Goddess of Love (Goddess Summoning #5)(81)

He also realized that it would do no good for him to consider this mortal man as his replacement. There was no way Griffin would want to exchange lives with him. And why should he? The mortal's life was filled to brimming with happiness and the magic of family. Things Vulcan was afraid he could only observe and envy.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

P ea pulled up in front of the fire station. "Okay, if you don't want to zap yourself back to my place, just call me when Griffin's break is over and I'll come and get you."

"I don't want to interrupt your time with Vulcan."

"Oh, don't worry about it. He doesn't know I got off work early. He won't be over for another two hours or so, and if he is, so what? He said he was dying to ride in a car. He can just come along."

"I'm nervous," Venus said.

"Well, that's perfectly normal. If you can use the word 'normal' in reference to telling the mortal man you love that you're a goddess," Pea said brightly. "Anyway, there's nothing wrong with being nervous. But my gut tells me everything's going to be okay."

"I hope you're right."

"I'm using my goddess intuition." Pea grinned and tapped the side of her head. "Oh, don't forget your picnic basket." Pea hande Venus the basket of cold chicken and some of the leftover bread and cheese and fruit Vulcan had zapped up for breakfast.

"That's right. Silly that the Goddess of Love would forget that the way to a man's heart is through here." She lifted the basket and pointed to her stomach.

"So the old saying really is true?"

"Darling, I made up that old saying."

"Wow. I had no idea the saying was that old," Pea said.

"Thankfully, I'm well preserved." She could hear Pea giggling as she drove away. Venus was smiling as she walked toward the front of the fire station. She had just figured out that she needed to press the little upraised button, when the door opened.

"I thought I saw you walk up! Come on in."

Venus nodded gratefully at the fireman and then remembered his name. "Thank you, J. D."

J. D. yelled into the back of the station, "Hey y'all! Our sex teacher is here!"

Venus braced herself for the inevitable stampede. It's true she was new to the modern world of mortals, but she certainly was not new to the world of male adoration. True to form, the guys crowded around her, all talking at once about how great the class had been and how much their wives/girlfriends/lovers had appreciated the increase in their education. The goddess smiled beatifically and thanked the men, whom she was beginning to think of as "her boys."

"Okay, okay, enough all ready. You're going to smother her." Griffin growled at the men, who parted to let him through to her with only a few disgruntled looks. "She's my date, which means I'm pleased to say I'll be taking her away from you knot heads." Griffin folded her arm through his lovingly and gave Venus an intimate blue-eyed look that made her want to begin at his toes and lick him all the way up.

"Look at me like that in public and I might make a spectacle of myself," he whispered, leaning close to her as he led her from the group of gawking firemen.

"I've been known to enjoy a good measure of pomp and spectacle," Venus whispered back. "But I do believe I'd prefer doing so in private."

"I'll be in the park. I have my pager on," Griffin called over his shoulder. "If anything happens, beep me, but only if someone's bleeding or on fire."

Venus thought she heard one of the boys mutter something about No fire could be as hot as she is, which made her smile contentedly. Men were men were men. It was just like Pea had said, all of this would work out.

They walked hand-in-hand to Fontana Park, which butted up to the backyard of the Midtown Fire Station. It was supposed to turn cold later that evening, but the sun still tinted the Oklahoma sky with a palette of brilliant colors, and the late February day felt balmy and unseasonably warm. But it was February, and an off-time for the park, so Venus was pleased to see that it was deserted. Griffin led her to a sweet little picnic table that was ringed with winter-naked trees.

"I like this place," Venus said, looking around at the well-kept park. "It feels nice here. Like it's somewhere families come and play."

"It is. For most of the year this park is filled with families and children," Griffin said. He tried to peek into the picnic basket, but she playfully slapped his hand.

"Let me set this out properly. Pea would be very upset if she knew you were grabbing at the food like a barbarian." Venus pulled out the checkered tablecloth and the place settings Pea had so meticulously packed for them, and as she did so she thought about what it would be like to be a mortal woman, to come here with Griffin and their daughters and spend the day as a family. The Goddess of Love stopped that indulgent fantasy. She could never be the mortal wife of an ordinary man, no matter how much she might secretly desire it. Her place for eternity was on Mount Olympus. The most she could hope for was that she would be allowed a brief respite of time with this man - this unexpected love of hers - before she had to return to the business of immortality. If only Griffin would understand that, accept that...

"Griffin, there is something I must tell you."

"You didn't make this chicken," he said, as he bit into a succulent leg. Venus's forehead furrowed. "No. I didn't."