Chapter Twenty Two

After Ares and I were banned from Olympus we ran as far as we could to the nearest portal and teleported home. Apparently the way to get away from Olympus and their lives of sin and judgement all you have to do is commit murder for an affair.

For a week all we did was stay home and marvel at the fact we are no longer under obligation to go to Olympus and Ares, well, he is finally out from under Zeus and can do what he has always wanted to do which was help aid war, protect the soldiers and the innocent.

The next week we celebrated, taking out Hades and Persephone to the bar where it all started and this time the beat doesn't sweep us away and Ares takes me into his arms on the crowded dance floor and we sway holding each other into the night.

It's been a month since our banishment and there has already been a sense of relief to flood our life now that we don't have to worry about Zeus or any of the other gods. Ares aids in war his way, no longer taking orders from Zeus on where to go or how to influence the war, he helps soldiers on either side home safely. Of course not every man and woman comes home safely, but it's more than when Zeus would have Ares tip the war in one sides favor.

Ares is in the kitchen wearing a white shirt that hugs his powerful frame, moving the wooden spoon about in the stir fry he is making. My mouth waters with the scent of cooked vegetables and chicken and his nice ass. I toss my purse on the counter and sidle up to his side, sweeping my eyes up and down his body.

"Hello, sweet dove, how was work?" He asks, leaning into to press a kiss to my lips.

"Good, slow, you know how it is," I respond, placing a hand on he bottom and giving it a firm squeeze as I peck his cheek. "You look mighty delicious."

He smirks, stepping away from the stove and wraps me in his arms. "If you eat all your food like a good girl I may let you have me for dessert." He leans down and nibbles my earlobe.

"Oh that's quite presumptuous of you, who says I will be able to make it through dinner?"

Ares pulls away, giving me a faux affronted look. "I slaved over this stove for you, and you will eat it!"

"Maybe I'd rather have something else to occupy my mouth," I say, sliding my hands down his chest.

He slaps my ass and pulls away. "Ravenous woman, what am I to do with you?"

"There's nothing you can do with me," I say saucily.

He cocks an eyebrow up, a smirk sliding on those luscious lips. "Is that so? I think there is much I can do with you." His voice is a deep rumble causing my toes to curl against the linoleum floor.

Fuck.

Even after the thrill of denying him is over, he always knows how to get my blood pumping and I can hardly keep my hands off him.

I clear my throat and tie my hair into a bun as I set the table. "Anything interesting at the garage?" I ask, trying to calm the boiling in my veins.

The table has been replaced from his temper tantrum and I sit to plates across from each other along with utensils and glasses of water.

"An '50 Corvette was brought in today." He pauses to scoop portions of the stir fry onto each plate. "It was a beauty. The guy wanted new tires with some flash, so." He shrugs, putting the pan back on the stove, pulling a chair out for me, scooting me in and taking his own seat, watching me for a long time. "It's nice to be boring isn't it?" he asks.

My brows furrow. "You're not boring me."

"Not like that, we just," he sighs, smiling at me. "There's no one breathing down our necks. Life is just so uncomplicated now."

My heart flutters as we both finish our food. "It is nice. Just to hear about your day, to talk about mine, to go to bed with you. It's all so much better."

Max huffs from across the room, apparently tired of us enjoying normality and we both laugh.

Ares stares at me and reaches across the table to take my hand in his. "Marry me, Aphrodite."

My heart stops. "What did you say?"

He grins at me, squeezing my hand in his. "I want to be with you everyday. Day in, day out. Good days, bad days. Morning, noon and night. Life hasn't been the same since I met you. Before I knew I wasn't the settling down sort, no one would want the God of War as a husband. But you... with your sharp mind and quick wit, I wanted more. I never wanted more before. There was just the gang and Zeus's orders. I didn't have anyone to go home to and I didn't care, but as soon as you lashed me at the bar with your sarcasm and confidence I knew I was a goner." He pauses, moving around the table to kneel in front of me, my breath stolen from my lungs.

"There is a future here. Love, laughter, you... You're all I've wanted. I love you so much. Even when the sun expires and there is no one to remember our names, I will love you forever. So, Aphrodite, I am asking you to marry me."

Tears well in my eyes. His words are a balm to old wounds and lift my heart into an unsteady beat. Before him there was loneliness, with him everything is different. It's lighter and better. Loving him has given me something I didn't even know I needed. He may never have thought he was someone anyone would choose for themselves, but he is exactly who I would have chosen, he is who I choose.

No one has ever pushed me as he has. Been so insistent the I face my fears of commitment of feeling something for a God. For shedding new light about myself, that I am stronger and I can face the tormentors that have haunted me for so long. I am my own person and no one can cow me with fear. I am not a toy or possession some man can take ownership of.

So there really is only one answer.

"Yes," the word comes out as nothing more than a breath and I throw my arms around him, kissing him to my hearts content, his strong body supporting me as I lean into him deeply.

"Yes, yes yes." I murmur with each kiss to his stupidly beautiful face and his stupidly soft lips. Clinging to him as though my life depended on it. "A thousand times yes."

I love him. Despite everything I did to try to stop this, I love him. There is no going back and I don't regret it. I am falling and I will keep falling and there will be no end because this is the type of love people write songs about, this is what poems and tragedies where written about. This is something I never could have hoped for in my wildest dreams and here he is, offering it to me on a silver platter. Something that can't be replicated. Something that can't be faked.

Love.