Lesson in Love (Olympians, 2) (2 page)

He was ready to launch into a real
tirade and give it to her, but she beat him to it.

“
Do you know how much pain
you’ve caused?” she demanded.

That surprised him. He had no idea
what she meant. “Who have I caused pain to?”

“
Abigail, for
one.”

Eros searched his mind. Then he
remembered. “But we only went out for a few weeks.”

Iris shook her head. “She spent months
watching you, coming in here almost every day trying to see you,
but you didn’t notice her until the day she walked by your table in
a short skirt. She wore it just for you. She was an old-fashioned
girl who deserved to be swept off her feet by a handsome prince,
but you took her out clubbing and seduced her. Then you left
her.”

Put that way, it sounded awful, but
Eros didn’t remember it like that. “But that’s not how it happened.
She was fine. I thought she liked clubs. She said she
did.”

“
She would have said
anything to make you happy. She went from business suits and comfy
sweaters to tank tops and tight jeans for you. She gave up lovely
dinners by the fire for drinks in bars for you. And you broke her
heart. She was a virgin, and you didn’t even care.”

He winced. He had to admit he had
messed up there. If he’d known, he might have stopped at just
fooling around, but she’d seemed so eager to please him. Now his
memories had a different feel altogether. He had pulled away when
he felt how tight she was and asked if she was a virgin, but she
had then insisted they keep going by clinging to him and kissing
him. That night had been awkward for him, but the sex that followed
over the next few weeks had been great for both of them. Looking
back, he felt it should have been different. Normally they might
have broken up sooner, but he stuck it out for nearly a month
because she’d been a virgin. He should have paid more attention to
her feelings and looked past her words. She’d said it was
wonderful, but had she meant it? She’d also said that losing her
virginity was no big deal, that she’d wanted to for a long time but
had been waiting because she’d been through a bad breakup a few
years earlier. She’d never said anything else about that breakup.
Was she only trying to keep him or make him think she wouldn’t be
possessive just because he was her first? Wasn’t he supposed to be
the god who fixed relationships? Shouldn’t that make him more
intuitive than the average male?

He
began to feel overwhelmed. “How do you know all
this?”

“
She came in here one day.
She was a wreck. I took her back into my office. She told me
everything about this guy named
Erik
before I could stop her. I knew
you’d hurt her, but I never imagined what a jerk you’d really be in
the end.”

Eros’ face flushed. He wasn’t used to
other deities knowing about his mistakes. “I’m sorry. I’ll
apologize to her. What else can I do?”

Iris shook her head. “You should never
see her again, but I’d encourage you to make sure she finds the
happiness she deserves.”

“
That’s not my job
anymore,” he explained. “I pissed Zeus off, and now my mother’s
doing it all.”

“
Well then, I think I
should bring Abigail’s situation to Aphrodite’s
attention.”

“
No!” A cold sweat covered
his body. “If she finds out I seduced a virgin, she’ll have my head
mounted on her chariot.”

Iris’ mischievous smile
worried him as she said,
“She just might,
but that isn’t my problem. You can’t stop me.” She
disappeared.

Eros sat down to think. He couldn’t go
back to Olympus, not so soon, so Iris was right. He couldn’t stop
her from getting him into even deeper trouble. And it didn’t help
that the memory of her anger had his body reacting in more ways
than one. She obviously hated him, yet he was thinking about
kissing her. All in all, he was having a very bad day.

* * * *

“
Dear, oh
dear.”

Eros had just sat down in his living
room when he looked up and saw Aphrodite. Her hair was platinum
blonde, straight, and very short instead of falling down her back
in honey-colored curls as it usually did, but her eyes remained
blue and her skin translucent. She wore a long blue dress that made
her eyes look even brighter.

“
Just do your worst. Or
take me before Zeus. It hardly matters now.”

“
You seduced a virgin? I
should throw you to Artemis.”

Artemis, goddess of the hunt and
symbol of chastity, was also a woman who had hated Eros for roughly
five hundred years. She’d have him gutted in no time.

“
Maybe you
should.”

“
I already knew about
Abigail. I was waiting for your conscience to get to you so you
would make things right.”

He looked up in surprise. “You can’t
be serious.”

“
I am. If you do it, and
do it right, I’ll forgive you. No one could overrule me. Zeus
thinks things like that are of no consequence.”

“
I know.” Typically, with
his mother, the inability of anyone but Zeus to overrule her was a
disadvantage. “Don’t you think it’s too personal?”

She raised her eyebrows and then
giggled. “You’re saying you had feelings for her?”

“
No, but I do
have
feelings. She acted
so sexy. I was already, well,
there
before I realized.”

“
Not all mortals lose
their virginity in their teens nowadays, as hard as you might find
that to believe.”

“
I should have read her
mind.”

“
Seems you stopped doing
that a long time ago. Bad for your ego, wasn’t it? So good at
making matches but so bad at relationships.”

“
I was born to make
matches. I’m starting to think I was also born to be
alone.”

The goddess shrugged. “Perhaps. You
never know. Any ideas?”

“
Any ideas about
what?”

She glared at him. “Abigail. No matter
how neglectful you are, these things are never far from your
mind.”

Eros thought. “Not really. I’ll have
to think about it. She’s probably wary of men now.”

“
Gee, wonder
why?”

He glared back at her, wishing he
could wipe the smirk off her face. “You want me to feel
bad?”

“
I want you to feel human
pain. Or at least understand it. It’s dangerous to lose the ability
to do so.”

“
I’ll find someone for
her. Want me to submit him for your approval?”

