A Taste of Greek (Out of Olympus #3) (23 page)

Penny let her eyes roam while Hermes landed them safely on the other side of the riverbank. In the distance, she spotted a large, dark medieval castle. She pointed to it. “Is that Hades’ palace?”

“Quite garish, isn’t it?”

“Though it’s kind of how I would have imagined it. You know, dark, evil-looking—”

“Don’t let Hades hear that,” he interrupted as he led her onto the footpath toward the castle. “He doesn’t see himself as evil. And he isn’t really. But he has to keep up appearances.”

She glanced at him from the side. “Appearances?”

“Yes. For the sake of keeping peace on earth, he has to let everybody believe that the underworld is a horrible place to be. He occasionally sends one of his minions to the mortal world to spread untruths about the underworld, making sure the mortals believe it’s an awful place to be. Because if word got out that it’s not all bad down here, where’s the deterrent for people not to commit terrible crimes?”

“Oh!” Then she remembered something. “But what about Persephone? He kidnapped her and forces her to live down here half the year.”

“Ah, yeah, that!” Hermes rubbed his neck. “Better not mention anything about that to Hades.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s really not the way the mortals think it happened. Persephone was the one who fell in love with Hades and tricked him into marrying her. He’s constantly trying to get her to leave, and she does—for a short time—but then she sneaks back here and seduces him so he lets her stay. Guess the sex is pretty hot. But Hades isn’t a one-woman man. Never was, never will be. That’s why he didn’t want to marry Persephone in the first place.”

Disbelief rolled through her. “You can’t be serious. The mythology books have it all wrong?”

Hermes nodded. “Yep.” Then he winked. “Wouldn’t that be something new and exciting to write about?”

She felt herself blush, because she’d just thought the exact same thing. “You know I could never write about it. Nobody would believe it.”

“You’ll never know if you don’t try.”

“Are you seriously encouraging me to write about this?”

He smiled at her, his eyes twinkling. “I’d rather you’d write about Hades than about my sandals.”

She looked away quickly, pangs of guilt resurfacing. “I’m sorry about what I did. I didn’t mean to cause all this—”

His palm on her forearm stopped her. “We’ll talk about it later.”

Before she could nod, they reached a massive door of iron and wood, and Hermes hit the knocker against it to alert the occupants of the castle to their presence.

A footman dressed in a black robe with red lining opened the door almost instantaneously. “Hermes? We weren’t expecting you.”

“I know, Felix. Can you tell Hades I need to see him?”

Felix raised an eyebrow. “He’s not in a good mood.”

“It’s important.”

Felix gave a long-suffering sigh then turned and motioned them to follow him along the dark corridor until it opened up into a large atrium. Penny looked up. Above her, she saw the moon and the stars.

“Wait here,” Felix instructed and disappeared through one of the doors.

Hermes nudged her, pointing up at the glass roof of the atrium. “Another illusion. We’re underground, so what you see isn’t really the moon. Pretty realistic though, don’t you think?”

“Is there anything that’s real down here?”

“Yes. I’m real!” a male voice came from behind her.

She shrieked and swiveled on her heels. Her mouth dropped open. Before her stood a man she could only assume was Hades, though he looked nothing like she’d imagined him. There was nothing ugly or evil about him, at least not in his physical appearance. He was tall and handsome with dark brown, wavy hair, blue eyes, and a chiseled chin. He wore a silk robe over tight black leather pants, exposing his ripped chest, which was dusted with dark hair. This was Hades, the lord of the underworld?

“Oh my, she looks yummy,” Hades said, grinning at Hermes, before he made another step toward her.

Penny’s breath hitched, but before she could say anything in response, Hermes shoved her behind him, cutting off Hades’ approach.

32

“Hades, I’m sorry to bother you,” Hermes pressed out between clenched teeth.

He’d seen that look in Hades’ eyes before. And Hermes didn’t like it one bit, because that look told him that his uncle would make a play for Penny the moment Hermes turned his back.

“Oh, no bother,” Hades replied, glancing past him, looking at Penny. “I’m assuming you brought me a gift to make up for the disagreement we had last time?” His uncle licked his lips.

“I’m afraid I didn’t bring any gifts.” He pulled Penny to his side. “I’m here to ask you for a favor. Penny and I need your help.”

