by Tamara Gill
Sara really needed to get a grip.
***
“Did you sleep well?” Hermes threw her a smile that had been known to land him a few conquests in his time. Sara’s gaze snapped to his before a light rosy hue spread up her neck.
Not for the first time, he noticed her beautiful eyes. Eyes that were wide and bright, not jaded or scheming, like those of his own people.
Like his own.
Being here, upon the world that was so basic and backward compared with the one from which he hailed, was liberating. Not that he’d thought it would be, when he’d exiled himself here for eternity just to survive.
She stood and the chair fell back, slamming against the wooden floor. She quickly moved to the kitchen and started to pack away the food items. Hermes replaced the chair and took a sip of the delicious brew the mortals called coffee.
“Very well. I think as soon as my head hit the pillow I was asleep.”
Liar…
Hermes nodded, inwardly thankful that he was still able to do a few magical things. Like hijacking other people’s dreams and turning them into a pleasurable experience for both of them.
He’d been so hard when he’d gone to bed, he’d known sleep would evade him. After what they’d both thought up together, sleep had come easy.
Never before had he needed to use the ability, but Sara was different. Somehow, he knew she didn’t allow just anyone to bed her. She needed a little prodding and if entering her dreams prodded her to allow him to even kiss her just once, well, he had to give it a shot.
“I had the most invigorating dream last night,” he said. Sara paled and he fought not to laugh. He really shouldn’t tease her so. That her emotions were so easy to read only made it more entertaining. He changed the subject. “Are you helping in the stable today?”
She placed her breakfast dishes in the sink and turned to face him. “Yeah. I’ll be out shortly. You can start without me if you like.”
“Where’s the fun in that?” He, too, placed his empty mug in the sink and held her gaze longer than was necessary. His body still hummed after the hot, delicious sex they’d had in their dreams together. He now knew every slight curve of her body, the fullness of her breasts, the sweetness of her lips. Both sets…
And he wanted more. “I’ll see you out there, then.”
Sara nodded, unable to form words, it seemed. He left.
Hermes strode toward the stable and breathed in deeply of the clean, fresh, morning air. The stable, even though it hadn’t housed horses for a very long time, still smelt like the animals. He found a wheelbarrow and a pitchfork and started to clean out the first stall he came across.
“Well, well, well. How far the mighty can fall. How are you finding it, shovelling horseshit, Hermes?”
Hermes turned, not having heard the voice behind him in a thousand years. His body came alert like it always did when around other immortals. None of them could be trusted. Not really. “To what do I owe this pleasure, Eros?” The immortal who exceeded his father’s age by eons looked about as if he was actually taking interest in what he was seeing.
“I heard that you’d been cast out of Mount Olympus and I had to see for myself if it was true. You should have known better than to trifle with Hera. I learnt my lesson with her many years ago. It’s very foolish of you.”
“I did not trifle with her. I was set up as a decoy. Not that the truth matters. I’ll never be allowed back at Mount Olympus again. My home is lost to me.”
Eros shrugged and Hermes wished he could be as blasé about his circumstances. For those who could leave the earth at will, that was all very well. As for him, he was stuck here, like it or not. No matter how congenial it was becoming, it still could never be his home.
“Perhaps all is not yet lost. I could always make a deal with Zeus and grant him his wife’s love once more.”
Hermes heard the stable door slam and he checked to see if Sara was coming. Seeing no-one there, he turned and found Eros looking bemused at his skittishness. “Why would you do such a thing? What’s in it for you?”
“Let’s just say I have a vested interest in your restoration.”
“What interest would that be?” Hermes came to stand before Eros. The ancient god stood at the same height, and yet Hermes had an inkling that it was well beyond his capacity to win against this deity.
“The woman who lives here is very beautiful and unassuming.”
Hermes felt his temper rise at the mention of Sara. Eros may be older and possibly stronger, but he’d be damned for all time in Hades before he’d let him hurt or use Sara in any way. “You stay away from her, or our association will cease.”
Eros laughed and the sound thundered throughout the stable.
“You should leave. I don’t want Sara to see or meet you. Ever,” Hermes said, turning away.
“Ah, my fallen immortal that will happen at some point no matter what your wishes are on the subject.” Eros studied him for a moment and smiled. “I saw the way you looked at her and she at you. Would you like me to mark her with my arrow, so she falls in love? Or do you hold such irresistible charms that she’ll fall at your divine feet, anyway?”
“Stay away from her.” Hermes wanted to murder the other god. He certainly didn’t want him anywhere near Sara, now or ever. She was an innocent in his disastrous life. He’d happened upon her house and claimed it without ever realizing he would be putting a human female in danger. She didn’t deserve to be used as a pawn in a chess game between gods.
“I will return, of that you may be certain, and when I do, ensure you welcome me or I may take offence.”
“Welcome you? Are you jesting? Your threats are just that, threats. You want me to trust you? I don’t trust anyone of my kind anymore and never will again.”
“Clever god, still, heed my words. Keep her safe until I return. I do mean to work with you Hermes, no matter what you may believe now. Think about that while I’m gone.”
