by Cate Masters
“Not quite. Though we can use it as a portal to there.”
Another portal? “Seriously?” Likely a little more difficult to access than the last. Probably needed a secret key, or password. She scanned the long hallway lined with arches, each leading a separate direction. A maze within a maze, only for the purest of heart. Right. Not her. “Guess people like me don’t stand a chance.”
“What do you mean?”
“If I tried to pass through, it might seal up forever.” Refuse her less-than-pristine soul. She said it as a joke, though her goofy manner didn’t hide her insecurity.
He studied her, and then his warm eyes crinkled as if amused, or about to smile. Or possibly tease her. The way he looked at her, he could see right through her.
For once, she didn’t feel the need to apologize for who she was. What she was.
“We should talk.” He gestured her forward.
Talking wasn’t exactly her strong suit. “I guess we should, yeah.” Not the first thing most guys asked of her.
He strode past several arches, turning abruptly. As soon as he stepped beyond the columns, a room appeared.
She glanced back to size it up. “How is this…” possible would have been a good word choice. Open in its design, the room appeared much too large for the width of the archway.
He tilted his head, a silent sign he would listen to any question even if he had no intention of answering certain ones. Or maybe even he didn’t know.
“Never mind.” She whisked through the sheer curtains billowing, and stopped short.
Immediately ahead sat an immense white sofa – or possibly a bed – ringed with fluffy pillows and surrounded by pedestal tables holding food and goblets of what appeared to be wine.
So that’s what this was about, an elaborate seduction? A more roundabout version of Zeveriah’s proposition, but, for all its implied purity in the sparkling whiteness, no less dirty?
He plopped onto it. “Ahh. Have a seat. It’s quite comfortable.”
She shifted her hips and steeled her jaw. “No thanks. I’m quite comfortable standing.”
He scooted back and rested against the bolster cushions, which gave way under his weight. “Really? You should at least try it. Bet you’ve never felt anything like it.”
“Oh,” she muttered, “if I had a dollar for every time a guy said that to me.”
He bolted upright. “No. I mean, it’s not what you think.”
“I’m sure.” She let the sarcasm acidify her tone, along with a hint of wicked enthusiasm.
“Lily, I have no intention of…” He reached for a glass. “You need sustenance – food, drink, sleep. That’s all.”
Disappointment curled through her. “Really?”
“Of course.” He half-laughed as he said it.
What was that supposed to mean? He didn’t find her attractive enough? Wait, no; of course, he’d never sully himself by touching her. “Well then. Fine. I’ll sit.” Relaxing was out of the question. She cradled her head in her hands. I’m losing it. Seriously freaking losing it.
“I’m sorry if I upset you.”
“Don’t be silly.” That was her role.
“Here, drink this.” He held out a golden cup and watched her, one eyebrow slightly raised, with the hint of a teasing smile. And man, he could recite a grocery list and make any woman want to feel the movement of his lips against hers, feel the vibrations of the deep timbre of his voice.
Remembering the strange drink at El Diablo, she asked, “What is it?”
“Whatever you want it to be.”
“Right.” A margarita with triple tequila would be nice. She fingered the pendant, and the liquid appeared citrus green, so she sipped. The tangy lime hit her tongue with a refreshing zest, tempered by the smooth warmth of the tequila.
“How did you know?” Even if he did know, how could he arrange for it to be waiting for her?
“I didn’t need to know. You did.” He gulped his drink.
“What do you have?” Not anything as strong as hers, unless he was an alcoholic.
“Water.” He offered her a taste.
Not when she had liquor. Things couldn’t get any weirder than they already were and today, she needed something to take her away from her worries. She drank deeper, let it swirl through her mouth and relished the burn down her throat. She sank back on the wide sofa. God, this is incredibly soft. “None of this makes sense.” Her eyes drifted closed.
“It will.”
