Nico's POV

He is there exactly at seven to pick me up. He is dressed better then he normally is. I mean that he is wearing a suit and tie. I am glad I put a suit and tie on myself. He smiles at me. He says nothing about my home. I live in a penthouse. What can I say being a prince has its perks.

We take the elevator down to where he is parked. We walk up to a 1969 Shelby Cobra. "I built it from a kit." His smile is warm. His green eyes full of amusement. He opens the passenger side door for me. I get in. He shuts the door I put my seat belt on. The car is beautiful. I mean that too.

We drive out of the town I know we both live in. I do not know where he is taking me. We drive the twisty turny road along the coast. I admire his skill behind the wheel. I know a few people who should take lessons in how to drive from him.

We pull into a parking lot. I look about me as he once again opens the door and hands me out of his own car. He shuts the door and we walk up to the restaurant. He opens the door for me. I walk in. We both look at the host. He smiles at us.

"Reservations for Black." Morris smiles lightly at the man before us. He nods to us. Picks up two menus and leads us to an almost hidden corner booth. Morris seats me and then takes the spot across from me so he could have his back to the wall. I wonder why he choose that spot. Only someone who has lived their life watching out for monsters who want to kill you develop that skill.

Has he been fighting monsters all his life? Not like it is a question for a first date. I would save my question. I would not forget the question. It felt too important. I look at the menu. The lack of prices make my head spin. I hope he does not think he needs to impress me. I was already falling hard for this green eyed red haired young man in front of me. Though truth to be told I think we are about the same age.

The waitress comes up to us. She flashes us a smile as she pours us a half glass of wine. "Welcome back Morris. You brought a date this time?" Our waitress must know him.

"Aye Mary I brought a date and not either one of my friends." Morris smiles up at Mary. "House wine, waters for us both and I want to order an appetizer." He flashes her a smile. "The spinach and artichoke al Forno and that wonderful bread your restaurant serves with it."

She nods, "I will be back with your waters and I will get that order in right away."

"She knows you." I watch him over my menu. I had already found what I wanted. Italian foods, this one was a romantic at heart. My heart constricts again. He cannot know I am Italian. He does not even know my last name. He only knows my first name.

"She feels guilty." He shakes his head. His eyes have an emotion I understand all to well- pain. "Not her fault the guy she introduced me to was an asrewit." He shakes his head. "She feels bad. I do not blame her. I am more mad at him. He used me as a form of revenge on his ex. I am not that person."

Nodding to him, "I can see that." Morris flashes me a small smile. She reappears with our waters and a smile as she places the appetizer on the table between us. "Have you decided on what you two want to order?"

"Aye I want the Mushroom Ravioli al Forno." His food choice makes my mouth water. He knows what he likes that is for sure. I am glad of it. I wonder if he makes up his mind quickly in every situation. I note on his hands are two rings. Both have tridents emblazoned on the sides of the ring. On the left the stone was black, the one on the night the stone was white. When I focused on them I could feel power coming off them. I wonder why?

"I would like the gnocchi and Italian sausage." I flash her a smile. She smiles back. She a nice enough woman. She wanders off check on her tables and does what she is supposed to do.

Near us a small band of musicians play old Italian music. The music is quite romantic. I could not help but smile at the touch of having that here in the restaurant. I had noted the restaurant was called Amore. He smiles at me again. "So tell me about yourself?" He quirks a smile at me. "I know what you like to read. I've seen you draw at the coffee shoppe. I know you like your coffee black but so sweet that most people are surprised by how sweet the coffee is."

Laughing I smile. He pays attention. He must have known he was attracted to me long before I figured out my own heart. "I love the ocean though it tends to cause me pain."

"Old lover?" He reaches across and squeezes my hand. I swallow.

"Yes and no, someone I loved but did not I tell him loved him. He has a girlfriend." I closed my eyes feeling a shot of pain in my heart thinking Percy and Annabeth together. Their kisses. Their happiness. My hand is pulled toward where Morris is sitting. He kisses it.

"I am sorry." His own smile is melancholy. "I think we all had those. It is not easy to be in love with someone who loves another."

"Yeah," I smile suddenly he his holding my hand and my heart rate increases. "I like to travel the world. I've done it alone. I want to do it again but with someone who cares about me." He again squeeze my hand.

We both enjoy the appetizer that he ordered for us. This one has good taste. My phone which I had sat on the table next to his, vibrated. He eyed it. He looked at me. "Text message?"

"Yeah," I blush a little. "It is prolly not that important."

"Go ahead check it. I am not going to be offended." His smile is so warm. I am falling more for him the more time I spend in his company.

Picking up my phone I unlock the thing. I find it is Hazel.

Baby Sister: Have fun bro. Dad says to call him tomorrow. I think he knows your dating. Just thought I warn you. Love you big brother. Enjoy your date.

Laughing I shake my head. "My baby sister, she says Dad wants me to call on the morrow." Morris nods. He squeezes my hand as I place my phone next to his the way that I had it before screen to the wood of the table.

