"G ood morning again. You may call me Venus. I will be your stress relief instructor for this class. You may sit anywhere...." She wiggled her fingers at the shadowy rear of the large classroom and chairs appeared. "Pull those out here, please, they are much too far away." She spoke matter-of-factly, not giving any of them time to remember that there were no chairs in the rear of the classroom when they'd first entered it. While the men were dragging out the chairs and taking their seats, Venus dug into her bag and pulled out sheets of thick parchment paper. Each was covered with an intricate diagram. Ignoring Griffin, who of course chose to sit in the front and center of the class, she began passing out the papers. The men stared at the diagram, stunned and speechless.
"We are going to talk about how to bring a woman pleasure. I will be referring to your diagram of the feminine lotus flower during our discussion. Please feel free to ask questions." She paused and let her words soak through the men. Not surprisingly, she noticed many stunned looks.
"Gentlemen, are you confused? Do you have questions already?" she asked. One of the older men hesitantly raised his hand, and Venus nodded for him to speak.
"Well, ma'am, I think we're wondering what girl flowers have to do with stress relief."
"Darling, I'm using the term 'feminine lotus flower' as a representative term." Venus paused and saw that the men still looked confused. She sighed. "As a representative term for the vagina," she clarified.
Several men sent her shocked looks. She tried not to notice that Griffin was smiling.
"Uh, ma'am?" The same man had his hand up again.
"Yes," she said cheerfully, trying her best to be patient with the mortal dolt.
"Uh, I still don't understand what the...ur...vagina blossom has to do with our stress relief."
"Lotus blossom," she automatically corrected. "What is your name?"
"J. D. Maples."
"Are you married J. D.?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Would it not relieve an innumerable amount of stress in your life if you knew how to bring your wife such pleasure that she eagerly welcomed you to her bed and searched for excuses to ask you to press your naked body against hers?"
J. D.'s mouth opened, then closed. "I see your point, ma'am."
The group of men made noises of agreement.
"I thought you would." Venus smiled. "Now women have several different types of orgasms, but to avoid confusion today we shall concentrate on only two of them, the clitoral and the vaginal orgasms. In addition we will also talk about discovering each woman's deep pleasure zone."
Venus thought for a moment before she recalled the name she'd learned during her many Google searches. "The G-spot. You should know that women do tend to have preferences about which orgasm they enjoy most, but - "
Griffin's hand went up. Venus forced herself not to frown. "Yes, um, did you say your name was Mr. DeAngelo?"
"Griffin," he said, his confident half smile never wavering. "Please call me Griffin."
"Very well. Did you have a question already, Griffin?"
"Yes, ma'am. I was wondering about the orgasms. How do we know which one our lover prefers?"
"You ask her," Venus said coolly. "But I believe I can answer part of this question for all women without having to ask even one of them besides myself, of course. All women prefer the type of orgasm that is followed by a man of integrity keeping his word and not suddenly disappearing."
She met his gaze steadily, though she took little pleasure in the fact that his smile had vanished. Another hand went up on the left side of the room. "Yes, another question?"
"Ma'am," said a very young fireman. "There's something wrong with my diagram."
Venus walked quickly to him and glanced over his shoulder. "Darling, your lotus blossom is upside down."
"Oh, sorry," he mumbled, blushing a bright, painful looking scarlet.
"Please don't apologize. You are here to learn. And it is well acknowledged that, though the phallus is delightful, the feminine lotus, the heart of a woman's sexuality, is more complicated."
"Sometimes there are circumstances that can't be helped," Griffin suddenly said, causing the men to send him curious glances.
Venus blinked innocently at him. "No, Griffin, the circumstances don't matter. Vaginas are always more complicated than penises."
She tried not to let the humorous crinkle around his eyes and the fact that he was grinning widely in response to her wit affect her. But she had to admit - at least to herself - that he was awfully cute.
"I have no doubt whatsoever that lotus blossoms are as complex as they are intriguing. I just wondered what a man should do when the, um, complexity of a situation has been confused with circumstances beyond the man's control and orgasm interrupted - for either party. What would you recommend then?"
"Communication," Venus said.
"Is that all?" He did smile then.
"That and groveling," yelled a man from the back of the room, which caused everyone to laugh.
"I see I have at least one advanced student," Venus quipped, grinning at the class and meeting Griffin's eyes, but only briefly.
"Well, ma'am," Griffin said, sending her a warm, intimate smile, "I'm ready to learn."
There was a general murmur of good-humored agreement.
"I do appreciate attentive men," Venus said, not able to keep herself from meeting Griffin's sparkling blue eyes again.
Then she walked quickly to the blackboard and pulled out a set of colored chalk from her tote bag. Locating the pink chalk, she said, "Please follow along on your own diagrams as I sketch a rather simplistic version of the one I gave each of you."
