Chapter 20

Chapter

Twenty

P ersephone

When I arrive at the penthouse to the scent of fresh herbs, something coiled inside me relaxes. It's been a long day, and I'm beyond exhausted. The thought of cooking left me feeling tense and overwhelmed, so I'm happy I won't have to. Still, I can't help the guilt I feel at the thought that I'll be shucking my responsibilities for the evening. Responsibilities Hades is paying me to see to.

Bending to give the eagerly waiting pups some scratches, I speak low, "Hey, guys. You know this isn't permanent. I'm only here for a few months." Noc gives a low whine, as though he understands what I'm saying, and doesn't like it. "You're worming your way into my heart. It's really going to hurt when I have to leave."

Jas bumps her head into my palm. There's something aware in the deep of her beautiful golden eyes. I drop to my knees when she scoots closer, her chest bumping mine as though to ask me to put my arms around her. I do, without hesitation.

Against her sleek black fur, I whisper, "I'm falling for you all so hard and fast."

I tell myself I'm not including the man in that as I squeeze Jas tighter. I'm lying.

Prim gives a low growl, and I pull away to give her a stroke. "Urgh." I give myself a shake as I sniffle back emotion I can't begin to understand. "It must be my time of the month. I'm beyond emotional right now."

Or it was just a really long day.

Prim blinks knowingly at me—even though I know she can't know. She's a dog, after all. Still, I shudder at the weight of Noc's midnight blue gaze as he watches over us all. Off-balance and clearly overly hormonal, I lose my balance as I attempt to stand and fall on my butt. As my luck would have it, that's the moment Hades appears.

The difference between the two of us is glaringly obvious. For once, it has nothing to do with the fact he has his life together while I haven't even figured out a sure career path. It has nothing to do with the gap in our ages, or even the wealth he holds that I can't begin to comprehend, nor will I ever attain even a fraction of his worth.

The glaring difference is in the way he holds himself. Where I am insecure and uncertain, he is confident and sure. Where I am chaos, he is order. Where I am soft, he is incredibly firm. I'm a sticky mess of sweat and hormones in a pile of emotions on his floor, and he is the pinnacle of composure in fitted black slacks with a black button-down shirt tucked in and split by a black leather belt. The first few buttons are undone to expose the toned skin of a hard, golden chest.

The way his long legs are spread, his big hands dipped lazily in the pockets of his slacks, his square jaw hard and his black eyes pinned firmly on me—he is pure power. It radiates off him like heat radiates off the sun. He could burn me if he wanted, I'm sure of it.

Hades says nothing as he leans a shoulder into the wall, settling in to watch me on the floor with his dogs. I give Prim another stroke and share a blushing look with Noc before I gather the gumption to find my feet. I feel sticky from the long day. Gross in comparison to the obvious glamor that clings to the man.

"Hey," I finally muster a greeting. I get a small chin lift in response. His quiet sets nerves flying inside my chest. "Um—did you cook? "

"Ordered in."

"Why?"

"I wanted to."

"But you hired me to cook for you. That's why I'm here."

His eyes drag over my body slowly. His broad chest expands with a deep breath before he releases it slowly. "I wanted a slow evening, Persephone. It looks like you could also use a night off."

"That bad, eh?"

His lips twitch. "Canadians really do say that?"

"Hmm?" I'm confused.

"Eh."

My already warm cheeks warm more. "Oh, that. Yeah. We do."

"Cute."

"We can't help it." He smiles a soft, barely there smile in response. When he says nothing else, I murmur, "Since I'm not cooking, would it be okay if I took a shower before I join you? It was hotter than Hell out today and I'm beat."

"Hades."

"What?" I ask at his bizarre reply.

"Hotter than Hades, Persephone. Even more accurately, hotter than Tartarus. Hell doesn't exist."

"Wait, you actually believe that?" I can't tell if he's joking with me or not.

"Believe what?"

"That Hell doesn't exist."

