Chapter 14
Waking up in a giant, lush bed felt good to E.
Or maybe it was the hard, warm arms snuggling her tight to a golden chest that had her aching to stay right where she was.
Alas, she had work. E groaned at the thought of having to face Mitchel after a fabulous night, but when her alarm blared again after her snooze time ran down, she wiggled free from Plutus and plodded into the spa-like black marble bathroom connected to his bedroom.
She used the toothbrush he’d given her, jumped in the shower, and gave herself a quick scrub down.
Very necessary given the sweaty activities of the night before.
Thinking about it, and the delicious ache between her legs, made her groan again but in a much more fun way.
Also made it harder to not crawl back into bed with the god sprawled there when she exited the steamy bathroom.
Plutus’s golden skin stretched taut and sparkly in the soft morning light. His eyes, usually so bright and clear, looked sweet and sleepy. His elbows were cocked, propping his mouth-watering torso up so he could look over at her. Somehow, even hazy with sleep, the smirk still held firm on his face.
“Good morning,” he said, dipping his head so his horns came up and down in a slow bob. He took his time looking her up and down as she stood slightly damp with only a towel wrapped around her.
His voice was impossibly growly. It hit her core when he said, “Could I convince you to stay in bed with me today?”
“No. Nope. No way and no how,” she said.
E tried, desperately, for nonchalance and firm resolve with those words, but they came out in a rushed, breathy ramble that had the god chuckling as he slipped his elbows free and plopped back down on the bed.
Which managed to look graceful rather than ridiculous.
He was too damn smooth for his own good. She scowled at him.
Somehow, without even looking at her, he knew and said, “Wipe the look off your face or I’ll spank it off for you.”
She jolted upright and scurried as if going back to the bathroom, though she stopped mid-step and changed course.
She needed clothes, and hers were still rumpled somewhere in the living room.
Trying to inch toward the door without getting too close to Plutus’s sexy orbit, she heard a laugh ring out and watched the god roll over in his bed to pin her with an amused look.
“Plan on wearing wrinkled clothes to work?” When she didn’t answer, he pointed toward a large set of double-doors along the opposite wall.
“You have clothes in the closet,” he said.
She screwed up her face to snap something and he stopped her with an upraised hand.
“Before you throw a fit, I did not buy you more clothes. I simply went to your apartment and brought back some of the clothes I already gave you. You’re welcome for such a sacrifice, by the way.
It’s hard on me when you don’t let me spoil you. ”
“You’ll live,” E threw over her shoulder as she marched into the impossibly large walk-in closet.
Plutus had racks of clothes and shoes crowding half the space.
The other half held a few items from her apartment.
To be honest, E couldn’t know for sure if they were clothes he’d already gotten her.
She didn’t do an inventory. He could get away with slipping new things in there, but she’d never tell him as much.
Running a hand across the dangling clothes, she took a moment to savor the feel of soft and expensive fabric on her fingertips before pushing the thought aside. Another thing she’d never admit to Plutus because he’d run with it, wearing her down until he gave her everything he could.
Why not let him?
Those four little words exploded in her head like a flash bomb. She shook off the desire and the excuses.
Work.
She had work to get to, so she randomly grabbed a crisp button-up shirt, a lush cream silk with black stitching from some French brand she’d never heard of, then spotted matching pants in the opposite design, black silk with cream stitching.
Damn but silk pants seemed too ridiculous.
Not at all practical. Still, they glided on her skin, slightly slippery and almost like flowing water she could wear.
Despite the impracticality, she wore them.
She went through the rest of getting ready, Plutus directing her to the hair products and makeup he also had for her.
When she stared at the obviously new stuff for a touch too long, he let her.
E turned to him eventually, and with his now trademark smirk, he gave a shrug and admitted, “It’s not unheard of for someone to have multiple beauty products, especially when they may be going back and forth from one place to another. ”
“I’m going back and forth now?” She asked, yanking a heavy boar-bristle brush through her pink hair. She reached for a claw clip in what appeared to be her drawer in his bathroom when he spun her around. Bending down, he pinned her against his hard body and the cold marble of the bathroom vanity.
