Page 47 of Security and Submission
“Or we could go eat dessert.”
“Dessert?” Her eyes lit up, then she frowned. “I didn’t order any.”
“You didn’t, I did.” Reaching out, he took her hand, threading his fingers through hers and pulling her out of the bathroom while Tiger pranced around their legs, doing his best to get in their way. “Come on.”
“I was going to be good since I already ate a whole bunch of junk,” she said, sounding somewhat exasperated but also excited.
“And I felt like if we were going to do this, we might as well go all the way,” Zeus countered. “You have a choice between chocolate cake or cannoli.”
“I have to choose?” She sounded almost mournful.
Zeus chuckled again as he led her back down the stairs. Thankfully, Tiger ran down ahead of them so they didn’t trip over him. Hope was lying on the couch, and her tail started up as soon as she saw them.
“No, we can share. I wouldn’t mind having some of both.”
“Then let’s share.”
While they ate their dessert, they talked about the show, and Zeus admitted he was enjoying it so far. Even if they didn’t finish it tonight, he would probably watch it at some point to find out how everything ended up.
At which point, Yas said she wanted to finish watching it with him.
“Sounds like a date,” he teased. “But I thought you don’t do that.”
“I don’t, which is why it’s not a date.” She jabbed her empty fork in his direction before stabbing another bite of cake.
“Ah, yes, the curse. Tell me about it.” He was curious about exactly what he was dealing with here.
Yas shrugged, her gaze dropping back down to the cake, lips curving into a frown.
“Not much to tell. I date a guy or get into a relationship with a guy. It doesn’t work out. And then the next girl he dates, he ends up marrying and living happily-ever-after with.” She shoved the forkful of cake into her mouth, making a face.
After a long moment, because this seemed like something she was sensitive about and Zeus didn’t want to be unsympathetic, he cleared his throat.
“Isn’t that what happens to everyone’s relationship that doesn’t work out?” When she stared at him like he’d grown a second head, he shrugged. “If the relationship doesn’t work out, you both move on to the next one.”
“Okay, but how do you explain the whole ‘they find their perfect partner next’ thing?” There was a little bit of pout to her lip now, which was both cute and silly looking with her face mask. He liked that she was loosening up to be more comfortable with looking less than perfect in front of him.
“What makes the perfect partner? Just because they got married?”
“Well…” She hesitated. Suspicion rose in her eyes, as if she couldn’t see where he was going with this line of thinking, but she knew she wasn’t going to like it. “Yes.”
“Would you have wanted to marry any of them? Your exes, I mean?”
Another moment of hesitation, like she could feel the trap closing around her.
“Well, no.” She frowned, her gaze averting to the side. “I was prepared to marry one of them. But he met a woman he fell hard for, and I let him go.”
“So, you weren’t willing to settle for someone that you didn’t want.” Zeus shrugged. “Or that didn’t sufficiently want you. Sounds more like a blessing than a curse to me.”
“I…” She frowned. Little lines cracked in the dried mask on her face. She gave him another suspicious look. “It’s different. They still all found the person they did want to marry afterward, and I haven’t yet.”
“How do you know they’re all happily-ever-after? Are you saying there have been no divorces?” That was a sincere question.
Yas scowled at him, so he was pretty sure he knew the answer.
“Shut up and eat your cake,” she said, holding a forkful up in front of his mouth. Obediently, he opened his lips so she could feed him the bite. He bit down hard on the plastic fork, holding it in place for a long moment as their gazes met, and her eyes widened before she let it go.
The face masks didn’t matter.
