Grounded (6 page)

When his breathing had returned to a more normal cadence, he pulled her on top of him
and gazed into her eyes. God, she was beautiful. Had he ever thought otherwise? How could he have ever thought she wasn’t his type? That she wasn’t exactly what he needed? Hell, he needed her with every fiber of his being, and not only did he need her, he was in love with her. And she had better feel the same way, or by Zeus, there would be hell to pay.

So, okay, maybe not hell to pay, he amended to himself, but if she didn’t love him now,
he would spend the rest of forever convincing her she should.

Patty awoke and looked around. Confused for only a moment, she rolled over and found
the bed empty, but still warm on the other side. Pushing the covers back, she slid out of the bed and padded to the bathroom where she heard the shower running. She opened the door, and Dion looked up and smiled, then pulled her into the shower with him. Last night had not been a dream, and she quickly discovered he was just as passionate in the light of day as he was in the deep, dark night.

~ * ~

The room was functional with a long, narrow table in the middle surrounded by twenty, well-padded chairs. Patty found herself so overwhelmed she was glad she didn’t have to do anything except take notes and pass Dion whatever papers or files he needed. They were in a meeting with the curator of antiquities, a priest who answered directly to the Pope. How freaking cool was this job? Not to mention the fact she was now sleeping with the boss, and she almost laughed out loud when she thought of what Ms. Reed would say. The meeting ran through lunch, which was served by the staff right there in the meeting room. When they were done, the priest excused himself, leaving Dion and Patty alone.

"I need that bank file," Dion told her, digging through his briefcase. He had been nothing
but professional since they’d arrived, and Patty was glad for it.

Last night and this morning had been the experience of a lifetime, but few words had
been spoken, and Patty didn’t know what it meant. They were lovers, but did it carry over into real life? Were they a couple? Or was she reading way more into the whole affair than he’d meant for her to? Keeping busy with the work in front of them helped keep her mind off of the more personal side of their relationship. If i
t
wa
s
a relationship, she reminded herself.

"Patty?"

Startled, she jerked her head up. "I’m sorry. What did you say?"

"I’m missing a file here and I know I brought it with me. I must’ve left it at the hotel, so I
need you to get it for me. And be very discreet; I don’t want us to look incompetent here. This is an important account."

"Of course. I’ll be back as soon as possible." She got up to leave the room as the priest
came back in.

"I’m sorry," she said, "I’m afraid I have to excuse myself for a few minutes, if you don’t
mind."

"Not at all." The priest smiled warmly, and took his chair at the end of the table next to
Dion. The two men began talking again, and Patty slipped from the room, quietly shutting the door. She hurried outside to the waiting car and told the driver to take her back to the hotel.

Upstairs in Dion’s suite, Patty searched for the missing file. She bent over the desk and
then she… was so confused. The room had completely changed. Her head was spinning, or maybe the room was spinning, she couldn’t be sure. What was wrong with her? The hotel room, while richly appointed, definitely had carpeting, and not white marble floors. Marble floors, marble pillars, everything white, dreamlike. Wher
e
wa
s
she?

"Welcome," a woman said, seeming to appear out of thin air. "I am so happy to meet you."

"I’m, um, I’m . . . who are you?" Patty wrinkled her forehead. For some reason, the woman seemed familiar, but she couldn’t say why. She was beautiful, ethereal, otherworldly. Her face was perfect, her skin flawless, and her mouth full and red. Her neck was elegant, and she held herself regally. Her nails were long, perfectly manicured and as red as her lips. Her blonde hair was piled on her head with loose tresses falling about her shoulders, and flowers had been woven through it. Dressed in a flowing white gown that was delicate, sheer, made of no material Patty could name, the woman looked like a goddess.

"I am Aurora, dear. I am Dionysus’s mother. Welcome to my home." She spoke formally,
and made a gesture with her arm, indicating the palace. That’s where she was, Patty suddenly thought. This was a palace somewhere…

"I’m sorry," Patty said weakly. "I’m not feeling well right now. Might I sit down, please?"

