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Dionysus

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

After Cecily runs away from me, I go looking for Mrs. Nuttle so she can stay with my son because I haven’t finished talking to the girl yet.

Elina appears in front of me before I find the maid. “What’s going on?” she asks.

“Have you seen Cecily?”

“She was here just now, but maybe she went for a walk in the garden. I think she misses the outdoors.”

“How is she doing at work?”

“I thought you didn’t care.”

I like my cousin’s wife as if she were my own blood, but she doesn’t make anyone’s life easier.

“I just want to know if she has everything she needs.”

“Yes, she has. An apartment, a job . . .” She pauses. “Look there. Even an admirer,” she says, gesturing behind me with her head. “I don’t doubt she’ll be dating soon.”

When I turn around, I see Cage, one of my bank executives, talking to her.

“What are you talking about? They know each other?”

“I don’t think so, or Cici would have told me, but I have no doubt that that will soon change. Cage seems very interested. But what man wouldn’t be? She is beautiful and so different from the women here . . .”

“Can you stay with Joseph for a moment?”

“I can, but why?”

“I need to talk to Cecily.”

“Don’t disturb her life, Dionysus. As you said to Odin, your problem with her is over. Cici is my employee but also my friend. I’m trying to help her take her first steps in New York.”

“How would I disturb her life?”

“We both know why you tease the girl so much.”

“ We do?” I say sardonically, but Elina being who she is, she goes straight for the jugular.

“You are attracted to her. I saw the way you were looking at her in the hospital. That’s why you didn’t hire her to babysit Joseph. It has nothing to do with her being clumsy. I’ve been working with her for weeks, and I can assure you that Cici is a good girl. Intelligent, responsible, and polite. If my children were still young, I would leave them in her care without thinking twice.”

“I thought she was happy with the job you gave her.”

“She was happy to have a chance when all the doors seemed closed, but Cecily really loves children, even more than books,” she says, and I remember Odin commenting that Cecily was taking care of the Association’s library.

“Joseph seemed . . . huh . . . he liked her.”

“Have you got the night nanny yet?”

“No.”

“Why don’t you give Cici a chance? But look, I’m telling you to test her as a babysitter, not to break her heart.”

I don’t answer because anything I say would make me a liar. “Can you stay with him for a minute?” I repeat. “I’ll be right back.”

“I can, yes. Maybe it would be better to wait for her to finish her conversation with Cage.”

“Waiting is a word I don’t know, Elina.” I kiss my boy on the forehead. “Daddy’s just going to be there for a moment, son.”

I start walking towards where she is talking to her admirer, and my irritation increases when I notice Cecily’s smile and Cage’s apparent enchantment with her.

I know she notices my approach, but still, she doesn’t look at me.

I can’t even blame her. I acted like a jerk after not seeing her for several weeks, but I couldn’t believe it when I watched my son run into the redhead’s arms. Joseph is aloof and suspicious, so what kind of enchantment did she cast to make him trust her right away?

Witch . Yes, maybe that’s what she is. A little witch with red hair, who bewitches men of all ages who come across her path.

“Cecily, I need to talk to you,” I say as soon as I reach them, because diplomacy is not a characteristic present in our family.

Cage, who had his back turned, looks over his shoulder. “Dionysus, I hadn’t seen you yet.”

I nod my head to greet him, but I have no patience for socializing. Instead, I look up at my target, daring her to ignore me.

To my delight, she doesn’t.

“Excuse me, Cage. See you around.”

“I’ll wait for your call or message. Remember what I said: we can just be friends . . . at first.”

Harassing son of a bitch.

“Let’s go,” I say, without giving her time to answer. Placing my hand on the small of her back, I guide her in the opposite direction of where the guests are gathered. Her soft flesh catches fire against my fingers. Maybe I made a mistake touching her. The contact is light, superficial, and therefore insufficient, so I don’t give prudence a fuck and open my hand, flattening it on her back.

Cecily shudders and looks back. Her eyes shine like crystals releasing small flames, but she doesn’t move away.

A kind of silent dialogue takes place between us, both of us aware of the attraction and unable to move away.

Her gaze is burning me, and seeing how I affect her generates a lack of control that I have never experienced.

I can no longer hear music or laughter. It’s just the two of us.

I stop walking, and so does she.

The desire I see on her face, a reflection of mine, should show me that I was wrong when I thought about giving her a chance as a night nanny and that I have nothing to say to her, but I never run away from a challenge, and resisting the lust I feel for Cecily will be the greatest of them all.