The Return
Page 79

I slid my hand down over her delicate throat, stopping for a moment to feel her racing pulse under my thumb, and then I went lower, my hand coasting to the side, barely sweeping over the swell of her breast, and yet her back arched up as she gasped into the kiss.
Gods, she was going to kill me.
I pressed my hips into hers, letting her really know just how badly I wanted this with her, that there was absolutely no question about it, and I gripped her with a trembling hand, rocking my hips again, sending a rush down to the base of my spine. And she tilted hers. A perfect dance I was so caught up in that I didn’t even feel the presence until I heard the voice.
“When I asked you to watch over my daughter, I didn’t have this in mind.”
Oh shit.
I froze as tiny hairs all over my body stood, and under me, Josie stiffened. Nothing killed an erection faster than Apollo popping in while I was dry-humping his daughter.
Gods, his timing was always epic.
Lifting myself up, I opened my eyes and stared into Josie’s wide, startled ones. I knew I was so dead, like deader than dead with my balls not intact, but right now, it was only me between her and seeing her father for the first time.
This…this was going to get messy.
Apollo sighed loudly. “Any time now, Seth.”
Confusion had already begun to fill her expression, and I tried to smile for her as I touched the tips of my fingers to her cheek. “It’ll be okay,” I whispered to her.
Her eyes remained latched to mine as I rolled off Josie, positioning myself so that I was in front of her, giving her time to get it together. When I saw Apollo standing in the doorway, all I could think was what the hell?
Apollo didn’t look like himself—not like his true self. His hair was dark brown, cropped close to the skull, his features slightly different, and his eyes the same as Josie’s. He looked like Leon had—the way he’d made himself look when he’d been at Deity Island, pretending to be nothing more than a Sentinel.
“What is up with this?” I asked, standing.
He was staring at me like he wanted to castrate me old-school style, but his gaze shifted beyond me as Josie sat up. Putting a hand on the edge of the bed, she stood, her face pale and eyes so incredibly wide as she stared at him.
Apollo, disguised as Leon, smiled at her. “Hello, Josie.”
She took an unsteady step forward, her shoulder brushing mine. “Bob?”
“Bob?” Seth repeated.
The man I was staring at—the man Seth had called Apollo, my father—was familiar to me. I knew him. I’d known him as a little girl.
“Wait a minute,” Seth said, stepping forward. “You’re calling yourself Bob now? Really?”
He glanced at Seth. “Why are you still here?”
Seth folded his arms. “I’m not going anywhere.” Pausing, he glanced at me. “Unless you want me to go.”
“No.” I shuffled closer to him as I stared up at the tall man. “I want you to stay.”
“Great,” muttered the man I knew as Bob.
I shook my head slowly, trying to get my brain cells to function. The dizzy, pleasant rush of sensations from Seth’s kisses and from the weight of his body on mine, pressing into the best possible places, had quickly faded, but I felt like I was in a dream.
“You…you used to visit me when I was little,” I said, and it sounded crazy. “By the lake. You brought me candy and dolls.”
“That doesn’t sound creepy at all,” Seth muttered under his breath.
I ignored him. “I don’t understand.” Maybe I did and just didn’t want to comprehend it. “You’re my…”
“I am your father.” He glanced at Seth and smirked. “That’s the second Star Wars nod. Keeping track?”
Seth rolled his eyes.
“What the hell?” I whispered.
The air shimmered around the man I knew as Bob, and then he…he wasn’t Bob at all. In his place was a man who shared some of the same features, but was taller and broader, with a head full of blond waves and eyes that still matched mine.
“Holy crap.” Heart pounding, I stumbled back, and then looked at the painting that was facing the wall. “Holy crappers.”
Seth reached out, but I shook my head. “I’m okay. I’ve just never seen someone do a live Photoshop on himself.”
The man—who was so obviously Apollo—smiled again, and it made my stomach tumble. “I was never supposed to know you. Not unless we needed you. That was the deal we made when we created the twelve demigods,” he explained. “But…you were my child. I wanted to know you.”
I had no idea what to say, so I just stared at him as my heart raced.
“We didn’t get to spend a lot of time together, and I understand if you feel like I abandoned you, but I’ve always kept an eye on you, one way or another.”
I still had no idea what to say.
Apollo tipped his chin up, and a long and awkward moment passed. “I am sorry about your grandparents. They’re at peace now, in paradise. I hope that’s a comfort to you.”
Air caught in my throat as I took a step to the side and sat down on the edge of the bed without falling off it this time. Was that a comfort to me? Yes. No. “My mom?”
“She’s safe. I cannot tell you where she is, but she will remain safe until the threat is over,” he replied as his gaze moved over my face. “I am proud of you.”