Eros had hoped to catch Psyche before she left for work, but had missed her. He knew he’d screwed up. Introducing his mother as a childhood friend hadn’t gone down well. He wasn’t stupid. He knew what it had looked like to an outsider, but he hadn’t been able to come up with an explanation that Psyche would believe. This was something he had to fix, because if Psyche thought that he was seeing somebody else behind her back, she would have even more reason to get back together with her ex-boyfriend. For all he knew, she was already making plans to do just that.
When he found Psyche’s shop closed, he went to Wayne’s work, checking whether he was there. He was, but there was no sign of Psyche. At least that was a relief. Just then he remembered that she’d mentioned that she was supposed to do some work at Sophia’s. He got there just as she was leaving, so he followed her. It was lunch time after all. Was she going to meet Wayne?
Curious, Eros kept following her, but to his surprise, she didn’t break for lunch, but stopped at the cemetery and unloaded more plants. Satisfied that she would be busy for a while, he drove off, having come up with an idea.
Over an hour later, he pulled back up to the cemetery, parked his car, and entered the graveyard. Many bushes and trees dotted the cemetery, lending shade to the old graves. He spotted Psyche with an older lady standing at a grave. It appeared that Psyche had just finished planting some flowers and the lady was paying her. Eros walked closer. Psyche hadn’t spotted him yet.
The older woman set her handbag down next to the grave and bowed down, making a cross over her chest. Then she suddenly looked around.
“Almost forgot my cardigan,” the woman said.
“Where did you leave it?”
“At the willow.”
“I’ll get it for you,” Psyche offered, but the woman declined, “No, no. I’ll get it. You still have to pack up all your tools. It’s nice enough of you to give me a ride home.”
Then the lady turned and walked toward the willow tree. Eros was about to approach Psyche, when she bent down to the woman’s handbag, tossing a quick glance in the direction of the willow tree. The old woman still had her back turned.
Psyche reached into the handbag and pulled out a wallet. Eros’s heart stopped.
By the gods! Psyche was a thief? His hands balled into fists. He wanted to look away, didn’t want to be witness to the woman he’d started caring about proving to him that she wasn’t worth his affection. Yet something compelled him to watch, just like people liked to watch a disaster unfold.
Psyche opened the wallet, but instead of taking out the cash inside, she reached into her shirt pocket. From it she pulled several bills—he couldn’t see the denomination—and put them into the old woman’s wallet. With another quick glance toward the willow tree and the old woman, she quickly shoved the wallet back into the handbag and whirled around to pick up her tools.
Eros’s throat went dry. He was truly speechless for the first time in his life. Psyche had returned the money the woman had paid her only moments earlier. He’d never seen anybody do something like that. And for Psyche to do something so charitable was even more admirable. He knew her financial situation: her business wasn’t doing well. She needed all the income she could get, yet she’d worked for free for this lady. Not only that, Psyche had spent her own money to buy the plants she used on the grave.
As the two women got ready to leave, Eros hid behind a bush, coming to terms with what he’d seen. Psyche was good, through and through. She wasn’t the kind of woman who’d steal, or lie, or cheat. He had to trust that she would be true to him, too. She wouldn’t go behind his back to see her old boyfriend again. He knew that now. And he had to make sure she knew that she could trust him, too.
As soon as he saw Psyche’s truck leave with both women inside, Eros rushed back to his car. He arrived at Psyche’s shop before she did, because she’d had to make a detour driving the old lady home. He stood in front of the shop’s door as Psyche pulled up in her truck. Even before she got out of it, he noticed her surprised and slightly apprehensive look.
Psyche approached him. “Eros, what are you doing here?”
“Have you had lunch?”
She shook her head. “I was gonna grab a sandwich from the deli.” She motioned to the shop next to hers.
“I have a better idea.” He took her hand. “How about a picnic? I’ve put a nice little basket together for us.”
“But…”
“We need to talk,” he interrupted. What he had to say couldn’t wait. “About yesterday.”
“Oh.” An uncomfortable look spread on her face. “I didn’t mean to—”
“Please, I need to explain.” He motioned to his car. “But not here. Let’s go someplace where we can talk in peace and quiet.”
“Let me get changed. My clothes are dirty. I have some clean stuff in my office.”
“No problem.”
