“So, you’re the least crazy out of them all?”
“If you want to put it that way, then yeah. I’ve accepted what I need to do. It means I can’t be on the surface for a great amount of time, otherwise, there’d be thousands of souls with no direction.”
I scraped my fork against the bottom of my plate, eating every bit of sauce I could. Would it be bad manners to lick it? Probably. “That is extremely mature of you.”
“Is that a compliment?”
“Oh, it is. Trust me. Especially with the way some men are these days.” I winced. “Not that you’re—a man. I mean you’re—”
“I know what you meant. Thank you kindly.”
I bit down on my lip. “Could we maybe take a walk on the beach?”
His face brightened. “Uh, sure. Let me pay our bill.”
I grinned, scooting out of the booth. “I’ll meet you outside.”
As I made my way down the wooden ramp leading to the shoreline, the moon glowed bright, casting a white hue over anything it touched. The stars, as clear as day, twinkled with intensity. With all the lights and smog around Chicago, you’d have to drive hours before seeing a sky like that. His hand touched the back of my arm, and I gasped.
“Didn’t mean to startle you,” Hades said.
“Did you levitate over here?”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “Normally, I could, but figured it might turn too many heads.”
I slid off my flats, letting the sand seep between my toes.
“I’m thankful you asked for a romantic walk along the beach under the moon. But I can’t help but feel you have an ulterior motive,” he said, his eyes squinting.
“There goes that intuition again.” I simpered, curling my hair over my ears. “I wondered if you could—do the smoke trick again? Now that I know. That I…believe.”
The skin at the corners of his eyes crinkled as he scoped the deserted beach. The tips of his shoes brushed my toes as he moved in front of me. The black smoke built up at our feet, swirling like a pinwheel around us. It traveled over my chest, then flowed over my neck and cheeks. The eerie calm put me at ease, and I closed my eyes.
“Where is this coming from?” I asked through a sigh.
It flowed through my hair, shifting some of it to drape over my shoulder.
“The Underworld. More specifically, the river Styx. It’s the current that helps the souls travel to their destination.”
My eyes flew open. “I have dead people caressing me right now?”
A corner of his mouth quirked. “No. Just smoke.”
“Was that a hint of a sliver of a smile I saw?” I nibbled on my lip.
“You wish.”
The smoke hovered over my chest. I looked down and shot him a glare. “Are you copping a feel with your smoke monster?”
He pressed a hand to his chest. “I think I’m offended.” A wicked glint formed in his eyes.
“I like this side of you.”
“The side which unabashedly sneaks a feel of you without usin’ my hands?” His brow raised.
I laughed and swatted his arm, leaving my hand on his bicep. “The playful side. Makes you seem so—human.”
“It’s a side of me I thought was lost.” He stared at my hand on his arm before shifting his gaze to my face. “I may have been wrong.”
The smoke faded away, but my hand remained glued to his arm. My lashes fluttered as we stared at each other in silence.
“I should probably get back to the room,” I said. “I appreciate you telling me the real story behind Persephone. Put a lot of things in perspective.”
“I’m glad.”
“Will you meet me in the pool tomorrow?”
He cocked his head to one side. “The pool?”
“We need to practice the lift.”
“You remember the part about bein’ a god, right? Strength being a given?”
I batted my lashes. “Please?”
“As you wish.” He bowed his head.
Princess Bride. How did he keep doing that? Did he even know he was?
“Well, I’ll see ya,” I said, turning away.
“What kind of gentleman would I be if I didn’t escort you to your room?”
I turned on my heel, biting back a smile. “Your southern charm?”
“You don’t seem to mind the accent I chose for my mortal form, darlin’.” He shook his head.
“Why did you choose that accent? This…look? Do you all get to choose how you appear at any given time?”
We walked on the tiled pathway to my room. He sunk his hands in his pants pockets.
“We can appear as anyone or anything we choose. It’d been so long since I’ve been on the surface, I did some quick research and chose an accent that seemed comfortin’ to most mortals. Inviting.”
“And your appearance?”
He smirked. “Random.”
We walked the rest of the way in silence and arrived at my door. I curled my hair over my ears and rummaged through my clutch for the key.
“You seem nervous,” his voice rumbled.
I found the key and held it up in the air like a piece of gold. “Nervous, why would I be nervous?”
He pressed his hand against the doorframe near my head, leaning forward. His eyes searched my face as if judging my reaction to his proximity. His gaze dropped to my lips.
Oh, my God. The King of the Underworld was about to kiss me.
His mouth hovered over mine before moving to my cheek, giving it a peck. “Goodnight, Stephanie.”
“Good—” I stood frozen like a statue, still feeling the brush of his beard on my skin.
He backed away, giving me a mischievous curl of his lip.
“Night,” I finished.
I’d seemingly brought out a new side to Hades. A deeply buried side. And he liked it.
“How many more times are you going to look for him?” Sara asked, fishing for her straw with her mouth.
My eyes fixed on her after peering over my shoulder for the twentieth time since we’d sat down at the swim-up bar. “What are you talking about?”
She rolled her eyes. “You’ve barely said a word and keep looking around. Is he supposed to meet you here or something?”
Her gaze moved over my shoulder, fingertips tracing over the dip between her breasts.
Behind me, Hades took labored steps into the pool, clad in a pair of black boardshorts. I kept my fist under my chin to keep my jaw from dropping. He winced when the water hit his stomach, making his muscles clench. In turn, it caused something of my own to clench. It wasn’t an exaggeration of how close he resembled a Greek statue, right down to the individually carved abdominal muscles. I’d already seen him shirtless, but somehow, he managed to look even sexier today. He waded over to our stools; his hands balled into fists beneath the water.
“Well, hello again, Hades.” Sara took the opportunity to scan him.
He nodded. “Sara.”
I gripped my stool to keep from falling off it.
“Darlin’,” he said to me, with a mischievous glint in his eyes.
“Hi,” I squeaked.
He put his hands on each side of the bar top, caging me in. “Did I ever tell you how much I hate the water?”