Sunburn (16 page)

It was all he’d ever wanted. He’d given up hoping for anything resembling a normal love affair in his life, and now it was happening.

But she was on his Uncle Hades’ list of new arrivals. In fact, she was already fashionably late to the underworld as it was. To say nothing for the fact she still didn’t truly understand his horrific nature.

She turned and mumbled something unintelligible. When he caught the words “spinach roll,” he couldn’t help smiling. As she continued her drowsy debate of the merits of Chef Eduardo’s shrimp tempura, she rolled over completely, facing him. Still babbling like a sleepy brook, she buried her face in his chest and wrapped her arms around his waist. As he nuzzled her in return, one of her dainty hands slipped toward his ass. Grinning, he held her even more tightly.

And made up his mind for certain: he wouldn’t let Hades have her.

* * * *

Patience slowly opened her eyes and realized she was smiling. Her cheeks were a little sore, as if she’d been smiling all night. Knowing the raunchy dreams she’d had of Apollo, it was no wonder. Parts of her body still trembled from his sizzling touch.

He’d made her feel so good. Jesus Murphy, she wanted to feel it again!

She turned to him, but noticed he was no longer in bed. He was sitting on the corner chair, wearing only his tight boxer briefs. He cocked an eyebrow at her and his lips spread in amusement.

“It’s about time you woke,” he teased.

She giggled. “I can’t help it if someone wore me out last night.”

His expression warmed. He looked ready to repeat his stunning performance.

“Why are you all the way over there?” she asked in a coy voice, beckoning to him with a finger.

He clenched his jaw. “I can concentrate better if I’m not in bed with you.”

“Don’t you want to be in bed with me?”

He let out a low growl. “Believe me, Patience. There’s nothing I want more than to rip those blankets off your sinful body, spread your legs, and plunge my tongue into your delicious pussy.”

Patience just stared, so incredibly turned on, unable to string two words together.

“However, I can’t,” he admitted in a regretful tone. “My sister’s about to enter the room.”

There was a flash. Patience scrambled for her covers, making sure her boobs weren’t hanging out. Out of nowhere, a tall brunette appeared.

In her mind, Patience corrected that description. There was no way the strange woman could be described as a mere “tall brunette.” The goddess standing next to Apollo’s chair was so much more than that. She was willowy and strong and had ethereal beauty that took Patience’s breath away. She would have expected Artemis to wear some sort of ancient Greek getup, but the goddess was clothed in skinny jeans and a silvery sequined Tee. The only things in her ensemble that looked remotely Greek were her lace-up sandals and the way she wore her black hair. It was partially up and off her enigmatic face, tied up in silver bands.

All of a sudden, Patience felt like a slovenly cow. With morning breath.

Apollo smiled at her, as if to let her know not to worry. He turned to his sister. “Really, Artemis? Not even a knock?”

The goddess offered him a look that would have leveled lesser men. “I don’t knock on doors.”

Apollo got up, reached for a plush, hotel bathrobe, and walked with it over to Patience. While Artemis averted her eyes, for which Patience was grateful, he wrapped the robe around Patience’s nude form. He tied the belt around her waist himself and kissed her softly on the lips. “Patience, this is my dear, interfering sister Artemis.”

“Charmed,” Artemis said sweetly. She then turned to her brother. “How about throwing on a robe yourself, little brother? I haven’t seen your bits since I helped our mother birth you.”

Apollo laughed and threw on a robe as well. “I didn’t think my bits were that offensive. What do you think, Patience?”

Patience didn’t answer. She was too busy getting her face back to its normal color, instead of the bright scarlet it was.

Artemis’ face puckered, as if she’d just tasted a moldy lemon. “I didn’t come here to wax poetic about your junk, Apollo.” She shook her head. “As enthralling as it may be to some.”

He grew serious and sat next to Patience on the bed, looping a possessive arm around her shoulders. “You have news from Hades? What of the demon?”

Artemis perched on the chair he’d given up, her legs crossed demurely at the ankles like a nineteen-fifties model. “He’s legit. Hades knows about the assignment. I’d been hoping the demon was a renegade, out to score bonus points, and that he could be swayed from his course. That’s not the case.” She angled her pretty head toward Patience. “It was your time to die.”

