Page 17 of Winning Back Persephone (Jinx Paranormal Dating Agency #9)

PERSEPHONE

A satisfied feeling spread over me as sleep slipped away, and I remembered where I was. I stretched out, hoping to find Hades beside me, but his side of the bed was empty.

But still warm.

I sighed and threw off the covers, grabbing my robe from where I'd left it the other morning. He hadn't even put it back in the wardrobe. Either he'd been convinced that I'd be back, or he'd become a slob in the two years we'd been apart. I doubted it was the latter.

I padded through to the kitchen, finding the man in question sitting at the breakfast bar with a bowl of cereal and a pair of glasses on while he looked at his tablet.

"Morning."

His whole face lit up when he saw me. "Morning," he said. "There are berries in the fridge."

I frowned. "How did you know I'd end up back here?"

He shrugged. "I hoped."

I leaned in and kissed his cheek, enjoying how easy it was to slip back into the patterns we'd had before I'd broken this part.

Cebby snoozed in his bed, barely stirring when I went to the fridge to get myself yoghurt and berries.

"Aphrodite must be keen for business," Hades said. "She already agreed to do the club opening."

"She said that she didn't want to always be working with Jinx," I responded. "Maybe that's why."

"Or maybe it's just because we're two of the few Greek gods who don't have a vendetta against her."

I snorted. "Hardly. She wasn't pleased about the whole Adonis thing. I think she's just calmed down in her old age."

"Unlike your mother. I don't think she stopped glaring at me all night."

"You can't expect her to change her mind about you," I pointed out. "It's been thousands of years, she's never going to like you." I sat down at the breakfast bar with my bowl and pulled over a pot of honey, drizzling it over the top of my berries and yoghurt.

"I still have hope."

"You're cute. Because I don't," I responded. "But luckily for you, I had a rebellious streak when I was younger. So when Μ?να told me I couldn't marry you, it just made me want it more."

He chuckled. "I hope that's not the only reason you married me."

"You know it isn't. I married you because I wanted you and everything you were." I reached out and touched the top of his hand. "Everything you still are."

He met my gaze, and my heart did a little flip-flop. "I'm glad you think that."

"I do. In all honesty, I've hated living alone. And I know I've worked too much and looked after myself too little. Maybe I have too much ambition."

"You definitely don't, Sephie. It's okay that you want to do more constantly. You just need to pace yourself so you don't burn out."

"I know, I know." I sighed and ran my free hand over my face, completely forgetting about my breakfast.

"And I'm not going to hold you back. I want to support you. I love watching you at events like last night's and knowing that you've created this."

"I like sharing it with you."

"I know you do. But I can't keep up with you in that department. Clearly we should have talked about that better before. I know you'd probably have gotten a club in the human world opened a decade ago, but I don't work at your pace. I need time to achieve the same things."

"I know. I don't need you to match me on everything, because there are things you're good at that I'm not."

"Exactly. And I hate to break it to you, but I really need your help with my taxes, the accountant is furious with me after last year," he said.

I chuckled. "I'll do your taxes for you."

"Thank you."

"I suppose we both do have our skills," I said.

"Mmhmm. Have you had many home-cooked meals at all since you left?"

"I've had some, but nothing particularly fancy," I admitted. "I've mostly been living off coffee and ready meals."

He gave me a look that I knew well.

"I know, it's not good. I've missed you."

He chuckled. "I'm glad. We should do some shopping later. The fridge is only really set up for one right now."

"Other than the berries."

"A god can hope."

"Clearly successfully." I got down from my stool and went around behind him, smoothing my hands down his chest and kissing his cheek.

He moved to meet my lips, kissing me gently. "I'm not going to apologise for that," he murmured.

"I wouldn't want you to."

He spun his stool around, breaking contact for a moment. "I will do everything I can to help you succeed, Persephone. But don't expect me to keep up with you."

"I won't. And I'm sorry I did. I just wish I'd realised sooner what it actually meant for us to be a team."

"If you know now, then there's nothing we have to worry about," he responded. "In another thousand years, we won't even think about this two years apart. It'll just be that time we learned more about each other."

"And how much I missed you," I said, running my hand over his face. "I don't want to miss you like that again."

"I hope you don't have to."

"Me too." I leaned in and kissed him deeply.

His hand landed on my waist, and I could feel the heat of it through the thin robe I was wearing.

"Hades," I murmured against his lips.

"Yes?"

"Do you have any work to do today?"

"Nothing that can't wait." He drew a hand down my back. "Do you?"

"No. I mean, yes. But it can wait too."

"Wow, I didn't expect to hear that from you," he teased. "So what do you want to do instead of working?" he asked.

"You."

He chuckled. "Very well. You'll hear no complaints here," he responded, getting to his feet and scooping me up into his arms.

I laughed, feeling lighter than I had in a while and eager to feel like this more.

Because now I was home. And it wasn't about the house, or the dog, or even the man. It was the fact that this was where I could be myself. Ambition, weaknesses, and all.