Page 28 of Hercules

Asking about it would have to be shelved. With just a few seconds left in their ride, she had to settle for a puzzled frown as her only throwback to his audacity.

But was it? As throwbacks went, this one was pathetic.

So how perturbed was she?

And did she even have the right to the aggravation, in light of what this steadfast male had already done for her? He’d started it all back at the club, willingly climbing into the back seat with her, even with the media labeling him as Natasha’s “kidnapper”. And there was no necessity for him to keep such a protective proximity to her during the drive up to Natasha’s mansion or to stay that way when she rolled down the window to deflate the reporters’ fear mongering for good. Good God—pretty literally this time—he’d even grabbed her hand during the ensuing flashbulb flurry as they inched past the mansion’s big gates. To him, the whole ordeal had been a bean casserole instead of an adventurous cake walk, if she assumed correctly from the painful clench of his fingers. But he’d endured it all—for her.

If he could stow his pangs and panic, then so could she.

She made her mind repeat the vow even as she leaned forward—as far as she could, since Hercules refused to relinquish her hand as of yet—and address his brother again.

“Pull all the way up to the top. Since the driveway’s so long, we’ll be able to get out and walk under the trees to the front door. That should thwart most of the gang from getting clear drone shots.”

“Drone shots?” Hercules hitched her closer. Not on purpose—at least she didn’t think so—but with purpose. “Fuck. Didn’t those jackals get enough with the three-minute crawl we took through their gauntlet?”

A new grunt from Apollo. “I didn’t go that slow.”

“Says the guy who hid under his hat like a Dickens waif the whole time.”

“Hey! This is a professional-level cap. The guy told me the deal was off if I didn’t wear it, even with two hundred large in his hand.”

Lo surged forward again. “You paid that guy two hundred dollars just to take his place for an hour?”

“Forty minutes.” Apollo swung out a new grin. “I know shortcuts.” And then eyeballed his brother. “Now who’s the slow one?”

“All right, Polo Boy. Does your compendium of clever moves include a way to get into that house without drones?”

No way did she get the impression that he was gunning for her giggle with the line, but he got it anyway. Lois even extended the laughter longer than she should’ve, relishing how it made the big guy shift as if his seat warmer had been kicked to high strength.

It was kind of…fun. For once, she was a few degrees more poised than him. It gave her some boldness to take the lead herself for once, which she colored with playfulness while pancake-flipping their finger clasp a few times.

“Come on, Lion Man. You sat with me through the last five minutes without having a seizure. Two or three drones aren’t going to fluff your feathers.” During the ten seconds it took for Apollo to get out and open her door, she added, “Besides, there’s only one shortcut in this place, and it leads to the back gate.”

With a soft groan, he dropped his head back. Lo almost matched the sound, since Apollo was clearly ready to help her out—but his little brother had to pick this second of the night to yank her breath away the hardest.

Damn. Damn.

It wasn’t just his prominent profile, with his gold-tipped lashes against his formidable cheeks and his hair falling back to splay against his broad shoulders. It was the power he emanated, even in a moment of temporary submission. The unforgiving angles of his face. The mighty majesty of his body.

The forces that pulled on her exactly like the moment he’d walked into that underground lobby.

Calling to her. Moving her.

Really making her want to shut the car’s door in Apollo’s face so she could answer even half those calls.

Instead the sun god himself broke apart her fantasies, leaning in with a perplexed frown. “You two waiting for midnight so this thing turns into a pumpkin? Let’s go.”

Hercules raised his head with a disgruntled sigh. “He’s right. The sooner we get inside, the sooner we can start looking for that lyre string.”

Lo nodded, also a little reluctantly, until she accepted Apollo’s assistance and stepped all the way onto the driveway. “Well, crap.”

“What?” the brothers demanded in unison.

“This little thing is mine.” She pointed to her car, an older but tidy compact. “But the SUV… That’s not anyone from the housekeeping or gardening crews. So I suspect we’ll have to put on some happy-smiley showmanship for the chinchilla breeder girl.”

“The chinchil-what?” Hercules spewed, and Lo couldn’t help a fresh giggle.

“I’d call jinx, since I said the exact same thing, but the statute of limitations on that stuff is probably shorter than five hours.”