Patience stared back at the goddess. Artemis’ eyes flashed with warmth, even empathy. For a moment, the dark orbs were rimmed in silver, making her appear much as Apollo had when his eyes had been outlined in gold.

Silver and gold. Sun and moon. The heavenly siblings.

Artemis blinked, and the silver in her eye disappeared. “I’m sorry, Patience. As my brother knows well, Hades cannot be defied. We have no choice but to submit.”

Apollo bounded off the bed, enraged. “The hell I will!”

Patience scrambled off the bed and ran to where he was pacing. “Apollo, please stop.” She grabbed his elbow, forcing him to stand still. Their eyes met and she silently begged him to listen to his sister. She couldn’t let him get in trouble with his Uncle Underworld. That wouldn’t be a good scene. She just knew it. “It’s okay. You tried. And you’ve given me the most beautiful end anyone could ever want.”

Once again, his eyes blazed golden fire. “I will not let you die.”

“You have no choice!”

He grabbed her by the arms. “I swear to you, Patience, I will fight him tooth and nail. He doesn’t need you. He has billions of souls down there. He doesn’t need yours. You’re too young, and he will not have you.”

His tenacious, possessive words made her thrill, at the same time as they made her despair. She hung her head, unsure of what to say or do. It was all so pathetic.

Apollo gathered her to him and whispered into her hair. “Not now, after I just found you.”

“But how can we possibly win this?”

She heard him swallow. “I don’t know yet.” He looked at her, and his eyes were so deep and mysterious they seemed to tell tales of their own. Tragic tales of loves lost and mislaid faith. There were years of hurt in his eyes. “But Artemis and I have fought many a foe. And if I’ve learned anything through time, it’s that everyone has an Achilles heel. Hades must too.”

“We could go after Persephone,” Artemis volunteered, sitting up straighter, as if ready to reach for a bow. “
Liberate
her from hell. Hades would just love that.”

“No,” Apollo countered. “Not his wife. It’s not her fault her husband is a pig, and certainly not her fault he forced himself on her. There has to be another way.”

“I could go to Father,” Artemis said.

Lordy, they were talking about Zeus now! Patience shook her head and rested it against Apollo’s chest. He ran his hands through her hair in an effort to soothe her. It didn’t work. Apollo was talking about
battling
for her, for Heaven’s sake! She couldn’t have been more mystified if she’d wandered into a medieval tournament, only to have a courtly knight joust in her honor. Men didn’t battle for women anymore, did they?

“Zeus has become so detached from mortal concerns,” Apollo said, considering. “I don’t know that he’ll help. But if you think you can get him on our side, it can’t hurt.”

Artemis stood and grinned with confidence. “Father owes me. He spent all his time fawning over Athena when we were younger. He still feels guilty over that. Perhaps it’s time I used some of that paternal guilt to our advantage.” The goddess walked over to Patience. “Have you ever read the Greek myths?”

Patience let out a little huff of amazement. “Let’s just say I’ve been brushing up on them.”

Artemis looked grim. “Then you’ll know I don’t take well to women using my brother. He’s been too kind to all the wrong people.”

Apollo warned her away with a grunt. “Artemis…”

“No, it’s okay,” Patience said. “Let her speak.”

Artemis continued. “I don’t want him to get hurt again. That being said, you have put a new light in his eyes. That’s good. As long as your intentions are pure, I have no trouble using my bow in your corner.”

“My intentions…” Patience mumbled.

Apollo smiled. “Ignore my sister’s outdated turns of phrase. She’s a confirmed bachelorette. She’s not really down with the dating lingo.”

“Thank the gods for that,” Artemis concurred, rolling her eyes. “Well, I’m off. We’ll see what Father has to say about this nonsense. Be careful.” With that, the goddess disappeared.

Patience fell back onto the bed with a resounding
plop
, her head pounding with the worst headache of her life. She squeezed her eyes shut.

Apollo sat next to her. “Are you all right?”

She opened one eye. “The goddess Artemis is going to talk to the supreme god Zeus … about me?”

“Yup.”

She closed her eyes again. “I’m so not okay.”

Chapter 13

“I don’t need a massage!”

For the tenth time, Patience expressed her disapproval of Apollo’s immediate plan. While he ran reconnaissance around the resort, looking for any demon trails, he wanted her to decompress in the Helios luxury spa. Attended, of course, by her own personal platoon of Olympian guards. Otherwise known as the Muse Crew.