"See not to terrible." With his words our dinners appear. We both each finished our wine. She holds up the wine bottle. "No more for myself. Could I have a coffee?"

"No more I have to drive." Morris smiles lightly. "I will take an Italian soda raspberry flavored." She refills our waters, disappears, reappears with our drinks and disappears again after taking our wine glasses.

We both apply ourselves to our food. I find I like the way he eats. He is neat. He has table manners that I have not seen in years. Table manners that will get me teased by others. Whomever raised him must be quite old school. Morris has old world manners.

We finish our meal. Morris looks up at her as she clears out plates from our dinner. "One of your tiramisu please. We will share." She nods. "Their desserts tend to be larger then normal. I usually end up taking it home and my roommates which are girls tend to demolish it for me."

"Girl roommates." I smile over at him.

"Yeah, both been my best friends forever." He gets this unreadable look on his face. "They were more excited about my date then anyone has a right to be that is not going on the date." He pauses. "I had to wash my face again because the one was extra happy. Red lipstick is a pain in the arse."

Laughing I shake my head. He flips his phone over and unlocks it. He brings up a picture of two girls. Both girls are rather pretty. One was black haired, light skinned and silver eyes she was dressed in a sporty manner. He points at the dark haired one first. "That is Amaya, she the red lipstick bandit." I laugh at that. "This is my hippie, Althea." The other was brown haired, blue eyed and a little tanned, she was dressed in a sporty manner as well. "I've known them both for a few years. You will meet them eventually. They are quite happy about me dating that is for sure."

"So they are like your sisters?" I look at him as the dessert is placed between us. We both dug in. Oh this dessert was heavenly. I could see why he takes some home with him when he leaves sometimes. We finish off the dessert together.

Our waitress brings us our bill and Morris pays for it without batting an eyelash at it. He uses a credit card. He then pulls out of his wallet cash to leave on the table. He drops the money there and we leave the restaurant and walk down the board walk.

We are holding hands. I feel so very safe with him. We come to the end of the pier and we both look out into the ocean. His green eyes, much like Percy's green eyes, I am loosing my way in them. Only this time the one who's eyes I am lost in is equally lost in mine. I close my eyes and I feel his lips against mine. He deepens the kiss.

My heart races.

He tastes like the ocean. I mean that too. He tastes like the briny sea. "Come home with me? We can watch a movie or just sit up and talk. The girls should be asleep."

Nodding at him for I do not trust my voice to answer him. We make our way back to his car. He hands me in again. My heart flutters again. He is making all the right romantic gestures. I wonder how many times he planned things like this. He making me feel like a girl. I am not sure how I feel about that. My heart races as he drives back.

We park in a garage space in an alleyway. The door goes down making us safe to get out. We do. I note the motorcycle that is silver and another pretty green painted car of some make I do not know. It hit me the car he was driving was silent. I watch as he plugs in the car.

"All three of the vehicles in here are electric." He smiles. "I know someone who loves a challenge and I asked him to build me an electric engines for these."

Thinking of Leo and how he was. I frown I do not think he saw me frown. I remember Leo talking about designing electrical run engines for three vehicles. I think my friend worked on the guy I am finding myself in love with stuff. Small world.

We go up a spiral staircase and he unlocks the door. "Hey Spookie," I realize he is talking a pretty black cat. She just looks at us. "Spookie is my cat. She not always the biggest fan of people."

He shows me around the place. It is nice. Very eclectic. One of his roommates must be a genius with plants for there were plants everywhere. I am now sitting with him on the sofa. I decided to watch him play a video game. It was fun to snuggle up as he played. He tucked me under his chin and killed, blew up and destroyed his game foes. I was not totally surprised about how good he was.

Spookie soon enough joins us and was sitting in my lap as I sat in her human's lap. Morris found this amusing. "I think she likes you. She usually not this comfortable around strange people." I could not help but smile and pet her.

Spookie seemed to recognize my status as a prince of the underworld. She purred in my lap. We sit like this for a while. I look at the clock and realize how much time as passed. It was 2am in the morning. "No wonder I am tired." He looks at the time. I can tell he is tired. "I'll stay if that is no trouble?"

"You think I planned it this way." He mutters.

"Or I did." I caught his green eyes. He smiles. He turns off his video game. He stands carrying me and the cat back to his room. Opening the door we go inside. He sets me on the bed. Spookie jumps down and leaves the room. He shuts the door.

He strips out of his clothing. I find myself watching him in hunger. He wears boxers and damn he has a fine body under all those clothing. His boxers are sea blue. He comes over to me and not saying a word helps me out of my clothing right down to my own boxers. I happen to be wearing my plain black silk boxers. He helps me in bed. Goes turns off his light. It is completely dark in his room.

His weight settles into bed. He gathers me into his arms. "Tonight we sleep." With those words in my mind I snuggle against him. Falling into the best sleep I've had in years. Company keeps the nightmares away. This company brings me x-rated dreams though.