Chapter 13
Edowned an espresso martini and a fluffy angel food cupcake with the lightest buttercream she’d tasted in her life.
Plutus may have growled at her halfway, but only because she kept moaning around bites of the thing.
She giggled and promised to control herself.
“Don’t say such a thing, little one. I like when you lose control.
Maybe just tamp down the moans in public. For my sanity.”
She managed it, and they enjoyed conversation in the midtown restaurant.
E told him about the weirdness with Mitchel.
The curl of his lips at the mention of her boss made her laugh.
He didn’t even know anything about the man.
“I dislike him on principle alone,” he replied when she pointed out the fact.
Fair enough, in her mind. But only because she did know the man and he deserved the god’s dislike.
She told him about her advisor meeting with much more enthusiasm. He sat across from her, occasionally twisting his martini glass and adding encouraging words and sounds as she talked about her thesis work.
E asked about his day, and he talked about a conversation he had with his sister, the business calls he had to take, and some deliveries he had to pick up at his apartment. “Speaking of which,” he eased into the conversation. “I would like you to come to my apartment with me after this.”
She knew it wasn’t far, since he’d told her they’d gone to the restaurant in his building.
She also knew she had to get over her hangup connected to his wealth.
He was the god of wealth. He’d also explained his magic and how he used it last night, so she needed to let him be more open with it and what he’d gotten with it. His power was who he was in many ways.
She lifted a shoulder as if it were no big deal when she was more than a little nervous about it all. “Sure. No problem.”
He snorted at her feigned indifference, but let her have it, giving her a little space as he called for and then paid the check.
He stood, straightened his shirt, and reached down to her. “Come.” She took his hand, in its odd-to-her human form, and had the absurd thought she’d want to hold his hand anywhere, anytime, for any reason.
They had a quiet, uneventful ride to Billionaire’s Row. Plutus only spoke again when he thanked the driver, as usual, and chatted casually with the doorman.
After initial pleasantries, where she learned Plutus knew all about the man’s daughter’s high school play and asked about it, he introduced her.
“Dan, this is E Micheals. I know there is official paperwork I need to file, but informally I’ll tell you she is welcome in my apartment, with or without me, at any time. ”
“Nice to meet you, Ms. Michaels. Of course, sir. You file the form online, but even before it goes through I’ll remember her pretty face.”
“The pink hair also makes me memorable, Dan,” E laughed. “And please, call me E.” She reached out to shake his hand.
He took her hand in his and gave it a firm, if quick, shake. She knew he wouldn’t call her anything informal, for a number of reasons, but she wished he would. He was still polite and said, “Of course, miss.”
“Okay, then, Dan. We’ll see you again soon.
” Plutus clapped him on the shoulder and they moved across the vast marble entry toward the sleek elevators.
When they entered, he flashed a key fob by a black reader before hitting a pretty damn high number on the panel.
The elevator shot up swift and sure and Plutus mumbled, “Need to give you the extra fob.”
“You don’t–”
He cut her off with a look. “I will give you the extra key fob when we get in my apartment.”
When the doors opened, they stepped into a foyer. “You have the whole floor.”
“No,” he said, stopping the elevator door and bringing her back around to look at the panel. “See. This has 52R and 52F. Make sure you hit 52F, so the front doors open. I share the floor with another apartment. No need for a whole floor when I’m not always here.”
Whole floor or not, the space would be massive given the size of the building.
She wandered out and Plutus let her. E moved from room to room, taking in the huge open kitchen, dining room, living room, and the tastefully decorated three bedrooms, all with their own ensuite and lovely views, the office with two desks, one clear and brand new.
She wasn’t about to ask about that one, so she moved back into the living room.
It was a lot, she couldn’t lie. When Plutus tried to say something, she stopped him. “I need some wine.”
“Not another espresso martini?” He swooped in close, taking her in his arms and cradling her so she looked up into his impossible handsome olive-skinned face.
She reached up, slipped his amulet over his head, and he melted back into place, his skin taking on the gold cast, his horns flashing back into view in a blink.
E even felt his claws grip where his hands held her back.
She shivered at the hard press of them, of him in his true form, into her.
“You have that?” she asked, her voice husky to her own ears.
“Oh, E. I have everything you need.” He dipped low, kissed her hard and long, then set her back on her own feet. But only so he could go off and make her the drink she wanted.
He was right about that, she was certain.
Right then, she needed more than a drink.
She needed something harder and hotter to get over her usual life stress and all the new luxury at her fingertips, making her feel uncomfortable.
She stripped while he worked with his back to her over at his sleek glass and wood bar.
“I made it with a little chocolate kick, so---” Plutus jerked to a stop right after he spun around, a splash of espresso martini hitting the floor. E didn’t think he cared. She sure as shit didn’t care, not with her being naked and Plutus’s glowing green eyes roving over every inch of her body.
Without a word, he took the few steps toward his dining room table, laying the cocktail down before he suddenly appeared in her face.
He tossed her in the air and she felt weightless for a moment, until his strong arms clasped around her and brought her down so she landed with a soft oomph over his shoulder.
One clawed hand rubbed before it left her for a moment, coming down with a hard, swift smack that echoed through the open space.
He moved with a deliberate, steady pace back into his apartment and she only registered some of the things she saw: extra doors, dark gray walls, a set of open double-doors they moved through, lush brown damask walls and a giant bed.
She noted the last because she bounced on it one, two, three times when he tossed her down.
The thing was massive, maybe even bigger than a California King.
E’d have to investigate bed size later, because the breath whooshed from her followed closely by all other thoughts as Plutus crawled up her splayed body.
He looked like a big cat stalking its prey, but she wasn’t afraid.
She was dumb with lust and need, but never afraid with him, despite his appearance and strength and magic.
He ripped off his shirt, moved to one hip to remove his pants, then popped back over her, his heavy, hard dick grazing her belly, leaving a smear of precum there. He cocked his head at her, a question without asking, and they hovered there for a long minute.
“What are you waiting for?” It might have sounded a little bratty if she wasn’t so breathless with need.
“What do you want?”
“For you to fuck me.”
“Happy to oblige,” he said with a wide, fanged smile before he adjusted and rammed into her waiting heat in one strong thrust.
E yelled out, not in pain but triumph, as he wound his arms around her, holding her in place by wrapping his clawed hands over her shoulders from behind. He dipped his head down, skimming a horn across the crown of her head as he breathed hot and fierce into her ear. “Hold on,” he growled.
She wrapped both hands around the warm expanse of his shoulders and held tight as he started pounding into her.
He adjusted a few times, until she keened as he skimmed over that perfect spot inside her.
Then, focusing with the intensity of a god, he went to work, setting a relentless pace over and over the same spot, until she shook from his onslaught.
“Give it to me, E. Give me what I want,” he said before dipping down to take a nipple into his mouth and worry it with a long, sharp fang.
She didn’t need much more encouragement. She shook, screamed his name, then she came, her pleasure a deep dive off a high cliff. As she drifted back down from the high climb and fall, she felt his pace stutter. He gave a hard shout and came inside her, shuddering.
He splayed on her, giving her all his weight. When he caught his breath, he did lean up on his elbows to stare down at her. Aftershock, and something deeper and more overwhelming, wracked her body as she lay pinned by his stare.
He noticed and bent to nudge her with his nose until she bent her neck so he could trail kisses along the scars there. When he was satisfied, he looked down at her and grinned. “So, welcome to my home.”
E cackled, looping her arms around his neck, then planted a big kiss on his grinning face.