Chapter 6
Jessica
The elevator ride back to my hotel room felt endless and far too short at the same time.
Anubis stood beside me, close enough that the heat radiating from his body warmed mine. He held my hand as if it were the most natural thing in the world; as if gods held hands with mortals all the time.
My heart hammered so hard I was certain he could hear it.
He could probably count each individual beat with whatever supernatural senses he possessed; because what god didn’t have powers?
The logical part of my brain, the part that had spent decades being responsible, careful, and appropriate, screamed at me to stop this before it went any further.
But I’d spent the last year listening to that voice, and where had it gotten me? Alone in an empty house, eating ice cream for dinner, watching my ex-husband post vacation photos with his twenty-eight-year-old wife. That’s where.
Fuck logic.
The elevator doors opened on my floor, and we walked down the hallway in silence. My hand shook as I fumbled with the key card, swiping it twice before the lock clicked green.
“Jessica,” Anubis murmured as I pushed the door open.
I turned to look at him, and whatever he saw in my face made him stop.
“Are you certain about this?” His golden eyes searched mine. “I am… this is not something I have done before. Not in longer than I can remember.”
“How long?” I asked, stepping into the room.
He followed, closing the door behind us. “A thousand years, perhaps more. Time moves differently for gods. But it has been…” he paused, “a considerable while.”
The idea of him, alone for millennia, bound to duty and death and judgment, made my chest ache. “Then we’re both out of practice. I haven’t done anything like this since before my marriage, which was twenty-three years ago.”
“That is considerably less time.”
“It feels like forever to me.” I set my purse on the dresser, my nerves bubbling to the surface. “Look, I should probably say what’s on my mind before I lose my nerve.”
“I am listening.”
I turned to face him, forcing myself to meet his unsettling golden eyes. “I’m attracted to you. Very attracted. And I think, I mean, I hope, you feel the same way about me?”
“I do.” He answered without hesitation; no false modesty.
“Okay. Good.” I took a breath. “But I’m also being realistic here.
I’m leaving Egypt and going back to my real life, and you’re Anubis.
You’re a god. You have responsibilities, bindings, an entire underworld to manage.
So this, whatever this is, it can't be serious. It can’t be anything more than what it is right now, in this moment. Nothing more than physical.”
He tilted his head, studying me. “You are proposing a temporary arrangement.”
“I guess I am, yeah.” Good going, Jess, I berated myself. This sounded so much smoother in my head. “A vacation fling. Nothing more. No expectations, no complications, no strings attached. Just…” I gestured between us. “This. For as long as we have.”
He was quiet for a long moment, and my stomach dropped.
This was it. This was where he politely declined, explained that Egyptian gods didn’t engage in temporary arrangements with mortals like the Greek ones did, and that I’d completely misread the situation. My mind whirled a million miles a minute.
“I accept,” he said. “On one condition.”
I blinked. “What condition?”
“You show me modern-day Egypt. The real city and the tourist sites. I have been bound to death and darkness for so long, I want to experience the world of the living. I want to see what this land has become.” He stepped closer, and I had to tilt my head back to maintain eye contact.
“Show me your world, Jessica. For the remainder of your days here, be my guide to life.”
“That’s it? That’s your condition?”
“That is all I ask.”
I heaved a sigh of relief. “Deal. Absolutely. I can do that.”
“Then, we have an agreement.”
“We do.”
We stood there, barely two feet apart, the air between us thick with possibility. I thought I should say something else, establish ground rules or set boundaries, or do any of the sensible things a reasonable person would do. Instead, I reached up and touched his face.
His skin was warm beneath my palm, and smoother than I’d expected. For now, he was human in all the ways that mattered. He went still, his eyes tracking my movement with predatory focus.
“Can I kiss you?” I whispered.
“Yes.”
I rose up on my toes, my hand sliding from his cheek to the back of his neck, and pressed my lips to his.
For a heartbeat, nothing happened. He stood frozen, and I wondered if he’d forgotten how this worked. Had he ever kissed anyone before?
He made a sound low in his throat, and his arms came around me, pulling me against him with enough force to steal my breath.
The kiss deepened, and I shivered. It had been so long since anyone had kissed me like this.
Anubis kissed me like he wanted me; like I was necessary and wanted. His mouth was hot against mine, demanding, and when his tongue swept across my lower lip, I opened for him without hesitation.
