Goddess of Love (Goddess Summoning #5)(41)

"You were right," he said, falling back on what always worked with his sisters. Make them right and everything got instantly better.

"About?"

"About not dancing inside the restaurant."

"Yes," she said absently.

"Once, twice, three times a lady..." was all that filled the silence between them, and Griffin was beginning to feel desperate. At a total loss, he blurted the truth.

"You look sad."

She seemed to shake herself and refocused on him. "Not sad, just thoughtful."

"Anything I can help with?"

"Are you taking care of me as you would one of your sisters?"

He splayed the fingers of his hand intimately against the small of her back, very aware that all that separated his flesh from hers was a couple layers of flimsy silk. He held her gaze with his. "I don't feel brotherly toward you at all."

"Good." She sounded breathless.

He pulled her closer. He felt the slow, steady heaviness in his loins tightening and heating in response to her.

"I don't even know your name," he said huskily.

Her smile was teasing. "You should. You're dancing with your wife."

Her words took him completely off guard.

Venus laughed and the sound was so compelling that his desire to see her laugh and smile more was suddenly as great as his physical desire for her.

"Don't look so shocked," she said, still laughing. "You're Vulcan, God of Fire. I'm Venus, Goddess of Love. Vulcan and Venus are married."

He let his hand trace a lazy circle around the small of her back. "Sorry, Venus, my mythology is rusty. Are you sure the God of Fire is Vulcan? I thought that was Ares." Then he was ferociously glad that he was semiclueless about mythology when his comment made her toss back her head and laugh again.

"Oh, I'm sure!"

He grinned. "So we're married."

"Definitely." She lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper and leaned even closer to him.

"But rumors have it that it's just a marriage of convenience and strictly platonic."

"Bullshit!" he said, pretending offense - which he found damn easy to do. Just imagining being in a platonic marriage with this woman was enough to set his teeth to grinding. "No wonder I never got into those myths. Too damn hard to believe."

"You don't believe our marriage is platonic?"

"No, I don't."

She shrugged, eyes still sparkling playfully. "Who am I to argue with my husband?"

It was his turn to laugh. "I don't believe the Goddess of Love would be a submissive wife any more than I believe she'd be a passionless one."

"Well, husband, I'm glad to see we understand each other." She paused, and added in a voice that was suddenly hesitant and a little shy, "You might be surprised, though. Even a goddess can make mistakes. Who knew love could be intimate with loneliness?"

"You've been lonely, wife?" He meant it to be a teasing question, but the unexpected sincerity in her expression turned his tone serious.

She looked into his eyes and Griffin felt his heart contract. What had made this incredible woman so sad? He didn't know, but he did know that if the guy was here he'd make him sorry he ever drew breath.

"I have," she said softly. "We should have never married. We've both been unbearably sad. Friendship can only be an addition to, not a substitute for, true love."

Griffin felt her words move through him. Like they had parted a curtain, he realized just how alone his loveless life had become. "And neither is waiting and searching." He drew a deep breath, not sure where this was leading them, but not wanting to break the spell of intimacy. He leaned closer to her and whispered. "Is there any way we can reconcile? How can we make this better for both of us?"

She turned her violet gaze up to him, as if she was searching his face. "Maybe for just this one night we could become two different people."

"Anything for you, my goddess."

"I've been meaning to speak to you about calling me your goddess like that. It's very presumptuous, you know." Her expression had cleared, and her full lips tilted up. Griffin felt himself being drawn down to the inviting softness of her mouth.

"Well, since I'm your husband, newly reconciled at that, I think I'm entitled to a little presumption." He bent, and before she could say anything more, kissed her. She stiffened for only a moment. Griffin kept the kiss soft, allowing her plenty of time to break it and step away from him. But she didn't. Instead she relaxed and melted into his mouth. What started as a sweet, teasing question of a kiss deepened, and when he felt her arms glide up and around his shoulders Griffin became utterly lost in her. She opened her mouth to him, allowing him to drink her in. She tasted of spice and woman and sex. His response to her was primal and fierce. The thought passed through his lust-fogged brain that she made him feel so ablaze that he could actually be the God of Fire. Then he couldn't think at all. The only thing he could do was touch, taste and desire her.

He pulled her deeper into the shadow of the tree so that its trunk obscured most of their bodies from the view of people outside the restaurant, and he positioned himself so that his body was between her and the street. Then, in their small pocket of privacy, he devoured her. She leaned into him, molding her thighs against his. She moaned into his mouth and he cupped her sweet, soft ass in his hands, lifting her so that he could rub his erection against her.