Lesson in Love (Olympians, 2) (8 page)

He also found himself wondering once
again what other gods she might have been with. It was stupid and
possessive, but he couldn’t help it. Jealousy was a new emotion for
him, and he was finding it easier to understand how it made mortals
and gods alike act foolishly. His main guesses were Poseidon and
Ares; Poseidon because he’d been around her so much, and Ares
because he got around so much. At the same time, it seemed
Poseidon’s constant presence in her life might have been a
turn-off, plus she was really close to his present wife and her
aunt had been his previous wife. Maybe Eros could count him out.
Ares’ promiscuous behavior might have been a turn-off for a woman
like Iris; plus most goddesses were wary of him, as he was Hera’s
son and Aphrodite’s favorite playmate. Ares typically went for
mortal women. Eros told himself all that mattered was that she was
in his arms right now.

He wondered, however, if he’d be able
to keep her there.

Chapter Five

Eros rolled over and found himself
alone in Iris’ bed. He sat up and looked for his pants, but froze
when he heard giggling.

If my mother is out there,
I am going to kill her!
Knowing his luck,
she’d have Hera with her. Neither of them would let his first night
with a goddess as special as Iris go unnoted.

He put his pants on and pulled his
shirt over his head quickly. He went out to face whatever was
waiting for him. Instead of Aphrodite or Hera, Eros found himself
face-to-face with Tisiphone, Megaera, and Alecto, better known as
Tish, Meg, and Alex. The Furies.

“
Hi,” he said.
Well, better than the Harpies, at least.
He wasn’t ready to face them just yet, especially
since Iris was their little sister.

All three women turned their black
eyes on him and smiled, waving at him in perfect unison. Their
features were exactly the same, pale and perfect, and the only way
anyone could tell them apart was by their hair color. Tish had
black hair, Meg had brown, and Alex had red. They always had the
same hairstyle and the same clothes, just in different
colors.

“
Time to meet the girls,”
Tish said, pushing out a chair at the table between her and
Meg.

Iris returned from the kitchen. “Just
sit down. They aren’t going to bite you.”

He sat down and pulled up his chair.
“We’ve all met before. It’s been a while.” He looked at Tish
tentatively. The last time he’d seen her, she’d had black snakes in
her hair and blood dripping from her eyes as she yelled some curse
down upon a man who had murdered his wife.

Tish smirked. “It has. We couldn’t
resist coming by.”

“
Really? Why?” He looked
up at Iris, who was glaring at Tish.

Tish cleared her throat. “Iris hasn’t
seen anyone since her divorce. It’s been over a hundred
years.”

“
You were
married?”

Iris nodded. “Zephyrus. Five hundred
years.” She shrugged. “We just grew apart. He’s obnoxious, but not
too hard to live with.”

God of the west wind, huh?
An air deity does make sense. At least it wasn’t Apollo.
That didn’t bother Eros much. What did bother him
was he felt sure that Iris hadn’t made light of the subject because
she wanted to hide having been married. Did her friends bringing up
marriage bother her? He wanted to know, but he also didn’t want to
risk making any of them angry, so he just smiled.

“
I can understand that. My
marriage to a mortal-turned-goddess was supposed to be a fairy
tale. Didn’t work out like that.”

Meg smiled teasingly. “You were too
much for her. She’s back with mortals now.”

Eros leaned forward. “Really? Well, I
might have guessed. She hated living with us.”

“
But she loved you,” Alex
said.

“
For a few hundred years.”
He sighed. “Okay, we’ve talked about exes. Let’s move
on.”

Iris sat down and pushed a cup of
coffee over to him. “You’re getting off easy, and you know it. At
least your mother isn’t here.”

He shook his head. “She’ll show
up.”

“
Does it matter?” Iris
asked.

He still couldn’t tell what she was
feeling and that bugged him. “No. I just know she’s going to have
an opinion.”

Iris looked down. “She wants you to be
happy.”

“
I know. I’ve never been
very good at that.”

Tish refilled her coffee cup. “You are
a little pathetic. You make great matches for others.”

He groaned. “I’m just going to take
the compliment and leave it at that. There’s no point in arguing
because everyone seems to think that lately.”

“
We’re teasing you,
sweetie,” Meg said. “We think you’re great. We more than give our
blessing, and that’s something.”

He dropped a lump of sugar in his
cooling coffee and stirred slowly. “Care to come to my defense,
then? You’d be quite formidable and everyone might leave me alone
for a day or two.”

Alex crossed her arms. “Hmmmm. Not a
bad idea. Your own band of cheerleaders.”

“
I think everyone’s going
to leave him alone for a while. Except for the occasional drop-in
tease or two,” Iris said.

“
Oh yeah, those are the
best,” he said. “You better watch out for yourself, though. Zeus
might get some ideas when he finds out you’re my girl.”

“
Am I?”

He froze.
Why did I say that?
“Um.
I guess we can discuss that, if you want. I didn’t mean to assume
or anything.” He tried to think of something clever to say, but she
held up her hand.

“
I was asking you. I was
certainly assuming the same thing. I was teasing you, by the way.
No need to panic.”

He couldn’t hold back the grin that
spread over his face. “Good. See? Told you I’m bad at
this.”

“
No, you’re just not used
to it. And I think Zeus is otherwise occupied for now.”

Not used to what? To
having a real girlfriend? To caring about a relationship?
He really wished he had more of his mother’s
insight into emotions.

Tish snorted, making everyone else
laugh before she said, “They have been at it like rabbits. It’s no
wonder Hera is staying out of trouble. She’s hardly allowed to
leave the bedroom.”

