Eros (Contemporary Mythos Book 4)

Staring at myself in the dingy full-length mirror, I dragged my hands down the light pink silk clinging to my hips. I turned, peering over my shoulder at my exposed back, and my brain dipped into traitorous thoughts of Eric’s hand touching me there.

Pull yourself together, Stewart.

I glanced at the antique clock on the nightstand—12:00 PM. Eric wouldn’t be here with the cab for another fifteen minutes. Before I had a chance to talk myself out of it, I grabbed my cell and typed a quick text to Alex.

Me: What if I told you Eric was…Eros?

I hit the send button and dropped the phone on the bed as if it bit me. Turning away, I chewed my thumbnail, knowing she’d believe me. It wouldn’t be some conversation of me convincing her. It’d be the other way around. She’d still be in the middle of the workday, so it was unlikely I’d hear back from her right away.

My cell buzzed, muffled from the thick comforter underneath it. I glared as I turned on my heel, staring wide-eyed at Alex’s face and name blazing on the screen.

She wouldn’t forgive me if I let it go to voicemail.

“Well, hi there. I figured you’d be, you know, working?”

“Um. You hit me with a text like that and expect me to work? Spill.”

I sat on the edge of the bed, wedging my hand between my knees. “When I said you were right…that’s what I was talking about.”

Silence fell over the line.

“Alex?”

“Let me get this straight. Eric. Bartender Eric is the god of love?”

“You’re the one who called it. Don’t you remember?”

Her shriek was so high-pitched it was hard to tell if she was excited or being murdered.

“Of course, I remember, but I’ve never met one of the gods before. Now I can say I have. Oh, this is exciting.”

Nausea bubbled in my stomach.

“Oh, my Zeus. Does he have wings? Please tell me has wings.”

I thought back to him in the forest with the moonlight beaming over the white feathers.

“He has wings.”

She let out another shrill cry.

An attempt at “girling” it out with her resulted in a simple lackluster snicker from me.

Alex groaned. “Okay, why do you sound like they canceled your favorite TV show after only two seasons?”

“Because I don’t believe in myths like you, Alex. It’s a lot to take in. Not to mention the fact I—” My heart thundered in my chest. “I think I might be falling for him.”

She cackled. “Oh, sweetie. You’ve been doing that since the day your eyes fell on that butt-chin.”

“Attraction isn’t falling for someone.”

“It usually starts that way.”

I traced a fingertip over my bottom lip. “There’s something else.”

“Please say you banged him, and he left the wings out the entire time.”

I imagined her crossing all her fingers. “No. But—he kissed me. And it was the most mind-blowing kiss of my entire life.”

“Mm, it damn well better be. Can you imagine the pressure he feels being the god of passion? I’d be setting the bar pre-tty high, my friend.”

Did he feel pressure? Nerves? Was he scared of anything?

“Imagine how he’d be in the sack, Elani.”

My thoughts dipped into a vision of him over me, rolling his hips with godly expertise, and the wings fanned out before curling around us. My ears burned.

“I’ve got to go, Alex. I have my client’s wedding to go to.”

“A wedding? Perfect. Get all girly and romance-y, drink a lot, and get you some Greek god action. For me. Please.”

Heat flushed my cheeks. “Goodbye, Alex.”

“I’m not kidding, Stewart. Oh, and one last thing.” She took an exaggerated deep breath. “I told you,” she yelled, nearly busting my eardrum.

“Okay. I’m really hanging up this time, goober.” I pressed the end button and let my back flop to the bedspread.

A ripple traveled across my brain, nestling within my chest and making me shiver. I sat up, searching the room as if something inside caused the odd sensation. But what was more disturbing, I knew Eric was here. As I stood, I faintly grabbed my jacket and clutch. A scowl pulled at my face, skeptical he was actually here. When I opened the door, the voice traveling up the stairs made my back slam into the nearest wall.

“I appreciate the compliment.” Eric chuckled. “Thank you.”

His smell. He had a very distinct scent. Everyone knew scents could trigger memories and all sorts of brain-induced reactions. I’d smelled him…from all the way upstairs and through a door.

Smoothing the front of my dress, I arrived in the lobby. My insides twisted, unsure whether the sight of Eric in a kilt or tux excited me more. I gripped the banister, trailing my eyes from the polished black shoes to the black pants, wondering what his ass looked like in them. His hair was slicked back with gel but still had a slight wave to it. He had his hands in his pockets and removed them once our gazes locked.

