Chapter 3

I slowly make my way back to my apartment in the city. The best part about being me is being able to live where I choose and never having to settle for the same old, same old, day in and day out. When I get bored, I move on to bigger and better things. I spend my life wandering from place to place according to the assignments given to me. I could have a home base, and I do for a few months at a time, but I've never been one to stay in one area for too long. Staying becomes familiar and forces friendships, connections, I can't afford to have. I've spent year after year being alone and doing as I please. If I've gotten lonely and wanted more of a connection than the time it takes to get my rocks off, what of it? That happens to everyone at some point in their life. I don't do relationships, as I can't chance anyone discovering my real identity. No one would believe me if I told anyway. Sure, I use my real name everywhere I go, but no one would connect me with that Eros of the tales passed down from generation to generation. The longest I've been with a man was a week and that was with a fellow god back in Olympus. He wanted experience, and I've never been one to say no. He's now living happily with another. That relationship ended eons ago and there's been no one since, other than all the men I've bedded and those were only one-offs. I never go back for more, even when I want to. I've been told my whole life not to get too close to anyone. Now my mother is, for the first time ever, pushing me to find love. Who exactly am I supposed to find love with and still keep my secret?

There's no such thing as real love. Lust, sure, but not love. If there was, there wouldn't be so much divorce in the world today.

That thought takes me back to the lake house where I allowed a man, a stranger, to take me when no one had been allowed back there in years. I told him I didn't want to know his name, but that was a lie. I want to know everything about him, from his favorite color to how he looks when he wakes up in the mornings. Does he snore? Sing in the shower? What are his favorite foods? Drinks? Does he ever like to be taken or is he a top all the way?

Why in the universe am I wondering so much about this guy? I've never been that taken with a man and I've been around practically since the dawn of time.

The main thing I want to know is why he could see my bow when no one else was around. Had Aphrodite been in a better mood I'd have asked her, and I almost did, but she brought up the Elders and I knew it wasn't the time. I know I could ask my siblings, but they report back to her mostly so that's definitely out.

I don't know why that makes my heart hurt when he was nothing more than a quick lay. To know that in the near future, he will be living forever with another - male or female - gives me a sadness unlike anything I've felt in my long life. It makes no sense for me to feel this way. In all my years I've never had this want, this need, to get to know another person. Then there is the familiarity. For some reason I feel as if I know him already. Why, damn it? He's just some man I had sex with. Sure, he's the most beautiful person, mortal or immortal, I've ever laid eyes on, but I've seen beauty since my creation. One thing the old myth got correct was how most gods and goddesses were created as perfection. So why am I in knots over this man, this human man, when most guys I've fucked stopped being a blip on my radar as soon as we both got off?

He said he was gay, but if he's marrying a female he must be bisexual. Or maybe I was just an experiment because he was curious. Then there's the fact that his friends, who are all straight if their reaction to Aslyn was to go by, seemed okay with him being with a man. They didn't freak out or throw out any slurs. They just followed Aslyn out and disappeared, as if it was a setup. The man said I was requested specifically. I know I've never served him at the bar or I'd remember. Maybe he was at the club when I was doing one of my rare performances. If so, I don't know how didn't see him, feel him.

So lost in my thoughts, I almost forget Aphrodite's instructions for when I arrived at my apartment. Feeling dread, I walk to my desk, knowing that whatever is inside the email from Aphrodite will determine my fate. I open the message and skim over it, leaving the attachments for later, as is my norm.

I reread the first two lines and wonder why, if they're getting married, I need to do anything. They've already met, dated and gotten engaged. Hell, they already set a wedding date for a few days from now. Why am I needed?

Met as freshmen at Lakewood High School, Miami, Florida, and became high school sweethearts. Neither dated anyone else before graduation.

Followed each other to the University of Florida in Gainesville, where both graduated with degrees in business and computer science.

What does that mean, no family information available? There's always family information available.

2010 - Wrote security code that is now used in 60% of all U.S. computers.

2012 - Became an instant millionaire when his company went public.

2015 - Got engaged to Kathleen Welch.

Kathleen Welch -

1986 - Born in Pensacola, Florida, to Charlene and Robert Welch. No siblings.

2015 - Got engaged to Sy Allen.

See Sy Allen's info.

Why do people want to get married on that day? Don't they realize they'll be sharing their anniversary every single year with thousands of others? Good luck getting a dinner reservation. Good luck booking a flight. Good luck getting a hotel room. Good luck doing anything other than sitting around waiting as other people celebrate Valentine's Day. You are no one except another couple and the day isn't even remotely special. And if you're really lucky you won't just get a generic card for Valentine's Day and have to celebrate them both as the same holiday. In other words, you're getting gypped. Simple as that. People think it's romantic marrying on the so-called day of love. Then a lot of them end up splitting up later and forever associate the holiday with the one they left behind.

Your assignment is to make sure, without fail, the wedding takes place and the vows are spoken. There's talk behind the scenes that there is trouble in paradise. I've not been able to get any more information than that, but it's almost a given at this point that the ceremony will not be taking place. The engagement occurred at the public urging of Charlene and Robert Welch. Kathleen, an only child, was born into wealth and has been groomed to be married to Sy since he sold his first computer program. Spoiled by her parents, she was given everything she ever wanted. Charlene and Robert, deceased six weeks ago as a result of a car crash, insisted on the wedding. Now that they're no longer in the picture, Kathleen is wanting to cancel. My intelligence tells me it'll happen at the time the ceremony is to take place, but a cancellation can come at any moment.

