Braden: model airplane designer
Not one demigod among them. Just six mortal men, each with a past, and a persona I was yet to discover, and maybe—if the stars aligned—a piece of the puzzle I’d been missing.
But what I wanted to know was how long it took for true love to work. I mean, I had to fall in love on this forsaken quest and couldn’t fall in love if my heart remained locked.And would I know who had unlocked my heart? What if true love found me but I missed it?
All these thoughts made me squeeze Cassie tighter.
“Everything okay?” she whispered.
“I’m going to a hoedown. How okay can I be?”
Cassie laughed. “I could set the wagons on fire. Just say the word.”
She was seriously the best.
“Unfortunately, I think they would still make us go,” I grumbled.
“True,” she sighed. “But I do love a good fire.”
Sometimes she scared me. But who didn’t need a scary best friend?
“I’m pretty sure there will be a bonfire tonight.”
“Good. We can sacrifice that one into it.” Cassie nodded over to Roman, who had just strutted in looking like every woman’s cowboy dream.
Oh. My. Titans.
I leaned away from her and did a poor job of averting my gaze. I wished I could blame it all on the part of me who was a huge fan of the demigod. But no—this was all of me.
He looked mesmerizing.
Vest over a form-fitted shirt, sleeves rolled up to reveal muscular forearms. And those jeans—fit-me-right, ruin-my-life jeans. Had my heart skipped a beat? I didn’t know it could do that anymore.
Holy Hades.
I meant “hell.”
Sorry, Hades.
Roman unfortunately caught me staring at—more like ogling—him. At first, he narrowed his broody gray eyes atme, but then his gaze drifted over my dress, and, oh yeah, he liked it. Hated himself for it but loved it all the same. What he hated the most was knowing I could tell.
He threw me a look that said,Stay out of my damn mind.
But it wasn’t his mind I was reading. I could only read emotions and hearts. Which honestly was probably more invasive. But it’s not like I had asked for an all-access pass to him and everyone in the room—I was just stuck with it.
And for the record?
Almost every woman in the room—and a guy or two—were having sultry thoughts about Roman. Like, they wanted him bad.
Cassie, of course, was just enjoying the idea of sacrificing him to the gods. Or at least that’s what I figured from the giddy vibes I was getting from her.
Roman tore his gaze away from me and cleared his throat.
“Gather around, ladies.” His voice was smooth and commanding. Not going to lie—it was sexy.
Brinley, Maggie, Paloma, and Jessica all ran toward him. Jessica and Brinley squealed as they went. They were the biggest squealers in the bunch. Paloma grabbed Cassie and me on her way.
We all stood in front of Roman, holding hands like we’d known each other for years instead of three days. Granted, I knew a lot of their innermost feelings. And I’d basically ruined their lives. Well, at least their love lives. Their heart-wrenching stories from the night before still felt like a punch to the gut.
