Naughty Karma

Chapter Thirty-One Drugging the In-Laws

“Relax. They’re going to love you.”

“You should have let me bespell the wine with adore-me-approve-of-me charms.”

“Under no circumstances are we bespelling my parents to trick them into liking you.”

“We would drink it too. Think of it as an icebreaker.”

“Prometheus.”

He let it drop, returning to hover over the vegetarian chili he’d whipped up since Karma’s mother didn’t eat meat. Maybe he could sneak a little acceptance magic into the pot while Karma wasn’t looking. He’d never met parents before, but he was certain he wasn’t what anyone wanted near their darling daughters. Especially fathers with law enforcement backgrounds. There was a reasonable chance he was bulletproof after all Deuma’s magic had been pumped into his system, but Prometheus would rather not put it to the test tonight.

He didn’t remember anything after the world went white. No afterlife memories for him. One minute he was staring death in the face and the next his heart was beating in his chest for the first time in nearly twenty years. Karma said she wasn’t sure herself how he’d gotten his heart back, that she’d been wholly focused on stripping Deuma of her powers and funneling them back into him, but somehow she’d done it. Fitting, he supposed, that she’d saved his heart, since it was hers anyway.

It was still a little disorienting, being in love, but he figured he would apply the same ruthless determination to making her happy that he’d brought to everything else in his life and it would work out.

She came up behind him, looping her arms around his waist and resting her cheek on his shoulder. “They really are going to love you. I love you.”

Just words. He’d never put much stock in words, but those three words held a weight and magic all their own. They made him hers. They coated his fragile, newly restored heart in the protective steel of her love. She made him safe and he made her free. Magic.

Karma squeezed his waist. “If conversation lags, I can always ask my mom about my biological father. That should liven things up.”

He turned, tucking her against his chest and inhaling ginger and jasmine. She put her ear over his heart—it had been two weeks, but neither of them could seem to get used to the sound of it. “Are you sure you want to know?”

“I’m sure. I’m not afraid of knowing who I am anymore.”

“You’re the same Karma you’ve always been. A demigod among mortals.”

“Why do I get the feeling you don’t mean that as a metaphor?”

“Maybe I don’t. What are gods anyway except those who create life and isn’t that what you did to me? Brought me back to life? Made my heart beat? For all we know you made me immortal.”

“Don’t go testing your immortality anytime soon, okay? I don’t think I can take it.”

“I won’t.” He had too much to live for.

He traced a path down his favorite spot at the back of her neck, savoring the silken softness of her skin and the barely audible catch in her breath. Tipping her chin up, he laid a kiss on the mouth of the woman who made his heart beat, who had flown in the teeth of her fears and thrown herself into the chaos of her powers to save him. He pressed his magic against her skin, the answering flare of her own heating his blood. He fed his reaction along the tether that had connected them ever since he woke up on the floor of her office, and she moaned.

She pulled away. “You only want me for my magic.”

He caught her wrist, tugged her back. “Maybe,” he teased, pulling her in for another kiss that left them both breathless when she finally broke away.

“My parents are in the parking lot.”

“Then I guess I’d better be good.” He forced himself to release her and turned to check the chili for the millionth time.

“Don’t bother being good. Just be you. They will love you.”

“The more you say it, the less I think you believe it, sweetheart.”

“I don’t have to believe it. I’ve seen it.”

He looked over his shoulder at her, frowning. “You had a vision about tonight?”

She flashed him a smile. “Trust me. They love you.”

“Are you lying to me?”

“Would I lie?”

He grimaced, turning back to the chili. “I’ve been a bad influence on you. Poor Karma. She used to be so virtuous.”

“Not too virtuous.”

“You’d tell me if your father was going to shoot first and ask questions later, wouldn’t you?”

“I thought you believed you were immortal?”

“Everyone’s immortal until they find the thing that kills them. That’s the adventure in life.”

She grinned. “You’re all the adventure I can handle.”

The elevator doors opened and his heart sped up as he turned to greet Karma’s family. Maybe they would love him. Maybe she was lying and they would hate him on sight. He didn’t know what the future held. All he knew was that he had a future for a change, and one way or the other, Karma was going to be in it. He was a ruthless, unscrupulous bastard and he was keeping the girl. The rest of the world would just have to adjust.

Karma called out a greeting and, as soon as her back was turned, Prometheus sent a jolt of adore-me-approve-of-me into the chili. Maybe they would have loved him without it, but when it came to Karma, he wasn’t taking any chances. He came forward as she hugged her mother and she caught his eye, rolling hers. He hadn’t expected to get the spell past her, her powers were too tapped in now, but she just smiled and shook her head as she introduced him to her parents.

She knew exactly what she was getting with him and she loved him anyway. Unconditional.

That was some strong ass magic.