Do not allow that to happen!

Find them.

Shoot the arrows.

Hang around for the wedding to make sure vows are spoken.

Assignment complete.

Return to Olympus for further instructions.

Return to Olympus? Why should I have to return when, not if, I complete the assignment?

There's more to this than Aphrodite wants me to know. Asking questions at this point would result in me being forced back home without attempting the assignment. While I may not always be a fan of Earth and its inhabitants, it is my home for several months of the year. I figure I'll shoot the arrow a couple of times, hope they take, and wait for the 'I dos' to be spoken. How hard can it be? The couple has been together for half their lives. I may screw around a lot, but I am damn good at my job. This assignment won't be any different from the thousands of others before it.

I click the first attachment of a photo of the bride-to-be, Kathleen Welch. Pretty girl. Short, with red hair cut to just below her chin in a current style. Minimal make-up and jewelry. She looks like the typical girl next door and one you would proudly take home to meet your mother. The next photo has her in a more formal setting at some type of event with an older couple I assume are her parents. She's wearing a tea-length lavender dress that washes out her pale skin tone.

Don't rich people have consultants telling them to stay away from certain colors?

There's a lot of make-up and quite a bit of jewelry, but she looks like a little girl playing dress-up, not a thirty-year-old woman. Her short hair is even slicked back in a very unflattering style.

The third photo is again of Kathleen. Here, she looks like the all-American girl wearing jeans, a red tee, sneakers, and no make-up. On her head is a battered Florida Gators cap and she's smiling at someone out of camera range.

When I get to the fourth attachment I hesitate when I again feel the burn in my chest. I put my finger on the computer to open it and notice my hand shaking. I move it and lean back in my chair. I don’t know why I’m nervous about seeing a photo. Since the internet was invented, I've received thousands of assignments this way.

With my stomach in knots and the bow across my chest throbbing, I reach over and tap the cursor to open the attachment. When it downloads, I'm sorry I did. Staring at me from my computer screen is the man I haven't been able to stop thinking about for the past few hours. There are four photos, all showing him in various dress. From formal and polished in a tuxedo, to sweaty at the gym after a workout, and everything in between. I enlarge each one and take in every detail. The last photo is of Sy and Kathleen, his arm around her pulling her close. They look really happy.

The blond hair is the same, though a few inches shorter than what I saw earlier. Standing at a height I know is close to my own, his blue eyes are twinkling in one picture as if he's just been told a funny joke.

My chest has been burning since I opened the first attachment and the longer I look, the more intense the feeling gets. Rubbing my chest, I lower the photos on my screen and again read the email sent by Aphrodite.

If they don't want to go through with it, it should be their choice, not that of the gods.

Sy Allen was very experienced in man-on-man sex. Had I been an experiment, he would have been fumbling when he fucked me. Everything - from his fingers, to his cock, to using a lot of lube - proved that he knew exactly what to do to ensure the sex was pleasurable for me. That wasn't the work of an inexperienced man. So... what? He's been cheating on his fiancée? Outside of me, I mean.

People like Sy Allen are the reason I don't believe in love. You have a beautiful partner waiting for you at home, but you go out and screw around behind their back. I may've fucked a lot of these married and/or committed men in my day, but that doesn't mean I like the guys. In reality, I hold them in scorn as I shove my dick in and out of their mouths or asses. I hate a cheater, which is why I, the god of love and lust, have flipped my middle finger at the love part of who I am.

“Yes, Aphrodite,” I say out loud, knowing she can probably hear me, “I will make sure this jerk marries his beautiful fiancée. They will say their vows and then I'll walk away and never so much as think about Sy Allen again.”

....the way he kissed with his entire mouth, the best kisser I've ever kissed....

....his hands as they squeezed my ass as he was grinding me against his wet cock before he fucked me....

So, he was a jerk. That doesn't mean I can't fantasize about him. It's not like I'll be letting his cock near my ass again.

I pull up the photos again, immediately removing those of Kathleen and the one of her and Sy together. I enlarge the photo of Sy in the gym. On a treadmill, his body glistens with sweat and his hair is pulled back in a sloppy ponytail. Wearing gray shorts and a white tank top, he's gorgeous and so sexy I could imagine myself licking every inch of that sweaty body. My cock starts throbbing, but I slam the laptop closed. I lean back in my chair and begin to plan. The arrow is not fool-proof, but if I do my job right, I'll make it work.

You know all that talk about how only the ones who are meant to see the bow and arrow see it? There have been countless couples who didn't see squat before it pierced their heart. They saw it afterward, but not before. It's the ones who see it before while their destined mates are around who are truly meant to be together. As for the others, the gods and goddesses feel they should be together for whatever reason. It can be to ensure future generations thrive as a result of the unions, or it can be for something as simple as genetics. Those, I always hate doing, but I still do what I'm supposed to do. The ones who see the bow and arrow right off are the ones who are meant to be together for the long-haul. Those are the couples I never mind getting together because they, and only they, have the true love fairy tales have been written about since the dawn of existence.

I walk to my bathroom for a shower, a plan already forming in my mind about Kathleen Welch and Sy Allen. They will get married on Valentine's Day.