"It doesn't. At least not in the way you're thinking of it. "

I feel my jaw unhinge. "You still believe in the old Gods?"

"Of course."

"No one believes in them. Hades—" I can't help the little shiver that pulses through my body. I follow up the discomfort with a little laugh, if only to ease the spill of ice I feel overtaking my veins. "The ancient Gods are myth."

His lips thin. His voice is impossibly quiet and impossibly dark. "If you say so, Persephone."

I find it hard to believe that such an intelligent man can believe that the Gods of old are real. That the excuses the people made to explain the ways of life and the world to themselves, that ancient fabrications of a creative mind, is real.

For a moment, we simply stare at each other. My mind is stacking reasons to tell him why the Gods aren't real. To prove that they aren't real.

I've wanted my whole life for the ancient Gods of myth to be real. I've dreamed of them as though they were real. I've fantasized about them and felt the spark of fear inside my chest at the idea that they could possibly be real. And yet faced with another who believes in them wholly, I can do nothing but deny the existence of beings I've always hoped could be true.

Instead of voicing all the reasons the man before me is even crazier than I am, I say softly, "I'm going to shower."

Hades simply gives me another chin lift, but he doesn't move from the wall as I pass him with his three dogs in tow.

I feel less of a mess, and definitely less sticky when I meet Hades in the kitchen again. He is sitting at the end of the long kitchen table with a sleek black laptop and a glass of deep red wine. He finishes whatever it is he's typing when he sees me, closing the laptop.

I expect him to rise from his chair to join me, but he doesn't. He sits back, lifts his wine from the table, and pins his dark gaze to me.

I stand my ground, refusing to fidget under his inspection even though I want to. As his eyes roam over my body, drinking in every inch of me, I feel far less dressed than I am. In workout shorts and an oversized, loose white t-shirt, I'm not inappropriately dressed. But the way he looks at me makes me feel like I am.

"Feel better?" he finally asks. His voice is rough, like he's been drinking whiskey instead of wine.

I nod, but have to swallow to clear the lump in my throat before I'm able to stammer, "Um, yeah."

"Good." He rises from the table and moves into the kitchen where he pulls two plates from the oven, sliding them over the counter. He winks. "Dinner is served."

My heart flips. I slide onto a stool. "Thanks."

Hades pours me a glass of the wine he's drinking, then he rounds the island to sit adjacent to me. Woodsmoke and man surround me, infused with enough danger to make my head woozy. I lift my wine, foolishly attempting to clear the dizzying effect of the man with alcohol.

"What made today so hard?" Hades asks after a few bites.

I frown. "How do you know today was hard?"

His lips twitch. God, but the man is so freaking handsome. It's not fair how handsome he is. It's not fair how he is aware of how handsome I think he is. I'm too young to have a man like him. To want a man like him. Obviously, my body hasn't figured that out because it's not on the same page as my brain.

"You were sprawled on my entryway floor moments from sobbing your woes to my dogs. I'd say your day was rough."

Fire flares in my cheeks, reflecting in the deep of his eyes. I drop my own to my plate. "It was hot today."

"That can't be the reason."

"Why not? Lots of people struggle in the heat."

"Not you." His eyes drift hungrily over me. "You're built for heat, aren't you?"

Oh wow. I swallow. Hard.

I change the subject. "I spoke with my mom today."

He's quiet for a beat. All the teasing washes from his eyes. "Tell me about it."

I pull in breath that rattles inside the cage of my chest. "She can be difficult. Today was one of the times where she was."

"How so?"

"She's just—she's judgy, I guess." I sigh, pushing potatoes around my plate. "The worst part was Addison," I pause to explain. "One of the guys I work with, well, he heard it all. And then he saved me from her."

Hades tenses. It's faint, but it's there. "How did he save you?"

"I was paired with him today. Normally, he's flirty and easygoing. Today, during the call, I saw a different side of him. He gave me an excuse to hang up on her that I wouldn't have to pay for later. But after the call, he stayed serious. He was someone I could actually talk to, you know? Just different from his usual. Still, I had a hard time feeling like myself after that call, and Addison respected that."