Hermes watched him disappear and a pang of envy shot through him that he couldn’t follow at will. A moment later, Sara walked into the stable, pitchfork in hand and large black boots on that reached right up to her knee.
She was dressed in clothes in which no one would be seen dead back at Mount Olympus and yet, never had anyone looked more beautiful. She was natural and confident. A woman who didn’t need ornaments or the strongest most influential of the immortals on her arm. His heart thumped hard against his ribs. She was even too good for him.
“Shall we get started?” she said, as she tied her hair back in a band.
“Yes. Let’s.”
Chapter Four
“Have a shower and get dressed. I’m taking you shopping.” Hermes looked up from digging mud away from a leaking pipe, wiping his brow and smudging dirt across his forehead. Sara sighed at his uncanny ability to make her swoon like a prim and proper miss. Damn, he was good looking!
“Shopping.” He speared the ground with the shovel. “Why?”
Sara held up her cell phone and wiggled it. “Abe Cole, one of the local farmers has invited me to his son’s twenty-first birthday tonight. And somehow, I don’t think you wearing my father’s clothing is appropriate.”
He laughed, a deep, gravelly sound that sent a shiver of desire through her body. Taking a deep breath, she set out to calm her overactive hormones.
“Very well. I’ll meet you at the truck in ten.”
True to his word, ten minutes later they were on their way to Maryville, the closest town to the farm. The town was small, only one tavern and a supply store that sold fuel and a minimal range of clothing.
Sara waved to the shop attendant and headed for the clothing section of the shop. There was a lot of workwear, but not a lot of anything else. The distaste on Hermes’ face when he touched the rough fabric of some of the clothing, made her laugh.
She found a pair of jeans that seemed to fit him and a black shirt which, although it wasn’t the best quality, would do for where they were
going.
“Try these on.”
He took them and held them up for inspection. “You think these will fit?”
“They should.”
Hermes started to pull off his T-shirt and for just a moment she was caught up in what he was doing. Then her awareness returned. “You can’t change here.” She pulled him toward the fitting room at the back of the shop, which smelt a little musty and damp. “You can change privately in here.”
His lips lifted in that sexy grin that made her body melt.
“Did you want to come in?”
Her heart missed a beat. “Into the fitting room with you?” Temptation to do just that warred with self-preservation. If she went in there with him, Sara knew, deep in her soul, her life would change. But was that a bad thing? There was nothing wrong with a little fling…
She laughed in reply. “Just go in, change and then come out and show me.”
He closed the door, never taking his eyes from hers until the door had shut. Sara sagged against the wall when the connection was lost. Somehow, he’d managed to rattle her like no one else had in her life.
She loved it.
A moment later, the door opened. “The pants fit, but the top is a little tight around the shoulders.” He rolled them and his arms tightened, showing off all that delicious brawn. Wow! Her mouth dried.
“I’ll try and find a larger size. Be right back.” She could feel his gaze on her back and looking over her shoulder, confirmed her suspicions. Luckily, there was a larger size and another shirt, in blue. She grabbed them both. He didn’t seem to have much money and he had no clothes other than her father’s. She would put buying some clothes for him down to a good deed for the less fortunate. Not to her own selfish reasons, that being to see his ass in tight fitting jeans. “Here,” she said, passing the shirts to him.
He didn’t bother closing the door, but just ripped the smaller shirt over his head. His toned abdomen flexed, his pecs silently begging to hold her, to wrap her tightly against him. Sara heard giggling and looked across the shop to find two teenage girls watching Hermes, like he was the gods’ gift to women.
She rolled her eyes and closed the change room’s door in their faces.
“Can you help me with this one? The buttons are too small for my fingers.”
“Sure.” Sara shook herself from the erotically charged thoughts she’d been having about the guy. She was becoming a disturbed person, one who only saw men as objects to get off on. Maybe she was turning into a sex fiend.
She pulled the shirt together and started to thread the first button. This close to Hermes, she could smell the soap from his shower. Could see his chest rise and fall with each breath that whispered across her cheek. She moved to the second button and the firmness of skin beneath her fingers made her itch to touch him, to run her hands across his torso and revel in his male perfection.
“Sara?”
“Hmm.” She met his gaze and was surprised to see it darkened with desire. Need and heat that promised wild, hot sex, unlike any she’d ever known, stared back at her. This time, when she went to thread the third button, she grazed her hands down his body. Oh yes, he was everything she’d dreamed he would be, beneath her fingers. Her legs shook.
“Do you think this is suitable?” he asked, his voice a deeper octave than she’d heard before.
“Not at all,” she replied, her voice, breathless. She should be cringing at how much she was enjoying herself, making use of his body for her own pleasure, but not today. There was nothing cringe worthy before her.
“Should we look for another?”
“Another what?” Sara tore he gaze from his chest and met his eyes. He was laughing at her.
“Shirt,” he said.
“Oh.” She stepped backwards and the door met her back. “You don’t like this one?”
He shook his head. “Maybe too much.”
Heat prickled across her skin. Did he mean her or the shirt? “Well, we’ll get it then. Get changed and I’ll meet you at the counter.”