The intensity in his eyes could’ve turned my dress into pudding. I’d be standing stark naked in the middle of the lobby without a care in the world.

“Oh, Lani dear, you look—”

“Breathtaking,” Eric finished for Flora.

I’d be lying if I said the desire to lick his face wasn’t strong. Holding my clutch with two hands and positioning it over my braless chest, I moved in front of him.

“Dearie, you look positively flushed. Maybe you should wait outside in the chilled air, hm?” Flora wiggled her eyebrows, jutting her head at the door.

Eric flashed a smile. He held his hand out for me to walk first. It didn’t take long for his fingers to graze my exposed lower back. The sensation was tenfold from any time before. I let out a strangled gasp and grabbed for the nearest sturdy structure—his arm. I looked up at him with an expression I could only imagine looked like a lost puppy.

He brushed his lips over my ear. “Kilt or tux, hm?”

My eyes focused on the muscled chest hidden beneath the white shirt and bowtie. “You look so good I can barely concentrate on walking.”

“Well. Tonight will be interesting.”

Interesting? Why would it be interesting? Was he going to make a move? Would he—would he use his wings?

His smile didn’t fade as he ushered us outside and wrapped my jacket over my arms since I’d apparently forgotten how to do that too.

During the hours in the cab to Glasgow Airport, we barely looked at one another but took every opportunity to graze each other’s knuckles. The faint touches sent sizzles over my skin each time, and he knew it’d drive me far crazier than all-out hand-holding. The following short charter flight to Dublin was a blur. All I could think about was how the night would end. My core purred at the thought of having sex with him, but it would all be far too convenient. A wedding? The estrogen levels pumping through the roof, dozens of couples kissing and being lovey-dovey and cute. Far too easy. He’d need more than a sparkling smile, butt-chin, and perfect romantic scenario to make me take that dive. I was a frozen lake, ready to crack and plunge into frigid temperatures at the faintest pressure.

The church ceremony was beautiful, but even mere flower arrangements attached to every other pew were enough to be majestic. A wedding ceremony was about the people, not the glitz and glam. She could’ve been standing barefoot in a white nightgown with flowers in her hair in a basement. The look on her face as she connected herself for the rest of her life to the man she loved with every waking breath—there was the beauty.

If it weren’t for Eric sitting beside me on the pew, I might have blubbered. But I managed to shed only a single tear that he wiped away with a toe-curling grin on his face. He told me he hadn’t used his powers on me and wouldn’t under any circumstance, but what he failed to realize was—I’d fallen under a completely different spell of his.

After it was over, we all shuffled next door to a recreation center for the reception. Was it horrible we hadn’t even found our assigned table yet, and I already looked for the trays of champagne?

“Elani, oh my gosh, you came,” Anna shrieked. Her wavy brown hair bounced as she took the tiniest, fastest steps to cross the room. Her mermaid cut wedding dress was beautiful, catching the light from the hundreds of sequins and strategically stitched rhinestones.

I received the hug, ignoring the rogue leaves in her bouquet smacking my face. “You’re an absolute vision, Anna.”

When she peeled back, she tossed her hair and veil over her shoulder. “Thank you and—oh—” When her eyes found Eric, she instantly arched her back. “Who’s this?”

Minutes ago, this woman married her husband, and now she looked ready to have Eric take her on the nearest surface.

“My uh—my boyfriend.” I folded my arms over my stomach.

Eric’s grin widened at me before turning his attention to Anna and holding out his hand. “Eric. Beautiful wedding.”

She shook his hand longer than necessary and giggled. “You’re beautiful.”

I looked between the two of them.

Was I going to have to throw ice water on her?

“Have fun tonight, Anna.” He trailed his fingers down my back and wrapped his arm around my waist as I started to sink toward the floor.

“Did you have to flirt with the bride?”

We reached our table, and he pulled my chair out. “I never realized introducing one’s self and complimenting the bride’s appearance constituted flirting.”

“Do you exude sex then, or something?” I scoffed, slamming my clutch on the table.

Eric dipped his chin, giving me those squinty bedroom eyes as he took his seat. “Yes.”

“Oh, come on.” I played with my necklace chain. The champagne tray walked by, and I perked up, scooping one into my hand.

Sliding his chair closer, he chuckled. “It’s a godly trait. But given who I am, mine’s a tad more…intense.”

“Now it makes sense why Alex was oogly-googly over you. She never gets like that, by the way.” I took a long sip from my flute.

