AllFreeNovel
Share Us
And clearly she couldn’t have divorced her husband. Leaving Nik with no anchor at home except nannies who would never be able to fully emulate a mother-son bond. It was little more than she’d had.
She frowned. “How did you handle all of that growing up? Where did you find your strength?”
“Athamos and I were close despite our differences. As were Stella and I.” He lifted a shoulder. “I made my own way. Proved my worth through my own successes.”
But not to his father. He could be labeled the Wizard of Wall Street ten times over and it would never attack the core of his pain.
She studied his hard, unyielding profile. Knew now that was what was at the core of Nik’s demons... A father impossible to please, who had been more interested in the heir to the throne. Building success after success and never having it be enough...
“Did you want to be king? Ever, I mean?”
A frown furrowed his brow. “It was never a possibility.”
“But you must have had some thoughts on the subject.”
“No,” he said evenly. “I didn’t. I loved my life in New York. Some days I felt more American than Akathinian. It was the last thing I wanted.”
“But you were restless. You needed a challenge, Nik. I’m not saying anyone would have asked for this to happen. I’m saying perhaps this happened for a reason. You were meant to rule Akathinia, not Athamos.”
He was silent, the late-afternoon sun warming their skin as they rounded a curve and headed around the other side of the island. “I wish I’d had time to clear up some things between him and me,” he said, a faraway look in his eyes. “That is my biggest regret.”
Her heart contracted. “I am sure he knew. Whatever it was you needed to tell him... I felt that way about my father. I had so much I wanted him to know, but I had to believe he knew all of it. That our bond was that strong.”
His inscrutable expression remained. They walked the entire circle around the island. When they returned almost an hour later, perspiration slid down Sofi´a’s back, her skin like an oven. She stripped off her sundress, took the hand Nik offered her and waded into the stunningly warm water.
It was just cool enough to be heavenly. Slid across her senses like the most heady of caresses as they waded to deeper water and Nik drew her close. She clasped her arms around his neck, her legs around his waist, allowing him to anchor her in the bobbing waves. His eyes were an intense, brilliant blue as he held her, his palms pressed flat against her back.
“Is that open enough for you, Sofi´a? Have I earned the right to have you, then?”
Her heart tightened; poised on the edge of making a decision she knew would change everything. It would give him a power over her she was afraid of. And yet he was opening up to her. She had a feeling the things he’d just told her were thoughts he might not have shared with anyone else. It made her hopeful, willing to believe he was right, that they had to move on and put their trust in one other and the bond they shared. That, in time, that trust would fully repair itself.
“Was it that hard?” she asked quietly, her gaze fixed on his. “You’re teaching me to take risks, Nik. That terrifies me. My whole life terrifies me right now.”
His dark lashes lowered. “Expressing my feelings isn’t easy. I wasn’t brought up to do that. I was brought up to suppress my emotions. But I promise what I said the night of our engagement party is true. I am going to do my best to let you in.”
He kissed her then. The most soulful, thorough slide of his mouth against hers. She clasped his jaw in her hands and angled her head to find a deeper contact. When it was like this, when she could feel the depth of the connection they shared, stronger than anything she’d experienced in her life, she believed they could do anything together.
They traded kiss for kiss, sensuous slides of their mouths against each other. She could have sworn the water around them heated to a higher temperature. He was hard, ready, his erection insistent against her stomach. She was putty in his hands as the sun beat down on them, her body melting into his. But he lifted his head, his lust-infused gaze tangling with hers.
“I want a bed underneath us, kardia mou. Do not expect to sleep.”
* * *
The sun was scheduled to set just after six. Nik instructed the chef to leave dinner for them to have later, then waved the Paris-trained cook off to spend the night with her family. He did the same with the turndown staff who hovered to see to their needs.
He was craving his fiancée. He wanted no interruptions.
