Read Online Accidentally Aphrodite by Dakota Cassidy - Free Book Online

now?”
    God. That voice. His voice did things to her stomach, warm and squishy things she rebelled against almost instantly. He was not allowed to give her warm squishies, and while this circumstance was indeed right out of a piece of fiction, it wasn’t romantic at all.
    He had to go.
    “I’m fine. Look, I don’t need a babysitter. You can go home, wherever that is.” Where did a Greek goddess’s son call home anyway?
    “Um, no. I can’t just go home and leave you with the power of Aphrodite, Quinn. It doesn’t work that way. It’s an enormous responsibility, putting people together for life.”
    “That’s why they have this thing called divorce. On the off chance you make the wrong decision.” Such an ugly word. As a child of divorce, and a nasty, knock-down drag-out one at that, she’d promised herself when she married it was going to be forever, no matter what it took to keep it together.
    Not that she believed in forever anymore.
    Khristos clucked his tongue. “First lesson, and it’s a hard-and-fast rule. Never use the ‘D’ word. Aphrodite creates true mates for life.”
    “You sound like an infomercial. Next you’ll show me how to cook an entire chicken in under ten minutes while you Oxy Clean my whites.”
    He chuckled, low, deep, husky. “Matchmaking is nothing like cooking chickens, but it is a delicate matter, Quinn.”
    She gaped at him. “Clearly, because your gods decided it was a smart idea to leave all the power of the most famous goddess ever in an apple in the Parthenon where just about anyone could get their hands on it. It’s obviously ultra-delicate.”
    “And here we go,” Nina cooed to Buffy, one of Quinn’s late-night alleyway rescues from a Dumpster.
    Quinn cocked her head in Nina’s direction, and she almost didn’t care if she bit it right off. “What is that supposed to mean?”
    Nina’s eyes narrowed, glittering and fierce. “It means you’re finally hitting the grief crap. You know, the five-stages thing? Whining, crying, anger—which is usually first. I don’t know. It’s some bullshite Marty and Wanda feed everybody while they’re going through the change. We have a pamphlet on it. But they never give it to anyone—because that makes sense, and who the hell would wanna make sense when they can jump into your personal crap feet first and wallow in it with you?”
    Quinn frowned, not understanding.
    Nina rolled her eyes. “It means any second now, you’re gonna be a motherfluffin’ train wreck.” She looked down at Spike and grinned. “But don’t worry, little man. I’ll protect you from your crazyface mother.”
    Was she any of those things? She hadn’t stopped to think about ramifications and everything that went with biting the apple. What were the ramifications, anyway?
    What Khristos had said back at the Parthenon made no sense. How could he help her be the Goddess of Love when, if history served her correctly, the Goddess of Love didn’t do much but create havoc and make men fall in love with her?
    Was that a job? Would she now be a savvy player in the game of love? Because hold the phone. That could mean Bradley Cooper, her Mr. Darcy in her mind, was ripe for the picking. Why stop there? Why not have a whole passel of hunks? The Avengers, perhaps—or a Thor-Loki-RDJ triple-decker sammie?
    Squee.
    Quinn reared upward, putting a hand on Khristos’s shoulder and moving him for a clearer view of Nina, gritting her teeth at how firm he was beneath her palm. “But I feel fine.”
    “But you won’t once the crazy starts. So save it, Glow Stick, and get the frick on with it so we can move to the next phase. I have a gazillion things I’d rather be doing. Like watching paint dry or having my fingernails pulled off one by stinkin’ one.”
    Wanda zipped into the room, scooping up Spike and shaking a finger at Nina with a scowl. “What Nina means to say is, there will be phases to this change, Quinn. Phases we’re quite sensitive to, and happy