His hands slid down my back, spanning my waist, and the heat of them burned through the thin fabric of my dress. I pressed closer, wanting more contact, more everything, and he shuddered.
“Jessica,” he murmured against my mouth. Hearing my name in that voice, rough with desire, edged with something desperate, sent heat pooling low in my belly.
“Yeah?” I breathed hard, my fingers tangled in his hair.
“I should tell you,” he stopped, kissing me again, slower this time, more thoroughly. “There are things about my nature that may surprise you.”
“I watched you materialize out of thin air, and I’ve spent two days talking to a giant jackal. Pretty sure I can handle surprises.” I nipped at his lower lip and he groaned. “Unless you’re about to tell me you have tentacles or something.”
“No tentacles.”
“Then we’re good.”
He laughed, and the sound was so unexpected to my ears and so joyful that I smiled against his mouth. “Jessica Thomas, you are remarkable,” he said, pulling back just enough to look at me. His eyes had gone molten gold, glowing in the dim light from the bedside lamp. “Absolutely remarkable.”
“I’m really not. I’m just a woman who’s tired of being careful.”
“Then let us both be reckless.”
He kissed me again, and this time I let myself get lost in his kiss. I let myself forget about divorce papers and empty nests, and layoffs. I let myself be nothing more than a woman in a hotel room with someone who made her feel alive.
His hands found the zipper at the back of my dress, and he paused. “May I?”
“Please.”
The zipper slid down with a whisper of sound, and the dress pooled at my feet. I stood before him in my practical bra and underwear. I reached to cover myself, but Anubis stopped me. “No. Let me see.”
I lowered my arms, feeling vulnerable. “You’re beautiful,” he said, his voice rough.
“I’m not as skinny as I was. I have stretch marks from pregnancy and cellulite, and I haven’t seen the inside of a gym in years.”
“You are beautiful,” he repeated, his voice firm. “Every mark, every line, every imperfection, they are evidence of a life lived. You’ve fought battles and survived. Never apologize for them.”
My throat tightened. “Has anyone told you that you’re surprisingly romantic for a death god?”
“No one has had the opportunity.”
I reached for his shirt, fumbling with the buttons. “Well, you are. It’s unfair. Makes it very hard to keep this casual.”
“Then perhaps we should stop talking.”
“An excellent idea.”
I got his shirt open and pushed it off his shoulders, and my mouth went dry.
Oh. Oh. I’d seen the golden bands on his arms and the collar on his chest, but I hadn’t been prepared for the rest of him with dark skin over lean muscle, he had a body that looked carved from stone, and ancient scars that told stories I’d never know.
“Your turn to be stared at,” I said, running my hands over his chest.
“I do not mind.”
I traced the line of one scar, a pale mark that ran from his collarbone to his ribs. “What happened here?”
“A disagreement with Set. Several thousand years ago. He fights dirty.”
“Clearly.” I leaned in and kissed the scar, and he tensed beneath my lips. “Does it hurt?”
“Not anymore.”
I kissed my way across his chest, learning him, feeling his breathing change with each touch. His hands were in my hair, gentle but possessive, and when I grazed my teeth over his nipple, a strangled sound tore from his throat.
“Bed,” I said against his skin. “We should probably move this to the bed.”
“Yes. Bed.”
We stumbled toward it, a tangle of limbs and mouths, and wandering hands. I ended up on my back with Anubis above me, his weight pressing me into the mattress in a way that should have felt confining but instead felt perfect.
He kissed me again, slower now, taking his time. He pressed kisses against my mouth, my jaw, and when he found the sensitive spot below my ear, I gasped. His hands roamed over my body with reverent attention, like he was memorizing every curve, every response.
“Tell me if I do something you don’t like,” he murmured against my neck.
“Keep going. You’re doing great so far,” I managed, arching into his touch. “Seriously. Ten out of ten. Would recommend.”
He smiled against my skin. “Your modern expressions are strange.”
“You'll get used to them.”
His hand slid beneath my bra, cupping my breast, and coherent thought became impossible. I fumbled with the clasp, getting it open on the third try, and he helped me shrug it off before covering my breasts with his mouth.
The sensation of his mouth on my skin shot through me like lightning.
It had been so long. So damn long since anyone had touched me like this; since I’d felt desired rather than tolerated.
I threaded my fingers through his hair, holding him there, and heard myself make sounds I’d forgotten I could make.