ATHENA
Love can be a hoot… even when you’re a Goddess.
Athena has seen and conquered all… except perhaps when it comes to matters of the heart. When a chance meeting with a nerdy librarian at a speed dating event results in a night of unmatched passion, Athena finds herself ready to spread her wings and take on a new opponent…love.
Brian has lived a quiet life, but he knows something is missing. Or rather, someone. A serendipitous turn of events finds Brian the center of his own myth when he meets a stunning woman who turns his world—and his heart—upside down.
Will Brian be the hero of his own legend and live happily ever after?
Athena is book twenty-six in the Speed Dating with the Denizens of the Underworld shared world series, featuring kickass, owl shifter Goddesses, shy, sexy librarians, and more.
CHAPTER1
Athena staredat herself in the mirror. It wasn’t as if she’d changed much over the millennia; in fact, she looked just as young and youthful in the present as she had during the rise of her immortal youth. If she ever needed a reminder of how long she’d actually lived, she only needed to look at the tattoo on her wrist, the formal wreath surrounding the letters SPQR, which indicated her allegiance to Rome in what some would argue was its greatest era.
An era in which she was worshiped and adored for her feats in the battlefield, against monsters both mythical and mortal. An era in which men, and even women, practically threw themselves at her feet for even a glance from her vibrant eyes.
But such things were a thing of the past now, as the world had shifted into one that was much more vapid and less concerned with female gladiators and generals, and like the tides of the ocean, Athena had no choice but to go with the flow.
Her silver sequins glittered in the low amber light of the DeLux Cafe’s bathroom, the gentle glow reminding her of candlelitdomus, the residential family homes of Rome’s history.
Golden hair fell around her shoulders in waves, framing her round face, not a smidge of makeup out of place. She looked as radiant as ever.
But she did notfeelclose to radiant. Heavens, no. She only felt as if she’d come up short, yet again.
Even Orion, her ex-lover-turned-closest-friend, had made it off the property with a companion to warm his bed.
Not that he’d ever had trouble finding pussy to begin with.
The man reeks of sex appeal.
There was but an hour or so left for the Speed Dating event to conclude, and thus far Athena had not felt an ounce of attraction to any of the men who had rotated through her table.
Every last one were practically carbon copies of one another, like most of the men in LA. They were either in investment banking or “film” which meant a number of things, but mostly was a roundabout way of saying they weren’t steadily employed.
LA was full of wannabe actors, songwriters, influencers, and fitness trainers. And it seemed as the years went on, men did not pride themselves on knowledge like they used to. They too had grown detached from intimacy and intellectual sparring, only receiving instant gratification in the way of followers and rapid-succession fucking that would undoubtedly end in feeling dissatisfied as they grunted out “do you like that?”
As if being probed in all the wrong places was a satisfactory performance.
“Maybe I should just try women again,” Athena grumbled as she tucked some loose blonde strands behind her ear, just as the announcer came over the loudspeaker once more announcing the last rounds would be starting in just five minutes.
She grabbed her clutch and headed for the pit of singles once more with a shred of hope that maybe, just maybe, she wouldn’t leave alone.
* * *
When the last buzzer sounded,Athena rose from her seat far too quickly. The man who’d written his name as “Tomlin” had droned on about hedge funds far too long for Athena’s taste, and she’d had enough of this disaster of an evening.
She’d invited Triton—Orion’s secret half-brother and her semi-friend—and even he couldn’t be bothered to show, citing that there was no way he’d find anyone at an event such asspeed dating.Perhaps he was right, though Athena was loath to admit such things, especially to the god of waves and solitude.
How he and Orion are brothers has to be an act of karmic humor.
They are nothing alike.
She stumbled on her heel, clearly off in her gait from the countless lemon drop martinis she’d been downing just to get through the load of superfluous suitors that had collected at the cafe on this night.
She barely registered when she nearly knocked over a man who she had noticed had been hugging the bar all night.
“I’m so sorry,” she said hurriedly as the man readjusted his glasses.