She felt his body recline beside her, though the cushion didn’t register his weight. Here it comes. The inevitable groping session. The strange surroundings put her at a disadvantage. As much as she liked Bodie, she wouldn’t hesitate to run to the Harley, hot wire it and take off. If he assumed her some helpless female, she couldn’t wait to prove him wrong.
Wait. He hadn’t moved.
She lazily peeked in his direction.
He stared up at the ceiling. “Not sleepy?”
“No.” A little woozy from the drink, but who wouldn’t be?
“Up for our talk, then?”
Damn, why did that disappoint her so much? “Sure.” She curled onto her side, all too happy to study him.
Long, dark eyelashes any girl would love to have. A near perfect nose – not small, and not large either, set above lips just the way she liked them, not thick and clumsy, yet not thin so they pecked every kiss. Perfect. Dammit, every part of him was perfect.
Talking might land her in deep shit, too. His voice got inside her like smoke, or maybe tequila – its slow burn winding along every nerve, making her want to stretch out, enfold him in her arms. Straddle his narrow waist, palms planted on his broad chest.
He turned his head, concern dancing in his dark eyes. “Your birthday didn’t live up to your expectations, I guess.”
A sense of humor too. Dark humor, just what she liked. “Not quite.” Tonight was starting to make up for it.
“You must have had some inkling of all this. Some knowledge, even subconsciously.”
The shadow people. “I thought they were ghosts.”
His brows arched. “In a way, they are.”
“They always stayed in their own world. Until the night I met you.” The night everything changed. The night the parallel universes merged.
“I flubbed my entrance. You weren’t supposed to see that.”
The great Bodie made a mistake? Even better, he admitted it. “Guess I had to know sometime.”
“Unfortunately.”
From his grim expression, it pained him as much as it did her. She couldn’t bear seeing him suffer. “I always prefer the truth straight up. To know what I’m up against.”
“Zeveriah confirmed what I told you, didn’t he? That your relatives are Hades and Persephone? And they want you to live in the Underworld? Marry the up-and-coming CFO, who happens to be himself, an archduke of Hell? If you think the corporate world on Earth is a nightmare, business down under is downright hellish. Getting fired takes on a whole new meaning. A literal one. And corporate wives who don’t live up to their husbands’ expectations suffer worse than the peons who step out of line. Rape, torture, for centuries. And isolation includes no visits above ground.”
Not what she wanted to think about. She eased onto her back and stared at the ceiling of light. “Don’t sugar-coat it. Give me the hard-core truth.”
“You said—”
“Kidding.” Partly. “I still haven’t come to grips with it. I will.” Possibly by her next birthday, if she survived the year in between.
“There’s more.” His voice held a warning, or a taunt.
“Why am I not surprised?” Make it an avalanche of shit. Maybe it would bury her beyond recognition. No, they probably would like her better that way in the Underworld.
“We can talk about something else for awhile.”
“The weather. What’s it like up in your world?”
“Beautiful.”
“Like everything else, I’m sur
e.” Sunshine and roses, all day every day.
“You’d fit right in there.”
A compliment? Her face warmed, and she couldn’t bear the tenderness in his expression. “I bet you say that to all the wayward relations of goddesses.”
“Only the ones I really like.”
Heat flashed through her like wildfire, and before she realized what she’d done, she rolled to her side to face him. “Do you practice that sexy voice for such occasions?”
“What occasions?”
“Saving stupid females like me.”
He inched closer. “No. Though I do reserve it for goddesses I’m trying to impress.”
Well it’s working. A little too well. She tried not to notice he lay within a breath, and an electrical current ran between them across the bed. She picked at the tufts in the cushion. “Don’t you mean relations of goddesses?”
“You really don’t know?”
“Know what?”
“You’re of goddess descent, Lily. Demeter, Persephone, Lily.” As he ticked off each name, his hand sliced nearer, and landed on her shoulder as he spoke her name.