There was a generously padded lounge chair right beside her, and she sank onto it.

"Would you like refreshments, dear? A cold drink, perhaps?"

Patty nodded, her hands shaking, as a tall glass of golden-yellow liquid appeared on the table next to her.

"There now," Aurora said as she reclined on a lounge chair next to Patty. "That’s much
better. We can have a little girl talk and get to know one another."

"Uh-huh," Patty muttered and gulped the cool, sweet drink. Closing her eyes, she
whispered to herself, "I will open my eyes and be back in the hotel, I will open my eyes and be back in the hotel." When she opened her eyes, Aurora was smiling gently at her.

"Oh my," Patty groaned. "Where am I?"

"Specifically, my home. Generally, Mount Olympus."

"Right, Mount Olympus." Patty nodded slowly. "Of course. I’ve had a bad fall and I’m in a
coma. Dion looks like a god, he just screwed me four ways from Sunday, so of course, I’m hallucinating all of this. Why else would I be sitting her with a goddess on Mount Olympus?" Then she looked alarmed. "Am I dead? Did the fall kill me?"

"No, dear. You are not dead. You are not even in a coma. No harm has come to you. I
know this seems strange to you, but you really are in my home and this really is Mount Olympus. I am Dion’s mother. And you are the answer to my prayers. I have waited so long for the boy to settle down, fall in love and give me grandchildren. I truly thought the two of you would never meet. And waiting for you to come of age nearly killed me. I swear, it has been the longest twenty-five years of my life!"

Patty began to chuckle. Then she began to laugh. And she couldn’t stop. She had a royal
case of the giggles and there was no sign of them abating anytime soon. Holding her stomach, she tried to gain control of herself, but to no avail. Her stomach muscles ached, she couldn’t take a decent breath, and her face grew hot and sweaty.

The giggling fit continued and Aurora simply watched w
ithout expression. Patty buried her face in the lounge chair cushion. She felt ridiculous, knew she looked foolish, but she was unable to stop laughing. Fifteen minutes later, she was still laughing and just couldn’t stop. Then, as suddenly as she had appeared in the palace, a man appeared in front of her and shocked her sober.

He looked very much like Dion, actually. Well over six feet tall, broad shoulders, thick
arms, powerful chest, hard belly and tight ass. He had eyes black as night, and his blonde hair hung over his shoulders in long, loose waves. But even though he was beautiful and so…s
o
god-lik
e
, she found it curious she felt no attraction to him. Fel
t
nothin
g
like she did the moment she laid eyes on Dion. When she’d first met Dion, she’d fallen all over herself and couldn’t form a coherent thought, much less a sentence. But this man evoked no desire in her, didn’t pull at her heart, and didn’t make her want to drop her panties, or have his babies.

"Mother," he said in a low growl. "Must I continue cleaning up after you forever? What
were you thinking?"

Aurora shrugged one delicate shoulder and smiled beatifically. "I wanted to meet her."

"You should have waited until Dion was ready for you to meet her. The possible repercussions from your reckless behavior are mind-boggling. Even Father is having a fit, and you know what happens when he starts. There’s already been two earthquakes and I was barely able to prevent a tidal wave!"

"Oh, please. Zeus is always showing off. Give the man the ability to make electricity and
he spends all day throwing lightning bolts. Besides, he was just as happy as I was. It wasn’t me throwing lightning around and building thunderheads last night while they were fu—" She stopped and looked at Patty. "While they were being intimate," she amended.

"What? Wait! That was real? That was you? All of you were watching
?
Oh-my-God
!
" Heat suffused her cheeks and she buried her face in her hands, sure she would die of embarrassment.

"Of course we weren’t watching," Ira said.

"No, dear," Aurora rolled her eyes. "We weren’t watching."

"Really?" Patty raised her head.

"Really," Ira assured her. "By the way, I’m Ira. Dion’s brother."

"Nice to meet you," she said and politely extended her hand. "Please, can you tell me
where I am? This woman seems to think we’re on Mount Olympus! Which, of course, doesn’t even exist." She leaned toward Ira and whispered, "Is she crazy? Does she require medication?"