She turned to open the door and his hand covered hers on the handle. “Thank you for your kindness, Sara.” She stilled as his lips brushed lightly across her ear, the prickle of his unshaven jaw marking her neck. She squeezed her legs together, feeling desire spike through her body and straight to her core.
“You’re welcome.” She opened the door and he let her go. On wobbly legs, she made it to the checkout and fought for calm. He’d only had to touch her and she would have opened up for him, like a flower in bloom. Holy shit, she was in trouble.
“You going tonight, Sara?” Toby, the storeowner’s son asked. She’d known him since he was in diapers, having gone to school with his eldest sister and her best friend, Josie. He’d grown up a lot since then.
“Yes. It’ll be nice catching up with everyone again. I haven’t been out here for a while.”
“I heard they’ve brought fireworks to go off at midnight. I can’t wait.”
Sara smiled at the young man’s enthusiasm. “Me too.”
Hermes laid the garments on the counter and glared at the boy. Unaware, Toby tallied up the items and placed them into a bag, chatting all the while about the party and everyone who’d be there.
Hermes remained quiet on the drive back home and she wondered about it. “Is everything alright?” she asked, not liking the fact he hadn’t uttered a word since leaving the shop.
“Why wouldn’t it be?”
“Well, I don’t know. That’s why I’m asking. You seem a little pissed off.”
He sighed, looking out the window. “It surprises me that you’ve not made a life here. You own a farm. You’re a smart, independent woman from what I can gather, just knowing you these past few days. I’m curious to know why no one’s made you theirs?”
Sara swallowed wondering if he needed to know what a failure at relationships she was. “I was seeing someone, but it didn’t work out. He…” she paused, hating to have to say what the ass did. “He cheated on me. I was too bookish apparently. He lives in the next big town over and won’t be at the party tonight.”
“Well, I’m glad of it.”
Her gaze snapped to his, hurt mingling with curiosity. “Why would you say that?” His attention slid down her body like a caress and Sara felt her nipples pucker to his attention.
“Because, now I can monopolize your time. Have you all to myself.”
Sara’s eyes widened at his declaration, but the hell with it. Somewhere between her home and the small town they’d just left, he’d come to realize just how much he liked her. No longer wanted to share her with anyone. He doubted, even if she’d had a partner, that it would’ve stopped him from pursuing her.
She laughed, the sound tinged with nerves. “We’ve been alone since I met you.”
“There are many variations to being alone, one in particular that I quite enjoy.”
She took a deep breath and pulled onto the dirt road leading up to the farmhouse. “There isn’t much left to do today, so I think we’ll just get ready for the party. That sound okay to you?”
She was ignoring him and he ran a hand through his hair. He’d never had to seduce a woman before. They normally fell at his feet. But he was never one to back away from a challenge, not one with a prize like Sara waiting for him at the end. The woman wasn’t scared of hard work, was kind having taken the likes of himself in, fed and employed him. She could’ve rang the cops and had him forcibly removed from her land, but she hadn’t. A beautiful woman inside and out. “Yeah, fine. I’ll meet you outside the house. At seven, wasn’t it?”
She parked the truck beside the house and turned it off. “Yep.”
They didn’t move, but just sat there, quietly. Hermes could almost hear the hum of desire that thrummed between them. He wanted to pull her across the vinyl seat, sit her on his lap and kiss the life out of her. He wanted to touch her, push his hands against her breasts and make her his.
This was crazy. Living on Earth, having had his
powers revoked, had made him start thinking like a mortal instead of an immortal. And he had no doubt that the woman beside him could bring him to his knees. She grabbed her bag and fled the vehicle. She never looked back as she entered the house.
He rubbed his jaw, the bristles scratching his palm. Fuck. What was he doing? What were they doing? Not a lot, other than driving each other crazy. Well, she was certainly driving him crazy, but in the most pleasurable way imaginable.
Grabbing his new clothes, he got out and strode toward the barn. Tonight looked to be fun and who knew what could happen at a party? A lot could happen, if an immortal put his mind to it.
Hermes smiled and counted down the minutes until the time of departure..
Chapter Five
Sara slipped on the only little black dress she had and looked at herself in the mirror. She twirled around to make sure the zipper was done up as far as it could go, before slipping on her sandals. The spaghetti straps suited the empire type bodice. The cut of the dress also managed to make her look thinner than she was.
Always a bonus.
Tonight promised to be fun and she found herself looking forward to something for the first time in ages. She couldn’t remember the last time her ex, Trevor had taken her out. And when he had, it usually ended with her getting upset over his ogling of other women.
She shook the depressing thought off and instead, thought of Hermes. His breaking into her house had turned out to be one of the luckiest things to have happened to her in a long time. He really was a great help and really a nice guy. Maybe her luck was changing.
Picking up her purse on the hall table, she slammed the front door shut and stopped at the sight of Hermes leaning against her truck. In battered workwear, he was hot. Tonight, dressed in his new dark jeans and black shirt, he looked ridiculously out of her league.
Her mouth dried in an instant. She wanted to tell him how great he looked. That the clothes really suited him, but she couldn’t seem to form the words.
“You look beautiful.”