Hades arched an eyebrow. “Penny? You mean this delectable mortal is the woman who stole your sandals?” He whistled then dropped his gaze to Hermes’ feet. “Which I see you’ve gotten back. So, why would you need my help then?”

“I’m afraid Zeus is a tiny bit ticked off and can’t control his temper.”

Hades chuckled. “Ah, yeah, my dear brother does have an issue with anger. Wants to do your little mortal some harm, does he?”

“I’m afraid he tried to kill her. I had no choice but to bring her down here where Zeus can’t touch her.”

“And now you expect me to help you against my brother’s wishes?” Hades asked. “Isn’t that funny? First you insult me by delivering that ridiculous contract Zeus drew up, then you refuse to help out with the ferry service, and now you want to drive the wedge between me and my brother even deeper?”

His uncle was right, of course, Hermes was asking for a lot. But maybe he could negotiate with him. After all, Hades still needed help with the ferry service.

“I’m prepared to pay you for sheltering Penny here.”

“Pay?” Hades ran his eyes over Penny in a way that made Hermes clench his fists and want to punch Hades’ face.

“Yes, pay. I’m willing to help out with the ferry service.”

“For how long?”

Hermes swallowed. “For as long as necessary.” Besides, he had to stay down here with Penny anyway. No way would he leave her alone with Hades. At least this way, Hades wouldn’t smell a rat and realize why he wanted to stay in the underworld—not really to help out with the ferry service, but to protect Penny from Hades’ libido.

“Interesting,” Hades mused. “Let me get this straight: Penny stole your sandals. You got them back. Zeus wants revenge. And where in all that do you come in, my dear nephew? How come you don’t want to take revenge on her? After all, those were your sandals she stole. And knowing my brother, he’s royally pissed with you right now. I’m sure he’ll want to punish you too. Yet you don’t want to punish Penny. Instead, you’re protecting her by bringing her down here. How far are you willing to go?”

“What do you mean?” Hermes said, his defensiveness rising.

“How long do you intend to hide her down here? Forever?”

“Well, forever is a long time . . . ” Hermes said.

“Zeus isn’t going to let this go. Keeping her here is only a temporary solution. You’ll need something permanent.”

Hermes knew this himself, but he hadn’t been able to come up with a permanent solution yet. Hell, he was just putting out fires as they happened. He hadn’t had a chance to make any plans yet. “I’ll figure it out.”

Hades grinned. “You know there’s one solution that comes to mind instantly.”

Hermes furrowed his forehead, not following his uncle’s thought process. “Which is?”

“Zeus wouldn’t dare harm her if she were married to a god.”

Next to him, Penny gasped. “Married?”

Hades nodded. “Yes, marry Hermes and you’ll be home free. It’s the only permanent solution to get Zeus off your backs.”

Hermes recognized panic when he saw it. And Penny’s face had panic written all over it. It hit him like a punch in the gut. Did she find the thought of marrying him so utterly unpalatable?

“But there must be another solution. I can’t just marry you!” she protested. With a pleading look, her eyes darted to Hades, then back to him. “Please!”

Hermes felt his jaw tighten. “Are you telling me that I’m not good enough for you?”

Penny’s gaze shot to him, surprise evident in them. “That’s not what I meant. I can’t marry you. Don’t you see that?”

“No, I don’t!” he insisted.

She raised her hands, the gesture one of utter frustration. “But I can’t marry a man who doesn’t love me. Don’t you understand that?”

Her words made him think for a moment. A man who didn’t love her. So that was her reasoning for rejecting him? “Say that again.”

“Didn’t you hear me the first time? I’m telling you I can’t marry a man who doesn’t love me.”

Yeah, he’d heard right. She had clearly
not
said that
she
didn’t love
him
. Wouldn’t a woman who was confronted with such a decision blurt out the first thing she thought of? And if she didn’t love him, then surely she would give that as her reason for not wanting to marry him, and not tell him that it was because
he
didn’t love
her.

Hermes cleared his throat. “Hades, would you mind if I discussed this with Penny in private?”

“There’s nothing to discuss!” Penny said.

“You may use the sitting room.” Hades pointed to a door to the left.

“Excuse us,” Hermes said politely and snatched Penny by her elbow, dragging her with him.

“Hermes, please, there’s nothing to discuss.”