Ira threw back his head and laughed out loud. "I’ve always thought so." He chuckled,

Aurora gave him a searing look, and Ira cleared his throat, instantly sobering. "But yes, you are in a palace on Mount Olympus, and my mother should never have brought you here until Dion was ready to tell you the entire story."

"Oh, all right, I’m sorry," Aurora said. "What more do you want from me?"

"Can you send me back?" Patty asked hopefully.

"Of course, don’t be silly. You haven’t been kidnapped!" Aurora rolled her eyes again.
"But before I do, would you take a walk with me? I’d like to show you something first."

Patty hesitated, shooting a frightened look toward Ira. He nodded slightly and smiled.
"Yes," Patty said, trusting Ira’s judgment. "I’ll go with you, but then you have to send me back. Okay?"

Aurora smiled broadly, obviously pleased. "As soon as we’ve had a little time together, I’ll
send you back," she agreed.

~ * ~

"I don’t know why she hasn’t returned," Dion told the priest, looking at his watch. "I sent her for a file I misplaced, but she should’ve been back by now." He sighed and gathered his things together. "I hope you’ll forgive me, Father, but I am really concerned about my assistant. I need to check on her and find out what’s keeping her."

"Of course. Don’t worry yourself about a thing; I’m sure she’s fine. And don’t worry about
our business here. As far as I’m concerned, you’re the man we’ve been looking for."

"Thank you," Dion said and shook the priest’s hand. "I’ll contact you later.
” As he hurried out of the building, his car pulled up and the driver stepped out. "Do you know where she is?" Dion asked in fluent Italian.

"I’m sorry, sir. I waited for her but she never returned. I had the hotel staff check the
room, but she wasn’t there. They searched the hotel and found no sign of her."

"Take me to the hotel," Dion said and climbed in the car. Damn, he wished he had the
ability to instantly move through space on this plane. But that only applied when he wished to go home; on this plane, he was forced to rely on normal transportation.

Once at the hotel, he jumped out of the vehicle and hurried to the elevator. Impatiently,
he rode it to his floor and hurried down the hall to his suite. The room was empty, except for Patty’s purse and the case she’d had with her. Nothing was disturbed, and there was no sign of a struggle.

"She couldn’t just disappear," he said aloud. "Could she? Mother!"

Dion clenched his fists. His mother had gone too far this time and he was going to make sure she would stay out of his affairs once and for all. That was his last thought before he moved from the earthly plane to Mount Olympus.

~ * ~

"Mother!" Dion bellowed and looked around his mother’s quarters. He lifted his head and sniffed the air, his fury growing when he caught Patty’s lingering scent. "I’m going to kill her," he said and started out of the room.

"Not so fast, little brother." Ira stopped him. "You need to calm down."

Dion whirled around and grabbed Ira by the collar. "She’s gone too far this time, Ira! I’m going to… I’m going to…” In his fury, he was at a loss for words. Suddenly, thunder rolled and boomed, shaking the building’s very foundation.

"Hello, Father," Dion said. Both he and Ira bowed as Zeus appeared on a bolt of lightning.

"You’re going to what, my boy?" Zeus’s voice boomed across the room.

"Really, Father, she’s gone too far this time!" Dion said through barely contained rage.

"I have to take Dion’s side. Again," Ira said with a frown. "Her meddling has gotten out of hand. You have to do something about her."

"
I
hav
e
to do something? Do you forget to whom you speak?"

"I’m sorry, Your Highness." Ira apologized and bowed before his father again. "I only
meant she is out of control and there is no one, save yourself, who is able to control her."

Zeus grinned, obviously pacified by Ira’s backhanded compliment.

"I have not paid much attention to your mother as of late," he admitted. "She is still furious with me over my latest human playmate, but I will speak with her." He turned to Dion. "Come here, boy. Tell me all about this human your mother is so taken with. What makes her different from all the other ones you have played with?"