“Stop.” He couldn’t be suggesting she shared the rank. Yet, it struck her now that if Demeter and Persephone were in fact goddesses, then as their descendant, she shared their DNA. Goddess DNA. “Holy shit.”
“You are most extraordinary.” He smoothed her hair.
“Bodie.”
“Yes?”
“I don’t want to die,” she whispered.
“What? No, you won’t. Don’t worry.”
“It’s part of their plan, isn’t it? How else could I mate with the demon of their choosing?” Saying it left a bitter taste in her mouth. She had to know the truth. Hear it from him. She grabbed his tee shirt. “And it’s why you’re here – to salvage my soul before it happens. Admit it.”
“Your soul needs no salvaging.” A half-smile quirked his lips.
Delicious-looking lips, too tempting to resist. She eased closer to taste them. He stiffened, brows furrowed.
She palmed his cheek to hold him in place, and closed the distance between them.
Her lips met his open mouth, still as a statue and softer than any man’s. Immediate bliss flowed through her. Oh yes, he felt so amazing, and without moving a muscle. More intoxicating than any liquor. More addicting. She had to have more.
***
What had he done? By all that was sacred, Bodie knew better than to lie with her. Since the first night he’d spoken to her, he’d had trouble restraining himself. Her every movement, every word, seared into him at his greatest depth, filled him with yearning for something forbidden.
Her lips moving against his unleashed emotions that had stayed dormant for millennia. He was in it, deep. Already he spiraled out of control, and he hadn’t allowed himself to move, not even a finger. Not a slide of his lips, not a slip of his tongue into what must be a warm, tantalizing place. Once he did, that one tiny step would trigger an avalanche of desire, already building with volcano force.
To clear such thoughts from his mind, he turned his head to break away. Never should have closed his eyes; it only intensified the tactile senses. The fluttering of her breath as she followed, her kisses now moving up his neck, her fingers splayed lightly against his cheek as her mouth found the edge of his mouth.
“I can’t, Lily,” he rasped.
Her knee grazed his thigh as she straddled him. “Are you sure?”
A shudder wracked his body, and he clenched the cushions to keep from reaching for her. “I don’t mean it’s a physical impossibility. And I’d love to, believe me. But it’s not exactly condoned by my superiors.”
She sat up. “They’re not here. They can’t see us, can they?”
He risked a look at her. A mistake. Tawny hair framed her heart-shaped face in tumbling waves. He locked the muscles in his rising arm and forced it down before he could touch her.
A teasing smile lit her face. He hadn’t needed to answer her. She lifted the bottom of her shirt up and over her head, revealing a black lace bra, lush dark peach rosettes pebbled beneath.
Her warm hand closed around his, and drew it upward to press against her breast and hold it there.
Everything in him screamed No! and Yes! at the same time. With an animal sound, his torso rushed up to meet hers. Somehow he stayed his desire. Lips barely brushing hers, he drew back enough that her breath flowed into his mouth as he spoke. “They’ll reassign me, Lily. I’d love to make love to you. I’ve wanted to for longer than you know. But I don’t want one night to have to last an eternity as a memory. We’d have tonight. Then I’d never see you again. Is that what you want? Tell me now. Quickly.”
Sadness tightened her lips. “No.”
As she curled into him, her muffled words soothed the tension threatening to burst through his skin. “I want to be with you, Bodie. Hold me.”
His body quivered, whether from denial or relief, he couldn’t say. He relaxed into her embrace and closed his eyes. “Always.” If only he could keep her here, safe from their reach.
But how safe was she from him?
He couldn’t let his feelings for her compromise the mission.
With a sharp intake of breath, she pulled away. “I’m not like this. I don’t seduce men. I haven’t even…” Hair hid her face when she dipped her chin to her chest.
He tilted his head to catch her attention. “I know.” It won him a tentative glance. “You don’t need to explain, Lily. Ever.” He knew she’d let men touch her, a few with whom she’d been infatuated, maybe even loved. None had taken her virginity.
