Chapter 14
Yasmine
‘Yes’ had been the last answer Yasmine had been expecting when she’d made the offer, which had been one hundred percent a joke. First of all, if there was ever a guy she thought would do that kind of night with her, it was not a guy who looked like Zeus. He was a manly man.
Which was why she hadn’t bothered to argue once he’d said he was taking her suitcase in.
Sure, she could have carried it on her own, but he had bigger muscles than her and wanted to carry it for her, so who was she to argue?
And maybe her head did a little of that ‘oh so chivalrous’ thing, but since she wasn’t in the market for a relationship, she’d ignored that little voice.
Oh my God, I’m going to have to wear sweatpants in front of him, was the first mortified thought that flew through her head. Quickly followed by another reminder to herself that it wasn’t like she was trying to date him.
Although… was he trying to get into her pants?
He was looking at her like he was interested or at least attracted.
Maybe he didn’t realize she’d been teasing and expecting him to run for the hills as soon as she’d described her plans for the evening.
Maybe he thought it was some weird roundabout way of suggesting a booty call.
Well, fine then. She’d call his bluff and enjoy doing it. It might be fun to see how far she could push this mini-spa night with him.
“Sure,” she said, giving her head a little shake. “Tiger is more than welcome.”
“Great. I’ll go get him. You can think about what you want to order for dinner and get in those sweatpants.”
Zeus walked toward her in a way that made her brain and lady parts scramble before she realized that, of course, he was walking toward her—she was in the doorway.
Yasmine turned to the side to let him through, which may have been a mistake.
She probably should have backed up because he was very, very, very close to her as he turned sideways to face her and step through the doorway.
Her head tipped back to look up at him.
Okay, well, if she hadn’t already given him the wrong idea about her plans for this evening, this might very well do the trick.
They were only inches apart, and that tiny bit of air between them seemed to sizzle as her lungs and throat closed up.
Logic and reason flew from her head as his nearness made all her girl parts perk up with extreme interest.
I really need to get laid.
“I’ll be back in about five minutes,” he murmured, his gaze dropping to her lips before returning to meet her eyes. The words seemed a lot more charged than they might have been in any other circumstances.
Then he stepped into the hall, past her, and Yasmine could suddenly breathe again.
She turned to watch him go down the stairs. He didn’t look back. Practically falling back against the door frame, she leaned her head back against the wood.
Damn. That was… good? Not good?
Good if she wanted sex.
The chemistry was there between them in a way it had definitely not been with Mason.
Zeus was on Mason’s team. Did Zeus know who she was? He didn’t seem to. Claudia had said the team didn’t really trust him. Maybe he wasn’t around much for discussions about their personal lives. Maybe he had no idea how Yasmine was connected to the team.
If I wanna get laid, I probably shouldn’t tell him.
Definitely not how she would start out a relationship…
but she wasn’t doing relationships anymore.
Or dating. Or getting her hopes up about a future with men.
But that meant that she didn’t have to tell Zeus that she was tangentially connected to his life; it wasn’t like they had a future together, anyway.
That was assuming Zeus was even interested in fucking her. Even though she was pretty sure he was. No one could be completely obtuse to that kind of chemistry, right? There was no possibility she was the only one feeling it. He’d have to be completely obtuse not to have noticed the sexual tension.
Zeus did not seem obtuse.
Hey, that rhymed.
Hope rolled over on the bed, jerking Yasmine out of her thoughts. Crap, she needed to change into something comfortable. But still cute.
No, wait.
She wasn’t trying to attract him. Even if there was sexual tension between them.
She needed to rewire her brain and stop trying to attract a relationship.
If she was going to try to date him, the very last thing she would do was wear actual old, saggy sweats around him.
Which meant exactly what she needed to do now was get her most comfy clothes, the ones she’d rather be dead than have a hot man see her in, and wear those.
Because she wasn’t trying to date him. She wasn’t going to get her hopes up.
And the best way to signal that to her brain was to do something that went against everything she would do if she was trying to date him and break the curse—wear the clothes she’d rather be caught dead than be seen in and take off her makeup.
Ugh.
This was going to be difficult.
Yasmine had never regretted her choices more than she did five minutes later when Zeus knocked on the front door of Sarah’s house, and she opened it. She was wearing threadbare black sweatpants and a plain grey t-shirt with paint stains and a hole in the seam of the right shoulder.
Zeus was wearing a tightly fitted black t-shirt and a pair of slutty grey sweatpants. Yes, those kind of sweatpants. Brenda would have had a field day if she ever saw him in them.
He looked hot as hell, and she looked like the worst version of herself.
Which was the whole point… but man, it sucked.
Zeus
When Yas opened the door, Zeus had to blink twice. When she’d said she was getting into sweatpants, in his head, he’d still pictured a pair of tightly fitted yoga pants. Those stretchy leggings that women liked to wear and pretend were comfortable. Possibly a matching top.
What he had not expected was honest-to-God “just got broken up with” sweats and a t-shirt that had seen better days.
He liked that she’d managed to surprise him.
Her face was also scrubbed clean of makeup, and her hair was pulled back in a messy bun that was actually messy, a little lopsided, and not at all the ‘styled’ messy he’d sometimes seen women do.
“Come on in.” When she stepped back, there was something defeated about her posture. At least she looked defeated until Tiger bounded in and immediately pressed himself against her legs. Then her expression bloomed into a wide smile as she bent forward to pet him. “Well, hello there, handsome.”
The manicured fingernails were all that remained of prim and proper Yasmine; now, she really did look like Yas.
He liked it just as much as he did when she was all dressed up.
“Have you already ordered dinner?” he asked when she straightened up again.
Tiger took it upon himself to dash deeper into the house and explore.
