Keywords: the, Revealer, Eros,

He was real, all right. He was standing right there in the middle of her web of burgundy yarn, just radiating sexual power.

Lexi laughed with disbelief, then shook her head, then laughed again.

"This is too incredible!" she said. "So I caught you. Now what? Do you have to grant me a wish or something?"

His lowered his wings and they disappeared into his back again. "You must have me mixed up with the tooth fairy," he said. "I'm a god of sexual desire. I don't do wishes."

"Then what do you do? Shoot me with one of your arrows? Shoot someone else I want?"

He laughed. "You wish. No, it doesn't work that way. If you'd ever been in love you'd at least know that much. Besides, with a heart your size, I'd probably miss."

Lexi's face grew red, but she kept her temper.

He stared at her for a moment, then smiled knowingly. Lexi had the feeling her mind had been picked.

"You're trying to figure out some way to make money off me, aren't you?" he asked. "That's just what they told me to expect. You don't even know what desire is, do you?"

She took an angry step forward. "Hey, I wouldn't be where I was today if it wasn't for desire. I've worked plenty hard to get everything I wanted. I know all about desire, my friend."

"No, not that kind of desire. Not coveting and material greed. I mean sexual desire. You don't know a thing about it, otherwise you wouldn't be on my list."

"What list?"

"As I said, there's a lot of different types of sexual desire and we work in different ways. I'm Eros Ektheto—Love the Revealer—I show people what they are. I get the tough cases—hard bitches like you. No offense."

That was too much and Lexi's eyes flashed. She pointed a finger at him through the tangle of yarn, leaning forward like she was grilling a witness in court.

"You watch your mouth, or I'll jam you back into your lamp or wherever they keep you fairy assholes."

He smiled. "Those are geniis. You trapped me but I still have my mission to carry out. Tonight's when you find out what your real desires are, what you're really like inside."

"Bull. Shit." she said. "I know exactly what my desires are and who I am inside, and I know it better than some flying fruit in a god damned toga."

"A chiton," he corrected. "Togas are Roman. This is a chiton."

"Oh who the fuck cares? Just get out of here. If you don't have any free wishes or anything for me, what good are you?"

He laughed. "Yeah. That's a problem, isn't it? But don't you have a big date with Ross Endicot tonight? Mr. Moneybags? Something at his country club? Shouldn't you be getting ready?"

Lexi slapped her head. "Holy hell, you're right!" She stared at him. "How did you know that? Oh, never mind! Just get out of here, would you? I don't have time for this. What do I have to do to release you?"

"It's too late," he said. "I was supposed to do my work last night while you were sleeping, but you fucked that up with your trap. Now you're stuck with me."

"What do you mean, 'stuck with you'?"

"I have a job to do, and I intend to do it," he said. "You set that trap for a reason, because you wanted me here, and now here I am and here I stay. You're going to meet your destiny tonight, Lexi, and see your true nature. You're going to be revealed to yourself."

Lexi glared at him. "Don't fuck with me, mister. I'm already in love with a great guy who happens to be rich as Croesus, and he's coming to pick me up in an hour, so Eros or not, I want your ass out of here. Go back to Mount Olympus or wherever you fairies go, but don't try to fuck this up for me. When I come back, I want you gone."

"You don't love this guy," he said. "You don't even like him."

Furiously, she reached in to pull the door closed, and Eros Ektheto said, "Hey, Lexi?"

She paused to look at him and saw him lift a finger and the entire web of yarn collapsed around him like soggy spaghetti. He smirked.

"You fake!" she shouted. "You weren't even trapped!"

"Oh yes I was," he said. "And still am. Now you run along and have a good time, and don't worry about me. And if you want me, you can just call me Theto."

"Asshole is more like it," she said.

He shrugged, then turned around and stretched lazily as if getting ready for bed, and Lexi's eyes were drawn to his ass. She couldn't see much given that silly little skirt-thing he was wearing, but Lexi liked male asses, and she just knew he had a gorgeous one.

She showered in a huff, irritated and furious but strangely accepting of the fact that she had Cupid trapped in her spare room. He'd said things that were too true to doubt, and that, even more than his wings or miraculous appearance, was what convinced her. He knew the truth and that was annoying, like having a kid brother staying with her who knew all her secrets and might start blabbing at any time.

