Page 42 of Modern Romance September 2026 Books 1-4

There’d been an accident involving breaking an antique vase or something similar—Axel couldn’t even recall what it had been now. The silence after the crash had been deafening and then their father had appeared, incandescent with rage.

‘Who did this?’

Axel had known that it had been both their faults, but Ares had stood in front of him, even though he was younger and smaller.

‘It was me, Papa.’

Their father had looked at Axel and said, ‘Go to your room.’

‘But—’

Ares had looked at him, only about six years old, and had said, ‘Go, Axel.’

And to this day, Axel still felt the burn of shame that he had. He’d heard the sound of Ares’s wails as their father had meted out punishment. It had been that act of self-sacrifice that had burned brightest in Axel’s head when he’d threatened to leave home after Ares had been kidnapped.

The fact that Hope had done a similar act of defence this evening was…affecting him in some profound place. He’d unthinkingly brought her to his room, left her in his bed.

He felt a moment of stomach-dropping panic. Had he completely lost it? No. He wanted her with an unprecedented level of desire, that was all. And having her in his bed was practical as well as necessary. This was about sex. Nothing else. The sex was amazing.

He picked up his mobile phone and made a call. Michalis answered sleepily on the other end. ‘Axel, do you have any idea what time it is?’

Axel ignored that. ‘I’ve bought a villa in the Caribbean.’

Instantly his legal advisor was awake. ‘What? You don’t make impulsive purchases. Was this at the auction?’

‘Yes. I’m going to take Hope there. Can you discreetly inform the right people who will ensure our trip is documented?’

‘I presume this is with a view to impressing Baros with your new-found dedication to one woman?’

‘Of course.’ Axel was curt. He pushed down the niggle of his conscience that reminded him that his purchase of the villa had been more in reaction to Hope saying that his parents made her feel cold than because of any forward strategic planning.

‘Consider it done. By the way, the pictures of you and Hope at the premiere in London are getting a lot of attention. Everyone wants to know who she is and the chemistry between you is pretty palpable.’

That was all it was: chemistry. Something eased inside Axel. ‘Go back to sleep, Michalis.’

Axel terminated the call. He went back up to the bedroom where Hope was asleep on the bed, sheets thrown off, curled on her side, hands under her face in a disarmingly innocent pose.

Her thighs were bare under the T-shirt and he knew she wasn’t wearing underwear. Instantly Axel was hard and aching. He was very tempted to wake her up but a part of him that still felt a lingering sense of exposure urged him to display some level of control.

So he left the room and went down to the gym and worked the frustration out of his body and system. For now.

* * *

‘Axel, this is…like a dream.’

Hope’s eyes almost couldn’t take in the sheer beauty of the scene in front of her. An empty beach. White sand. And the sea, stretching out to the horizon, a colour she’d never seen before—a bright turquoise. As if it had been photoshopped.

She barely heard him say, ‘It’s very real, I can assure you.’

The sun, high in the sky beaming down and the kind of heat she’d never felt before. Getting right under her skin and into her bones.

‘You need to put factor on, you’ll burn,’ Axel said.

Hope looked up at him. ‘Are you sure you can take the time off for this?’

‘I told you, I’ve never taken a holiday.’

‘Well, if anyone deserves one, then it’s you.’