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“What are you thinking about?” Eros asks as he moves to my side to look at my face. “You okay?”
“Yeah, why?” I blink at him and notice the beautiful swirling gold that can only be seen this close.
“You stopped chopping. You’ve been frozen for almost a minute.”
“Oh, just thinking about… being loved, and I hope you find your person one day.”
He looks a bit surprised by my answer, but then he smiles. “Thank you for that. It means more than you realize, but I want to make sure you find your happiness now.”
He rushes off to check on his risotto, and I feel so very lonely as I finish chopping.
“Dinner’s ready!” I yell from the kitchen.
Eros flinches at my hollering. “Very formal household,” he teases.
“What?” I shrug and whisper, “If I act differently toward him, he’ll think something is up.”
“Smells good,” Carl says as he shuffles into the room. His short brown hair is in a style I affectionately call napping mess, and his eyes are half-lidded.
“I guess you were tired.” I pick up the huge bowl of salad to carry it to the dining room.
Eros trails behind me with the platter of chicken and risotto.
Carl grabs the bottle of wine we opened from the counter and follows us.
We begin the meal in a not completely uncomfortable silence as we dig in and fill up our plates.
“How did you twoconnecton the web? Was it an app or something like that?” Carl asks, his voice sounding innocently curious. I know better. He doesn’t believe the story, not completely.
Eros tilts his head as if remembering the first time. “Dee reached out when she was in a critical situation. I swooped in and helped her out.”
Holy love gods, he nearly makes me choke. His explanations are just a little too on the nose.
“Whatsortof problem?” Carl tenses and narrows his eyes on me as if I were keeping something from him.
The truth is, I’m keeping alotfrom him.
“Debt,” Eros answers for me. I suppose what happened could be considered a life debt and my future servitude. He continues, “I negotiated a way out for her so it wouldn’t feel like it would be a death sentence.”
His spin is on next level.
“Debt?” Carl huffs. Uh-oh, he’s not happy I didn’t come to my financial advisor roommate. “Dee, if you were in trouble, you should have come to me.” He sounds like a possessive boyfriend right now.
I shake my head. “No. I couldn’t burden you with this. You already do so much for me, like letting me live here for practically nothing. But sometimes, life stuff sneaks up on you. Before I knew it, I was falling deeper into a situation that I couldn’t get out of on my own.”
Hey, I’m not half bad at explaining this situation without lying.
“I’m just happy I could be there for her.” Eros clasps my hand and gives me an endearing look. Actual pride shines in his golden eyes with how I conveyed the truth without revealing what really happened. “In that moment when we connected, I knew I had to have her in my life forever.”
I clear my throat and glance down at my plate. It sounds so romantic and fated the way he spins it.
“We’ve been in contact ever since,” he says with a delighted tone.
Yeah, we have been inconstantcontact. As in, I can’t shake the god. He’s even in my bed at night.
Eros makes a show of kissing the ring on my finger. “Now, all she has to do is say yes, and then I can call hermine.” He almost growls the last phrase, like one of my heroes in my romance novels. With the twinkle in his eyes, I realize he’s mimicking exactly that.
Carl glances at the massive, sparkling heart-shaped ruby ring. “From my perspective, this is all so sudden, since she never mentioned you before.”