Yet she’d offered it to him. Tenderness washed over him as she searched his face, wary and confused. Distrustful. How terrible for her, not to believe herself worthy of complete love and devotion. The same worship any goddess deserved. Someday he’d prove to her she was a true goddess.
He leaned his forehead against hers. “You should try to sleep.” They still had so much to discuss. Decisions to make.
Her choices would affect his fate as well. Already he sensed the disapproval of his superiors, strong even at a distance. He’d have much to answer for, long before the end of this.
***
The same even glow lit the room as Lily opened her eyes. For a moment, she lay still, piecing bits of memory together. When she remembered where she was, and who’d brought her here, she stirred. At first she pretended to stretch, a thinly veiled effort to sneak a peek at Bodie, who must be sleeping soundly.
The spot where he’d lain was empty. She lifted up onto her elbows to check the room. Empty.
“Bodie?” Why was she whispering? No one else was here. Not that she could tell, anyway.
Maybe he left. She snapped upright. No, he wouldn’t leave her here. Would he?
“Bodie?” she called, a little panic sneaking into her voice. How long had she been out? An hour? A day? Time seemed irrelevant in this place.
“Out here.” He sounded not too distant.
She followed his voice, walking to the end of the room. Floor-length white curtains billowed at the entrance to what looked like a terrace. Strange, she hadn’t noticed this before.
A little way beyond, Bodie stood at a balcony. Below and in the distance, puffy white clouds floated. Below them! Through wispy breaks, she glimpsed the tapestry of a landscape beneath. Above, endless blue stretched into infinity.
“What is this place?” She leaned against the white stone rail, close to his side.
He sent her a piercing glance. “Did you sleep well?”
Right; she wasn’t allowed to ask such questions. “Yes.” Now that he mentioned it, she’d fallen into a deep, restful sleep. No strange dreams, no shadow people intruding into her consciousness. “Better than I have in a long time.” Of course, he had something to do with it. Or this place. No point asking how.
“Good.”
His knowing smile, lazy and luscious as if they’d shared a night of lovemaking, put her at ease. Being with hi
m felt so natural, as if she’d known him forever.
What had he said before, about wanting to make love to her for longer than she knew? She inhaled, ready to ask for an explanation, and caught herself. Did she really want to bring up the embarrassing episode? She’d thrown herself at him, and he refused. Yes, he’d let her down easy. Made her think he wanted to. Behaved the perfect gentleman.
The sad way he watched her, he understood her inner struggle. “Are you hungry?”
Should she be? “How long did I sleep?”
He shrugged.
“What time is it?” She searched the sky, separated above and below as it was, with them at the intersecting level. Between heaven and earth?
He shrugged again.
She stifled a groan of frustration. “You don’t know? Or can’t say?”
“There’s no answer that would make sense to you.”
“Well, of course.” Ignorant mortals had no clue. Best to keep it that way, apparently.
“So you’re not hungry?”
“Not for food.” She hadn’t meant to say it aloud. He’d think her a nympho. Her face flamed.
“Why don’t we go for a walk?”
Great idea. Maybe then she wouldn’t put her foot in her mouth. She nodded, and strolled beside him.
They left the room, but instead of heading outside, wandered deeper into the building. The incredible architecture piqued her interest. The archways resembled an intricate cathedral, the ambient glow gave it a clean, surreal feel. Light poured in, from where, Lily had no idea. No sun shone, not above them, at least. The steady glow didn’t move, unlike the sun, yet she couldn’t determine its source. It simply was.
He touched her elbow to guide her down another hallway. It opened onto a garden, bordered by lush trees, bushes and flowers, aligned in disturbingly neat rows. Through the center, a path led to a waterfall gushing from tall white stone, a framework of impossible beauty. Everything appeared too perfect.
“This is incredible.”
“And yet you’re disappointed.”
“A little.” Perfection had its downside. Too predictable.
