“I’m beginning to think I’m the dud in the family.” Nico holding up his left hand, displaying a dark red recent burn that he’d added to his collection.
“Nico. For the love of the Lady, please stop playing with fire. The researchers have been pretty clear that being consideredfire-touched has nothing to do with being immune to actual physical fire.”
“Copper—”
“No. It’s useless comparing yourself to your sister. She had a blast of Ixchel’s power that somehow triggered her Goddesshood. She’s levelled up way past being fire-touched.”
“I’m just frustrated. And I really don’t like that those conniving blinkered power hungry vain cows appear to know more about what I’m capable of than I do.”
“Maybe Aunt Patricia will have something for us at the meeting tonight. Our last one before the big day tomorrow. We’re ready, right?”
“Certainly from a catering perspective there won’t be any complaints. Talking of tonight’s meeting, would you do me a favour and speak to Nell?”
Yeah, Gigi could think of a million other less painful things to do than talk to Nell at the moment. Sticking her hand in a blender being on the list. Nell wasn’t acting like her normal self these days. She was impatient, short tempered and angry all the time. Issuing threats if anyone so much as glanced at her pregnant belly too long. In fact, she was kind of acting like Darcy.
“If Drum can’t calm her down, I don’t think I have a hope in hell of getting her to mellow out.”
“No. I think you should talk to her about these non-stop chills you’ve been experiencing. Even now I can see your shivering, your lips are turning white.”
“It’s not that bad.” Though she didn’t believe that, something was wrong with her, and Gigi could tell by Nico’s expression that he wasn’t going to let this go. “Tell you what, I’ll talk to Nell after the baby shower is over and everyone is safe and well. Okay?”
“Fine.” Nico wanted to push it. He was worried. And not just about Gigi’s health. He was a little concerned, it had been fivedays, spending every minute within a ten foot radius of the woman, and he wasn’t the least bit weary of their boundary restrictions.
Every day he looked forward to working side by side with Gigi as they geared up in preparation for the baby shower extravaganza. All the while they chatted. And being a certified genius, Gigi knew something about an amazing array of subjects. Nico, who’d never had any formal education, instead being home schooled by his legend hunting mother, had learnt a surprising number of things over the past week and a half. Especially when it came to the combination and separation of elements.
He'd never take baking soda for granted again.
Not only had they talked. Gigi was funny. He found himself laughing more in the past five days than probably the last decade. Fuck, he’d gotten grim. And once the dust had settled, and he’d solved Matias’s mental reset issue and Copper had been found and returned to the present, he hadn’t let any of it go, had he? Not trusting the good times to last. On tenterhooks. Preferring to be watchful, reserved, and not get caught on the back foot, again.
No wonder his jaw and neck muscles ached all the time these days.
And the thing about it all that worried him the most? How easy it was to be in a relationship with Gigi, pretend or not. Being with a woman who was self-sufficient was a shock. Gigi didn’t actually, he realised, need him for a damn thing. Her business was an unqualified success. She had plenty of social options if she wanted to go out. Though she seemed just as happy to stay in reading recipe books and laze about on the sofa.
No, the one and only thing Gigi needed Nico for was when they were alone together in her bedroom. It had been hellish not to rush her every night once dinner was over. Being polite. Actingthe gentleman. Offering another drink. All the while every cell in his body was demanding that he sweep the woman off her feet, carry her into the bedroom, close that blasted door and strip them both naked.
He craved her, and not just physically he was beginning to realise. He looked forward to making Gigi smile, making her laugh. Looked forward to the appearance of that tiny furrow on her brow when she was detailing her future expansion plans for her business with verve and can-do enthusiasm.
And there was the crux of the problem. Was he getting too attached? Gigi had been pretty clear this was a no strings nightly stress relieving fuck arrangement. But really, how genuine was she being? Oh, he didn’t think she was faking the nightly multiple orgasms. But what about their faux daily public appearances? The smiles and the easy going conversation didn’t feel that different from when they were alone, except there was more casual touching, and kisses for the viewing pleasure of her friends and family.
And he didn’t think he was the only one finding the boundary getting blurry. Touching her arm casually even when they were alone. Pulling her in close and giving her a squeeze when she had an attack of those shivers she just couldn’t seem to shake, and all he could do was offer body heat as a remedy.
Bloody Hell, Gigi DeWitt was turning out to be the best, by a mile, girlfriend, fake or real, that he’d ever had. Though he was really only comparing her to a decade worth of fleeting one night stands that didn’t really count, and his year long relationship with Kristiah. Who’d proven beyond high maintenance both in and out of the bedroom. Emotionally draining and so very needy, demanding and controlling all his time and attention. He’d been flattered. Fuck, he thought he was in love. Kristiah had had him so twisted around he’d proposed to her, and she’d unofficially accepted.
He'd mapped out an entire future with her in his head. They’d get married. Buy their own boat. Hunt down treasure for him and archaeological digs for her. They’d raise a family on the boat, just like his Mama and Papa had done with him and his siblings. Except the more he thought about their relationship now, in hindsight, with mature eyes, he couldn’t make Kristiah fit into that fantasy. Even if she really had been nothing more than a slightly more mature rather gung-ho archaeologist and not a devoted follower of a power hungry high Priest, and not exactly human, there had been something lacking between them.
Saint Medard, perhaps it was time he cut himself a break. Kristiah hadn’t just been a tool of Gapg’n, the asshole priest. She’d had ties to both Cum Hua, God of the Underworld, and to the Goddess Ixchel.
Fuck, there were so many deities playing chess with mortals, no wonder they were tripping over one another as they crossed and double crossed each other.
Nico’s family, their crew, they’d just been caught in the crossfire. Kristiah had sought them out. Targeted, and researched them. His parents hadn’t sensed anything amiss. Hadn’t realised she was manipulating and using them for her own aims. And that they along with the crew would pay the ultimate price once the hollowed out blade had been located.
Manipulated. He certainly knew how that felt lately. Gigi might mute the call of Qetesh’s cursed silver ring, but it would take some kind of weird mental sandpaper to completely eradicate the memory of the demi-goddess inside his head. Trying to exert control over him, own him.
Once this was all over, maybe he should talk to his sister-in-law, Quinn, the psychiatrist, it was long past time he purged the guilt, the suspicions, and the all-pervasive dread that had lingered too long like a dark cloud over his life. And once he had his head on straight, officially, he could, could what? PursueGigi? She’d been pretty clear about keeping the sex and all the playacting separate.
Hell, was he fated to join the long list of eligible bachelors that had at one time or other had Gigi in their grasp yet failed to engage her on every level? He had a lock on the sex part of the equation. And he’d been nothing but supportive on the business front. Unfortunately, there was one area he was sadly lacking any expertise in, emotions.
He'd come to care for Gigi. As a partner, as a friend. But she deserved more than that. For that matter, perhaps so did he. But love?
