manner that besmirches the utter heroism of my life-saving deed.”
Blue eyes found Lexie’s. “Is this true?”
She heaved a sigh. “I swam out too far. He grabbed me and carried me to shore.”
The bronzed wonder grunted. “Don’t forget to mention this was while you were in the ocean alone in the middle of the night. With sharks.”
“And what were you doing out there?” Love asked him.
The dark-haired man shrugged. “I wasn’t. I was here when I sensed the impending danger. Since Grayel asked us to see to her comfort, I didn’t think he would appreciate me standing by while his love was devoured by hungry Makos.”
The blond man raked him with a long, measuring gaze. “How very noble of you.”
Lexie laughed. “Yeah, a noble ploy to get his hands on me.” She paused and frowned at her rescuer. “What do you mean, you were here when you sensed the danger?”
Love added, “What do you mean, a ploy to get his hands on you?”
“I did not handle her any more than was necessary to get her to safety.”
“And to get me off.”
The words were out before she’d even thought about it, and she slapped a hand over her mouth.
Love stalked up to the other man and grabbed him by the shoulders. “Damn you, Lust. Do you realize what you’ve done?”
Her eyes widened, and the hand fell away from her mouth. “Lust? Lust? What the hell kind o
f name is that?”
The men barely looked at her. “I did not get her off.”
She gasped in outrage. “Liar! You had me doing things to myself on the beach that…” She looked back and forth between the two, her face flaming. “You were responsible for it. I know it.”
Love’s eyes were practically shooting blue sparks at the other man. “Can you not keep your cock under control for one solitary moment? Have you no sense of self-preservation?”
“Self-preservation?” Lust snorted. “I am immortal. How much more self-preserved do I need to be?”
Her mouth hung open. Immortal? Love and Lust? What the devil kind of rabbit hole had she fallen into?
“She is taken.” Love’s blue-diamond gaze seared her, and for a moment she wondered whether he was about to name himself as the claimant. “By one who wanted your organ for a sandal strap last night, had I not intervened.”
With that, Love let go of Lust’s shoulders roughly. Lust furrowed his brow. “What are you dithering on about?”
Love stalked several paces away and whirled on him. “Grayel summoned me last night when he could not contact Lexie through the dream bond.”
“Lexie?” Lust grinned. “You two are on nickname basis now, are you?”
She curled her lip. “It’s what I prefer to be called by everyone.” She glowered at him. “Except you.”
Love went on. “He assumed you were the one who had barred his way. I spared your rod by assuring him otherwise.”
Lust’s smile turned sinister. “As well you should, since from what Lexie was saying a few moments ago, you are the dream interloper.”
Love’s eyes glimmered. “Yet Grayel was right. You were busy seeking to stake his claim for yourself.”
“I saved his woman’s life.” He folded powerful arms across his chest. “What was your excuse?”
“She was troubled.” He flicked a gaze at her, and she felt a pang of guilt. “I went only to help ease her distress.”
Lust chuffed a scornful laugh. “How sweet. For which reason would Grayel be more likely to divide a male from his rod, I wonder?”
“I didn’t use my powers to bring her to orgasm on the beach.” He stalked forward. “Did you or did you not touch her?”
“He didn’t,” she admitted. “Not after he carried me to shore. He just seemed able to make me want to take pleasure right there. Like some kind of magic.”
Love growled. “You risk much for little gain, Lust. She has been chosen as a mate by a god. One with the power to redefine our immortal existence.”
A gasp flew out of her throat. “A god?” She looked back and forth between the two. “Please, can we save this fight for later? I need to know the truth about why I’m here.” She shot a glance at Love. “And who you two really are.”
“You know who we are,” Lust said.
“I know who you claim to be,” she said, crossing her arms. “Or what you claim your names are. Love and Lust. What is that, some kind of nicknames? You’re not actually the emotions, right? What are you, some kind of angels or something?”
Lust threw her a pointed look. “Angels?”
She rolled her eyes. “Okay, evil angel in your case.”
“Don’t buy the stereotype,” he said. “Angels aren’t all that saintly. But you’re setting your sights far too low, my dear.”
Her eyes widened. “You’re not saying you’re a…”
“God,” Lust finished, spreading his arms.
“Demigods,” Love said.
Lust waved a dismissive hand. “Semantics.”
“Hardly.” Love turned to Lexie. “We are gods in so far as, to a human, we possess godlike attributes and immortality. Among our kind, however, we are considered half-gods.”
She shrugged. “Why?”
“Various reasons,” he said. “The most common now is blood. One parent is a god, the other mortal.”
“So gods not only exist,” she eyed Love up and down, “they take human form. And mate with humans?”
“Not all,” he said. “Demis have a more normal human appearance. Full gods stand out more obviously.”
She shook her head. “Oh, I didn’t say anything about normal human form. You two are far too magnificent to be normal.” She stepped close enough to Love to trace a finger along his muscled upper arm. “Your skin even seems to shimmer. Wait, no, that’s not quite right. The air around both of you ripples sometimes. Like a mirage. And your eyes…”
She trailed off when her gaze came to rest on his, then blinked at the oddity. Gone were the pale chips of blue glass. Azure and topaz, cerulean and aqua swirled like a kaleidoscope in his eyes, threatening to throw her into a hypnotic trance that actually made her sway on her feet.
