“Oh, hey Michael,” Miranda replied, suddenly distracted by the newcomer, giving him a slight wave and half smile.
A man wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase pulled out his keys as if coming home from work to the house next door. He toyed with them as he spoke.
“Whatever you’re cooking over there has got me salivating,” he said with a low, rich laugh. My eyes narrowed as a hot feeling flared in my body. “You keep cooking like that, and I’ll be breaking down your door to get a spoonful of whatever that heaven is.”
I waited for her to say if he came through her door, she would kick his teeth in, but it didn’t happen.
Instead, Miranda pushed a braid behind her ear and her cheeks grew rosy.
The fuck?
“That’s actually my mother-in-law,” she explained. “She is an amazing cook. We’re very lucky.”
“You and your husband are very lucky,” Michael the stupid-face neighbor said, his eyes briefly touching on me with disappointment.
My lips curved up in a smug grin as I embraced the idea that he thought I was Miranda’s husband.
“Oh, oh no, no, we aren’t married,” Miranda corrected too quickly. A hand covered her chest. “I’m a widow. Have been for a while now.”
Interest flickered in the neighbor’s eyes, as if realizing he stood a chance with the goddess next to me.
My hurt was replaced by ire as I took in the man on his front porch next to Miranda’s. The human was tall, fit, and what I’m sure most would consider to be attractive. And apparently so did she.
I grabbed Miranda’s arm and pulled her closer to my side to show this guy where she really stood.
As soon as my hand encircled her, Miranda let out a sharp cry. Her body stiffened and flinched before she broke away from my grasp.
“What the—” the words flew out of me as she cradled her arm while putting a few steps between us.
Something inside me cracked.
“Hey man, let her go,” Michael frowned, stepping off his porch and starting toward us.
“I’m fine, it’s fine,” Miranda rushed to say, holding up a hand to keep him back. “Michael it was nice to see you, but I have to talk with my… friend.”
Now I was the one being grabbed and pulled off, around to the opposite side of the house instead of going inside. Thankfully, we were able to step into a shady area, though it was still over a hundred degrees out here.
Before she could speak, I said, “I hurt you.” A part of me was mortified and the other side completely confused. “I didn’t mean to. I must have excess power or don’t understand my own strength—” I was babbling, my words becoming more panicked and disjointed as I considered that I could accidentally hurt her. I hadn’t smashed the game controller? But what if I broke Miranda’s bones?
The god-likeness roiled under my skin. The distress was ironically pushing it closer to the forefront despite that being the very last thing I wanted.
Miranda pressed a hand to my mouth, cutting me off midstream. I breathed her in, enjoying the warmth of her palm far too much. “You didn’t hurt me,” she explained, quietly. “Well, not the first time anyway.”
Before I could ask her what she meant, she rolled up her T-shirt sleeve, showing me a bandaged arm where blood spotted and seeped through the white bandage. I reached out to gently hold her undamaged flesh around the bandage.
All emotion bled out from my body, leaving only rage.
“Who did this to you?” I growled, even as my hands remained gentle.
“Little fucker named Bes. He put up a fight but I got him. I got one, Xander.” Her eyes gleamed with pride and excitement, overtaking her unhappiness at finding me at her home.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t share the same sentiment.
“You went hunting without me?” I asked, my voice flat and cold.
She stepped back, pulling her arm out of my light grasp. “Well, yeah. You were gone, and I had to get a win.”
For a minute, I couldn’t tell who I was more pissed at. That little chaotic fuck of a god for touching my woman, or Miranda for deliberately going out on her own where she could have gotten killed.
