Aphrodite's Secret by Julie Kenner

message.”
    She hung up and licked her lips, looking at Aaron over the hood of his car. “She didn’t answer.”
    Aaron was at her side immediately, his fingers intertwined with hers. “They’re probably on a ride or in a show.” He squeezed her hand. “They’re fine.”
    Lane blinked, edgy and unsure. “I know,” she lied.
    Aaron flashed an understanding smile, then knelt down to pick up her possessions. “Let’s get you put back together.” One by one, he tossed her things back into her purse, pausing at the brown-paper-wrapped present labeled DAVY. “Did I miss his birthday? I don’t want to disappoint him.”
    “Oh, no,” she said. “You’ve still got five more days until the big number seven. This is just his monthly present.”
    “Monthly?”
    She nodded. “He’s been getting anonymous toy deliveries once a month for about the last year.” She took the package from his hand. “He got this one yesterday, and I forgot to give it to him.”
    “Who are they from?”
    She shrugged and grinned. “Don’t know. That’s what makes them anonymous.”
    “Smart aleck,” Aaron retorted, but he didn’t seem offended. “Seriously, what’s the deal?”
    “I’m really not sure. I think one of my friends must have decided that Davy needed something fun and decided to send him surprise presents on a regular basis.” She shrugged. “It’s sweet, but it’s a mystery.”
    Not that she didn’t have a theory—she did.
    At first, she had been certain that Zoë had been sending the gifts, perhaps a sweet gesture from a relatively new aunt. But a few of the packages had a “guy” feel, and so Lane, revised her theory, deciding her brother Taylor was sending the gifts. But he openly showered Davy with presents, so secret gifts didn’t seem to make sense. At last she’d determined Davy’s mysterious benefactor had to be Zoë‘s brother, Hale. It had taken forever—not to mention the right woman!—for the Protector to warm up to mortals, but he’d always seemed to have a soft spot for Davy. So it only made sense that he was the one, keeping his gift-giving secret.
    Not that she could explain all of this to Aaron. Instead, she just said, “There are a few candidates, but no one has ever ‘fessed up.” She gave him an end-of-story smile, then rummaged once again through her purse, double-checking to make sure all her belongings had found their way back to its depths.
    “Maybe it’s Davy’s father,” he said.
    Lane balked, fumbling and almost dropping her purse.
    Aaron reached out to steady her, the pressure of his touch warm and insistent. “I’m guessing you don’t think that’s a likely possibility.”
    “Maybe in some parallel dimension,” she snapped, more derision lining her voice than she’d intended. “But not in this world.”
    “I see,” Aaron said. His fingers stroked hers, tracing in and out between them. “We’ve never really talked about him. I take it he’s out of the picture?”
    “He was never
in
the picture,” she answered. “I
thought
he was, but apparently he had other plans. Good-bye and good riddance.” She said it lightly, and she meant it. Of course, it had taken her years of practice to get to that point. And even now she had fantasies—when Davy was asleep and all the lights were off and she had only her thoughts to account to—that Jason would return and make up for all the lost years....
    How, though, she couldn’t imagine; so the fantasy usually failed. Because unless he’d been kidnapped by aliens and spent the last seven years on their mother ship, she really couldn’t forgive his absence.
    With his free hand, Aaron stroked her cheek. “Well, I am sorry for what he put you through, but I’m not sorry he’s gone.”
    “You’re not?”
    “I’m not,” he echoed. He moved closer, until he loomed above her and she was leaning back, her hand still entwined with his and her back pressed against the passenger door of his Lexus. “Because if he