“You sound jealous.” He turned my seat to face him, making the wooden legs groan against the floor.

I stared at him with puffed cheeks full of bubbly alcohol. Gulping it down, I ran the stem of the glass between my fingers. “I’d say more mildly irritated.”

A deep chuckle escaped his throat. “So, boyfriend, huh?”

I pinched my knees together. “I panicked. I needed to put a stop to her post-haste. Could you imagine if her freshly made husband would’ve walked in on that? Besides, fake boyfriend tropes are all the rage.”

“Elani, we’ve made out twice, and I know you’ve thought about more.” He chewed on his bottom lip, his gaze falling to my mouth. “I’d hardly think we’d have to fake it.”

My heartbeat boomed in my ears. The glass squeaked between my fingers as I held onto it for dear life. Eric’s attention diverted over my shoulder with a scowl.

“What is it?” I whipped my head around.

Graeme walked in with the same redhead he ran into at the MMA match. He curled her arm with his, and both smiled like love-struck teenagers. He bent down to kiss her, further proving they were undoubtedly more than friends.

“Elani,” Eric’s voice called to me, smooth and tranquil.

I sucked on my top row teeth as I turned. “Hm?”

“What’s going through your head?”

“How much of an idiot I am.” I drained the rest of my drink, replacing the empty glass with a full one as the tray passed.

“You’re not an idiot.”

I tapped my fingernail. “Graeme is what happens when I let my guard down. I should’ve seen that he was a lying bastard, but no. He opens his mouth, a Scottish accent flows out, and I’m a goner.”

“I already told you that wasn’t all you. My mother put a spell on you, remember?”

I dipped my finger in the champagne and circled the rim, smiling to myself as the charming sound resonated. Pure crystal. “True. But that was after my insides turned to jelly from the shiny wrapping paper. I didn’t bother opening it to see what was in the box. Make sense?”

He tapped his finger on the table twice. “Sure.”

“He probably won’t notice I’m here.” I flicked my wrist in the air as I dipped my head back to drink more champagne.

“Elani?” Graeme’s voice said behind me with an upward tilt.

Eric’s hand balled into a fist.

I choked on my drink and turned in my seat, feigning surprise. “Graeme. What a small, small world.”

“I uh—I thought you’d be in Scotland still.”

The redhead on his arm squinted at me.

“As the Fates would have it, a client of mine invited me to her wedding. How serendipitous, right?” I snorted and finished my drink.

Eric’s foot hooked onto a leg of my chair, bringing me closer until our seats bumped together. His arm wrapped around my shoulders.

Graeme clucked his tongue against the inside of his cheek. “You’re with Eric now? Pretty quick turnaround, though I’m not surprised.”

A burst of alcohol-induced confidence shot down my spine, and I jumped up. “Me?” I cocked an eyebrow at the redhead. “Why did you even bother stringing me along? For the plane ticket?”

Eric delicately pulled me back to my seat.

“Don’t try to play coy, Stewart. You think I didn’t notice the way you looked at, Eric? I was saving myself the embarrassment of what was goin’ to happen. Seems I was right.” The way Graeme said my clan’s name made it sound like we were bitter enemies.

Eric’s hand lifted beside me, and he fluttered his fingers at Graeme and his date, the faintest of silver specks flowing from Eric’s skin. “Why don’t you two go enjoy the festivities, hm?”

The woman wrapped her arms around Graeme’s neck and sucked on his earlobe with a giggle. “Come on, Graemey. They’re old news.”

Graeme growled and smiled, kissing her neck as they made their way to their table. Fortunately, it was on the opposite side of the room.

I guffawed. “Wow. What a complete douche canoe.” The waiter walked by with perfect timing once more, and I grabbed a full flute.

“They won’t last a month,” Eric grumbled, tracing his fingers over my arm.

I snapped my head at him. “Did you do something?”

“All they are to each other is a good time. I upped the aggression to get them to walk the hell away.”

“Huh.” I leaned an elbow on one of his legs. “So how does this love mojo sense thing work anyway?”

“Love mojo sense?” He chuckled.

“What would you call it?”

He puckered his lips. “Love mojo sense it is.”

“How does it work? Do you simply look at a couple and know their current status and future? Do you help? Interfere?”

“So many questions. I like it.”

“Well, I like you.” My cheeks instantly warmed, and every muscle in my body froze. “Sorry, it’s the cham—”

He kissed my temple. “I like you too. To answer your question, I can tell you what everyone’s story is and where it will end just by looking at them.”