He opened the door and shoved her inside a large room with a cathedral ceiling, massive gothic furniture, and a stone fireplace where a fire roared, closing the door behind them with a loud thud. “Oh, there’s lots to discuss.”

She glared at him, defiance in her beautiful eyes. Oh, how he loved her like this, stubborn and passionate.
Loved
? The word bounced around in his head. Was it possible? He didn’t want to think of it right now, because there was something more important he had to do first, namely, convince Penny that it was in her best interest to marry him. And then later he’d deal with the fact that he was probably crazy, wanting to be locked into the same kind of golden cage his friends Triton and Dio were imprisoned in: matrimony. He wanted to shake his head, shake off the foolish notion, and run away from Penny now before he made the biggest mistake in his life. But he couldn’t. He wanted her against all reason. Her, the woman who’d stolen from him.

“We’re good together, Penny, you have to admit that.”

“Good together? Are you serious?
Just because we have great sex, doesn’t mean we should get married,” Penny said, fisting her hands at her sides.

“Yeah, we do have great sex together, don’t we?” he asked, an idea forming in his mind.

Color rose in her cheeks. “But I’m not going to trap you into a loveless marriage because of that! I’d rather stay down here forever than do what Persephone did to Hades.”

Hermes chuckled at her comparison. “That’s hardly the same. Hades was trapped into marriage; I’m walking into it with open eyes.”

She shook her head. “No, you’re not. This decision is being forced on you.”

He brushed a strand of hair from her face and stroked his finger over her cheek. Leaning in, he inhaled her scent and drank in her nearness. How he missed feeling her body writhing underneath his. Had it been only two days since he’d taken her on the desk in her office? Just thinking about it now made the lust in his body burst to the surface.

“So you don’t want to marry me?”

She shook her head.

“Fine. Then I guess this is goodbye.”

He noticed the change in her heartbeat and the disappointment she tried to hide in her eyes. Ah, his sweet Penny! Not only was she a hapless thief, she was also a terrible liar.

“Just one goodbye kiss then,” he said, bringing his head so close that his lips hovered over hers. “Just one kiss.”

One very long, all-consuming kiss.

He pressed his lips to hers, cutting off any protest she might have voiced. Her lips parted as if she’d wanted to speak, and he took advantage of it and swept his tongue into her mouth.

Pulling her into his arms, he slanted his lips and kissed her with all the passion and lust that had built up in him in the last few days and was now ready to burst from him. At first, it seemed as if she wanted to push him away, but then her hands snaked around his neck and held him to her.

He felt her breasts crushed against his chest and her heartbeat reverberate through his body. Penny’s heart was beating in as frantic a rhythm as his own.

With his tongue, he stroked against hers, coaxing her to surrender to him, to give in to his demands. Didn’t she want the same as he did? Didn’t she want to spend her days and nights in his bed, making love, experiencing the pleasure he knew he could give her?

From deep within him, a growl worked its way higher and he didn’t suppress it. Instead, he let it burst from his lips. He needed to show her how much he wanted her, and that resistance was futile. He would do anything in his power to get what he wanted.

When he released Penny’s lips for a moment to take in a much-needed breath of air, his chest heaving, a sigh came over her lips and her hand behind his neck tightened around him.

“Easy, baby! I’m not going anywhere,” he murmured, and captured her lips again.

Feeling her melt into him, he slid his hand up her torso and cupped her breast. Her heart beat into his palm like a locomotive thundering down a mountain. The little peak on her firm globe was hard and he couldn’t resist the temptation to rub it between thumb and forefinger. An uncontrolled moan was her answer.

His other hand slid to her back, finding the zipper of her summer dress, and pulling on it. When the darn thing wouldn’t instantly open, he snapped his fingers and used his godly powers to lower the zipper to her waist. Finally, he was able to push the fabric down and away from her body, revealing her bare breasts. She wasn’t wearing a bra.

When he palmed her breasts, feeling her soft skin and the firm flesh beneath as she pressed herself against him, more blood rushed to his cock. Penny’s hips suddenly rocked against him, her sex grinding in an unmistakable rhythm against his hard-on. Hermes released one of her breasts, placing his hand on her back, before sliding his hand down underneath her dress. His fingers encountered her g-string and moved lower, squeezing her ass, yanking her even harder against his cock.