Half an hour later, they arrived at the beach on Sullivan’s Island. Eros parked the car, snatched the picnic basket and a blanket from the back seat and got out. Psyche followed him. Eros chose one of the more secluded corners where high sand dunes and some vegetation provided some privacy, and spread out the picnic blanket.
While he took out the food and Psyche settled down on the blanket, he contemplated his next words. He knew he couldn’t tell Psyche the truth about Aphrodite, because she’d never believe that she was his mother. And he couldn’t reveal that he was a god either. All he could do was try to convince her that he had no romantic feelings for Aphrodite.
“I know you were upset last night.”
She fidgeted. “I need to tell you—”
Eros stopped her by lifting his hand. “Please, let me explain.”
Psyche nodded slowly.
“Thank you. Last night when you got back and saw me and Aphrodite, I realized how seeing me with her might have looked. I should have handled it better, but I was taken by surprise.” He searched Psyche’s eyes while she listened in silence. “We have a long history, Aphrodite and I, but none of it is even remotely romantic or sexual. I’ve never touched her in that way, nor do I want to. But she’s important to me. We have each other’s backs when it counts.”
“True friends,” she said nodding.
“Yes. She’s helped me out of difficult situations before, and when I was betrayed over a year ago, when I discovered that Gloria, my then-girlfriend was cheating on me all along and had never truly loved me, Aphrodite was there to support me.”
“What happened with Gloria?” Psyche asked softly.
Eros sighed. About this subject he had to tell her the absolute truth. “I wanted to marry Gloria. I bought the house for me and her, so we could fill it with children.”
“Oh.”
“I thought I’d finally found the woman I could give everything to, my heart, my worldly possessions, my future. I loved her.” He realized that it had to be hard for another woman to hear those words, but he didn’t want to lie or gloss over the truth. “But she didn’t share my feelings.”
“She turned you down?”
He let out a bitter laugh. “If only. I think it would have been easier had she simply rejected my proposal. But I never got that far. I never got to propose to her, because another man did. See, she’d been seeing another man during the entire time she dated me. And in comparison to me, he appeared richer and had a higher status in society. So she chose him. I ran into them just as he was proposing to her. She pretended not to know me, ‘cause she didn’t need me anymore. She’d landed a bigger catch.”
Psyche placed her hand on his arm. “I’m sorry.”
He pinned her with his eyes. “I know how much it hurts to be betrayed. I would never do that to somebody I cared about. I would sooner break off a relationship than put anybody through what I’ve been through.” He lifted his hand and brushed his fingers over her cheek. “I could never hurt you that way. Please believe me: Aphrodite isn’t my lover, and she’ll never be my lover.”
“I believe you.” She lowered her lids as if in shame. “But there’s something I have to tell you, too.”
His heart skipped a beat. Was this about Wayne? “Yes?”
“This morning, I spoke to Sophia when I was doing the flowers at the B&B.” She swallowed. “She told me about Aphrodite and you.”
“She did?” Eros asked in trepidation. What exactly had Sophia told her?
Psyche nodded. “She told me that you’re only friends. And that Aphrodite often comes to see you when she wants to cry on your shoulder about the man she loves.”
“Oh. So you knew already.”
“That’s what I wanted to tell you earlier.”
He chuckled, relieved that somehow Sophia had backed up his story without even knowing what he would tell Psyche. He winked at her. “I suppose you didn’t think it would be appropriate to stop me while I was pouring my heart out to you, did you?”
Psyche smirked. “It’s rare that a man talks about his feelings so openly. I didn’t really want to interrupt you once you got going.”
“You little minx,” he chided her, grinning. “What do you think the appropriate punishment for that should be?”
“Punishment?” She lifted her eyebrows.
Eros glanced around. They were still alone. “Yes. Do you really think I’m gonna let this slide?” He reached for her and pulled her closer.
She didn’t protest. Instead, she put her arms around him and molded herself to him.
“Last night, I wanted to knock on your door and talk to you and hold you in my arms. But I was afraid that if I pushed my company on you, you’d move out and I would never see you again.”
Psyche ran her hand through his hair. “I’m sorry for reacting the way I did. I didn’t mean to. But last night, I don’t think I would have listened to anything you said. Or allowed you to touch me.”
“And now? May I touch you now?”
“Aren’t you already?”
