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The 7:30 wake-up call fro lady who announced that breakfast would be served on the deck at 8:15 ca to her? Her internal clock usually woke her right around dawn To her nor she rubbed her eyes and felt thick-headed, wishing she could curl up and sleep for a couplethat the God of Light was sleeping alone just down that hall froht So had that damn liquid voice of his It seemed to tumble around and around inside her head And his touch Every tiainst hers Apparently it didn&039;t matter that he was minus his iht and sweat and

Bloody buggering hell! She really needed to get a grip on her horain and reminded herself that Eddie was bound to have excellent coffee all brewed and waiting for them

Which reminded her that she was certain she&039;d heard Eddie and Artele their way back to one of their rooross as that was to think about Would Artein goddesses? Paht about her erotic stint with Zumanity and the sexy way she walked and talked She seeer, not the other one); the exact opposite of an aloof, untouched and untouchable goddess

Paot out of bed She washed her face and brushed her teeth and re today, there were only three more days till the portal reopened and Arteet back to normal in her own Her stoh to even hope that Apollo would actually stick around long enough to have a real relationship with her He would leave And she would return to her nor, dateless life

No She&039;d already been over this with herself She wasn&039;t going to crawl back into her sexless, manless, ro foray into the world of dating It had been a successful reconnoiter She would change her er would she be all work and no play She Would Date

"Bloody buggering hell," she told her frazzled-looking reflection in the bathrooto be so asha herself on the forehead "V! I haven&039;t even checked in with her" She ruh her purse until she found her cell phone and punched in V&039;s nu of me? You never call me anymore Say it ain&039;t so," V said instead of hello

"It ain&039;t so," Pamela said "God, V, I&039;s here have been ically insane side"

"The author is terminally crazy?"

"No Actually, Eddie is a pretty good guy, and the job is even turning out to be al Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton would have liked"

"Shut up! Do not tellscrumptious Cleopatra&039;s palace!"

"Well, kinda"

"What does thatlike the set from Cleopatra But it&039;s not -into part"

"He has a lesbian assistant with an Elizabeth Taylor obsession, too? God, the world&039;s a s uy, and I&039;ht It&039;shis focus, and it was just a happy accident that it&039;s looking like an MGM set"

"Wait, wait, wait! You only have one assistant She iswith crazy old cat lady Graham - who, by the bye, has finally let me talk her out of the plu at chintz today I told her it would show less cat hair Regardless of the cat lady story, there is still the very important fact that your one assistant is moi, and I am here Explain"

What could Pamela tell her? If she admitted that she believed Apollo and his sister were ias, V would be on the next plane out there with a carry-on filled with valium and a reservation for her to spend a nice little "vacation" at the nearest psychiatric resting facility Not to mention that she would needlessly worry her best friend She definitely couldn&039;t tell her the truth She drew a deep breath She wouldn&039;t think of it as lying; she&039;d think of it as fictionalizing It&039;s what Eddie did for a living, and no one called him a crazy person Okay, well, not to his face, they didn&039;t

"I hired Phoebus and his sister to be my assistants until Friday Phoebus is an expert in ancient Roman architecture, and his sister is, well, so drop-dead that Eddie changed histhe stupid center statue of his fountain be fashioned after horrid Bacchus and is using her as a goddess model instead" She finished, breathed, and waited for the storm

"You hired your boyfriend?"

"He is not my boyfriend"

"And his sister?" V continued as if Pamela hadn&039;t spoken

"Yeah, well, his sister just kinda came with the deal Phoebus really is an expert on ancient Rome He&039;s helped me convince Eddie to build an authentic Roman bathhouse instead of a tacky replica of the Caesar&039;s Palace pool Did you know that ancient Romans used their public bathhouses as country clubs?"

"Okay, focus I&039;h with the boyfriend questions"

"He&039;s not ht you said he was a doctor and a htailing it out of Vegas early Monday ?"

"He is a doctor and a musician He&039;s also an expert on ancient Rome And, yes, he was supposed to leave, but he, uh,to keep her voice light and unliar sounding

"Sounds too curiously convenient to ht How the hell old is he, anyway?"

"Older than I thought at first," Parateful she could answer one of her friend&039;s questions truthfully

"Are you still boinking hiht"

"His idea or yours not to boink?" V asked

"Mine," Pamela said miserably

"Oh, nuh-uh You&039;re totally stuck on him Please tell me you didn&039;t hire him just so you could keep hi obsession It sets up a sick soap opera scenario, Pammy"

"It&039;s not like that I hired him - and his bitch sister - because I could use their help"

"So the beauty is a beast?"

Pa bitch tidbit would work

"She&039;s awful Gorgeous, haughty, total goddess complex You&039;d love her"

"You&039;re such a tease" V sighed

"I&039; Phoebus and Diana has totally taken the pressure offione on Diana One ses his mind"

"And you, of course, have briefed her on what you want Eddie to like?" V said

"Of course," Paain Arte It was just a good thing that the goddess had excellent, if exceedingly extravagant, taste

"So what is your handsowith the architects on the bathhouse It&039;s really pretty interesting to find out about - " A knock on her door interrupted her "Hang on, someone&039;s at the door"

"Pah the door "I need your help"

"Uh, V, I gotta go"

"Okay - call , but be careful"

Parunted a bye and closed the little flip phone before she cracked the door One look at Apollo, and the door widened, along with her eyes He was naked fro mass, and his chin and cheeks were covered with blood

"Oh od! What did you do?"

"I shaved," he said "And I&039;!"

"Get in here," she pulled him into the room and closed the door Under the splotches of blood that speckled his face his skin was pale She shook her head at him and pointed at a chair "Sit down before you fall down You don&039;t look so good"

Apollo dropped into the chair He touched one of the blood drops, looked at his reddened finger, and sed convulsively

"It&039;s my blood," he said

Pamela frowned at him "Of course it is It looks like you nicked the shit out of yourself shaving" She headed into the bathroo over her shoulder at him "Haven&039;t you ever shaved before?"

He shook his head woodenly "No"

She ca now that she had noticed how s they&039;d woken up together

"You&039;ve really never shaved before?"

He looked up at her "I never had to My face never grew a beard"

She bent in front of hiently on the cheek "It&039;s really not so bad You only cut yourself a few times It&039;s just that the face bleeds easily"

"I didn&039;t know," he said, looking even paler

She straightened "Is bleeding so else you haven&039;t done before?"