“Just tell me what you were doing,” she said. “And why you lied.”
“I didn’t lie,” he said. Well, he had lied, but he had good intentions. The best. Still, he didn’t want her to know the truth. Not yet. “I did take a call,” he explained. “And then I ran into Hades.”
“You ran into Hades?” she repeated, her eyes dark with suspicion.
“I was surprised too,” he said. “Apparently, the Kallikantzaroi stole the screws he needed for the twins’ crib. He was buying replacements.”
“He has magic,” Ariadne said. He could tell she felt like she was poking holes in his story, and he wondered if it was fair to be pissed at the God of the Dead for literally making choices against his very nature on a night when he needed a good fucking excuse.
“Trust me, I know,” he said. “Persephone’s insisting on doing everything by hand to prepare for the babies.”
“That won’t last long once they’re here,” she mused, and Dionysus’s anxiety eased a little.
“No,” he said, sitting on the edge of the bed. He brushed his fingers over Ariadne’s cheek.
“Why are you up?”
“I couldn’t sleep,” she said. “I was waiting for you.”
He dropped his hand. “I really am so sorry, Ariadne. I?—”
“So you ran into Hades and then what?” she asked. “It’s four in the morning.”
He should have known she wasn’t going to let him out of an explanation that easily.
“We tried to capture a Kallikantzaros and got trapped instead,” he said. “If you don’t believe me, ask Hades. No, wait. Don’t ask him. He’ll probably lie to maintain his dignity. Ask Hecate. She rescued us.”
“Hecate…rescued you?”
“We were stuck under Hephaestus’s net,” he explained and then sighed. “Look…I feel terrible. I had every intention of making this a magical night. I wanted us to be a family and do…family things, and I ruined it.”
“Dionysus,” Ariadne said, leaning forward, one hand on his knee. “We are a family whether we do family things or not.”
He lifted his gaze to hers. “I didn’t mean to worry you,” he said. “Though it is nice. To have someone who worries over me.”
“Yeah,” she said. “It really is.”
He leaned in to kiss her and she met him halfway, wrapping her arms around his neck, pulling him to her as her back met the bed.
He let his fingers comb through her hair, fingertips pressing into her scalp, tongue diving into her mouth. She tasted sweet, like she’d just eaten chocolate which was probably true. She kept a stash in the nightstand drawer.
As he kissed her, he managed to pry his shoes off one by one and then he shifted over her, knees on either side of her body.
Her hands crept beneath his jacket, and he paused to take it off.
“The shirt too,” she ordered.
Dionysus grinned as he pulled it over his head. “Any other requests before we continue?”
She shook her head, arms slipping around him again as he stretched over her.
“Just fuck me like you mean it,” she said.
“I always mean it,” he said.
“I’m not fragile, Dionysus,” she said. “I’ll tell you if it’s too much.”
He studied her for a moment, feeling his chest tighten. She lifted her head, lips brushing his as she whispered, “Give me your madness.”
