Goddess Secret (19 page)

“What are you thinking about, sweetheart?”

She shrugged. She didn’t really know how to talk about the thoughts going through her head. She was thinking about the other times they’d made out and got interrupted, but this time, they hadn’t had any interruptions. She didn’t understand why he didn’t try to take things any further. She knew he was curious about what she was thinking, so she needed to find a way to express her thoughts…concerns. Before, she’d told herself she’d challenge his sexual limits, but what if…

“After I put my hands on your chest and kissed you, you seemed hesitant. I knew you were ready to go,” she said, shrugging. “I mean, you didn’t feel pressured to kiss me back, did you?”

She figured he didn’t, but she didn’t really know how else to start. Besides, after his cryptic departure yesterday, she was confused.

“
Legacy
. Why would you think that?” Adin asked, tilting her head in his direction.

“Because you weren’t touching me at first, and then after you did put your arms back around me, you didn’t take it any further.”

He put his head in her hair and chuckled lightly. “The only pressure I feel around you is the pressure I put on myself to behave. I don’t want to do anything that would make you uncomfortable. You know that.”

She did know this. “But we were alone…with no chance of interruptions…and you didn’t try to…”

He stroked her face. “Legacy, I want to treat you with the respect you deserve. I don’t want the first time I make love to you to be in the front seat of my car.”

She nodded. That made sense. “So, you do want to make love to me?” she asked timidly.

Adin’s breathing spiked, and he slid up against her, putting his lips at her ear. “Yes,” he whispered, and rubbed his forehead against the side of her head before putting his lips back to her ear again. “But I want our first time to be perfect.”

Her heart was racing at the thought of being with him like that. She remembered telling Calli she didn’t feel nervous at the thought before, but right now, she had a million butterflies in the pit of her stomach. “That’s a lot of pressure to put on two people who’ve never done it before.” She laughed nervously.

“I mean perfect for us.”

She took a deep breath, letting the awkward feelings subside as she snuggled up against him.

He squeezed her tightly. “I love you, princess.”

“I love you too.” She yawned, and Adin continued to hold her while she fell asleep in his arms.

* * * * *

The rest of the week went by much faster than Legacy had anticipated. Adin was busy with his fraternity duties, and the senior class was swamped with homecoming preparations. The homecoming game and dance were in a couple of weeks.

They sent out the homecoming ballots so that the court could be voted on. Usually, the football players’ girlfriends were the ones who made it on the court, but they still went through the motions of an election.

She talked to Adin throughout the week, and a few times, he came over to her house before school. She already asked him about coming with her to the dance, and he was excited about it. They’d never been to a dance together before. Zach was coming to the dance with Calli, so Legacy and her BFF had spent several of their afternoons going to dress shops, looking for the perfect garment.

While they were out shopping, they talked about their boyfriends, though Calli was less eager to talk about Zach than Legacy was to talk about Adin. But she did bring Calli up to speed on telling Adin the family secret.

“What did he say?”

“He understood why I didn’t tell him, and he’s concerned about my safety. Not that
that’s
anything new.”

“So are you going to tell River now?”

“No way!
Adin
I wanted to tell because I love him. River is another matter. His mom is Medusa, so even if I were with River and not Adin, I don’t think I’d tell River. It’s just too dangerous.”

“I get that.” Calli nodded. “Don’t you think it’s odd that she hasn’t tried anything lately?”

“OMG, don’t you dare jinx me!”

They had also talked about her change and River’s change, and his was just around the corner. River’s birthday was the day after the homecoming dance, and he was throwing a huge party. Legacy hadn’t really told Adin about this because she wasn’t sure how he’d feel about her celebrating River’s birthday at his house with a bunch of people she didn’t know, but she planned on talking to him about this when she saw him this weekend.

Friday’s game was another away game, so Calli had to leave early. This game was only about an hour away, and since Legacy didn’t have anything else to do, she decided to drive up and watch. She made the mistake of mentioning this to River during last period.

“You can ride with me,” he said eagerly.

“I didn’t know you were going.”