She waved his question away. “You’ll
do fine. We’ll see to your problems when all this is
over.”

He jumped up. “Oh no, don’t even
think—”

She was gone. He kicked the couch and
flopped back down on it. He had his work cut out for him: finding
the perfect man for Abigail when matchmaking was the last thing he
wanted to do, and avoiding his mother’s scheme, which would likely
prove the harder of the two.

* * * *

Iris entered Hera’s study tentatively
because it appeared to be empty.

“
Hello?”

“
I’m here. Just a
moment.”

Iris looked around but still didn’t
see the queen of Olympus anywhere.

“
Behind you, sweetie,”
Hera said, slapping Iris on the ass as she walked past.

Iris yelped, but then she composed
herself. “You seem in good spirits.”

Hera
smirked and sighed with contentment. “Mmmm. Had a very nice
evening. I was just changing.”

Iris turned and looked at the large
walk-in closet behind the bookcase. “You’ve had lots of good
evenings lately.”

Hera sat in her chair. “And mornings
too. Yes, ever since Poseidon and Zeus stopped fighting, my
honey-bunny has been very playful. Zeus tends to have these erotic
dreams he pulls me into and then he wakes up even
hornier.”

“
Sounds fun.”

Hera sighed and shook her head slowly.
“You need to get laid, sweetheart. Did you and Poseidon, well, give
it a whirl? Seems he’s the last male I saw you with. I know he’s
taken now, but I do hope you got some of that while it was still
available.”

“
No, we didn’t. And that
was months ago. We went for a walk on the beach while I complained
about men.”

Hera winced. “Oh. Poseidon probably
wasn’t the best audience for that.”

“
He was very kind. He
wasn’t offended because he knew I was only angry with one
particular man.”

“
Yes. Eros.”

Iris waited for Hera to say something
else, but she didn’t. It was very unlike her to have nothing to say
about matters of the heart. “It’s no secret I’ve liked him for a
long time.”

“
But you do nothing about
it. He came on to you because he didn’t know who you
were.”

“
So he would have ignored
me if he’d known who I was?”

Hera clucked her tongue at Iris. “No,
silly. I mean he wanted nothing more than to sleep with you because
he thought you were either mortal or unimportant in the Olympian
scheme of things. If he had known who you were, he still would have
hit on you, but he would have put a little more charm into
it.”

“
So, as a mortal girl he’d
just want to fuck me, but as a goddess he’d date me?”

“
Hmmm. Yeah, that does
sound awful. Do you get what I mean? It wasn’t personal. He prefers
to pursue mortal women, even if he never seems to pursue for very
long because he gets what he wants and then loses interest. He
obviously found you attractive.”

“
I know. I could have
reacted better to his not knowing who I was. Instead of walking
off, I could have said something clever. I could have gotten his
attention somehow. I guess I was too scared. And
defensive.”

“
You didn’t do anything
wrong. I have something to tell you, and I’m just trying to lead
into it.”

“
What?” When Hera
hesitated, it usually meant the hearer wasn’t going to like the
news very much.

“
Well, Aphrodite has been
to see her naughty boy and told him what he needs to do to make
things right.”

Iris nodded. “He has to find love for
Abigail, true love. I know. She told me. It ought to be fun to
watch.”

“
Thing is, it’s already
taken care of.”

Iris stared. “He’s already done it?
You can’t be serious!”

“
No. Not that. Aphrodite
has been working on it herself. Abigail is already dating again.
You didn’t know because she avoids your place now. It brings back
bad memories.” Hera stood up and walked toward Iris. “Truth is,
Abigail’s new guy’s going to propose soon. Eros is going to be in
for a bit of a shock when he starts making his plans.”

“
I don’t understand. He’s
just going to get away with it? He seduced a virgin.”

“
But he didn’t use his
powers on her. He did it the old-fashioned way. Aphrodite is the
only one fit to judge her own son, and she says he regrets taking
her maidenhead even if he denies being guilty of breaking her
heart.”

“
But isn’t that also a
matter for his mother to decide?”

Hera held up her hand. “Right now he
thinks Abigail’s crying her eyes out and staying home because of
him, but really she’s very happy. We want him to see how easily
true love can help someone get over even a god. Once he sees her
truly happy, he will understand how unhappy he made her. And how
unhappy he truly is living his life the way he does.”

“
I can see the merit in
that, but what does this have to do with me?”

“
His behavior will only
get worse as he grows more cynical. We want someone to teach him
the meaning and value of unconditional love.”

Iris didn’t want to be the one to do
that. “No. Please, don’t involve me. If Aphrodite has come up with
some scheme, fine, but don’t involve me.”

Hera looked at Iris for a long moment.
“Are you afraid of getting hurt?”

Iris knew exactly how much it would
hurt when Eros didn’t love her back. “What do you
think?”

“
I understand, but will
you trust us? He’s already rather taken with you. You fill his
thoughts, and most of them are very wicked.”

“
I stood up to him, so now
he wants to fuck me. That’s it. It hasn’t escaped my notice that he
likes a good chase now and then.”

“
We won’t force you, but
you’re going to find him very much in your path. We’ll see what
happens.”

“
But I don’t want to—” She
didn’t finish her sentence because she stood in her own office,
alone. She sighed and sat down. She knew the next few weeks would
be very trying, but if she could only stay strong, Hera and
Aphrodite would soon tire of their little game.

Chapter Two

Eros sat in Abigail’s garden plucking
the petals off a rose. After a moment, he looked down at the flower
and transformed it into a myrtle, a flower sacred to his
mother.