The Calling (28 page)

“He wasn’t interested in becomin’ her lover, but she wanted him, and she wasn’t givin’ up easily. In her mission to claim Triton, she discovered a way to possess his soul so that he’d be hers forever.”

“That couldn’t have ended well. What happened?”

“The Litai warned Triton. He made council with Metis, and she gave him a spell to protect himself.”

“Metis?”

“Goddess of wisdom.”

Mandy nodded. “Oh, of course.”

“Anyway, the spell she gave Triton would allow him to split his soul, but he could only house the other half in a mortal. He immediately took an Athenian lover. When she became pregnant, he split his soul in half and housed his partial spirit in his offspring. Atë can only claim Triton’s soul in its entirety, and she can’t take a soul from a mortal. As long as Triton’s descendants carry a piece of his spirit, he’s safe from Atë. But—”

“There’s always a but.”

Mitch nodded, his face grim. “Every generation, Triton has to call his soul back to himself. If he doesn’t, he begins to age. To call back his spirit, the carriers of his soul have to enter the water if they want to live.”

“The Calling.”

“Yep. Anyhow—”

Mandy held her hand up to stop him. “What constitutes a generation?”

“Every eighteen to twenty-two years, best I can tell.”

“So you have a four year window when the calling could happen?”

Mitch nodded.

“Couldn’t Triton get on a set schedule?” she asked. “It’d sure make it easier on everybody.”

“He’s a god, Mandy. They ain’t exactly bound by our ideas of passin’ time.”

“I just don’t understand why it has to be a life or death situation.”

“Because Triton can call his soul back to himself from anywhere, no matter if his descendant’s on land or in the sea. But to return it, the mortal has to be in the water.”

“And that’s why Cecilia died,” she whispered.

His eyes tensed. “Triton pulled his soul from her, but he couldn’t return it. His soul was so entwined with hers that, without it, she died.”

Mandy’s body chilled, her blood icy in her veins, as she thought of poor Cecelia. “If your wife had known, Cecelia would be alive.”

“She did know, but her family was devout. They put God above everything. If she admitted I was the offspring of a god, she’d have to deny her faith.”

Mandy wrung the life out of the bottle in her hands; anger, hot and surging, chased away her chill. His mother hadn’t known about the Calling before she’d married. She’d deserved the truth before committing to him, but Mitch hadn’t given her the option. “You shouldn’t have married her.”

“I loved her.” His face went rigid as if he were trying hard to hide his emotions. “I knew I’d never want another. I refused to give up my happiness because I was born with this curse.”

She shook her head at his selfish words. “But your wife’s happiness was taken from her because of your heritage.”

His jaw set hard. “If Cecelia hadn’t died, my family would still be intact.”

“And you blame Justin!”

“No! I never blamed him.” The hurt in his voice and the endless sadness in his brown eyes made her rushing blood still. “Everything that happened was my fault.”

“Justin thinks Cecelia died because he was weak,” she whispered, hoping a soft tone would make her words less painful. “Your silence only strengthened his guilt.”

“I don’t know—” His voice broke. “I don’t know how to fix this.” He gazed at her with pleading eyes. As much as she wanted to blame him for all of his family’s suffering, she knew no one was at fault but those damn gods.

She reached across the table and placed her hand over his, his skin rough, yet warm. “Start by telling Justin you don’t blame him.”

With a sigh, he nodded. “After his mom died, I realized I ain’t got forever. I want my son back before it’s too late.” He held Mandy’s gaze, his eyes so much like Justin’s. “I don’t want to be the granddaddy no one talks about.”

She gave him a halfhearted grin and squeezed his calloused hand. “He still cares about you. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t have put up with your cooking for so long.”

Mitch’s expression turned sheepish, a slight blush creeping into his cheeks. “The chicken fried steak was a little overdone last night.”

“Eating a tire would have been easier.” She leaned back in her chair and tipped her beer toward him. “You do grill a mean steak.”

For a long moment, they stared at one another, Mitch seeming to reach for words he couldn’t find. And then their moment of sharing was gone; she could see it in the way he dropped his eyes to his beer. “I’ll go fire up the charcoal and grill us some T-bones. Dinner’ll be ready in about thirty minutes.”

She took one last sip of beer, closed her laptop, and stood, letting the topic of reconciliation drop. Mitch would talk to Justin when he was good and ready.

“I’ll rally the troops,” she said. “That son of yours has been asleep for over two hours.”

Leaving Justin’s dad in the kitchen, she strolled down the hall and pushed open Justin’s door. She stepped inside, expecting to find him sound asleep. Instead, he lay staring at the ceiling with his cell phone clutched in his hand.

“Everything okay?” she asked.

“Dale called.”

He patted her side of the bed, and she slid in next to him, the crisp sheets cool against her skin. “What did he want?”

“To tell me the findings of the investigation.”

She bolted upright. “And?”

“Operator error and gross negligence.”

“They’re holding you responsible?” How could they? He’d been in the middle of a freakin’ hurricane! Justin grabbed her arm and squeezed, probably trying to calm her, but her heart pounded in her ears. She twisted the sheets in her hands. “It wasn’t your fault!”

“Not me…Ty.”

His words took a couple of seconds to sink in, but once they did, she gasped. “Ty hurt you?”

“They pieced together my account, the co-pilot’s, and Ty’s testimony. He didn’t follow procedure and knowingly placed me in a dangerous situation.”

“Do you think he did it on purpose?”

“No!” He slowly sat up, and said in a softer voice, “I mean, no. I can’t believe he’d intentionally hurt anyone.”

“He tried to convince me the accident was your fault.”

“He played the same game with the investigation team. He’s manipulative, but he wouldn’t try and get someone killed.” Justin pulled her close, nestling her head between his chin and neck. “He’s grounded and getting a transfer.”