“I didn’t know I was going either, but now I am.” He smiled.

“River, you don’t have to go just because I’m going.”

“But I want to go, and it’s silly for us to take separate vehicles. I’ll follow you home when school gets out.”

She sighed and nodded. It didn’t make since to waste the gas, and she wouldn’t mind the company.

When they got to her house, River came in since she was going to be a minute changing into something warmer in case it got cold after it got dark. Lissa was in the living room when they walked in.

“Lissa, you remember River, don’t you?”

“Sure, hi.” She smiled at him.

“Hello, Ms. Borne.”

“I’ll be right back down, River,” Legacy said as she turned toward the stairs.

“Take your time.” River pushed his hands into his pockets and rocked on his feet as he watched her.

She quickly changed, and when she came back downstairs, River and Lissa were laughing on the couch.

“What’s so funny?”

“Oh, I was just telling River about your first driving lesson. I told him it was a good thing that
he
was driving tonight instead of you.”

River chuckled.

“Ha, ha. Very funny, Lissa. Let’s go, River.”

River walked her to the passenger door of his car and then got in. Once they were on the road, they were both quiet for several minutes, and it was beginning to feel uncomfortable.

“So, what do you have planned for your birthday party?”

“Umm…there’ll be a DJ and all kinds of food.” He shrugged.

“Who all will be there?”

“Family and friends.”

Obviously, he was going to make her drag this out of him. “River, what family members will be at your party?” she asked, staring at him.

He sighed. “My mom is going to be there.”

She nodded and pursed by lips. With Medusa there, she knew there was no way Adin would go for this.

“I understand if you don’t want to come.”

“I do want to come. I just don’t know if it’s the smart thing to do.”

“I’ll make sure you’re safe,” River whispered, cutting his gaze to her.

“I know, but it’s your party. You shouldn’t be worried about me.”

“I’ll be worried about you anyway. At least if you come, I’ll get to see you too.”

“Well, if I don’t come to the party, I’ll still visit you on your birthday.”

He nodded. She could tell he didn’t like this idea as much as her being there for the main event, but she knew he realized it was better than not seeing her at all on his birthday.

They got to the game about ten minutes before it was scheduled to start, and Calli jumped up and down when she saw her and River.

“Hey, guys! I didn’t know you were coming,” she yelled to them as they made their way up the stands.

“Neither of us had any plans, so we figured, what the hay?” She shrugged.

“Cool! I’ll come up and visit with you at halftime. We don’t have to perform since this is an away game, but we need to watch the other cheerleaders do their thing. Then I’ll be free.”

“Cool.”

Legacy and River took their seats and watched the game. They didn’t talk much during the first half. Oak Grove was winning, so they cheered along with the small crowd that had made the trip to the game. When they scored their third unanswered touchdown, the two of them jumped out of their seats, shouted with their arms in the air, and did high-fives, which she initiated—River was still sticking to his no physical contact boundary.

She was having a blast, and from the look in River’s eyes, she could tell he was too. A couple of times, his eyes lingered on hers after they celebrated a first down, an interception, or a touchdown. She tried not to think too much of it, but his stares didn’t go unnoticed.

During halftime, Calli came up and visited.

“So, what’s Adin doing again?” she asked as she took a seat next to her.

“He’s got that fraternity charity thing.”

“Oh, that’s right.”

“What about Zach?”

“He’s headed to Oklahoma to watch the away game tomorrow. He’s coming back right after it.” She shrugged.

Calli turned to River. “Are you going to the homecoming dance?”

Legacy’s eyes cut to River, but he stayed focused on Calli. “Umm, I don’t think so.”

“You should,” Legacy murmured.

River turned to look at her. “I haven’t asked anyone to go with me.”

She half-smiled at him. His response felt as if he were reassuring her he hadn’t strayed from his heart. She didn’t know what to say to that. She was absolutely positive she knew who he wanted to ask to the dance, but at least he was smart enough to know better. She looked over at Calli with her eyebrows raised, hoping she’d jump in and save her from having to comment about this.