“No,” he growled. “Not if I can help it. But give me this.”
He gave her this, that was the whole fucking point.
Or sticking point. Whatever. Either way, she had no time to argue.
She was about to tell him so, when he dipped lower, taking her mouth in a searing kiss.
His large, oh-so-skilled claws came up to grab two-fistfuls of her hair and deepen the kiss.
The slight tug, the small ache, made her core flutter in anticipation.
Before it went too far, he released her, spun her around to face the mirror, and gave her a sting of a slap on her ass.
She blushed at the impact, a hitch in her breath making her chest rise.
He gripped her throat then, lifting her head and turning it so her cheek bloomed full on in the mirror.
“Gorgeous,” he growled before he released her and stepped back out of the bathroom, almost too quick for her to clock the actual movements in the mirror.
E let loose a deep but shaky breath then went to rebrush her hair and finish getting ready, rushing out of the bathroom and Plutus’s apartment in a flash. She only stopped to take the offered tumbler Plutus shook at her. “You have coffee downstairs. Go.”
She looked at the cup, saw a thickish, light liquid through the clear lid and took a tentative sip. Strawberry and banana smoothie. Delicious.
“You make this?”
“Told you I like to cook,” he said in answer, leaning his too broad shoulders against the wall by the elevator.
“Making a smoothie isn’t exactly cooking.”
“Okay. I like to feed you. In whatever way I can.”
It wasn’t a joke. The openness of his face when he said it told her everything about the honesty of his words. Instead of replying, she reached up on tiptoes and placed a quick peck on his cheek.
He didn’t say anything either, but he did give her a broad, sincere smile as he tagged the elevator button. In moments the doors dinged open and their silent searching of one another’s faces came to an end.
“Have fun with all your books,” he called with a jaunty wave.
She laughed. “Have fun with your godly duties.” The doors closed. Oddly, she felt a little heavier when she lost sight of him.
Lucky for her, she wasn’t rushing into her little work nook that morning.
Doubly lucky, she didn’t encounter Mitchel first thing.
In passing, Brian mentioned something about a meeting with IT about database entry issues.
Nothing to do with her, so she got right down to business, sticking her magnifiers on her head and continuing the meticulous task of undoing what a book binder did, centuries ago.
When she blinked up from her desk an hour and a half later, Anne stood by her desk. Her beaded glasses chain clanked slightly against her chunky beaded necklace. “Hey, E. Do you have a minute?”
E then noticed the twisting hands, the tight skin around her eyes, the darting looks around the room. “You okay, Anne?”
“Yeah. Yes. I just… Can we talk? Outside? For a second?”
Now worried, E slid her goggles off and rose from her desk, gesturing for Anne to lead the way.
They walked out of the restoration section, downstairs, and into the open courtyard in silence.
Visitors mingled and a few kids laughed.
Anne found an empty bench away from the interior door and sat.
E followed and Anne grabbed up her hand as soon as her butt hit the seat.
“I’m so sorry I talked to Mitchel about that dang missing book,” she muttered.
“Huh?”
“He’s been asking a lot about you, E. I think–. Gosh, I don’t even really want to think it, but I do.” She swallowed hard then in a rush said, “I think he thinks you took the book. Maybe that you’ve been taking other books, given all that’s gone wrong with the database lately.”
“Huh?” What else could she say? E had the book, of course, but there wasn’t a damn thing she could do about it according to Plutus.
Regardless, The Book of Desires wasn’t even in the database anymore, which might as well mean it didn’t exist in this collection.
Also, there were security cameras out the wazoo in the workspace.
They’d clearly show she didn’t go anywhere near the book.
Though, she did hope there was no way it could show the book magicking itself into her bag. Something to ask Plutus about tonight.
“I think he suspects you stole the books and somehow cleared the database.”
E shook her head, her thoughts sparking and firing in rapid succession, trying to think through the implications and what she might be able to do about all this.
Or if she needed to do anything. Mitchel had always had a certain aloofness toward her, and now it seemed to be outright distaste.
After her asking for more money, and the missing book.
Money and the book. God damn it all, he likely thought she stole the book because she needed money, since it all went down on the same day.