Goddess of Love (Goddess Summoning #5)(75)

She looked away from him again. Instead of easing her sadness, it seemed his declaration of love had the opposite effect on her.

"Venus, am I misunderstanding what's happening between us? If you don't think you could love me - "

"I could love you," she said quickly. "I do love you," she added softly. He smiled, but again his relief was short-lived.

"But love isn't always enough. Things between us might be too complicated," she said.

"I thought that was the point of love - to complicate things." He tried for a light tone, but when she met his gaze her distraught expression made his teasing stop. "What is it?" He pulled her into his arms. "What could be so terrible?" The sick feeling in his stomach expanded to include his heart. "Is there someone else?"

"No. There is no one else." She shifted in his arms so that she could look up at him. "Your life here is very important to you, isn't it?"

"Yes." His brow furrowed. "Is my job what's bothering you? It's dangerous, yes, but I'm careful." He knew some firemen whose wives were terrified every time the alarm sounded. He would hate to think of Venus living in that kind of fear. Could he give it up? Could he just be an artist? He wasn't sure, and he definitely didn't like to think about the possibility that he might have to choose between the love he had for his job and the love he had for her.

"It's not your job. I respect what you do. And a warrior's life is never without risk; I understand that. I was thinking of your family - your sisters and mother. You wouldn't want to leave them."

"No, I wouldn't." Then he understood. "You're not from Tulsa, are you?"

"No, I'm not. I'm only here temporarily, as a...favor for Pea at the college. When I'm finished helping her, then I really must go."

"Where are you from?"

She stared up at him, and he thought she looked oddly lost.

"I'm from far away."

He smiled and kissed her forehead. "What? New York? Chicago? Or, God help us" - he chuckled - "Los Angeles?"

"Rome. And I also spend quite a bit of time in Greece."

His eyes widened in surprise. "You're right. That is far away. So...would you consider relocating?"

"I can't. I have other obligations, too," she said miserably.

"Then we can work out some kind of travel schedule and see what happens. A long-distance relationship isn't impossible. The world really isn't that big of a place anymore."

She looked doubtful.

He held her tighter. "You wouldn't let something like distance change how you feel about me. Would you?"

She touched his face, tracing his lips with her finger. "I wouldn't, but I'm afraid that when you realize just what loving me entails, you will."

"What can I do to make you believe I'm not so easily gotten rid of?"

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders. He loved how she felt pressed against his body. His hands slid down to the curve of her waist and she shivered in response to his caress.

"Just love me now, and let me hold to the fantasy of you a little while longer."

"I'm not a fantasy. We're not a fantasy," he said, before fiercely claiming her mouth. He wanted to say more, to assure her that he wouldn't let anything or anyone come between them, but her insistent mouth moved from his, down his chest, until she found the swell of his growing erection. When her mouth closed around him, words left his mind completely and he was only able to moan her name.

Chapter Twenty-Five

"O h, crap! Look at the time. It's after seven." Pea disentangled herself from Vulcan's arms and dashed, naked, into the bathroom.

"Where are you going?" he called drowsily after her.

"To work. I have to be there by eight." She stuck her head out of the bathroom while she piled up her curls and covered them with a plastic shower cap. "I'd take the day off if I could, but I have interviews coming in - you know, for the job you pretended to want - and I really have to be there."

"I didn't pretend. I believe I would like to be a history teacher."

"You'd be a good one, too," she said.

He grinned at her. "Your hat is funny looking."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "It's a shower cap, not a hat. And I'm not funny looking."

"Yes, you are, endearingly so."

Pea decided that if it endeared her to him, then maybe the silly shower cap Venus had insisted she use to protect her now frizzless curls was worth it. Still she stuck her tongue out at him, which only made his smile grow.

"You could bring your clever tongue over here...."

Pea glanced down his naked body and saw that Vulcan's smile wasn't the only thing that was growing. She felt the answering heat inside her, and wished she had a little more time to...

"No! I can't. I really have to get to work." She ducked back into the bathroom and tried to wash her face, brush her teeth and talk to Vulcan - all at the same time. "And don't you have to go back to Olympus or wherever and do some God of Fire-ing or forging or whatnot?"

She could hear him laugh.

"So you will, once again, make me count the hours until I may see you?"