Hades studies me a moment too long. Discomfort blooms over my skin and I shift in my chair as I pick at my chicken.

"Is he someone you can see yourself with?" His voice is smooth, but there's an undercurrent of something dark and dangerous. A riptide that threatens to pull me under.

"You mean romantically?" Hades nods and I shake my head. "I'm not sure. I don't have a lot of romantic experience."

He raises a brow. "No?"

I blush. "No."

"Are you attracted to him?"

I'm attracted to you. "He's handsome." I shouldn't be attracted to you. "And age appropriate."

I can't believe I said that. What the hell is wrong with me?

Hades' grin is ruggedly delicious. "Age appropriate?"

I slide off the stool. "Dinner was delicious, Hades, but I can't eat another bite. Thank you."

He sips his wine and watches as I clear my plate into a container for lunch tomorrow. By the time I'm finished, his plate is cleared so I busy myself with loading the dishwasher, happy to do something to earn my pay.

When I turn around, I see that Hades has refilled my wine glass, and is already walking into the living room. Swiping my glass from the counter, I follow him. I take a seat on the massive sectional, careful to put space between us.

I've been losing the plot lately when it comes to Hades. After the night in the pool, and then this morning—space is smart.

I need space.

Without space, I'm liable to do something stupid .

"Tell me about Addison," Hades says after a moment.

I frown. I'm surprised he's still thinking about Addison. "Um, I don't know what to say."

"You think he is attractive."

"Well, I mean, I think every girl thinks he's attractive." I blush a bright shade of cherry red and sip my wine in another foolish attempt to cool down. It does nothing but heat my blood. "He's kind of an Adonis."

Hades makes a noise of surprise, for the first time since I've known him, losing his composure. "What did you say?"

"You know the expression. A player. A man all the women swoon for."

He clears his throat. "Do you swoon for him?"

I consider. "Not really, no."

I'm kind of stupidly obsessed with fantasizing about my very unattainable boss.

"But?"

I don't know how the man always knows when there's more. He can read me like no other. Not even my parents, who have known me since my very first breath, know me like Hades seems to know me. It's disconcerting and yet not. Under all the bewildering how's , there's a comfort in being so easily read by someone else.

"I'm going to be twenty years old, Hades, and I've never been kissed." Okay, I don't know why I tell him that. Must be that weird ability the man has to pull every truth, uncomfortable or otherwise, from the deep of me. I shift, unnerved. "I've never had a boyfriend or experimented or—" I loose a shaky sigh, pushing a lock of hair behind my ear as I resettle myself on the couch. "It feels nice to have someone want me, I guess. To be interested in me." I can't believe I'm saying this. "And I think I'm just a little curious."

"Curious about what?" His voice is rough and husky. A little breathless.

It affects me. Intimately. "What it might feel like to be with someone."

His eyes heat, but he doesn't reply. At least not right away. Instead, he takes a long sip of his wine. "I see."

He takes another deep drink. I watch as his throat bobs, shocked by the thought that drifts through my mind. I want to crawl across the couch toward him. I want to taste his skin. Want to feel his throat bob under my tongue.

What the actual hell?

The sun is getting to me. It has to be.

There is no other explanation. Never in my life have I felt this way. Never have I had thoughts such as the ones I've been entertaining about Hades.

My body feels tingly and sensitive.

I stand abruptly. The pups stand from their beds, alert. Noc's eyes shift between me and Hades and the door. He senses something about me is off. Smells it, I can tell.

A low sound leaves his chest and the girls both drop their heads between powerful shoulders, looking fierce.

Hades lifts a hand. A single hand, and all three drop their butts to the floor. Just like that.

My heart is slamming in my chest. I sense that the pups can hear it.

I need to escape.

Feeling silly and sensitive and a whole bunch of other emotions, I stumble over my words. "I should—I should um—go to bed."