Electric Idol(Dark Olympus #2)(28)

“I’m not hungry.” She doesn’t look at me. “I have some things to take care of before the call with my sisters in thirty minutes. I also need to figure out how to get my stuff from my mother’s home without running into her because that’s not a conversation I’m ready to have yet. Or running into your mother. Though I can’t say I’ve ever accidentally ended up at the same place as Aphrodite, Zeus’s parties excepted.” She holds up a hand when I open my mouth. “I realize that we need to get the physical-touch thing figured out, but I also have exactly zero changes of clothes.”

I shrug. “I’ll buy you more.”

That gets her attention. She lifts her head to frown at me. “That’s ridiculous.”

“You said you don’t want to go home and deal with your mother yet, and I doubt you want to be wearing yesterday’s clothes when you do. Not to mention it’s not exactly safe to be wandering around Olympus before we’re actually married. Simple solution: new clothes.”

“Eros.” She speaks slowly as if talking to a child. “You might be able to walk into any place that carries menswear and find your size, but I don’t have that luxury. The shops are better than they were a few years ago because I get so much press for the designers who do decent plus-sized clothing, but there are only two or three that I’d trust to have what I need in stock, and even then, it’d only be a handful of items. Buying me a whole new wardrobe isn’t possible on short notice, not without going through twice as much work as it would be to get my actual clothing.”

I hear what she’s saying, but I don’t like it. “That’s ridiculous. Why wouldn’t they have a wide range of sizes to fit all their customers? You’re hardly the only woman’s who’s…” I wave my hand at her.

“Fat.”

I bristle. “I didn’t say that.”

“It’s not an insult. It’s just a word.” She shrugs again. “It’s also the truth. And while I appreciate your enthusiastic defense for plus-sized sizing everywhere, there’s little you can do about it at the moment. I need my clothes.”

I want to keep arguing because Psyche not having everything she needs at the tip of her fingers aggravates me. She’s right, though. We don’t have time for this shit. “Talk to your sisters. Win them over and convince them to distract your mother so we can get in and get out while she’s not in the house.”

“We?”

“Yes, we. I’m not letting you out of my sight.”

Psyche sets down her phone with exaggerated care. “You don’t have to follow me around like a shadow. I have nowhere to run and I’ve given my word that I’ll do this.”

I give in to the gravity of her presence and cross to stand in front of her. I like the little line that appears between her brows when she frowns at me. I even like that her mind is already whirling ahead of this conversation to what she needs to accomplish next. That’s not going to stop me from slamming her back into the here and now. “I can’t keep you safe if I’m not with you, Psyche.”

“Do you really think your mother will regroup that fast?”

More like I know she’s capable of it. Even without me helping her, Aphrodite hasn’t held power for so long without good reason. She’s a formidable enemy. “I think it would be a large waste of time and effort if we went through all this negotiation and then she had someone rig an explosive to your car while you’re out running errands.”

She frowns at me. “That seems extreme.”

“We’ve gone over this. There’s a reason a very public romance and marriage is the only option.” I lean down, bracing my hands on either side of her hips. She manages to keep her jolt to the barest flinch, but the reaction is still readily apparent to anyone who watched us closely. I drop my gaze to her mouth and she licks her lips. It’s not quite an invitation to kiss her again, which is just as well. She’s right. We need to focus, especially through the first few days of this. The next forty-eight hours will make or break Olympus’s belief in this whirlwind romance. “We’ll have the ceremony tonight.”

Her hazel eyes go wide. “Tonight?”

“The sooner, the better. If you can convince your family, they are more than welcome to attend. I’ll have two witnesses as backup.”

“Who are your witnesses?”

Instead of answering, I press a quick kiss to that little line between her brows and rise. “You have twenty minutes until breakfast is done.”

“I said I’m not hungry.”

“It’s going to be a long day, Psyche, and you need the calories to keep your energy up.” I pause in the doorway. “It’d be a damned shame if you swooned when I put my ring on your finger and I had to carry you to our marriage bed.”

She makes a face. “That’s not funny.”

“No, it’s not. Twenty minutes.” I close the bedroom door behind me and walk down the long hallway and into the kitchen. I’m not even surprised to find Hermes standing at the stove, her dark hair done up in two puff buns on the top of her head. She’s wearing skintight overall shorts and a cropped top with a picture of…Krampus? Also knee socks with little trees on them. I cross my arms over my chest and lean against the counter. “Breaking and entering is a crime.”