Aphrodite's Kiss by Julie Kenner Read Free Book Online Page B

bit fuzzy on the ‘project’ part.”
    “Oh,
that
,” said Deena, making a great show of sliding a pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses onto her face. “It involves a guy.”
    Major uh-oh
. “Look, Deen, I like being alone.”
    Deena crossed her arms over her chest. “Are you actually telling me that you never fantasize about meeting Mr. Right?”
    Zoë swallowed, remembering some particularly vivid fantasies about one very fantasizable man. “Fantasy and reality aren’t the same thing. I’m happy being single.”
    “You just think you are because you haven’t met the right guy.” She brushed a loose curl off her forehead. “And you never will if you don’t get out there and circulate.”
    “No, really. I don’t want to do the dating thing.” The response was not exactly true. Lately, she’d begun thinking that dating would be great. So would sex, for that matter in theory. But in reality, they would be very, very, very bad things. The whole concept of making love was rather terrifying. Instinctively, Zoë crossed her legs, wondering just how wild the wild thing would be for someone with her particular traits.
    Besides, even if she could get a handle on her senses, dating a mortal was out of the question. She needed to keep reminding herself of that. In addition to the super-sense thing—and on top of the whole “I’m not like other girls” speech—there was still her little problem with Hale.
    Throughout her high school and college years, whenever a mortal boy had so much as looked at her, Hale had made it absolutely clear that he intended to make sure she kept her virtue intact. It was bad enough for a mortal girl to have a big brother playing watchdog. Zoë had to put up with a huge brother who—when he threatened to pound a boy into a pile of mush—could really follow through. And the fact that he could turn invisible at will put a whole different spin on having someone looking over her shoulder.
    Which was why it was just as well she hadn’t found Buster Taylor, despite having spent two full nights looking for him on the Internet.
    “Trust me, Zo.” A bright smile flashed across Deena’s face as her eyes widened. “Hey, I’ve got an idea. A really cute guy subleased some office space from Hoop a few months back. Maybe I could set you up with him. He used to be a cop,” she added mischievously. “He’s sweet in a ‘me Tarzan, you Jane’ sort of way.”
    Zoë had no idea what Deena was talking about, and her confusion must have shown, because Deena went on.
    “I’ve met him once. I was painting Hoop’s office— to surprise him, you know?—and this new guy wouldn’t even let me move a file cabinet. Had to drop everything he was doing to come help me.” She grinned. “Guess chivalry isn’t dead, huh?”
    “I’m not going out with your boyfriend’s friends.”
    She aimed a stern look at Deena. “It’s just not happening.”
    Deena shrugged. “Have it your way.” She held up the binoculars. “We’ll just have to find some fresh fish.”
    “No, no,
no
.” Zoë shook her head, trying to emphasize the point. “I don’t want to date fish. I don’t want to date men. I’m perfectly happy.”
    Deena shot her a “yeah, right” look. “You spend your days cavorting with kids. You need some adult interaction.”
    Zoë gestured between the two of them. “We’re interacting.”
    “Stimulating conversation.”
    “We’re conversing.”
    “Sex.”
    Oh. Well
. She couldn’t really argue with that. “I’m really not ready for a commitment right now. I have a lot of issues.”
There
. That was a highly plausible, millennium-gal kind of thing to say.
    “Issues? You’re about the least issuey person I know.”
    Zoë grimaced, mentally awarding herself a Best Actress Oscar.
    “You sound like an eighties self-help book. And who’s talking commitment, anyway? You just need to get out there. I mean, look at you. Except for your really stinky taste in clothes and that braid you wear,