"Surprised I'm dating?"
He chuckled, a throaty sound that reminded me of intimate moments and stolen kisses. "I'm more surprised that I am," he joked. "This is my first time."
"What made you decide to join in?"
A smirk lifted the corner of his lips. "Let's just say there was something that intrigued me about tonight."
The way he studied me made it almost possible to think he was doing all of this because of me. But I doubted that. We hadn't been together for a long time, and we broke up for very real reasons. Though with the way the world had progressed since then, perhaps they weren't as relevant now.
I blinked a couple of times and attempted to chase away the traitorous thoughts swimming through my head. I'd promised Sekhmet I'd do speed dating in an attempt to make a connection with someone, but she probably didn't intend that person to be my ex.
And nor should it be.
"How are your cats?" he asked.
"They're good. I've gotten more since you last saw me." A lot more.
"I assumed as much. You never could resist picking up a stray."
"I never heard you complaining about that."
"It was beneficial when I was the stray," he joked.
Despite knowing I shouldn't let him affect me, I melted a little at his words. I had to remember that Ptah was a charmer. It wouldn't just be me he convinced with his sweet talk, it would be everyone he'd talked to so far.
And yet I still felt as if I was the only person in his world. If I let this continue, then I was doomed to make the same mistakes I already had, and I wasn't sure whether my heart could take it.
I glanced at the man across from me. Perhaps risking my heart would be worth it. Except that I couldn't let myself think like that. It would be dangerous for both of us and would just end up in more pain than I was able to stand. There was a reason things hadn't worked out between us, and I needed to remember what it was.
"I like your new haircut, it suits you," he said.
I lifted a hand to touch the side of my head, as if surprised to discover my hair was cut into a neat bob. "Thank you. I thought it would be more practical and lead to fewer bad hair days."
"I don't think you've ever had one."
A small snort of a laugh escaped from me. "Then you must be flirting with me intentionally, because we both know that isn't true. Don't you remember the day of the terrible sandstorm? Bubastis ended up covered in sand, and I had to call on you and your builder priests to come to my rescue." I smiled. "It wasn't long after I became a goddess."
He leaned back in his chair with an amused smile on his face. "That was the day we met."
"It wasn't. We met at a banquet about a hundred years earlier," I corrected him. "I think it was the banquet Ra hosted to celebrate becoming a god. We were both still just immortals at the time."
"All right, then the sandstorm was the day we properly introduced ourselves. You weren't sure what you were supposed to be asking me to do," he said.
"It was the first time I'd been in charge of a temple as big as Bubastis." Even thinking about it was enough for me to feel the warm air around me, and the soft breeze coming from the Nile.
"Do you miss it?" he asked.
"No. There were always too many people there. I prefer to live quietly." Somehow, that sounded less certain when I was telling him compared to when I'd said the same to Sekhmet.
"If I remember correctly, there was never anything quiet about your cats." He chuckled softly as if recalling the many nights he'd spent lamenting just how loud they were.
I didn't blame him. They took some getting used to, especially if one of them had a complaint.
"What about you?" I asked, curious about his response. "Do you long for the old days?"
His gaze met mine, and an intense expression crossed through his eyes. "There are some things that I wish were still the same."
He didn't need to say the words out loud for me to know that he was referring to us. A small part of me wanted to probe him further, to find out what it was he missed, and if there was really any chance of having our relationship back.
