Innocence (Tales of Olympus #1)(17)

With her clothing draped like a Greek statue and water bottle in hand, she felt like the Statue of Liberty.

She didn’t have to wait long, though.

“Babe, there you are—” a photographer waved at her, “You’re next.”

Cora nodded and hurried forward. Another model, being unpinned from her clothes, turned her head. “Wow,” she remarked on Cora’s get up, “you look really cool. Who are you supposed to be?”

“Uh . . . I don’t know.” Cora stood aside as two men pushing a huge mirror came through. The thing stood six feet tall, and was still higher on its wheeled mount and gilt frame. They stopped in front of her, cutting off the other model’s conversation.

Into the reflected surface, Cora stared at the striking woman in robes. She’d only been able to see her face in the makeup mirror earlier, but now she was hit with the entire effect.

Kohl-darkened eyes stared back at her. Her hair was big and wild around her but it didn’t detract from the luminous, violet sheen of her skin. The tones of the gown only served to highlight the glow of her pale skin even more.

She looked larger than life. Powerful. She blinked in surprise at the thought. It wasn’t an adjective she’d ever used to describe herself before.

“Well, well, if it isn’t the goddess.”

Cora turned around and saw a familiar face, lips quirked up in a half smile.

Marcus.

The room around them, chaos only a second ago, cleared out. Stepping back to look beyond the mirror, she could see another model’s bare back, the assistant helping her with the bottom half of her costume as they both hurried away. Cora looked back into the mirror as Marcus approached behind her. His smile had dropped and instead his eyes held the intensity of a hunter.

“Marcus,” she breathed, her stomach feeling strange and swoopy.

He was looking her up and down. With his handsome face and sculpted cheekbones, he looked like a model himself. He wasn’t pretty, but the strength and symmetry of his features were powerful. Timeless. Next to him, regular guys were eye-wateringly ugly—until you realized that they weren’t, they were normal looking and Marcus was a god. Mere mortals couldn’t compare.

Her stomach did a sad little spiral. Marcus fit in better here than she did.

A few steps and he had crossed the distance between them. She gazed at him in the mirror. When he was right behind her, the two of them looked like a snapshot out of any style magazine. He was wearing a gray button up. He often wore gray or other dark colors. He wasn’t wearing a jacket, and the shirt’s smoothness couldn’t hide the outline of his muscles. He was so strong. He didn’t have the physique you would expect of a businessman.

Marcus’s cheek tugged up in one of his signature half smirks. Oh gods, he’d noticed her checking him out.

She felt her cheeks heat, and she looked at her own face in the mirror in alarm, but for once her blush didn’t show because of the makeup.

But as she looked in the mirror—oh crap! There was plenty that was showing. Her gown might be gorgeous but all that sheer fabric was practically see-through. Had Marcus noticed?

She hurriedly crossed her arms in front of her. “I didn’t know you were going to be here.”

“Do I make you nervous?” he whispered, and she could feel the warmth of his breath on her ear as he skewered her with his gaze in the mirror’s reflection.

Even with her arms over her chest, the outline of her body was perfectly clear through the gauziness of the dress. Her hips. The line of her inner thighs.

Marcus leaned his face over her shoulder so that their faces were side by side, cheek to cheek.

Cora felt paralyzed by his gaze.

“You are a goddess,” he breathed.

“You shouldn’t call me that…”

Marcus turned her to him. “Look at me.”

She couldn’t bear to obey, so she stared at his shirt. He’d undone the top two buttons, giving her a peek of the chiseled line of his pectorals with a faint dusting of hair. It was so…masculine.

When he raised her chin to look at him, she was able to follow the sculpted line of his neck up to his jaw and finally, over the strong features of his face.

“Perfect body, perfect skin,” he murmured. “How could you not be a goddess?”

“That’s very sweet but you don’t have to—” she started.

“No, angel. In a second, you’re going to walk out there, and everyone will know how lovely you are.”

Her eyes darted away.

“Look at me.” He took her in his arms, keeping her still. After a long pause, “Beautiful,” he pronounced.

She laughed nervously. Marcus smiled and tightened his hold around her, “I’m telling Armand he owes me big for letting him borrow you. Not one—three or four favors.”

Cora was unsure what to think about that. Borrow. Like Marcus owned her. The thought should disturb her but all she could think was, yes, please. What would it be like to belong to a man like Marcus Ubeli?

Cora looked at herself and Marcus in the mirror again, a gorgeous couple out of a magazine. The woman in the mirror’s lips were parted slightly, while the man let his eyes browse along her bare shoulders and neck. When he raised his head, his look was cool, but his eyes smoldered. They consumed her.

“Goddess,” he whispered again.