Chapter 15
Yasmine
This was like the wildest roller coaster ride Yasmine had ever been on. Just when she thought Zeus was going to go one way, he pivoted in a completely different direction.
Which was both too bad and a relief because she really was attracted to him, but also, she did not currently feel very attractive. And part of her really was craving her night of junk food, junk TV, and skincare. What she wanted was two very different scenarios that did not go together at all.
Although Zeus didn’t seem turned off by her clothing choices or her junk food cravings. The fact that he’d taken charge of getting the food had been nice.
Hm. He worked at Black Fox. Did that mean he was a Dom? Yasmine found herself wishing she’d asked. Granted, it wasn’t a requirement for being on the team. And he wasn’t one of the Spice Doms. Dammit, she wished she’d asked Claudia more questions. Or paid more attention when Mason talked about work.
She’d been too involved with the possibility of marrying Mason and breaking the curse to focus on whatever was going on with the team.
Not that Mason had talked much about work.
Definitely, she would have remembered if he’d said there was a new member of the team he didn’t really trust. He’d told Audrey. But not her.
Well, that was why Yasmine wasn’t going to be telling him or Claudia or any of the others about it if she ended up sleeping with Zeus.
It wasn’t their business. And while Claudia had already told Audrey and Cassidy not to tell Mason or David about Zeus and Yasmine meeting due to the Hope situation, Yasmine wasn’t sure that meant Claudia would be as accepting if she found out Yasmine was sleeping with Zeus.
Or had slept with Zeus.
Maybe a one-time thing would be best. It would keep her brain from fantasizing about things like an actual relationship or, worse, a future.
She cleared her throat.
“Actually, I’m not really in the mood for a movie.
” Which was the truth. The problem was, she didn’t want to chase him off now.
She really wanted him to stay. But she wasn’t sure how he was going to react to what she wanted to watch.
It was all Brenda’s fault for bringing it up last night. “Have you heard of Heated Rivalry?”
“Nope. But whatever it is, we can watch it.” His equable calm made her wonder if he really would be okay with it.
Well. He’d asked for it.
Yasmine leaned forward to grab the remote and turn the television on.
It only took her a few minutes to get her app streaming to the television so she could pull up the show.
She gave Zeus another little glance. Well, if he was a homophobe, better to find out before she officially put anything on the table.
This was only her second viewing of the show, and she’d watched through the first time alone.
She did not envy Cassidy, having watched it through with Brenda.
Although Yasmine wouldn’t have minded watching it with some other girl friends.
Watching it with a man had not been on her bingo card for the year.
She kept watching Zeus out of the corner of her eye while things were happening, although she tried not to be too obvious.
Hope made a little whining noise, and Yasmine started scratching her ears, just as Zeus ran his hand down the dog’s back, which had Tiger immediately putting his head on Zeus’ lap to beg for attention.
Zeus chuckled and began petting both dogs.
It was silly to be jealous of dogs, but Yasmine was, wishing she was the one being petted.
As the sexual tension started ramping up on screen, she really wished she was the one getting pets. Especially as her and Zeus’ hands on Hope kept brushing against each other. Her skin tingled with every tiny touch, going straight from her hand to her core as her whole body perked up with interest.
Zeus didn’t seem bothered by the show’s content. Even as the shower scene started.
His brow furrowed.
“Is he…” He chuckled. “Yes, he is.”
Completely unbothered but also completely focused on what was going on in the story. Well, almost completely focused. He turned his head to look at her, and Yasmine realized she was staring at him instead of sneaking a peek.
Her head whipped back around to face the television screen, cheeks burning.
When Zeus chuckled again, she had to hide the urge to hide behind a pillow or something.
Their hands brushed again, and her insides clenched.
She should have picked something else to watch.
The on-screen chemistry was way too much when seated on the couch with an incredibly hot guy she was wildly attracted to and who, for some reason, didn’t seem less attracted to her in her ‘don’t let anyone see me like this’ clothing.
She kept her gaze locked on the screen during the first sex scene, too scared to look away and look at Zeus again.
Too nervous about what might happen if she did.
The whole point of what she was wearing was to ward him off and make it clear to her brain that she wasn’t trying to start a relationship or anything… but it didn’t seem to be working.
Well, the first part didn’t seem to be working.
She wasn’t fantasizing about dating him, though.
Nope, her fantasies about him were all a lot filthier. She couldn’t help but notice his hands and how strong they were. Or the way he was intently focused on the show. What would it be like to have that intensity focused on her?
Probably really freaking hot.
If she wasn’t fantasizing about a possible future with him, and he was attracted to her even now, wasn’t that exactly what she wanted?
Granted, there was the issue of Claudia and the team, but if she and Zeus weren’t actually dating, it wasn’t like anyone needed to know that they were doing anything together.
That could be her own private business. It definitely wasn’t Mason’s business.
And while Yasmine would usually tell her friends about a guy…
she was already doing the opposite with Zeus.
