A.K.A. Goddess Read Online Free PDF

concrete, glanced toward the glass-littered bushes, and decided my shoe was history. “The Christian grail, there’s only one. Goddess legends aren’t so exclusive.”

    “And some guys with a lot of clout would care because…?”

    I was having trouble with that one, too. “Because they feel threatened? Or maybe…” My logical side winced. “Maybe they’ve heard the legends, that if enough of the goddess cups are brought together, woman-power in this world will increase a hundredfold?”

    “Now that,” said Sofie, as several blue-and-whites sped into the parking lot, “would be sweet.”

    We both raised our hands to show we were unarmed, and I nodded toward the mostly male police officers who clambered out of the cars.

    I nodded toward her colleagues. “Ask them sometime if they agree it would be sweet. They’ll think we’re talking about power over them.”

    Which made it our problem, even if they were mistaken.

    Over the next four hours I filled out reports, gave statements and reassured my suspicious college president of my minimal involvement. My office was fingerprinted and, thanks to my “after my files” story, my computer taken as evidence.

    Somehow, amidst it all, I managed to book a flight to Paris the next day. I got home with barely enough time to pack some necessities, like my passport and my emergency cash, before the airport shuttle picked me up.

    I hated leaving my apartment in a mess. But at least carrying just a backpack meant I wouldn’t have to check luggage.

    By the time I made it through the extensive security check and was jogging down the International Terminal, I felt the exhaustion, hunger and stress of the previous night’s events.

    The last person I needed to hear calling my name as I dodged travelers in my sprint for the gate was Lex Stuart.

    “Maggi?”

    It was too huge a coincidence to ignore. I turned in the terminal and, sure enough, he was striding toward me. The crowd seemed to part for him, as if instinctively sensing his importance. He looked good, tall and fit and collected. It didn’t hurt that his eyes brightened just for me.

    He could be a bad guy, my head warned me.

    Or he might not, insisted my heart. Not Lex.

    “This is a surprise.” Lex slowed as he reached me. Even after years with him, I wasn’t sure.

    And I still had a plane to catch.

    When I started walking again, reluctantly taking advantage of the clear space around him, he paced me.

    “Are you all right?” he asked politely.

    “Why wouldn’t I be?”

    He didn’t quite shrug, but it was implied. “Because your apartment got broken into last night?”

    Oh, yeah. That. “I’m fine. How are you?”

    He ignored my formality. “I regret how I behaved.”

    The kiss? Or the argument? “Oh…”

    “That’s one reason I’ve missed you so badly this last year. You’ve always been my touchstone.”

    “So your own moral compass is still on the blink, huh?”

    That wrung a hint of a smile from him. “I only mean to say, you were already having a stressful night. Please accept my apology for complicating matters.”

    Proper and polite to the end. But I’d helped, with the argument and the kiss both. Fair was fair. “Apology accepted.”

    Except that we were approaching my gate—and he was slowing down too. Just out of courtesy, right? To see me off? Except—

    He drew a boarding pass from his jacket pocket. “You’re going to Paris, too? I’m guessing you’re in coach.”

    I stared. I wasn’t ready for proof that my suspicions were warranted. But this couldn’t be coincidence…could it?

    What the hell. “Have you ever heard the name Melusine?”

    He glanced toward the gate, making sure we had time. “Isn’t she some kind of medieval mermaid?”

    My heart flinched. He had heard of her!

    “You mentioned her in your report on the women of Camelot, in the seventh grade,” he continued easily; if he was covering his guilt, he was really, really good. “You