“Er, there’s still time to ask someone,” Calli quickly said. Um, okay, Legacy was glad Calli jumped in, but hoped she’d have picked a better comeback than
that
!

“I’ll think about it.” River shrugged.

“Me and Legacy already bought our dresses,” Calli said with a smile.

“Really? Isn’t it sort of early for that?”

“No way,” she said. “It takes time to find the perfect dress.”

“What do they look like?” River asked while he gazed into Legacy’s eyes.

She smiled at River. “Well, Calli’s is—”

“No, Legacy! If River wants to know what our dresses look like, then he needs to come to the dance.” She laughed.

Legacy shrugged playfully. “She’s right.”

River chuckled and looked down. “Okay.”

“So does that mean you’re coming to the dance?” Calli asked.

“It means I’ll think about it.”

After Calli went back down to cheer the last quarter, Legacy and River started watching the game again. After a few minutes into it, however, he turned toward her. “If I
don’t
come to the dance, can I at least see a picture of you in your dress?” he asked softly.

She smiled at him. “I guess so. I’ll have to get Lissa to take one of me by myself. I’m sure you don’t want to see one of me with my date.”

He nodded as he looked down. “If I do come, will I get to dance with you?”

“Umm, I-I don’t know.” She shrugged. “But I wouldn’t count on it.”

He sighed. “I’m not sure I can deal with going to the dance anyway. I don’t want to do anything that’ll ruin your evening.”

“You wouldn’t ruin my evening,” she whispered.

“Yeah, but I haven’t seen Adin since that night at the game when I mouthed off about you being in my room.” River hesitated and then looked over at her with a crooked smile. “If he smarts off, then I’d have to kick his ass, and then you’d be mad at me. Evening ruined.” He laughed.

“True, but you could act like a civilized human being.” She smiled.

“Ah, but I’m not a civilized human being. I’m part monster and full Greek god. I’m too arrogant to be civilized.” He chuckled.

“And I’m a full Greek goddess. I could always take you down a notch or two.”

“Mmm…it would be interesting to see you
try
.”

“Are you challenging me?” she teased.

“Of course not, baby. I’d never fight a
girl
.”

“Girl? Who are you calling a girl?” she laughed.

“You know exactly who I’m calling a girl, you girlie-girl girl.”

“Hah! The only reason you don’t want to take me on is because you know this girl will win—hands down.”

He laughed. “The only way you’d win is because I’d let you win.”

“You keep telling yourself that,” she scoffed.

“So you really think you’d have a fighting chance against me?”

“I know I would.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Confidence. It’s a powerful thing.”

River threw his head back and howled with laughter. “Confidence isn’t powerful. Our abilities are powerful. Confidence is just a state of mind. So unless you know something about your abilities that I don’t, then I think I’ll have you beat.” He laughed.

Uh-oh. She laughed with him, but looked down. They were just being playful, but this conversation was getting dangerously close to a topic that was completely off limits to River. She had to say something, or he’d get suspicious.

“Well, why don’t we just put our abilities to a test after we both ascend?” She smiled.

“You’re on!”

She dodged the bullet this time, but if she didn’t start being more careful, she feared this wouldn’t be the last time she’d have to utilize her poor dodging skills.

Chapter Thirteen

Legacy woke up to the same dreams she’d been having this fall, which were variation of the dreams she had over the summer. Adin was coming over today, so she hoped he’d be able to help her analyze them.

As she got ready for her day with her boyfriend, she noticed the wind really howling outside. The leaves on the trees were a hodgepodge of harvest colors. Although she didn’t like the chill in the air, she had to admit the fall colors were beautiful.

When Adin arrived, he seemed a little quiet again. The last time he showed up at her house in this mood, it was because of an encounter with Venus.
That
and the fact that he’d seen her and River out together.

Adin helped her go through decorations in the attic to find pieces she could use for the homecoming dance. He was still a little standoffish as he assisted her, but Legacy just gave him time. After about an hour without saying much, though, she finally couldn’t take it anymore.