Chapter 16

BO

I stood outside Neptune's door wearing a dress that I knew made me look good, but I was too worried to knock on it. What if he didn't want the same things as I did? I'd have to go back to the suite I was staying in with Mei and Chiguo with my tail between my legs and the knowledge that I'd been rejected by someone I thought I had a better read on.

"Come on, Bo," I muttered to myself. I did have a good read on him. He wasn't about to turn me away and tell me that he wasn't interested.

The door swung open before I could knock, revealing Neptune standing on the other side wearing a smart tux and looking every bit the dashing god he was.

"I wasn't expecting you for another hour," he said.

"I know." I took a shaky breath. "But I need to talk to you."

"Okay..."

"I don't want this to be the end," I blurted out, forgetting all of the carefully rehearsed and thought-through ways of having this conversation I'd considered. Now that I was in front of him, none of it really mattered. "I know I said that I didn't date and that I didn't do relationships because of the travelling, but every time I think about the alternative, I know it isn't what I want."

Neptune nodded. "Come inside."

I frowned. That wasn't exactly the response I'd been hoping for, but I supposed he was right about this not being the place for the conversation. I didn't even know who was in the cabins on either side of him.

Neptune drew me into his suite, and I came to a stop inside the living room. Except that it had been transformed. An intimate dining table for two sat in the middle of it, with elegant candles and flowers at the centre.

"You did this for me?" I asked, looking at him.

He nodded. "Well, for us. I knew it was our last night on the cruise, but I was hoping to convince you that it wasn't going to be our last night ever."

I stared at him for a moment, barely believing the words I was hearing. "You were?"

He stepped closer, his gaze boring into me and making me feel like I was the only person in his world. "Yes."

I wetted my lips and searched for the right words to say. "I don't want this to be our last night either," I responded. "I was thinking about not seeing you again and I hated it."

"Then it doesn't have to be this way."

I looked away. "But the distance..."

"I'm a god, Bo. I can travel around the world pretty much at will. And you know I've been on the Jinx cruises several times already. I travel a lot myself. Maybe when you're free, you can join me, and when I'm free, I can join you."

"Does that work though? For a relationship?" I met his gaze, trying to work out exactly what he was thinking and whether us could be possible.

"I think anything could work for our relationship if that's what we decided. I know that I don't want my life to not have you in it, and that you travel a lot for your job. Those two things can work together. We just have to figure out how it could work for us."

"And when things get more serious?" I asked.

"When?" he echoed with an amused smile.

I cleared my throat. " If ."

"I liked when better," he responded. "But if we decide we want to be more serious, then we can decide on something that works for us. I have a home in the god realm, we could live there and you could go through the portal for your work, while I did the same for mine."

"The god realm," I repeated. "I hadn't even thought of that. I mean, I had, because Mei pointed out that you could travel through the portals to get to wherever we are. But I didn't really think about us living there."

"That makes sense. I know you've been there before, but it's unusual for paranormals who aren't with a god to have even visited."

"It was only briefly," I responded. "Though I am hoping it'll be more. Not just because of you, but because that means our plan for Mei's career is working."

"Ah, yes. I remember you saying that you wanted her to make a name amongst the gods so she could keep working once she aged out of a career with the humans."

I nodded. "Though I'm starting to doubt she'll get there. I half think that she'll tell me she wants to retire so she can just go and make music with Chiguo privately."

Neptune chuckled. "I'm not sure she'd retire. I've met artists like Mei before. They're not living if they're not creating. Though it is possible that her career will end up looking different."

"I guess for the first time I'm starting to think that wouldn't be a bad thing."

"What would you do with yourself? If you weren't Mei's manager?"

"I don't know," I admitted. "But somehow, that isn't as scary." Maybe because I didn't think Mei would turn her back on me, it would just be the business side of our relationship that became somewhat different.

"I'm glad."

"But that also isn't what we're supposed to be talking about," I responded. "Us."

"Us," Neptune repeated. "I'd certainly like for there to be an us."

"Me too."

"Then that's settled. Where are you going after the cruise?"

"Nice. Do you know it?"

"Rather well. I have a couple of meetings to go to after the cruise ends, but I'll be free next week. If you're still in Nice, I could come join you?"

I nodded without thinking.

"Good." He closed the small gap between us and pulled me into his arms. "Then I look forward to seeing you in Nice."

"I do too," I whispered.

He leaned in and brushed his lips against mine. I melted into him, relieved but not surprised at the way the conversation had gone. I should have known that he wasn't going to tell me that he wasn't interested in pursuing things further. He'd been telling me all sorts of intimate details about himself over the past week, and having conversations that went way beyond a summer fling, even if that was what I'd been telling myself this was.

I had no idea what the future might hold with him, but I was certain that this wasn't a mistake, and that there was exactly what I was supposed to be doing.

I was just glad he felt the same.