She could just keep that up.
Fucking, not dating.
Staying in the present instead of dreaming about a future that wasn’t going to happen.
Dressing down instead of dressing up.
Not telling her friends instead of telling her friends.
The reason she told her friends was that she’d eventually want any guy she was with to meet them. But that wasn’t what she was doing here.
The doorbell rang, and the dogs jumped into action, barking wildly, Hope seeming to follow Tiger’s lead.
Yasmine jumped, her hand flying to her chest over her suddenly pounding heart.
The sweet, friendly Tiger suddenly sounded quite vicious.
Maybe she needed a dog more like that, in case Pete James ever came back.
Most people wouldn’t want to tangle with a dog that snarled like that.
Zeus got to his feet, shaking his head.
“It’s just the food, you two nuts.” He walked over to the door and answered it, shoving the dogs behind him with his legs and keeping them from the delivery guy on the other side.
Hope sat down, wagging her tail, while Tiger ran back and forth behind Zeus, making little whimpering sounds as if he was upset that he was being kept from the newcomer.
“I’ll get us new drinks,” Yasmine said, jumping up from her spot on the suddenly lonely couch. That would give her a minute to get her act together. “Is water okay?”
“Water is great,” Zeus said over his shoulder as he manfully moved the dogs aside, closed the door, and swiveled with all the food piled atop two pizza boxes. “Can you grab some plates too? I’ll get this set up on the coffee table.”
Good. She didn’t want to add any more alcohol to this situation. That seemed like a bad idea. This evening had already gone off the rails in unexpected ways, and she wasn’t sure where it was going to go from here, but she didn’t want to be drunk for it or even tipsy.
“Thanks!” Her voice came out a little squeakier than normal. She really needed to get herself together.
Zeus
This was not how Zeus had expected his Friday night to go, but he was enjoying himself. The show was really good, proximity to Yas was good, the dogs were happy, and the food smelled great. Maybe he’d needed a relaxing night in more than he’d realized.
Sure, he had plenty of nights in, but somehow, they were always filled with things to get done—work he hadn’t finished, stuff around the house, fitting in an extra workout if he didn’t have anything else to do.
He couldn’t remember the last time he’d just chilled out and eaten food that was terrible for him.
The few times he and Noelle had stayed in hadn’t exactly been relaxing, either.
She’d always needed his focused attention, and she had the tendency to talk through anything they were watching.
It hadn’t bothered him too much, but it also hadn’t been relaxing.
Hanging out here with Yas tonight was different.
He felt acutely attuned to her presence, and at the same time, he was more relaxed than he’d been in a long time. He felt… looser.
“Nope.” Putting his leg in front of Tiger, he prevented the dog from jumping up onto the couch where he would be between Zeus and Yas. It was one thing while they were just watching the television, but now there was food involved, and Tiger was a little sneaky sneak about human food.
Zeus had given him dinner before they’d come over, but that wasn’t going to matter.
“Sit, Tiger,” he ordered.
Tiger sat, his tail going a mile a minute, thudding against the leg of the coffee table.
“What is that noise?” Yas asked, coming back into the room with a curious expression. She laughed when Tiger’s tail started wagging even harder at her presence, practically pounding against the coffee table leg. “Oh, my goodness, his tail is like a whip.”
“It really is. Thank you,” he said, as she put a glass down in front of him.
“You’re welcome. I’ll be right back with the plates.”
Zeus spread things out on the table, putting the pizza boxes on top of each other.
He peeked inside the other containers to put the wings, cheese fries, and mozzarella sticks on the table, and the desserts to the side.
As he was doing that, Yas came back into the room and handed him a plate before sitting back down herself.
“What kind of pizza did you get?” she asked, reaching for the boxes.
“One supreme with everything, one with just pepperoni.”
She paused, hand outstretched toward the boxes as she turned her head to look at him.
“Is one for me and one for you?”
“No, but you said you like everything. I don’t mind that, but it’s not my favorite, so I got pepperoni, too. We can both have some of both.”
“When I said I like everything, I meant you could get whatever; I didn’t mean you had to get everything,” she said with a little shake of her head as she returned her attention to the pizza boxes and opened the one on top. It was the supreme. “I would have been happy eating just pepperoni.”
“Yes, but you like everything, and this way, there’s both.”
Obviously, Yas was used to making things easier on herself.
And considering the fact that she took two pieces of the one with everything before settling back against the couch, rather than getting a piece of pepperoni, she did have a preference.
She might have been fine with just pepperoni, but she wanted the one with all the toppings.
“Okay… ready to keep the show going?” she asked with a little smirk at him.
“Sure.” He was curious where it was headed. Other men didn’t really turn him on, but he could appreciate the Russian's Dom vibes and the storytelling about how the couple was coming together. And he wanted to keep watching it with her. He wasn’t ready for tonight to end.
Yas lifted the remote up and restarted the show.