Goddess of Love (Goddess Summoning #5)(13)

"The cake is excellent. You, on the other hand, are a mess."

Venus took a sip of the new martini and moaned softly in pleasure. "By Apollo's golden phallus this is delicious!"

"Venus, could you please, please, please try to remember that to the modern mortals Troy existed thousands of years ago? And to them Pygmalion carving Galatea out of marble was just a myth."

"Pygmalion? A myth? Impossible. He was a dreadful woman hater before I played matchmaker."

She grinned mischievously. "Matchmaking with a statue. I must say that I outdid myself that time. How could people believe that love story was a myth?"

"You knew them!" Persephone hissed. "And you're used to magic, unlike modern mortals."

Venus cocked her head to the side and studied Persephone. "You seem very tense. When was the last time you orgasmed?"

"That has nothing to do with it."

"Of course it does. When was the last time?"

"Five days ago."

"See there!" Venus nodded vigorously as if she'd just proved an excellent point to an attentive audience. "That's your problem."

"I don't have a problem."

"Well you won't if we get you properly laid." Venus looked around the restaurant, clearly checking out the men at the bar.

"No. Really. I'm fine. And if I'm not I do have a rather long list of mortal men I can call on," she said smugly.

"Excellent. Then do so. Five days without a proper orgasm is entirely too long. But are you sure you don't want me to work a little love magic for you?" She waggled her long, shapely fingers and diamondlike glitter began to form in the air around them.

"No!" Persephone yelped, grabbing Venus's hand and causing the love dust to fall in a small, sparkling heap on their table. She quickly blew on the powdery substance and then went into a sneezing fit when it danced in the air around them before disappearing back into the Goddess of Love's fingertips.

"Be careful," Venus said as she finished the last of her cake. "That stuff isn't good for your lungs."

"Thanks for reminding me," Persephone said sardonically while she sniffed delicately. "Just never mind on the love magic stuff. I'm doing fine on my own. Plus you know what happens when you get too involved in the love lives of the gods."

"What are you talking about? I have made uncounted matches - happy matches."

"Yes, you have. Happy matches between mortals. When you mess with our love lives, as in the immortals, of which I am one, things tend to go wrong. Drastically wrong."

"You exaggerate."

"Exhibit A - Athena and Odysseus. You decided Athena needed to love a mortal. Look me in the eye and tell me your meddling didn't cause the man to be absent from his wife and family for twenty years."

Venus shrugged and looked uncomfortable. "If Athena hadn't been so obsessive that little affair wouldn't have been such a bad thing."

"So you're admitting it was a bad thing?"

"Maybe."

"Fine. Exhibit B - the Scylla/Glaucus/Circe debacle."

"That's not fair. I had no idea that Circe was so attached to Glaucus. I thought he and Scylla made a lovely match. You know I did think he was just scrumptious after he became a water deity. How was I to know that Scylla rejecting him would make Circe so jealous?" Venus pouted. "I really don't know how you can hold that against me."

"Okay. How about Exhibit C - Zeus and - "

"I get the point. Although how you could blame me for any of Zeus's silly affairs I'll never know," she muttered. "Anyway I won't meddle in your love life. Right now," she added under her breath. "But I do have the urge to, I don't know, arrange something for these fabulous mortals. Kind of as a payback for having such a lovely time in their city." She enunciated the word distinctly, getting a grin from Persephone.

"Hey, meddle away with the mortals. It's fine with me. Whether they are aware of it or not, they're lucky to have the Goddess of Love be so interested."

"Really!" Venus brightened. "Matchmaking always gets my womanly juices flowing."

"Venus. Please. TMI."

"TMI?"

"Too much information. Keep your woman's juices to yourself."

"You know, for Spring, you really are a prude." She narrowed her eyes at Persephone. "When was the last time you gazed at the beauty of your sacred lotus blossom with a mirror?"

Persephone choked on her martini.

"Just as I thought. You need to spend more private time with the core of your womanhood."

"Mortals. Focus on the mortals, Venus," Persephone said between coughs.

"If you insist..." Venus said, turning her attention to the mortals surrounding them even while she filed away in her mind that she'd have Persephone sent a special mirror when she got back to Mount Olympus.

Then all thoughts of Persephone and mirrors fled her mind as a group of laughing men entered the restaurant. They took seats at the gleaming oak bar and began a good-natured flirtation with Lola herself, who had emerged from the kitchen and was one of those timelessly attractive women who could have been anywhere from thirty-five to fifty-five and who would still be confident and sexy at sixty-five and seventy-five. Obviously the group of men were regulars as well as favorites with Lola and her waitstaff.