Our plan is working. This is what I wanted. So why do I feel so sick about it?
I type a quick thank-you and push my chair back. “My mother will be leaving the penthouse in about thirty minutes.” She’ll want to get to Poppy’s early to ensure she has her preferred table. My mother isn’t predictable when it comes to many moves she makes, but there are certain things I can reasonably assume she’ll do. One of those is maneuvering to get the best table in any restaurant, maximized for seeing and being seen.
Eros grabs both our plates and heads for the sink. “Let’s go.”
“We really don’t—” I cut myself off at the look on his face. It’s clear he’s not about to let me out of his sight, and I honestly don’t know what I’d do if I got a little distance from him. I’ve committed myself to this, yes, but if there was a chance to find another way… I am who I am, which means I am my mother’s daughter. I will always be looking for the best path forward, even if that means pivoting unexpectedly.
Not to mention if he’s serious about the threat his mother offers, I actually need him to look out for me. I haven’t survived the last twenty-four hours only to fall now, when survival is on the horizon. “Fine. Let’s go.”
It takes us five minutes to get our shoes on and into the elevator. There’s a different security person waiting at the floor of the parking garage with Eros’s car, a white woman with bright-red hair and even brighter lipstick. She smiles at him, and the expression only dims the slightest bit when she sees me. “Morning, Eros.”
“Morning.” He barely glances at her as he holds the door open for me and whisks us down to the aisle he parked in last night. Except instead of going to the tiny sports car, he walks past it to a dark sedan. It’s still the height of luxury, but it’s surprisingly understated. When I raise my eyebrows, Eros looks away. “The Porsche isn’t practical if we don’t want to draw attention.” His shoulders hunch the tiniest bit. “And you weren’t comfortable in it.”
There is absolutely no reason for that sliver of thoughtfulness to have heat flushing my body. None at all. I’m not so starved for attention that my head will turn over such a small thing. And yet… “Thanks,” I say softly.
If I didn’t know better, I’d think he’s blushing as he unlocks the doors and we climb into the car. We don’t speak as we pull out of the parking garage, and I’m grateful for the silence because it allows me time to get my head on straight. I don’t need to be overanalyzing Eros’s motivations for switching vehicles. I need to think and strategize about what I’m going to pack and what I absolutely can’t live without. Doing it in one trip is going to be a challenge, but I’ll figure it out.
I don’t question the fact that Eros knows where I live. I can pinpoint the buildings of all of the Thirteen and most of their inner circles and families. It pays to be aware of these things, and so everyone is.
“Where should I park?”
“The street.”
He makes a face. “That’s more exposed than I’d like to be.”
“I know, but it’s a risk we have to take.” The security people who work for the building monitor our comings and goings and report them to my mother, and the last thing I need is for her to decide we need to be detained so she and I can have a sit-down. There’s no avoiding it indefinitely, but I want Eros and me to be beyond the point of no return before Mother gets involved. Like Aphrodite, even she will have to recalibrate once his ring is on my finger.
Speaking of… “We need rings.”
Eros expertly parallel parks in a spot small enough that I would have said it was impossible. He turns off the engine. “The jeweler will be at my place at two this afternoon with a selection. I just need your size.”
Of course he’s thought of that. I tell him my ring size and watch as he shoots off a text. My phone is still blowing up with notifications, but I’ve silenced it so I can work through them when I have time. “I don’t know if Callisto is there, but I don’t want a confrontation.”
“You don’t have to worry about it.”
I give him the look that deserves. “I think we’ve already established that violence is definitely something you’re capable of.”
He transforms before my eyes. The coldness disappears from his face and he gives me a charming smile. “I would never harm anyone the love of my life cares about.”
I dig my nails into my palm, using the bite of pain to remind myself that this is fake. No matter how intensely my heart flutters when he looks at me like that, it’s all an act. I may need to get my damn heart looked at soon, though. Surely skipping beats this regularly isn’t healthy. “Let’s get this over with.”