“Our eyes mirror emotion more dramatically than mortals,” Lust said, breaking the spell. He flicked a glance at his comrade, and a knowing half-smile crept up one side of his mouth. “Seems my friend is feeling rather conflicted at the moment.”
The look Love shot back seemed to Lexie to be far more dangerous than conflicted. She cocked her head at Lust. “And what about your eyes? They’re pretty dark to begin with. What do they do?”
The smile took on a somewhat predatory gleam. “They burn.”
A glow ignited in their ebony depths, the same fiery shine she remembered from the beach. She swallowed and took a step back. “Yeah, well, you’ve done that one already. Seems you’re more of a one-trick pony.”
Love’s laugh fluttered through her abdomen as though his mirth became her own. “He’s got two speeds. Turned on, and the rare not turned on.”
Dark eyes flashed. “Don’t forget pissed off.”
She pointed back and forth to each. “And where do you two fit in with the dreams I’ve been having? Are you the ones sending them?”
Lust shook his head. “You were directly contacted by Grayel, god of the twelfth realm.”
“Heir to the throne of the twelfth realm,” Love added. “A god among gods, if you will.”
“And he wants you.” Lust’s whisper came from right beside her ear, and Lexie jumped. “He’s summoned you here in hopes of you becoming his mate.”
Her pulse thudded in her throat, and she wandered over to a long couch and sank onto it. A god was hijacking her erotic dreams. “So I’m not insane, then? I didn’t come here because I’m pathetic and destined to become a crazy cat lady?”
Love came and sat down beside her. His hand on her shoulder warmed her entire body. “You’re not insane. You’re chosen. For a great honor.”
Her voice dropped to a whisper. “So he is real?”
He nodded, pulling back his hand. “Very real. And in love.”
She closed her eyes, her heart racing so fast that she felt dizzy. “Why me?” She shook her head. “How did he find me?”
He lifted her chin, and she opened her eyes to find his searching hers intently. “I don’t know how. But why is not difficult to see.”
Lust sat down in a chair across from her. “You have an uncommon, old-world beauty,” he said. “I’ve little doubt why you appeal to him.”
She curled her lip. “Old world? Thanks for making me sound dusty and ancient.”
“Actually, it is quite a compliment,” Love said. “We’ve seen many eras of mankind come and go, and many variations in what is considered human beauty. Once upon a time, humans and gods bore more similarities in what attracts us physically. During that age, gods walked among humankind more freely, intermarried more often. Performed miracles to aid mortals.”
“The good old days,” Lust said, “when magic flowed so free in nature that gods were often content to linger among earthen beauty. Many of them visited, even settled, in your lands.”
“Among those, the land of those you would call the ancient Celts,” Love said. “It was during that time that Grayel was born and sent to live in the Highlands by his parents.”
She rubbed moist palms against her bare thighs. “He lived with humans?”
Love no
dded. “Grayel’s birth as a first son of the realm’s leader put him in position to take over. His beauty and godly magnificence was such that his parents feared he would grow up too vain to become a good ruler. His father arranged to have him raised by a human couple, so the child could experience humility in more subdued surroundings. He felt it would help the boy avoid the pitfalls of a narcissistic rule.”
She flicked a glance at Lust. “A god who is overly vain and egocentric? Why, I can’t imagine such a thing.”
Lust arched a brow. “Some are so superb it seems a pity not to enjoy their deserved superiority to the fullest. After all, don’t your human psychiatrists say it is good to love one’s self?”
She snorted. “Yeah, I’ve seen the way you love yourself.”
He rubbed the bulge in his groin she’d been doing her best to pretend didn’t exist. “I have no compunction about doing so when the need arises. Though I dare say you saw nothing of it during your little interlude last night. You were so far gone in your own self-indulgence you weren’t even aware of my presence.”
“Oh, I was aware of you, alright.”
“Truly?” His smile turned seductive. “I’m flattered you found your awareness of me so stimulating.”
Her jaw clenched.
Love cleared his throat. “If we could get back to subjects other than Lust’s well-known and tiresome trait for self-lauding?” He shot a look at Lust, who just snorted. “There’s a good deal more Lexie needs to know about what is to come.”
“What is to come.” Lust clapped his hands and sat up straighter. “A better choice of words I couldn’t have thought of myself. There may be hope for you yet.”
“When can I see him?” Lexie stood up. “For real, I mean.”
Love looked up at her. “He cannot come back here just yet.”
Her face fell. “Why not? I want to meet him.”
“He must wait forty-eight hours after using the portal before he can do so again.”
She frowned. “Portal?”
Lust rose and stood too close for comfort behind her. “Portals are how we move between realms.”
She moved off and spun around, unwilling to keep her back to him. “What are they, exactly?”
Allister, J. Rose - Immortal Menage [Immortal Paradise 4] (Siren Publishing PolyAmour) Page 7