He smirked. “I was thinking of something a little more intimate.” Slowly, he let his hand slide down her thigh until he reached the seam of her skirt. “I was thinking of making you come to remind you of what you passed up last night.”
Psyche whirled her head to the side to look around. “Here?”
“Yes, here. Don’t worry. I’ll keep an eye out so nobody sees us.”
“But—”
He slid his hand underneath her skirt. “You’ll keep your clothes on.” When he reached the apex of her thighs, he tugged on her panties. “Except for these.” To make her agree to his suggestion, he slid his fingers underneath the fabric and stroked gently along her sex.
Psyche gasped, and as if in invitation, her legs opened wider.
“Is that a yes?” he murmured against her lips.
“Yes.”
He captured her lips for a kiss, while she helped him rid her of her panties. Then he lifted her onto his lap and turned them, shielding her with his body, so even if somebody approached, they wouldn’t be able to see what he was doing. His hand was underneath her skirt, and she was completely covered from the knees up. But that didn’t stop him from getting aroused. Her sweet ass was rubbing against his groin, and his fingers were already drenched in her juices, and he’d barely even begun to caress her. Already, he felt heat shooting through him. But he pushed back his growing lust and concentrated on Psyche instead.
As he kissed her deep and hard, he stroked her wet folds and rubbed along her slit, gathering the moisture to bring it farther up to the tiny organ at the base of her curls. When he slid his finger over it and rubbed gently, she twisted in his arms. Her hips moved up and down, and her ass ground more urgently against his hardening cock.
He ripped his lips from hers, but continued to caress her. “Easy, gorgeous,” he murmured, “or I’m gonna spill in my pants.”
Her eyes flew open and searched his. She looked at him in a haze, and he rubbed her clit faster, making her eyelashes flutter, and her lips open on a moan.
“Are you sure nobody can see us?” she whispered in a rushed voice, before another moan rolled over her lips.
“I’m sure, gorgeous. Now relax.” He caressed her eagerly, using his thumb to give her even more pleasure, while he brushed his middle finger along her moist slit. “I wanna feel when you come,” he murmured against her lips. He eased his finger into her tight channel and felt her clench around him.
Her hands dug into his back and shoulder as she thrust her pelvis toward him. “Oh god!”
Slowly and gently, he pumped in and out of her. “Tonight it’ll be my cock,” he promised her and himself.
Noticing how her breathing was changing, becoming more rapid and choppy, he adjusted to her rhythm, drawing tighter circles over her clit and moving faster.
“Yes, come for me,” he urged her, wanting nothing more than to feel her shudder in his arms.
He took her lips in another passionate kiss, dipping his tongue into her the way he wanted to thrust his cock into her pussy, giving her a preview of tonight, when he’d take her to his bed again.
Then he felt it: her body stiffened, and her interior muscles clamped around his digit as she climaxed. He swallowed her moans and stilled his fingers, letting her ride out her orgasm until the waves seemed to ebb. When she sighed and relaxed into his embrace again, he released her lips.
“I can’t let you go yet,” he said and rubbed over her clit again.
With her body still hyper-sensitive from her orgasm, it only took seconds to bring her to the brink again. This time, she cried out in pleasure, and he drowned the sound with his lips, lest the sounds of their lovemaking attract curious beachgoers.
“Eros,” she whispered now, lifting her lids as if they were as heavy as lead.
He smiled at her. “I hope you liked your lunch.”
Psyche’s cheeks reddened. “You’re spoiling me.”
“May I spoil you a little more?”
She jerked backward, putting her hands on his chest to hold him back. “I don’t think I can take any more.”
Eros laughed. “I meant tonight. May I take you out for dinner?”
She released a relieved laugh. “That would be nice.”
Then he leaned in and brought his mouth to her ear. “And after dinner, how about you come back to my place?”
“If I may remind you I currently live at your place.”
“I know. But I meant my bedroom. I want you to sleep in my bed tonight. That is, if I let you sleep at all.”
Her eyes sparkled when she looked at him. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”
“Is that a challenge?”
“Are you up for it?”
He winked at her and pressed her against his still hard cock. “What do you think?”
When her eyes widened appreciatively, he smiled and said, “Now let me drive you back to your shop. I promised Justin another archery lesson this afternoon. But after that, I’m all yours.”
And Psyche would be all his for a night of unbridled passion.