Ares by Edlyn Reynolds

“Let’s go and sit under the tree there.”
    “You know what I mean silly. Eventually I’ll have to find a home. I’ll have to settle down one day you know. I can’t walk the world for the rest of my life. One day I will sadly have to stop and find a place to call home, put down roots.”
    “Ah, right, sorry,” he smiled at her. He led her toward the spot he’d chosen. Handing her the basket, he shook out the blanket and gave her a hand sitting down. “Don’t rush into anything, Ava. Enjoy the fact that you don’t have to decide tomorrow. You have some freedom so you should spread your wings and check out everything you can.”
    “That’s what I’m doing. I’m very much enjoying being able to check out everything, to experience life and to just simply live. Now there is this man.” She took a seat on the blanket with his help and grinned up at him. “He’s breathtaking, funny, even though he and I seriously got off on the wrong foot, but I’m afraid I have the hots for him. I would follow him to the ends of the Earth and back if he asked me to.”
    Ares dropped down next to her and lifted a brow. “Yeah?” he asked with a grin. “You should tell me more about this guy. I need to know whether I puff up my chest in pride or rip out some poor sucker's throat and dance on his entrails.”
    “Well he’s got these eyes that I just want to swim in. They are lethal, truly they are but when he looks at me, I don’t see the predator that he can be. Instead, I see the man that he is on the inside. He’s tall with a dark complexion and dark hair. He has this laugh that’s like whiskey and cigars. He’s spectacular and he can dance like a dream.”
    He burst out with a laugh, “I don’t know about most of that but the last bit, not so much. I know I’m less than spectacular on the dance floor. I am relatively competent but really, avoiding toes is pretty much as far as it stretches.” Ares pulled her into his lap and hugged her close, pressing kisses over her cheek and neck. “I adore you, Ava, I want to have you in my life as long as you’ll allow me to be there.”
    “Good. Then I think you and I are going to be spending a great deal of time together. In fact I’m going to demand it. I adore you and I want as much time with you as I can get. It doesn’t matter what we are doing, as long as we are doing it together, deal?”
    “Then stay with me,” he told her quietly. “At my place I mean. It’s big enough that we can have space if we need or want it. It will also allow us to see where this might be going. If you want to that is. I don’t want to push you into anything of course, but the option is there.”
    “Are you sure about that? My moving in with you so fast would be a big deal, wouldn’t it? Not that I’m saying no, because I’m not, but how would the others... where you live... feel about the sudden slum craze that I would bring about?” she being human and all.
    “Who cares?” he frowned at her. “If you don’t want to stay there we can live in my Earthbound home. It’s not nearly as fancy as the place on Olympus but I quite like it. It’s in Italy on the coast, the beach is close, the weather is warm and beautiful. It’s on a vineyard and we have a couple pretty good wines that come of it each year.”
    That had Ava smiling. “I think I would like to see that home as well.” She moved so she was closer to him, his scent and strength wrapping around her. “And where do you feel safest? Which home would be the one you would choose, Ares?”
    “I like the house in Italy, its warm and inviting. I have the same protections there as I do on Olympus so it’s equally safe. As long as there aren’t any earthquakes of course,” he smiled. Cupping her face, he tipped her back and kissed her gently. “We can go back and forth between the two, Ava. Nothing says we need to live in only one place.”
    “I think I like that idea a lot. That way we don’t have to stop our