“It was all worth it. I’d do it all again to have this moment,” he whispered. He touched his lips to hers, gentle and reverent.
Her lips parted on a small gasp of pleasure and he deepened their kiss, reminding her of everything she loved in this man.
She pulled away. “What will we do? You can’t stay with me on this rock. You’ll die.”
“I’ll gladly accept death as long as I can hold you in my arms until I take my last breath.”
“You do not need to be so dramatic, human,” Zeus bellowed. “There is another way.”
Not knowing what Zeus had planned, she released her tight grip on Demetrius’s hands and sat back on her haunches. The sharp edge of the rock cut into her knees, making her bleed.
“I’m bleeding,” she told Demetrius, in shock. “Immortals don’t bleed. I’m human,” she said, laughing.
They stood on the rock and her lover twirled her in a circle. “I love you, Euterpe. No matter what happens, we’ll always stay together.”
She glanced down at the rock and back up at Demetrius. “Yes. We will. Now, how will we get off this rock and to safety?”
Demetrius laughed and smoothed a hand over her hair.
“Lola?”
Why was he calling her Lola?
“Wake up, Lola. We need to talk.”
Meow.
A weight sat on her chest. Her eyes fluttered open and Zeus, the mysterious weight, stared down at her. Why was the cat in her apartment?
“Good, you’re awake. Zeus missed you. Since you won’t come to my home, I brought him to yours.”
She whipped her head to the left and smacked her nose into Braden’s thigh. Before she could stop herself, she inhaled his scent, his sweetness waking up things in her which were better left asleep.
“How did you get in my room?” she shouted, more for effect than anything as her traitorous body reacted to his nearness, her nipples hardening.
She swore the cat smiled as he got up and stretched before jumping off the bed and curling up on the floor by the bathroom.
“Your mom let me in,” he said, his hand coming close to her face. She waited for the contact, but he dropped it at the last moment.
She sat up, pulling the blanket around her chest. He didn’t need to see how he affected her after breaking her heart. “Of course she did.”
“Don’t blame her. I bribed her with baked goods. You know no one can resist my pastries.” He smiled, but she didn’t return the favor.
“So Zeus missed me, huh?”
Zeus—the god, not the cat—had told her to hope. A dangerous emotion to have when she had never experienced anything but disappointment in her life.
“He’s not the only one. I missed you, too.” He reached into his pocket. “I brought you a present.” He pulled out a harmonica and laid it on her lap. “It was just collecting dust in the music room. You should have it. To replace the one you gave away all those years ago.”
This gift meant more to her than all the jewels and riches in the world. He’d remembered how much she’d loved her harmonica. “Thank you,” she whispered. But what did the gift mean? “Bribes might work on my mother, but not on me.”
“This isn’t a bribe,” he responded, his voice tight.
“It doesn’t matter. I’ve already decided I’ll go through the audits today. You don’t have to worry about Acropolis. I wouldn’t do anything to intentionally cause you to lose your most valued possession.”
He flinched. “I know that.”
Silly, she wanted him to deny it. She swallowed down the sorrow lodged in her throat. “No. Based on yesterday, I’d say you don’t believe it. You were so willing to believe that I’d deceived you.”
Zeus jumped on the bed, settling between them, purring loudly.
Braden petted the cat. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have assumed the worst. I let my own issues color my reaction and I said some things I wish I could take back.”
The butterflies in her belly threatened to fly away with her heart. She covered her middle with her hand as if to stop them. “You can’t. Regardless of why you said them, you did. I understand you have mommy issues, but you, of all people, should’ve known I am nothing like her. But I do forgive you.”
He sighed in relief. “Thank you. I promise—”
“I forgive you, but I can’t forget,” she interrupted. She watched as the hope drained from his face. “I pretended I was cut out for the domestic life. A home. A family. A cat.” They laughed, both looking at Zeus. “But yesterday reminded me that it’s not for me.”