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Her heart skipped a beat. ‘Was that a proposal?’
He looked worried. ‘I can make it more romantic if you like...’
She shook her head and smiled. ‘No, that’ll do just fine. And, yes, I accept your proposal.’
But then she sobered again. Apollo tipped her chin up. ‘What is it?’
She put her hands on his bare chest. He’d pulled on sweats but she had to not let his physicality distract her.
‘What I said about a family... I meant that. I do want a family. Children. When you reminded me that we hadn’t used protection...for a moment, even though it would have been the wrong thing, I wanted there to be a baby.’
He cupped her face. ‘I told myself I didn’t want there to be a baby and that’s why I was so concerned about consequences, but actually I think deep down I was hoping that you might have got pregnant. I had to come to terms with the thought of a baby when I thought Sasha was pregnant and what surprised me was how much I wanted it. In spite of everything I’d been telling myself for years. Except, in that situation, I compartmentalised the baby very separately from its mother.’
‘But now...with you... I want it all too. The baby, you. Us, together. Making a life. It scared me for so long, the thought of losing someone I love, so I blocked it out. That’s why I was so harsh with you after we slept together that first night. I knew you’d got to me more than any other woman ever had. So I used your virginity as an excuse to get you to leave. But I never forgot about you...and I think eventually the memory of you would have driven me so mad that I would have come to find you.
‘But then your sister turned up...and I was relieved I hadn’t had to be the one to make a move. Until I realised I no longer wanted you. And then Sasha dropped her bombshell. I told myself I was glad I didn’t desire you, because then it meant what we’d shared couldn’t have been as amazing as I remembered...but then that all got blown out of the water...’
Sophy looked at him, finally believing and trusting. But he said, ‘Need more convincing?’
She nodded and started moving her hands down to his waist. His body hardened against hers. ‘Maybe a little more...just to make sure we’re on the same page.’
Apollo scooped her up and carried her back into the bedroom and put her down on her feet by the bed. He undid the belt of the robe and tugged it off her body. His green gaze glittered with barely banked heat as it swept up and down her body. He muttered, ‘I will n
ever get tired of looking at you, little flame. Or wanting you.’
He kissed her then and she arched into him, pouring all of her love into the kiss. His sweats got discarded and they landed on the bed in a tangle of limbs. When Apollo was poised to enter her, Sophy put her hands on his hips. He wasn’t wearing protection. She said huskily, ‘Are you sure...it’s not too soon?’
He bent down and pressed his lips to hers and then he said, ‘It’s not soon enough, agapi mou.’
And Sophy knew, as Apollo joined his body to hers, that he meant every word, and that today was the start of a new life. For them and for ever.
EPILOGUE
Three and a half years later, Krisakis
‘MAMA, LOOK! I’M SWIMMING!’
Sophy stood up from the lounger with a slight huff of effort. She smiled and waved at her two-and-a-half-year-old son Ajax, who admittedly looked as if he was splashing more than swimming, being tugged along in armbands by his father.
She plonked a sunhat on her head and went over to the edge of the pool, which was just one of the luxurious features of the Achilles Villa in the Krisakis Resort, which had opened a couple of years ago. This was the villa Sophy had suggested building at the top of the resort and it was the most sought-after for its views and privacy.
As Sophy had predicted, they were inundated with visitors looking to escape the far busier islands around them, and Krisakis was thriving and growing all the time.
Sometimes they themselves needed to escape, and they went out on the yacht that Apollo had bought at the auction those few years ago. He’d named it Little Flame, much to Sophy’s delight.
She went down on her haunches. ‘You are doing so well, my love. Papa is a good teacher, isn’t he? He taught me how to swim too.’
Ajax, dark-haired and a handful, as only a child of Apollo could be, broke into giggles. ‘Papa teaching Mama to swim—that’s silly! You’re a grown-up!’
Sophy saw Apollo’s smirk and splashed some water at him. He said warningly, ‘You’ll pay for that, Kyria Vasilis.’
She was Kyria Vasilis again. Except officially this time. They’d got married here on Krisakis in the small Greek Orthodox church. The inevitable media interest in Apollo marrying his widow’s twin sister had been handled well by his PR team and it had quickly faded from the news pages.
Sophy stood up now and undid the wraparound kaftan, dropping it to the ground. She saw the way Apollo’s eyes narrowed on her and the inevitable flame in their depths.
Her own body—so attuned to his—tingled and fizzed with anticipation. Lord knew, she shouldn’t be feeling sexy. She was eight months pregnant and the size of a small hippo but nothing was capable of diminishing their desire. Even Ajax’s arrival had been precipitated by Apollo’s very sensual brand of trying to ‘hurry him along’ when she’d been overdue with him.
She went over to the steps that led down into the pool and sat down, relishing the feel of the water cooling her sun-warmed skin. Apollo left Ajax splashing happily in the shallow end and came over to where she was, sliding his arms around her and stealing a kiss. Something they never got away with for long in front of their son.
