Daughter Trilogy Bundle (24 page)

The thunder crackles, and I smile in response.  I pull back from the intoxicating contact and my eyes burn green.  Her eyes might be there, but I'm in control.

Kry starts squirming as the goddess fully cloaks me.  I'm sure it's not too easy for him to endure her toxin, but he restrains himself - probably because he knows Devin would kill him if he tried anything.

My mind is slightly fogged, but I'm not drunk.  I stand in the center of the swirling clouds, and I pull the storm to me.  The lightning crashes around me, forming a fiery circle in the center of the field.  I taste the power entering my mouth for the first time.  I'm directing the skies - they're mine.

I smirk as the wind picks up and forms a spiraling force field around me.  I smile a little more as it picks up trees along the way and spirals them around me with the powerful cyclone I've intentionally created.

The leaves break free from the branches and scream as they endure their lightning quick merry-go-round ride.  The embers from my fire - made by the lightning - swirl and spark inside the whirling winds, and the smoke plays in rings like they would from an old man's pipe.

My hair is barely disturbed by the erratic commotion of the wind shifting directions at my behest.  I'm the eye of the storm, and it's mine - completely mine.

Devin's eyes are wide and filled with excitement, pride, and a touch of seduced beguilement.  I feel like a goddess now, as opposed to feeling like the goddess is in me.

I crack open the clouds like a fluffy egg and drop the rain down on us, but I curve it like opened curtains so it doesn't hit anyone.

Devin's smile grows, as does his desire for me - that ruling desire that sends the most delicious waves sailing through me.  And then I do something to prove my control all the more.  I shut it off instantly, despite the tormenting stare Devin is giving me.

The rain drizzles to a halt and the sun parts the dispersing dark clouds.  Persia is smiling with pride beaming from her eyes.  Devin grins in adoration for my little exhibition, and Kry starts clapping with his mouth gaped open.

"Wow," Kry exclaims.

"Indeed," Devin murmurs in complete astonishment.

"I can't believe the control you just exhibited.  That's such an impossible feat to accomplish in such a short time.  I'm certainly impressed," Persia almost squeals.

Devin walks over to me, his intentions obvious as the desire floods his eyes.  The green is still staining my eyes as his lips find mine.  I fall prey to his need, and our clothes begin singeing again as my passion materializes.

He pulls back with a shaky breath, and clears his throat before speaking.

"You win.  We'll go home tomorrow," he murmurs breathlessly.

His panty-dropping tone is enough to provoke the goddess, but I hold her back.  I'm too excited, and I have to sweep this craziness under the rug.

"Good.  I've got so much to do," I sigh out.

He tilts his head.  "What do you have to do?"

"I need to go beg the bitch from hell for my job back.  I need to get my mail, clean my air filters, water my flowers that are probably pitiful by now, empty my refrigerator
… the list goes on and on," I murmur in exasperation.

He looks confused, and his confusion is baffling me.

"What?" I ask impatiently.

"You can't just return to your life as if all is normal.  There are people looking for you, and there will be everyday for the rest of your life.  Our world is one giant pissing contest, and you just learn to adapt," he murmurs with a touch of sadness in the underlying tone.

"I'm sorry Aphrodisia, but he's right," Persia adds.  "This is your life.  It's the same as ours now."

I feel my shoulders slump, and Devin shifts his weight to show his hesitance to say more.

"So I have to start all over?  I just got that apartment a year ago, and my job sucks, but it's a good paying job."

Kry starts laughing.  "Why go back to that little apartment when you have Devin's big ass spread?  Not to mention, it's not like you really have to work to earn money."

I flop to the ground.  "I can't take his money or his house," I mumble.

I know we're incredibly intense together, but I still barely know him.  I barely know myself anymore.

"I've got money, so don't worry about that," Persia insists.  "I have numerous properties all over as well, but you can't stay alone.  I think you staying with Devin is a good idea because I have to do some tracking."

"She
is
staying with me.  It's not even up for debate, so I'm not sure why we're discussing it," Devin says with a wounded, insulted, and slightly angered tone.

I frown a little.  He shouldn't feel like my keeper.  Now I feel like an imposition instead of a girlfriend or whatever immortals call each other.

"You don't have to do that.  I've put you out enough," I say with a guilty rattle.

His eyes blaze with anger, and I don't know that I've ever seen him mad at me until right this moment.  What did I do?

"I can't believe you'd say that.  I'll get our stuff ready, and I'll tell Ther to bring us a new car," he says curtly, and then he turns to walk off, leaving me stumped.

Kry rubs the back of his neck awkwardly from the absurd outburst and follows Devin.  I look at Persia with complete bewilderment drenching my face.

"What did I do?"

She stifles a grin, but her eyes hold a condescending, patronizing smirk.

"Oh, dear.  You're with an immortal.  You're time is so different from his.  The men from your time are, well… a little meeker.  Men from his time are so much stronger, more possessive, and a hell of a lot more protective.  He's not going to let you out of his sight, and he took offense to your brushing him off as if he doesn't care enough about you to take care of you," she explains in a low, almost muted tone, her smile only growing.

"Why?  Because I feel like I should take care of myself before I let someone I barely know take care of me?  That's stupid and a little irritating," I growl.

She laughs a little louder at my apparently naïve notion.  I assumed we were living in the twenty-first century.

"It's the way the men from our world are
… well, the real men.  He's not taking care of you because he's expected to; he's doing it because he wants to.  You really don't understand the difference, do you?" she says with sad fascination.

"I really don't see why he got so mad."

