Tempted

Erik’s not gonna like that,” Jack said happily. “There’s gonna be some serious boyfriend drama tomorrow.”
    “The drama’s over in that department. Z dumped Erik earlier tonight.”
    “She did!” Damien said.
    “Yeah, and it’s about time, too. His possessive crap had to go,” Aphrodite said.
    “And she’s really okay?” Damien asked.
    Aphrodite didn’t like Damien’s typically too-keen gaze. She absolutely was not going into the fact that Kalona had entered Zoey’s dream, and that was why Stark was sleeping with her. She was also not going to talk about her vision—something she was happy to blame on Zoey, and definitely would in the future when Damien got pissed that she’d kept her mouth shut about it. So, to throw off Miss Nosy, she lifted one perfect brow and gave him her standard keep-them-guessing sneer. “Who are you, her gay mom?”
    As Aphrodite knew it would, Damien’s fur instantly ruffled. “No, I’m her friend!”
    “Please. Yawn. Like we all don’t know that. Zoey. Is. Fine. Goddess, try giving her some breathing room.”
    Damien frowned. “I let her breathe. I was just worried about her, that’s all.”
    “Where’s Heath? Does he know about her breakup with Erik and that she’s, well,
sleeping with Stark
?” Jack finished the sentence in a stage whisper.
    Aphrodite rolled her eyes. “I could care less where Heath is, and unless Z needs a snack I’m thinking she’s probably not too interested in where he is, either.
She’s busy
,” she enunciated clearly. Aphrodite really didn’t like hurting Damien and his girl/boyfriend Jack’s feelings, but cutting them short was the only way to keep Damien out of her business, and that didn’t even work 100 percent of the time. She turned to Darius, who was standing near her watching her closely with an expression that was a mixture of amusement and concern. “Ready to go, handsome?”
    “Of course.” He looked back at Damien and Jack before he closed the door. “I’ll see you two at sunset.”
    “’Kay!” Jack trilled while Damien just looked long and hard at her.
    Out in the hall Aphrodite had only taken a couple of steps when Darius took her wrist and pulled her to a stop. Before she could say anything, he put his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes.
    “You’ve had a vision,” he said simply.
    Aphrodite felt her eyes fill with tears. She was totally, absolutely crazy about this big hulk of a guy who knew her so well, and who seemed to care so much about her.
    “Yeah.”
    “Are you all right? You look pale and your eyes are still bloodshot.”
    “I’m okay,” she said, although even to her own ears she didn’t sound convincing.
    He folded her into his arms and she let him hold her, comforted beyond words by his strength. “Was it as bad as last time?” he asked.
    “It was worse.” Face tucked down against his chest she spoke in a voice so soft and sweet that it would have shocked almost everyone who knew her.
    “Another death vision of Zoey?”
    “No. This time it was an end-of-the-world thing, but Zoey did figure in it.”
    “Are we going back to her?”
    “No, she really is sleeping with Stark. Seems Kalona’s been getting in her dreams and sleeping with a guy keeps him out.”
    “Good,” Darius said. There was a sound at the end of the hall, and Darius pulled her around the corner and deeper into the shadows while a nun passed by, oblivious to their presence.
    “Hey, speaking of sleep—I know Z’s the big High Priestess, but she’s not the only one who needs her beauty rest,” Aphrodite whispered when they were alone in the hallway again.
    Darius gave her a considering look. “You are right. You must be exhausted, especially after having a vision.”
    “I wasn’t just talking about me, Mr. Macho. I was thinking about where we could go on the way down here and I came up with an idea—a brilliant idea, if I do say so myself.”
    Darius smiled. “And I’m sure you do.”
    “Of course. Anyway, I remembered you telling the penguin nurses that Stark shouldn’t be interrupted for at least a solid eight hours. So, he’s not in his very private, very dark, very cozy room. Instead it is tragically empty.” Aphrodite nuzzled the side of his neck, lifted herself on her tiptoes and nipped at his earlobe.
    He laughed and tucked his arm around her. “You are brilliant.”
    On the walk to Stark’s vacated room, Aphrodite filled him in on her vision, and on Zoey’s dream. He