Probably looking for Hope. Yas blinked and gave Zeus an odd look.
The way she was hesitating, he wondered if she’d expected him to see her in her new outfit and go running.
Just like she’d thought she’d send him running with her suggestion of him joining her for the evening.
Amused, Zeus deliberately walked past her, sending home the message that he wasn’t going anywhere. Had the men she’d dated in the past really gone running just because she’d wanted a girly night? Or dressed in sweats?
Pathetic, if so.
Was this a test for him? Or was she trying to put up some barriers because she wasn’t actually interested in him but didn’t want to be alone?
Could be either.
“So, dinner?” he asked, turning back to face her. She closed the front door behind her, a befuddled expression still on her face.
“I haven’t ordered it yet.”
“Good.” He reached for his phone. “Then I’ve got it. Are you in the mood for anything specific?”
Crossing her arms over her chest, she tipped her chin up in a mildly defiant manner.
“Pizza. Cheese fries. Ranch.”
“Sounds good. I know just the place. How do you feel about wings?”
“Sure.”
“Spicy, okay?”
Yas just smirked at him, which he took to mean she was more than fine with some heat.
Pulling up the delivery app, he wandered over to Sarah’s couch to sit down while he put the order in.
“Would you like something to drink?” Yas asked. “I was just about to mix something up.”
“Sure.”
“You’re going to be stuck drinking what I’m drinking.”
“That’s fine.” He was pretty sure she really was testing him now. He wondered what she was planning on drinking. Something girly she seemed to think he wasn’t going to like would be his guess.
Little did she know, he wasn’t that picky.
She might be, though.
“What do you want on your pizza?”
“I like everything.” Her voice floated out of the kitchen, which was on the other side of the wall. Just enough so he couldn’t see her, but he could hear the clink of ice, then the sound of a drink in a shaker. Interesting. “Just choose whatever you like.”
Tiger came bounding down the stairs with Hope only a few steps behind him. Spotting Zeus on the couch, both of the dogs made a beeline for him.
"Hello, sweetie," he murmured, giving Hope a quick pet before getting back to his order. One pizza with everything, one pizza with pepperoni. He also added some chocolate cake and a cannoli at the end. If Yas didn’t want them, he’d eat them later.
Movement out of the corner of his eye let him know that Yas was on her way back into the room. “Done.”
He looked up to see her coming toward him, an almost triumphant expression on her face as she held out one of the wine glasses in her hand. The liquid inside was pink.
“I didn’t see any martini glasses, so we’re making do with wine glasses tonight,” she said, coming to a halt in front of him. The look in her eye dared him to take one of the drinks.
“Thanks.” He plucked the glass from her fingers and leaned back against the couch as he put it to his lips. The crisp, fresh taste hit his tongue. “Cosmo, right?”
“Right.” She looked, dare he say, both confused and disappointed. Moving to the left, she sat down on the other side of Hope. With a dog on either side of him, it wasn’t as though she could sit directly beside him, so he didn’t know if she was still trying to scare him off or not.
“I don’t have to stay if you don’t actually want company,” he said, just to make sure she knew she wasn’t stuck with him. She might actually want to be alone, and that’s what was up with all the little tests.
“No, I do, I just…” Yas looked down at her drink and spun the glass very slowly between her fingers. Slowly enough that it barely made a ripple in the liquid. “I’m trying to make sure you don’t want to date me.”
“Okay…” He let the obvious question hang in the air.
“It’s not you. It’s me.” She sighed and took a sip of her drink. “I’m cursed. I know how that sounds, but I really am. Every time I date a guy, he meets the woman of his dreams and gets his happily-ever-after once we break up. And I’m sick of it. So, I’m no longer dating and getting my hopes up.”
Zeus shrugged. “Who said anything about dating?”
Now she turned to look at him, haughty and sure of herself. He liked that, too.
“Well, you took me up on my invitation to spend time together this evening, and you ordered dinner, so technically, you’re paying. I just want to be very clear about what’s on the table.”
Well, he could appreciate that. Zeus gave her a measuring look over the curled-up Hope between them.
“So, there is something on the table?” he asked, deliberately slow.
Yas made a face and gestured to herself.
“Well, if you still want there to be after seeing me like this.”
He allowed his gaze to slide over her. The ratty t-shirt that softly draped over her breasts and pooled on her lap. The wide sweats that covered up her legs. The little tear in the shoulder of the t-shirt. Then he met her gaze again.
“If the men you were dating wouldn’t have wanted you because of what you were wearing, then I think you’re better off without them.”
That sparked a surprised laugh from her.
“To be fair, I never allowed any of them to see me like this.” She shook her head. “Ever. Things didn’t work out for other reasons.”
Hearing that none of them had ever seen her so casually dressed was pleasing in a way Zeus wouldn’t have expected. It was like getting a secret glimpse of something no one else was allowed to see. And it made sense that she was struggling with her comfort level with him seeing her like this.
Even if she was trying to ward off the chance of dating anyone.
Zeus prodded his feelings. Some disappointment. He would have liked to ask her out. On the other hand, she’d implied there were some other options.
“I am currently not interested in running out the door screaming into the night,” he said, taking another sip of his Cosmo.
“No matter how old your sweats are or how many pink drinks you serve me.” He gave her a sidelong look, and she immediately averted her gaze as a blush spread across her cheeks, confirming his suspicion. “And yes, I’m still attracted to you.”
Her gaze flew back to his, and he held it for a long moment. The tension that had been between them when they’d been in the guest bedroom thickened. The sparks between them were flying. It kicked up his pulse, stirring his blood, and heightening his anticipation.
The edges of his lips curved up into a smile.
“But first… what are we watching tonight?”