“Patience,” he said with a kiss on her brow, “you can’t help me anyway. I need to move quickly. I don’t even know what I’m looking for, other than idiosyncrasies. We need to get more proactive with this demon bastard. I can’t do that if you’re at my side.” He leaned over and pulled her into his grasp. With a gentle, yet possessive hand, he caressed her breast. “You’re very distracting, you know.”

Her nipple pebbled under his touch, and he grinned at her immediate response. “Stop groping me. We’re right outside the spa. What if someone complains to the owner?”

“I
am
the owner.” He merely scraped his finger over her clothed breast, making her insides gushy. “And I don’t want to stop groping you. There’s nothing I love more than to let my hands skim over the hills and valleys of your beautiful body.”

Patience forced herself to concentrate, even though she was ready to give herself to Apollo right there on the pavement outside the spa. “Wouldn’t I be safer if I stayed with you?”

“Don’t worry. My Muses may look silly, but they’re still goddesses; each one very powerful. They’ll take care of you until I get back. And in the meantime, I want you to relax and try to forget about this business. Will you do that for me?”

I’ll do anything for you
. But even as the words sounded in her head, Patience silenced the voice that spoke them. This was all just a dream, a fantasy in which she got to play with a sexy supernatural being, but it couldn’t last forever. The dream had to end sometime. “I’ll try.”

She heard nine squeals, and the Muses appeared around the hedge. “Yay,” Mandy shouted. “Girlie time with Patience!” They huddled around her and Apollo. Immediately, nine pairs of soft hands were on her, finger-combing her hair and rubbing her back, while a couple of Muses pondered what she’d look like with streaks in her hair.

“No,” Apollo said, interrupting their makeover gaiety. “Don’t change Patience, please. Just treat her to the works and help her relax.” He leaned over to Uma. “And remember what I told you.”

Uma smiled. “If we see the fucker, fry ’em.”

“Good Muse.” Apollo chuckled.

He drew Patience in for another embrace. Her body warmed to his. She wanted to wrap herself around him and absorb his unusual, penetrating heat. There was nothing better, she realized. Not a hot bath. Not a steaming mug of hot chocolate. Nothing was as decadent as the feel of him holding her, whispering to her, sliding into her.

She was so dangerously close to doing something really silly, like asking if he’d go steady.

“I’ll be back soon,” he promised, his voice caressing her ear. “I swear.”

She dared to look at him, wanting so badly to say what was in her heart, but terrified to do so. “Why are you really doing this, Apollo? Is it really because you need a glowing review from The Travel Chick?”

The golden flames in his eyes sparked as he grinned. “No,” he admitted softly. “It stopped being about a review some time ago.”

All at once, his lips were upon hers in a kiss that hinted of his savage, godlike nature. But behind that untamed touch, Patience felt something give. Something he’d held back, even in his previous kisses. There was a new desire there, and she couldn’t help thinking it was a need for a future with her. With each stroke of his tongue, she tasted hope. With each press of his mouth, she dared to believe in them. And with each frenzied embrace, she received proof of Apollo’s ability to love again and wondered at her own.

Love. Was it possible?

The Muses clamored at the door to the spa, and he released her. As she entered the Helios spa, she turned her eyes to him again, but he was already gone.

* * * *

Two hours later, Cindy the Muse was blowing on Patience’s toenails, testing to see if they were dry. “Ohmigod, like, you should always wear this color, Patience! Teal is perfect for you.”

Patience looked down at her new blue toes and wiggled them. “I don’t know. Don’t you think it’s a little, well, girlish?”

Nine sets of eyes stared back at her in disbelief.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Ebony murmured.

“Sorry,” she replied, feeling badly for dousing their fire. “I’m just not used to all this attention. You guys have given me a manicure and a pedicure…”

Candi interrupted. “It’s called a ‘mani-pedi’ in the business.”

“Mani-pedi,” Patience corrected, feeling silly for even using the ridiculous term. “You’ve given me a salt rub, a facial, an eyebrow tweezing…”

“Eyebrow threading,” Uma interjected in her singsong voice.

“Anyway,” Patience continued, “it doesn’t seem right. I mean, you’re all goddesses. I should be doing this for you.”