Another hand shot up. "Excuse me, ma'am. Should we take notes?"
"Only if you truly wish to pleasure a woman."
Returning to her sketch, Venus heard Griffin chuckle as he and the rest of the men scrambled for pens and pencils.
Perhaps she should listen to what Griffin had to say about why he didn't return to her. It could hardly hurt to hear his side of things. After all, Love was supposed to be kind and fair and patient. Yes, she'd hear him out, and then she'd sit Pea down and tell her everything. If he had some horrid, lame excuse she'd explain to Pea what a cad he was and how better off she would be without him. If he truly had a viable reason he hadn't returned to her...well...then she'd simply tell her friend the truth. Pea was smart and compassionate. She'd understand. Feeling suddenly lighter and happier than she'd felt in days, she finished the sketch with a flourish and turned back to the class.
"Now can anyone tell me where the clitoris is located?"
She smiled at the flurry of raising hands.
Vulcan couldn't concentrate. Yes, he methodically stoked the great furnace that heated the core of the ancient earth. Of course he kept check on various volcanoes, both on land and under the oceans. The last thing he needed was an eruption today, especially with his already tumultuous emotions. As always he was mindful of the many cleansing wildfires burning supposedly out of control. But all these things he did automatically. His thoughts were on Pea. With a growl he gave up and strode through the gleaming rooms of his subterranean palace to the central pillar of ever-burning flame. Vulcan reached into the inferno and found the thread that bound him to Venus, the modern world and Pea.
As usual, the thread led him first to Venus. His brow furrowed. What in all the levels of the Underworld was she doing? Drawing an enormous vagina on a board with colored chalk?
Disbelieving, he watched as a room full of virile men questioned her about the female orgasm. The Goddess of Love was teaching a class in the art of stimulating a woman! Vulcan motioned for a chair to materialize and settled down to pay attention. Their marriage hadn't been a success, but there was absolutely no doubt that Venus was beyond compare when it came to understanding the intricacies of pleasure. He knew he wasn't particularly experienced in the ways of lovemaking. The other goddesses shunned him because they knew love had, essentially, rejected him. And, ironically, no mortal woman wanted to chance offending the Goddess of Love by coveting her husband. Over the eons he'd grown weary of trying to explain that Venus hadn't truly rejected him, that theirs was a marriage of convenience - however misconceived. It had simply become easier to be alone. Until recently.
With Pea he was experiencing something completely new - a chance to be loved for who he was, not for who people perceived him to be. Clearly he could use all the help he could get on the subject of seduction, so Vulcan settled in to pay attention to the goddess's discussion of something she mysteriously called a woman's G-spot, but found even then he couldn't keep his mind from roving to Pea.
And when the invisible thread followed his thoughts, leaving the classroom and snaking restlessly down the hall, he had no will to stop it. Quickly and silently it followed his desire. Pea was sitting at her desk in the tidy office he'd observed her working in the other times he'd watched her. There was a rather rumpled-looking man sitting across from her. She was holding a file of papers and asking him questions. It didn't take long for Vulcan to ascertain that there was a professorial position open at Pea's college in the field of history, and the man was applying for it. Pea didn't appear impressed with him. She actually sighed and chewed on her pencil after he left.
"Boring...dry...nope. He won't do. He'd put them all to sleep," she muttered to herself. Then she glanced at her watch. "Half an hour till the next interview..." She sighed again and started to click around on a contraption Vulcan knew was called a computer - a thing that held so much knowledge it was the modern world's version of magic.
Her next interview...
Why couldn't her next interview be him? Venus was masquerading as a teacher at Pea's college; why couldn't he? Vulcan sat up straighter, shocked by his own thought. Yes, why not? He wanted to see her again. He wanted to woo her and make her his own. He'd already decided he would never bring her to Olympus, so that meant he was going to have to come to her eventually. Why not now? Why wait any longer? The God of Fire was ready to act - and act he would. He'd just need to stay out of Venus's way, at least until after Pea was in love with him. Well he'd already observed that Venus was being kept busy. Now was an excellent time to make another foray into the modern mortal world and hopefully into Pea's heart. He'd worry about the rest of the details later. What was important right now was being with Pea again. So...he'd need the correct clothes. Something like the other man had worn only less disheveled looking. His rumpled appearance certainly hadn't impressed Pea. And he didn't have much time. He needed to get there before the next man arrived in order to redirect the mortal - an easy thing to do - then take his place in Pea's office and begin winning her heart. Because that was, indeed, what he wanted. Damn Olympus and the gods and their intrigues and prejudices. He wanted someone of his own. Someone untouched by them. He also wanted a life of his own, and by all the dark levels of Tartarus, he would do anything it took to get it.