Page 38 of The Seducer
Athena stopped for a minute and once again I got the eerie feeling that she was looking inside my brain. “If you could choose between making love to one woman for the rest of your life versus sleeping with a new woman every night, what would you choose?”
“That’s easy,” I said. “I would choose a new woman every night. What man wouldn’t?”
Athena frowned, but she didn’t challenge me on it further, and I didn’t tell her that making love was out of my reach. A knot formed in my chest thinking about my friends at home with their wives. I was happy for them but also aware that forming the kind of bond they shared with their wives required an openness that I could never afford. The minute I let anyone see into the ugliness of my past they’d see me for the dirty, disgusting person I really was.
Hans walked in with Bast almost tripping him up because the mean cat ran between his legs. I’m sure the cat did it on purpose.
“Ouch,” Hans shouted when the cat planted a claw in his leg as a payback for his stepping on its tail.
“That’s what you get for naming your cat Beast,” I teased Athena. “A demon cat who attacks your visitors.”
“I’m not a witch and Bast is a friendly cat.”
I moved my hand to imitate a puppet speaking and it made Athena point a spatula at me. “I’m not going to turn you into a toad after you threatened to suffocate me in my sleep, but I might poison the cake and turn you into a rat or something.”
“A rat?” I wrinkled my nose. “I could still kill you if I was a rat.”
She tilted her head. “You’re going to crawl down my throat again?”
“No, but I could bite you and infect you with all sorts of disgusting rat diseases.”
“Well, I never liked rats to begin with, so I’ll have to think of another animal.”
“You do that.” I grinned and directed my attention to Hans. “Hey, Hansi, my sparkling turtle, come sit here and watch Athena make me a cake.”
“You’re making a cake?” Hans asked her.
“I’m starting to regret it, but yes, I’m making Finn a birthday cake to compensate for all the birthdays he has missed out on.”
“Ilovecake,” Hans said and plunked down on the sofa looking at me. “What did you mean about sparkling turtle?”
“Just that your make-up sparkles and you move like a turtle when you do that t’ai chi thing.”
“It’s supposed to be slow and fluid and it’s much harder than it looks,” Hans defended himself. “It’s really a type of martial art, you know.”
I grinned. “You’re kidding, right? Is the tactic to bore your opponent to death?”
Hans ignored my joke and kept promoting his love for t’ai chi. “It’s an effective means of alleviating stress and anxiety. And I think it would be really good for you.”
“Why?”
“Because it promotes serenity and inner peace,” Hans claimed. “You could consider it a form of meditation in motion and since you don’t like to be still, maybe yoga or t’ai chi would be better for you.”
I shook my head with exaggeration. “What? And miss out on my bonding with Athena? No way.”
Hans opened his mouth to speak but closed it again and gave a shrug of resignation.
“Look, Athena, while you bake my cake, and Hans rests after his exhausting martial arts program,” I said and got up from the couch, “I’ll go for a run.”
Already halfway to the door, I stopped when Athena said one word in a soft tone. “No.”
“No?” I turned to face her in a slow motion. “What do you mean no?”
“I decide what you can and cannot do. And running isn’t on the program.”
“Fine. Then can I at least get something to eat?” I grumped. “I haven’t had anything today but that apple Karina offered me.”
“There’s some leftover broccoli pie from yesterday in the cooler,” Athena said in a casual manner and it only made me grumpier.
