Page 190 of Soul Mates: Hercules Valentine and I

Arm up and acting as a barrier between us, he says gruffly, “Yeah, Achilles.”

Even though I can’t see all of his face, I watch Hercules with bated breath.

“Video?” He puts the phone in his other hand, and now he’s facing me with his eyebrows furrowed.

I cross then uncross my arms, unable to get comfortable.

“Not yet. But listen, I have a…” His mouth is stuck open. “Yesterday?” He flinches just as I hear Achilles’s voice rage through phone about our public kiss.

Casually, and seemingly unaffected by his brother’s yelling, Hercules pulls the phone away from his ear, turns it off, and slips it back into the pocket of his jacket.

His eyebrows shifts upward when he looks at me. His level of control in the face of Achilles’s tirade is impressive. “Do you by chance have this video?”

My head feels faint. “I do,” I barely say.

“Let’s see it.”

I show him.

8:25 a.m.

Hercules has watched the video, and now he’s reading the article.

My eyes remain pasted on his gorgeous profile as he blurts a laugh. “Who writes this shit? ‘Allegedly’?”

I’m relieved he’s having the same responses to the article that I had. “Exactly.”

His eyes sweep me up with a glance. “That kiss was pretty hot.”

My sigh trembles as my lips ache for another. “It definitely was.”

Hercules grunts, intrigued.

“What is it?” Leaning closer to him, I slam into a wall of his magnetic energy. Realizing I’ve crossed the boundary of being merely platonic, I hinge back.

Darkening the screen of his cell phone, he exhales. “This isn’t going down easy for my family.”

I sink deeper into the seat. “Mine either.”

“I messed up by kissing you in public.” He turns, looking fixedly into my eyes. “I should’ve kissed you in private.”

I fight the urge to squirm as a burst of warmth spreads through my core. I can’t say what I’m thinking. I’m sure he knows just as well as I do that if we were in private, we would’ve never stopped at one kiss.Where’s my mantra?My lips remain parted as I go searching for it hiding somewhere in my brain.

Got it. Hercules is engaged. He can’t be with you, Paisley. Emotional distance—try to keep it.

“What are we going to do? We should deny it was us.” Then my mind replays the video and I exhale sharply. “Damn it. We can’t deny it.”

The next thing I know, Hercules’s damp palm rubs my thigh. “Why don’t we worry about one crisis at time?”

I stare at his hand. All he has to do is go higher to touch me. Gosh, I miss how he got me off while his tongue plunged deep into my mouth. The harmony of our kissing and his masturbating was the mere definition of sexual pleasure.

When I gape at him, he swallows hard as he leans toward me. His hand is still on my thigh.Please remove it, or else I’ll soak through my pants.

Hercules clears his throat. “I have a request for you.”

All I can do is nod then whisper, “Okay?”

“I want you to table investigating my mother. Could you do that?”