But this was a big date with Ross. She'd be accompanying him to a Valentine's Dance at his country club that was really just a cover for him to pitch some big investors for his next project, and she knew she had to make a perfect impression. She dressed and brushed her hair and finished her makeup and jewelry in such a frenzy that she forgot all about Eros Ektheto until the doorman buzzed to tell her Ross was in the lobby, and then she realized there was no way she could invite him up for a drink as she'd planned, not with that weird winged thing in her spare room, so she told Ross she'd be right down.

She rode down in the elevator trying desperately to slip into her sexy, flirtatious persona, the one she wore for Ross, but it didn't quite fit. It was like trying to get into her old girl scout uniform and no matter how she tried to ignore them, Theto's words kept ringing in her head. She knew he was right—she didn't really love Ross—but what bothered her was: so what? What she felt for him was close enough. Money would take care of the rest.

She felt better when she walked into the lobby and saw him standing there. He was a good-looking guy, sheer alpha male, and he had a dream job heading up a consortium that built time-share condos and resorts in exotic locations. Lexi had met him when he used her law firm to transfer some of his assets before his last divorce, so she knew exactly what he was worth and that he had no children, and his two ex-wives weren't getting a tenth of what they should have been getting. There was still plenty there for her if she played her cards right. Ross was leaving for Djakarta in a few days and so this had to be the night she hit him with her best shot—Valentine's Day, just perfect.

Or maybe not so perfect. There seemed to be something a bit off from the start, Was Ross just distracted, or was he actually something of a boor? When he looked at her in her little black dress, he didn't seem to be admiring her as much as evaluating her, checking to see if she'd make the right impression. And shouldn't he have helped her into the limo instead of letting the driver do it? He smiled at her, but it was a polite and rather brittle smile, and the first thing he said to her wasn't that she looked lovely, but that he thought her necklace might be a "bit much for this crowd. They can tell real from fake."

It was obvious that Ross was entirely more interested in this function as a fund-raiser than as an opportunity for romance, and, worse, it slowly dawned on Lexi that she was to be no more than Ross's arm candy—a bimbo.

"No politics and no religion, and in fact try to say as little as possible," he told her as the limo swept up the drive to the country club. "A lot of these people are Japanese or from Taiwan, and even I can't tell the little bastards apart, so don't you try. Just stand there and smile and look beautiful and serene. One thing about these Asians is they all like American ass, especially blondes and redheads, so just stand there and look gorgeous and if they stare at you, let them. In fact, if I squeeze your hand during an introduction, I want you to bow like they do, and bow low enough so they can see some tit. Got it, honey?" He winked at her.

Lexi fumed, but she didn't say anything, She was a beautiful woman and a junior partner at her law firm and she had no intention of acting Ross's ornament, but once they were in the party and Ross started making introductions and talking business, the sums of money she heard bandied about just took her breath away, and she kept her mouth shut and hid in her drink.

The room was decorated with cupids and red and silver Mylar streamers, but Lexi couldn't help but think how pitiful and wrong they were now that she'd seen the real thing, and after she'd had enough champagne, she imagined she saw Theto hovering above the elaborate fountain that dominated the room, smirking at her.

She looked again, and he was gone, but scanning the room she saw him sitting at a table, head on his hand, gazing at her, and this time there was no doubt. He was still wearing his little Greek skirt and seemed very amused. She was pretty drunk by now, but knew instinctively that no one else could see him.

She resisted the temptation to walk over and confront him, maybe give his bare nipple a little twist just to see what he'd do, and instead just raised her drink in mock salute.

"Fuck you buddy," she murmured into her champagne. "I'll show you something about love once this stupid party is over. Old Ross won't know what hit him."

"Won't he?" Theto said back. "I think you're in for a surprise."

Lexi shook out her long red hair and handed her empty glass to a waiter, then grabbed a full one and turned her back on Theto.

It was tough. Ross wouldn't dance and wouldn't take her someplace where they could be alone. Instead it was, "Lexi, meet Mr. Takamura", "Lexi, meet Mr. Chen", "Lexi, meet Mr. and Mrs. Lee. Mrs. Lee was just saying how much she admires your shoes."
"It serves a city of sixty thousand people, so the population base doesn't justify more advanced gear," I finished.

Keywords: the, Revealer, Eros,

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