Eros tried to get an old memory out of
his head. He’d once walked in on Zeus and Hera, him tied to the bed
and her riding him mercilessly. They had both laughed it off, but
Eros had always had trouble shaking the image of the beautiful
goddess on the verge of coming. He looked up into Iris’ eyes. He
saw warmth there, and he knew she was thinking about last night.
Suddenly he forgot all about Hera, and his mind filled with the
image of Iris coming as he took her from behind.

She blushed, and he realized he’d been
staring at her.

Tish stood up. “Okay, you two need
more alone time. We’re off.”

Meg and Alex stood up too,
giggling.

“
Well, have fun,” he said,
trying to keep from blushing.

“
We always do.” The three
of them disappeared.

He looked up at Iris. “Sorry. A really
nice thought overtook me.”

“
And what thought was
that?”

He hesitated, and then took the
chance. “You coming.”

She blushed even deeper.

“
Sorry. I promise I was
quite intrigued before you even kissed me. Last night only
enthralled me more.”

“
Really?”

She seemed so serious he couldn’t tell
if she believed him or not.

“
Yes. I do realize it’s
going to be a while before you believe things like that. You’ve
probably heard me say them to too many women.”

“
You never said things
like that to other women.” She stood and walked over to him, then
knelt down in front of him.

“
I didn’t?”

“
No. You didn’t.” She
unzipped his pants and released his hard cock.

He hadn’t realized it was so
noticeable. “Iris?”

“
Shhhhh.” She took the
head of his cock in her mouth and swirled her tongue
slowly.

He slumped down in his chair. He
groaned as her hand stroked the shaft and her tongue worked
feverishly over him. She took him deeper into her mouth, and he
looked down at her. He stroked her cheek, wanting her to look up at
him.

“
You’re amazing,” he
whispered when she did. “Are you wet?”

She nodded, pulling back. “You don’t
want me to keep doing this?”

He cradled her face. “Your tongue is
amazing, but it’s you I want.”

He pulled her to her feet and reached
under her skirt, yanking her panties down and feeling her. She was
wet, hot and wet and perfect. He pushed his pants down and pulled
her onto his lap. She wrapped her legs behind him, around the small
kitchen chair.

“
We just might tip over.”
She giggled as she leaned back on the table, moving so he was right
at her entrance.

“
Well, we both have wings.
I think we’ll be okay.” He grabbed a handful of her hair and
brought her in for a hot kiss.

She moaned and pressed against him,
taking his cock deep inside her. She leaned back, her breasts
bouncing in his face. He pulled her blouse open and ran his hand
over them. She pushed harder against him, her pussy milking his
cock and driving him wild.

“
I don’t see how you keep
the gods and men away,” he said as he pulled her bra down and laved
her nipple with his eager tongue.

“
None of them see me like
this.” She gasped.

He held her by the waist and made her
ride him harder. He could feel her trembling, on the verge of
coming.

“
Come for me, Iris. Please
come for me.”

She threw her head back and moaned. He
held her as close as he could with his cock buried in her, enjoying
her sweet convulsions and drinking in the pleasure on her face. He
thrust three more times and found his release. She tangled her
hands in his hair and kissed him. He let himself get lost in the
pleasure.

When they finally parted, Iris
searched his face for a long time.

“
What is it?” he finally
asked. He hoped he hadn’t hurt her or done something
wrong.

“
I feel
guilty.”

He didn’t understand what she meant.
“Why?”

“
I seduced
you.”

He couldn’t hide his shock, as her
statement made no sense. “So what? I was more than willing to be
seduced. I’ve been fascinated by you ever since we met.”

“
But they pushed us
together. Hera and your mother.”

He hadn’t suspected that, expecting an
attack from some other angle, but he didn’t care now. “So
what?”

She got off him. She leaned on the
table, her legs shaking.

“
Hey, sit down. We went a
little fast this time.” He pulled out another chair and made her
sit in it.

“
You don’t understand what
I’m saying. They planned this.”

He held up his hand. “This was my
idea. I wanted you. My motivations were selfish at first, but I
genuinely wanted you. Now I want you even more. They didn’t do
this. I’m immune to love spells. I fell in love with Psyche because
of a spell, and my mother made sure that would never happen again.
I love you for you.”

“
You don’t love me.” She
looked ready to burst into tears.

“
I’m sorry. I know you
aren’t ready for me to say that yet. I may have screwed up every
other relationship I have ever been in, but I know
love.”

“
This is what they wanted.
They wanted to make you love me to teach you a lesson.”

“
But they didn’t make me.
They didn’t encourage me at all. My mother even told me to be
careful.”

She wiped at a few stray tears. “They
were just trying to put you off the scent. They knew you’d never
have looked twice at me if you knew they wanted you to.”

“
That’s crazy. You aren’t
making sense. If I’m just the guy you’re gonna sleep with to get
back into the swing of things then go ahead and tell me. Don’t make
up excuses.”

Her tears finally broke. Eros had no
idea what she was talking about or why she was upset. He knew she
cared for him because she was too honest to fake it. So what if his
mom and Hera had set them up or even pushed them together? It was
about time they did something good for him.

“
Tell me what’s wrong. I
won’t tell you how I feel again if it makes you
unhappy.”

“
Eros, I love
you.”

“
You do?” Despite the
intensity of his confusion, he smiled to reassure her. “I love you
too. Maybe it is kind of fast, but you’re amazing. You’re just so
amazing. I know I’m not perfect, but you’re good for me. I knew you
cared about me. We can work this out.”

“
Eros, please
listen.”