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“We should go snorkeling!” she said all of a sudden, pointing to a sign. “Look, they have tours.”
“You want to hang out with a bunch of tourists?” he asked, raising a brow.
“I want to hang out with a bunch of fish.” She grinned. “Please, can we go?”
Nico looked at where two men were standing with clipboards by a sign that advertised the tours. They were charging an arm and a leg, more than what many of the pre-booked tours would cost. But it wasn’t like he had much else to spend his money on these days. What was he going to do? Buy another car?
“Sure, if that’s what you want.”
She nodded. “It is.”
They headed over to the stand, and a few minutes later they’d negotiated a solo tour. The vendor practically rubbed his hands together with glee over the wad of euros Nico had handed over.
The joy on Marianna’s face made something uncomfortable shift in his chest. He wasn’t used to doing things simply to please another person. In fact, it’d been a very long time since that was his motivation for anything.
The sun beat down on his bare skin, warming him as the small boat carried them out to the snorkeling area. When he’d agreed to marry Marianna, it was out of obligation. And he hadn’t thought about the ugly tangle of feelings he’d long since buried. But with each glance in her direction, he was increasingly aware that his life had taken on an entirely new and unexpected course.
Because a few months ago he was chasing more of the same. More stocks, more money, more career success. More lonely days, more hours at his desk, more business for the sake of keeping busy. And now he was on a collision course with something foreign and terrifying. In a few days’ time, he and Marianna would go to see the ob-gyn and make sure the baby was healthy. In a little over six months, he would be a father.
The very thought of holding the child in his arms unsettled him to his core. It was unexplainable, but he’d already formed a bond of sorts. Not with the baby, because there wasn’t anything for him to see or feel yet, but with the idea of it all. With the idea that he might be able to right the wrongs of his own neglectful parents…and Kosta.
“You look very deep in thought,” Marianna commented. She was still wearing his too-big sunglasses, and they looked a little ridiculous on her. “What’s on your mind?”
He blinked. Nobody ever asked him what he was thinking. Mainly because he never put himself in a position for anyone to observe him so closely. But he couldn’t exactly tell her he was contemplating the changes in his life. It wasn’t something he wanted to talk about. It was too real. Too raw.
“I, uhh…” His brain scrambled. “I like your bikini.”
Great work, malaka. Smooth as sandpaper.
But if Marianna thought it odd, she certainly didn’t show it. “Thanks. I thought the high-waist bottoms were good for covering…well, you know.”
“You look like Marilyn Monroe.” He cocked his head. “No, more like Sophia Loren.”
“Wow, you certainly know what to say when you’re not being a grump.” She pushed the sunglasses back up her nose in a way that was delightfully dorky. “I was starting to wonder why you even slept with me in the first place.”
Nico’s gaze flicked to the guy driving the boat, but he suspected the man’s English wouldn’t be strong enough to follow the conversation. Thank god.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you keep coming to bed and perching yourself on the edge of the mattress. I was worried you’d started to think I was repulsive.”
She was going to make him say it. He didn’t even know the point of this conversation. Rehashing possibly the biggest mistake of his life—or at the very least the mistake with the most long-lasting consequences—wasn’t going to do anything but sour his mood.
“I was attracted to you.” His eyes roamed her body, noting the way her nipples pressed against the slick bikini fabric and the way her neck and cheeks turned a shade of sun-kissed pink. “Isn’t that why most people sleep together?”
“Yes, but…” She sighed. “Oh, never mind.”
“What?”
“Men generally aren’t attracted to me.” She wrapped her arms around herself. “Sure, I had one or two guys show a little interest, but most glossed over me like I wasn’t even there. I was never the pretty, skinny girl in school. I had acne and braces for far longer than was fair, and by the time I got into my twenties I’d developed this kind of aura.”
“Aura?”
“They used to joke that I was going to die a virgin.” Her voice wavered. “I was the town weirdo. Even if I tried as hard as I could to be pretty, I was still weird.”
“You’re not weird,” he said softly, touching her arm. “You’re…unique.”
“You know that’s just the polite term for weird, right?”
He snorted. “When have you known me to be polite?”
“Good point.” She smiled. “Although I happen to think ‘the beast’ is more a persona than reality.”
