Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 107826 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107826 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
I’ll ask Aphrodite about it tonight. No matter what else she’s said, the only reason she’s getting close to me is to suss out information about Minos and his plans. Surely she’ll want access to Icarus and Ariadne, too. They don’t know anything more than I do, but she won’t believe it. It’s as good an excuse to get them out of here as any.
* * *
My confidence that I know what I’m doing dwindles with each floor the elevator passes on its descent to the parking garage. I check my phone for the sixth time, rereading Aphrodite’s brief text again.
Aphrodite: My car will meet you in the parking garage. Be there at nine.
It’s not until I open the door and slide into the back seat that I realize I’ve made a mistake. I’m not alone. Aphrodite lounges in the seat next to me, wearing a masterpiece of a red dress. Its silky fabric leaves her shoulders bare and drapes horizontally across her chest in a way that should be modest…if not for the corset boning just below it that emphasizes her thin waist, followed by more draped fabric around her hips that leaves one long leg completely bare to the upper thigh.
It’s a dress meant to seduce.
I know better than to let my gaze linger on the smooth skin of her thigh, to let my curiosity tease out what she might or might not be wearing beneath the dress. She looks like a present just begging to be unwrapped, the top of the dress barely clinging to her upper arms. One tug and I could know if she’s bare there, too…
I jerk my gaze away.
Gods, what am I thinking?
“Pandora.” Aphrodite’s voice is lower than normal, a faint edge there that makes my skin prickle in a way that’s far too pleasant. “You dressed up for me.”
I swallow hard. “I dressed up for the club.”
“Of course,” she agrees easily. She leans over and drags her gaze over me in a sweep I can almost feel. I have to fight not to shift, to press my thighs together.
Truth be told, I did dress up for her. I wanted her to look at me just like she’s doing right now. I just…wasn’t prepared for my reaction to it. I’m not normally so reckless when I choose my lovers, but there’s something about Aphrodite that sweeps away all common sense.
I give myself a mental shake. Surely I’m not actually considering letting her seduce me? Of all the people in Olympus, she’s the one most off-limits. She’s my best friend’s wife. Yes, it was a forced marriage and yes, he appears to hate her, but honestly that just makes her an even more inappropriate choice.
Not to mention, she’s dangerous. Possibly to me. Definitely to Theseus.
Aphrodite leans back, but it’s no easier to breathe in the close space. Her perfume is faint but intoxicating. She’s styled her dark hair up in a way that’s artfully messy and makes me think of sex.
For her part, she seems equally affected. She clears her throat, and when she speaks, her voice still has that edge of seduction. “There are some ground rules for your admittance to the club. Hades and Persephone are unaware of our presence there, but Charon is a stickler for the rules. No drinking on your first time.”
“Last night was my first time and I was most definitely drunk.” I refuse to feel shame for that. They obviously had a plan for me, so I suspect I would have ended up sleeping it off in Aphrodite’s bed no matter what choices I made leading up to arriving at the club.
“Special circumstance,” she says breezily. “As I was saying, you can observe the other people in attendance, but you can’t participate with anyone outside your party.” She gives a sharp smile the same cherry red as her dress. “If you’re a good girl, then you’ll likely be invited back with more freedom.”
Good girl.
The two words go through me like a gunshot. I press my lips together and fight not to shake. What is wrong with me? I won’t pretend I haven’t lost myself to lust more times than I care to count—I love life too much to turn down either fun or pleasure—but this is different.
This feels weighted in a way I’m not prepared to deal with.
I think I made a mistake agreeing to this.
10
APHRODITE
I’ve always been one to mix business and pleasure. Life’s too short to deny yourself, and if it has the added bonus of sending the men of my family spinning out? Well, I’m an overachiever like that.
This feels different.
Pandora is practically vibrating with tension by the time we pull up outside the club, and while part of me enjoys the fact that she’s obviously so deeply affected by me, the rest of me has the strangest urge to comfort her.