The Sons Of Cleito (The Abductions of Langley Garret Book 1) by Derek Haines

shocked?'
    'Strangely enough, no.'
    'So what went through your mind when you saw me?'
    'Apart from you nakedness and beauty? That you belonged there.'
    'Thank you, and you belong there too. That's why you craved the taste of salt when your lust for me manifested itself.'
    'Oh I'm getting awfully lost here,' I said, as I took another sandwich and munched on it for a few moments. Trying to put the pieces of our conversation together into something logical I could understand. Chara waited silently and patiently. I muttered to myself as I played with the puzzle. 'Ok, we're both gods, so I presume Leda is one a well. You can breathe underwater, so you must have amphibian genetics of some description and my attraction to you made me crave salt. How am I doing so far?'
    'Keep going.'
    'My neck got all hot over you, so maybe it wouldn't have felt so hot if my head was under water. Salt water I gather would be preferable. Now if I put all this together I come up with the conclusion that you, or we I suppose, evolved from the sea and somehow changed in form over millions of years to become a land dwelling animal as well. So some strand of an ancient amphibian species, and because of that, maybe we can only procreate by returning to the sea.'
    'Very good. Anything more?'
    'You make very good sandwiches. But they'd taste much better with wine. Or is the wine and gods collocation a myth as well?'
    Chara leant forward, and a little closer to me. 'No, it's not a myth. I'll see what I can do,' she said smiling at me. Her face so close to mine that I could almost taste her breath. The temptation to kiss her swept across me, but not with the force of my first rush of lust for her. She didn't move, except her eyes. Moving almost imperceptibly back and forth between my eyes and my mouth. It had been so long since I'd had to decide if a woman wanted to be kissed for the first time or not that I couldn't decide what to do. I looked at her eyes and mouth as she did mine. I moved my head a few microns closer and she didn't make to move away. Only her lips moved. Opening only a little, in invitation. Our eyes locked as our mouths moved closer, and then when her eyes slowly closed, I knew. I kissed her gently and then moved back from her. Finding her eyes asking for more.
    Chara had her legs curled up on the sofa with my arm around her as she leant her head on my shoulder, while we finished the sandwiches she had prepared.
    'I was expecting to be reading ancient text books all afternoon and evening.'
    'Are you complaining?'
    'Of course not, it's well, a bit of a surprise to have a beautiful young woman in my arms.'
    'As I was never expecting to be held tenderly by Soter.'
    'I'm just Langley, Chara. Just Lang.'
    'By any name then Lang. But we know that you have been returned to us so that you will ensure our protection.'
    'Protection from what or who?'
    'Only you know Soter.'
    'I don't know anything, really.'
    'But I have to tell you that this afternoon wasn't included in my briefing notes. I'm sorry.'
    'So our kiss wasn't part of the plan?'
    'No.'
    'I don't understand.'
    'Nor do I Lang. I promise you, nor do I,' she said, looking up at me. Her eyes though, asked me to kiss her again. I did.
    *****
    The rest of our afternoon took the form that was probably originally envisaged by the other gods, or whoever they were, who had planned our study session. With me reading at the desk and Chara lying on the sofa, watching something on a flexible screen that she'd had folded in her jeans' pocket, but was ready to answer my questions or offer explanations. While she gave me the choice of the book to select, she knew from my short reading session before lunch which one I wanted to read first.
    'Was the original plan to deliver these books to me and then go back to whatever it was that you were doing?'
    'Perhaps,' she said, without looking up from her screen.
    'Then come back later and collect me for a question and answer session in a sterile meeting room or