Heart of Fire (Blood of Zeus #2) - Meredith Wild Page 0,32

need to feel him losing control too, taking his pleasure from my body the way I’ve taken from his.

In this very bed. On these sheets.

How can he do that to me? Satisfy me and make me crave more still…

I don’t have a moment to rationalize how, because the promise of more is shattered with the shrill ring of my phone.

Maximus drops his head into the bedspread beside me. “Fuck… Please tell me that’s not your mother.”

Boneless, my brain cells still scattered, all I can do is sigh.

And then remember.

He pulls gently from me. The absence of contact is made even more miserable with the sudden realization that now I won’t be enjoying more of him in any form.

I groan, this time with angry frustration.

He rolls to his back with his own sigh. I rise and surge toward my phone but end the call. It doesn’t matter. Veronica will call back in a few seconds. She’ll call until she hears a voice, a surefire guarantee that she connects with whoever she pleases, whenever she damn well wants to.

I set the phone back on the counter and button up my dress.

“What are you doing?” Maximus sits on the edge of the bed. His hair is mussed from my eager fingers pawing him like a wild animal. His cheeks are flushed, which makes his eyes even more intensely blue.

What I wouldn’t give to shut my phone off and crawl back into those sheets with him right now. For hours. For days.

“I have an appointment,” I say instead, hoping my hurried preparations will excuse me from the lack of detail.

But he’s not letting me get away with it. My luck runs out as soon as he pushes up to stand.

“With who?”

I swallow and focus on my buttons. “Fine,” I finally say. “You deserve to know. I’m meeting Arden. At his office near Rodeo. Mom wants us to wrap up this project we started. She’s adamant about it.”

Max’s reply takes several seconds to come. Some of the longest ticks of my life.

“Arden.”

I don’t have to look up to pick up on his outrage.

“I’m sorry. But this isn’t a permanent situation. Even so, if I never had to see him again, I’d be truly happy. But she’s forcing the issue—”

“No.” He growls the word like it’s law.

I finally risk a look in his direction. The second I do, I’m pulled more fully into the sudden shift in his intensity…from raw and sexual to possessive and pissed.

“You’re not seeing him alone. Is Veronica insane?”

“Likely. But she’s also confident I’ll be safe with him.”

I utter the reassurance with a little more fervency than I feel. Arden’s never made me feel especially safe. And at his worst, he’s made me feel very unsafe. I haven’t nearly forgotten. But worrying Maximus needlessly isn’t the answer either. He’s holding up under the stress of this new life, but for how long? He already looks like he’s ready to snap. Now more than ever.

He shakes his head. “I don’t trust it. I don’t trust her. And I sure as hell don’t trust him.”

“She’s my mother, Maximus. If I can’t trust her—”

“But can you?”

I pause, because the vehemence of his question forces me to dig deeper for my own truth. Do I trust her? Implicitly? I take a deep breath, buying more time to question everything.

“I trust you, Maximus, and I haven’t known you that long. I trust Z because he might be the only one who can save me now. And…yes, I trust my mother because she’s my mother. She’s difficult, I know.”

His jaw tightens with that.

“Okay, she can be downright vicious. And love isn’t exactly an emotion she’s well-versed in. We might not have mutual affection in abundance, but I believe she’s invested in my safety. In, you know, keeping me alive.”

For a minute, I think he’ll keep pushing me. But he simply stares, his breathing evening out, like maybe he’s beginning to understand the insanity of it all. The illogical but inescapable contradiction that is my mother. My family. My life as a demon who’s done everything to be someone different.

“Fine,” he finally says, throwing his shirt back on.

I blink back my shock at his sudden acquiescence. “Okay.”

“But I’m coming with you.”

Chapter Eleven

Maximus

She’s not comfortable with my ultimatum. But as I lift her into my truck, I linger my hands on her waist to convey my gratitude for her reluctant acceptance of it.

I hope she picks up on the rest of my feelings too. How I hate unsettling her like