“Seriously?” she yelped, finding it hard to control her glee.

“Yep. Not only that, but Dale said I can start light duty on Monday with a doctor’s note.”

“And Ty won’t be there?”

“Nope.”

Besides being cancer-free, she hadn’t heard better news all year. Her tension immediately eased, and she couldn’t help but notice that Justin was shirtless, the smooth expanse of his skin beneath her palm making her tingly.

She pulled up the sheet covering his legs, peered beneath, and smiled. “Did someone forget to do your laundry?”

He chuckled. “That darn girlfriend of mine’s useless.”

She glanced at the floor and saw his boxers wadded up by the nightstand.

“I got hot,” he said.

She nuzzled the base of his neck. “Do you think we could celebrate your recovery?”

His voice lowered an octave, the way it always did when he got aroused. “You never did wear lingerie and high heels to tend to me. You could have at least gotten one of those slutty nurse uniforms.”

“You’re dad’s here, remember?” She tiptoed her fingers down the curly dark hair that disappeared beneath the sheet. “I wish we had time for a romp.”

Justin landed a kiss on her lips. “Why don’t we?” He rolled on top of her and pushed her into the pillows, the bed sucking her into its warm depths. Then, he growled a deep rumbling sound that made her vibrate in all the right places.

She giggled. “Steaks will be done in thirty minutes.”

“I only need ten.”

“That’s it?”

“It’s been a month. You’ll be lucky if I last five.” He leaned down and whispered in her ear, “I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”

He kissed her deeply, then she pushed against his chest and rolled on top of him, breaking their lip lock. “I’ve got a better idea.” Swiftly, she crossed the room and locked the door, then turned back to Justin, giving him her best sultry look. “There’s a lot we can do in thirty minutes,” she purred.

Justin’s lips twitched as if he wasn’t sure what to make of her words, but anticipation gleamed in his eyes when she moved to the end of the bed. Not about to disappoint him, she ran a hand up the sheet, then wrapped her fingers around the cotton and slid the fabric past his hips. His erection sprang forth, hard and ready. She fought the urge to touch him, to feel the silky skin of his shaft, and instead smiled coyly. After a month of abstinence, she wanted to light every fire in his oven, until he couldn’t even remember his own name, only hers.

He sat up and looped his fingers through the belt holes of her jeans, tugging them down.

“Nuh uh,” Mandy said, as she ran a finger across the coarse hair on his chest and gently pushed him back down. She intended to draw his pleasure out to the last moment, until he begged for release. “Keep your back on the bed at all times.”

He smiled smugly. “Playing hard to get, are you?”

“Not at all.”

She pulled off her shirt, revealing a black satin bra with red ribbon laced across the top seam.

“Nice.” He licked his lips. “I don’t remember seeing that before.”

“You haven’t.” A week ago, she’d banished her granny panties and matching cotton bras to the back of her lingerie drawer, replacing them in favor of a more eclectic selection that would make Justin drool.

She stood by the bed and slipped out of her jeans.

“Oh, dear God,” he growled. “Come here… now.”

She twirled in a circle, arching her back and toying with the ribbons that tied her panties against her hips. His gaze swept over every inch of her exposed skin.

She flushed under his hot stare. “Like what you see?”

He eyes rested on the ribbons gracing her hips. “I want to unwrap you. Now.”

“In a minute.”

She stood at the foot of the bed, Justin sprawled naked before her, and admired every smooth line of muscle, every ridge of his flat stomach, every curve of his golden skin. He wrapped his hand around his thick shaft and stroked it from base to tip, and her knees nearly buckled with the need to ride him, to feel his hard length inside her.

He waved a finger at her to come closer. “Let me touch you.”

Mandy shook her head, then crawled onto the bed and hovered over his legs. This was her game, not his, and she made the rules. “I touch you first.” She swept down and drew her tongue over his balls, gently sucking one sphere into her mouth. With the slightest pressure, she rolled the globe, letting the loose skin glide over her tongue.

Justin jerked, then moaned. “Jesus!” His legs opened wider.

“Shhh. Unless you want your dad to hear us.”

He gritted his teeth as she lapped at him. “He can go outside if—oh, Christ!”

She drove her tongue between his balls, listening to his shallow panting with satisfaction. When she rolled both spheres across her tongue, he moaned and dug his fingers into the bed, the sheets twisting free of the mattress.

“I have to touch you,” he begged.

Mandy trailed her tongue up the vein at the base of his penis until she reached the head. “I don’t think so.” She stared straight into his eyes while she slid his entire shaft deep into her mouth and sucked, pulling with as much vacuum as she could muster.

His head kicked back, and he groaned a tortured sound. When she swallowed, her throat clicking against the tip of his length, he cried out, “Jesus Christ!”

Mandy lifted up and pursed her lips. “Stop taking the Lord’s name in vain.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he panted.

She trailed light kisses up the flat planes of his stomach. When she reached his lips, he grabbed her roughly around the neck and dove his tongue into her mouth. She could taste his passion, his desire, his need. His body trembled beneath hers, and it made her drunk with power.

“I wonder how you’d look if I straddled your face,” she said, a hint of teasing in her voice.

His chest rumbled with a laugh, then he cupped her bottom and pushed her upward, past his stomach, over his chest. He slid beneath her, his massive shoulders clearing her legs. She balanced on her knees, and he stared up at her, only his nose and eyes visible.

“What do you think?” His tongue ran over her panties, just above her pebble of pleasurable flesh. “Good?”

Mandy sucked in a sharp breath as a ripple of ecstasy swept through her. She blew it out slowly, regaining her composure. “You’d look better if I was naked.”

Justin twisted his fingers through the ribbons on her hips. “Can I unwrap you now?”

“Yes. But use your teeth.”