“That sounds exhausting. Everywhere you go, you’re being flooded by this?”

He rested his cheek against the side of my head, letting the stubble rub my skin.

I kind of adored that he didn’t go for the clean-cut look, even for a wedding.

“I can tune it out. And as far as helping or interfering, yes, I do. For those that deserve to find ever-lasting happiness.”

I sunk against him. “Alright. Take those two, for instance.”

A man with bright blonde cropped hair and a woman with bone-straight black hair down to her elbows sat at a nearby table. They were next to each other, and the woman smiled with her arms folded on the table. The man had a snarky grin with one elbow pressed on the back of his chair.

“They look pretty smitten, right?” I cocked my head to one side.

“One night stand.”

I tilted my chin to look at him upside down. “What? How?”

“I don’t have to use love mojo to tell you that one. Sometimes it’s all about body language.”

My gaze fell on the mysterious couple again. They were all smiles and suggestive eyes at each other. I didn’t get it.

“See how their chairs are next to one another, but they’re faced away? The man leans back in his seat rather than toward her, and his eyes keep dropping to her chest. The woman is clearly attracted given her bouncing crossed legs and the fact she keeps playing with her earring, but again she makes no move to be near him.”

My stomach somersaulted as I dropped my eyes to Eric’s arm wrapped around me, my hand on his knee, and the fact we weren’t only leaning to each other but touching.

I sat up straight and scooped the champagne in my hand. “You’re good at this.”

“I certainly hope so. Otherwise, I’m in the wrong profession.” His eyes brightened.

When the tray passed, this time, Eric grabbed one and held it up to me for a toast.

“To exploring passion.” He kept my gaze, making my insides fizzle more than my drink.

“To…passion.”

We clinked glasses and stared at one another over the rims as we sipped.

“Does alcohol affect you?” I dabbed my mouth with a cocktail napkin.

“Not the mortal variety. But I still like the bubbles on my tongue.” He grinned, and then his head turned toward the dancefloor. “Would you like to dance?”

I downed my drink. “That’s half the fun of weddings, isn’t it?”

Being in Ireland, I’d expected a band playing jigs in the corner, but instead, there was a DJ. As soon as we stepped to the floor, the lights dimmed for a slow dance. These Arms of Mine by Otis Redding played.

I squinted at Eric. “Did you do this?”

“Does it matter?” He smiled and pulled me against him.

It didn’t. It really, really didn’t.

As we slow-motion sashayed across the squared wooden floor, I curled my arms around his neck, not looking away from him for anything. He slid one hand between my shoulder blades and trailed the other to the lowest revealed part of my back. His pinky teased the seam of my dress. I pushed closer until my breasts pressed against him. As if having a mind of their own, my fingers trailed through the thickness of his chocolate-colored hair.

His lips grazed my ear, breath caressing it, making me shudder. “Do you want me to kiss you again?”

“Yes,” I said through a moan.

He didn’t take long to meet my lips this time. He pressed his mouth to mine, dug one hand into my hair, and kept the other at my lower back. I groaned, standing on my tip-toes to ravenously take in more of him. When his tongue lapped over my lips, I thought I’d let out a shrill cry in front of everyone, but his mouth silenced it.

My eyelashes fluttered against his as he pulled away. The floor seemed to disappear as he made lazy circles with his thumbs on each of my cheekbones.

“Normally in the story, the heroine would be frantically searching for her ex to make sure he’d seen this. To make him jealous.” I dragged a finger over the tingle still tantalizing my lips.

“And you? How do you feel?” He cupped my chin.

“I couldn’t give a rat’s ass where he is, what he’s thinking, or where he’s looking.” I beamed at Eric.

His grin was electric, and he brushed another kiss over my lips. Something strong and hard pressed against my stomach, making my heart catapult to lightspeed.

I whispered into his ear, “Come to my hotel tonight.”

He let out a ragged breath into my hair. “As much as I would love that more than anything and my attraction for you is fairly obvious…” The hardness twitched. “Not yet, Elani.”

I pushed back with a crinkle in my brow. “Why?”

“For one, you’ve had five champagnes. Call it a hunch, but I’m pretty sure you’d want to remember it.”

“Fair point.” I pouted.

He kissed the tip of my nose. “And two, take our first kiss and multiply it by ten.”

My insides quivered.

“Elani, when you’re ready to open yourself to me—” He took both my hands and squeezed them. “Truly open yourself. I’ll lay the world at your feet.”