She smiles with her older-and-wiser grin before speaking in a nurturing tone.

"Because he's falling in love.  He may already be there."

Yeah right
.

He's known me for a minute.  He's not in love with me.  He's gorgeous, rich, powerful, so sexy, smart, and fucking immortal.  I can remember it taking months to get such a confession from far lesser creatures.  I'm not having this argument with her though.

"I need to go see if I can make peace.  There's nothing I hate worse than a brooding man."

She laughs hard and follows me back to the hotel - where we opt to take the stairs instead of playing another game of leaping lizards.

She pats me on the arm as she passes me to head on to her room, and I take a deep breath before I walk in.  Kry puts his headphones on when he sees me.  I see a small grin playing on his lips as he pulls up a magazine to be in front of his face.

I roll my eyes at the juvenile joy he's relishing from our little spat. 
Asshole
.

Devin is putting all of his numerous things in his pockets, and I sit down on the edge of the broken bed.

"I'm sorry.  I wasn't trying to make you mad.  I'm used to being self-sufficient.  I'm not sure how I feel about you feeling like I'm your responsibility."

He stops loading his pockets back down and picks up his phone.

"What's up, Dev?" Ther says on the other end.

"Ther, hey, grab me a car on your way in."

"Okay.  Anything in particular?"

"Nothing red, blue, yellow, or any other prime color.  Nothing with more than two doors.  Don't even think about getting me something you would drive," Devin says dryly.

I can hear Ther laughing, and then he speaks through his chuckles.

"No prob.  I'll see ya when I see ya."

Devin puts the phone in his pocket and resumes picking some of the pieces of the room up.

He kicks Kry's foot, and Kry jerks down the blaring headphones.

"What's up?"

"Take my card and pay for the damages," Devin instructs.

"Yeah.  No problem," Kry chuckles out as he takes Devin's credit card.

He disappears from the room, and Devin sits down beside me.  He hands me a cell phone, and then he speaks coolly.

"It's an untraceable cell.  Try not to call home too often for a little while.  I got you a local Frankford number so as not to arouse suspicion from anyone getting too close.  We can head to your apartment and get anything you're attached to.  Anything else can easily be replaced.  I'm sorry you don't want to stay with me, but I'm not going to let you put yourself at risk."

I huff slightly.  "Devin, don't make this out to be that.  I love staying with you, but we barely know each other.  This is a very new relationship we haven't even defined yet.  I have no idea where we are or where we're going because we haven't discussed it.  The closest thing we've had to a date is Clara's wedding and rehearsal dinner, which you left me afterwards.  I feel uncomfortable moving in and taking money.  It's just weird."

His eyes soften, and he purses his lips.

"We're all family.  I pay for all kinds of shit for Kry and Ther on a regular basis.  It's just the way we do things.  It's not like I have to work hard to earn money.  I can see the future.  It's very easy to gamble on an investment when it's not actually a gamble.  I don't hold money to the same high respect you do.  It's just something to buy stuff with in my eyes.  I could clean out a casino in hours if I wanted to.

"As for the living arrangements, I've not wanted you to leave my side since the first night you stayed with me.  I know it's a little unorthodox, according to the rules and guidelines you're accustomed to, but it's not so bizarre to me.  I want to be with you, you want to be with me, so the end result should be fairly simple.  Not to mention, everyone new to their powers lives with someone until they are as comfortable as they can be.

"You deserve a date, and I've actually tried to take you out to dinner, but you objected to that suggestion due to our scandalous endeavor moments earlier that day.  I want to take you out.  I want to do things with you and for you.

"As for your point of defining our relationship, I've been yours since I met you.  I realize there was a moment of a breakdown, but I thought I was hurting you.  I never really left you, and I never plan on leaving you again.  If you need a defining term, then pick one, anything at all," his genuine voice relays.

He really doesn't regard money the same way I do.  Any term?  There's really only one I can think of, but I just don't know if I can say
girlfriend
or
boyfriend
out loud without sounding like a sixteen-year-old girl.

I think I'll skip the defining terms for the time being, although technically he has told my family he's my boyfriend.  Why does that sound so yummy and so silly at once?

"I just don't want to ruin things by living together this early on in the relationship.  I like you, and I like where we are.  I'm afraid if we push things too fast, we'll lose it all too soon."

His kind eyes hold such promise, and his lips whisk away my worrying mind with their supple touch.  He pulls back and stares into my eyes again as he speaks so softly.

"We're not going to lose anything.  I won't ever give you up.  Haven't you learned that by now?" he murmurs with his wickedly seductive tone that makes my heart flip-flop in my chest.

I blush in response and stare bashfully at the floor.  I'm falling harder and harder for him with each passing moment.  I hope this is real. 
Please let it be real.

"Tell me about your past relationships," I prompt, catching him off guard.

His head pops back in surprise, and his seducing tone turns to one of bewilderment.

"That's random."  He laughs a little nervously.

"Not really.  We're sitting here planning out a living arrangement in which we'll be sharing the same home.  You know far too much about my past relationships, and I don't know anything about yours," I clarify.

He shrugs and weighs my explanation in his head.

"A few meaningless endeavors here and there, along with some nasty entanglements, as well as a few other forms of relationships," he casually replies with his nonchalant tone.

"A few other forms of relationships?"

That's just one of my many questions that has stemmed from his vague answer that insinuates he really is a
playboy
despite his numerous denials.

He laughs as if I've said something funny, but his perfect smile bears no influence over me for once.  He strokes my reddened cheek as he pokes at my anger.