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I sighed a deep breath as he pressed his lips to mine, savoring our connection with no rush forward and no steps backward. I slowly pulled his shirt over his head and touched his warm skin, gently kissing his shoulder and arms. It was an incredibly intimate moment. Our naked bodies wrapped tightly around each other, and we took the time to feel every touch of our skin. I leaned my head back as he trailed his lips over my neck and down my chest. The storm in the background felt like our past, long lost at sea, while the setting sun felt like our future, holding secrets of the night, and glimmering in the vibrant colors of the sky.
The sounds of the waves took over, covering up our heated breath and the movements of body. The song of the insects in the forest created a backdrop of passion as our bodies moved and twisted, taking each other in and looking for more. As the sun set over the island, we let go of everything and made love on the white sandy beaches.
Later that night, we curled up in the bed and turned on an old black and white movie as the storm made landfall. The sound of rain falling on the roof top put Milos to sleep almost instantly. I got up from the bed, turned off the television, and rummaged through the fridge, trying to find something to satisfy my hunger. I settled on a bag of chips from the cupboard and sat watching the rain fall over the beach. As the lightning flashed in the background, an odd feeling moved through my chest, the feeling that something was just not right. I took a deep breath and put the food away, figuring I was just tired. I crawled back into the bed and under the covers where I found the comfort of Milos’s arms. I fell asleep, but didn’t stay that way for very long.
The loud clap of thunder over the house jolted me awake, and I laid with my head on the pillow, looking out at the rolling ocean. With each flash of lightning, I could see the white capped waves rolling angrily and crashing against the shore. I shuttered as thunder clapped again, this time shaking the bed slightly. I didn’t know if it was the food, the storm, or the hormones, but immediately, I felt a complete sense of dread. I couldn’t shake it, no matter how close I scooted into Milos’s arms. It felt like out in the darkness, something was lurking in the shadows, something that was coming to haunt us. I had never felt this way before in my life, and the suffocating feeling in my chest was almost unbearable. I closed my eyes and began to hum softly to myself, trying to calm my nerves.
I could feel my muscles begin to unwind, but just as they did, thunder and lightning would crash around us, sending my heart rate skyrocketing. I pulled the blanket up to my chin and closed my eyes tighter, humming a little louder this time. I could hear the pause in thunder and slowly opened my eyes. However, just as I expected to hear another clap, I sat up in bed, listening to someone pound on the front door. Who could that be? It was the middle of the night, and we were on a completely private island. I turned to Milos and shook him hard.
“Milos,” I whispered. “Someone is pounding on the door.”
He sat up on the bed and waited for a moment to see if we heard it again. Just as I began to relax my shoulders, the pounding came again. Milos slid from under the covers, and I grabbed his arm, shaking my head.
“Don’t answer it,” I said. “I have a terrible feeling.”
“Don’t be silly, love,” he said, kissing my forehead. “What if it is an emergency at the castle?”
I watched as he pulled on his robe and made his way out of the room and around the corner. I sat listening intently, knowing that whoever was on the other side was not coming with cheerful news. Whoever was on the other side was about to change everything in our world in the blink of an eye.
Chapter 24: Milos
I walked through the cottage, leaving my bride alone in our bed, and all I could think w
as whoever was behind that door better have a damn good reason for not only interrupting my honeymoon, but for arriving in the middle of the night. I flipped the lights on through the house and peeked through the window in the door. It was Brat. What the hell was Brat doing here at this time?
“Brat,” I said, opening the door and stepping to the side. “What in the world?”
Brat hurried through the doorway, shaking the rain from his shoulders and wiping his face on the towel I handed him. He had traveled in this weather and was standing outside my door in the pouring rain. I gave him a minute to gather himself before launching into a barrage of questions. If I knew my best friend well enough, he would never have come here if it wasn’t a really good reason.
I looked over my shoulder as Adriana appeared, looking worried and leaning against the door frame. I smiled at her, trying to give her comfort, but from the look of her arms crossed across her chest and her furrowed brow, she wasn’t going to calm until Brat told us why he was here.
“I’m so sorry for interrupting your honeymoon. Truly, Adriana, please accept my apologies.” He turned from me to her. “But I believe there is a situation that needs your urgent attention, and it couldn’t wait.”
I laughed at Brat’s disheveled look. “Yes, of course, but you couldn’t have picked up the phone?”
“I tried to call, but you must be out of service range here, and you were hell bent against landlines,” Brat replied, shaking his head. “So, I jumped in the jet and came out here.”
“Well, what’s this news?”
“Reg Evers has been sniffing around the castle,” Brat revealed. “He was supposedly trying to get an appointment with the King and his new Queen. By the time I heard of it, he was apparently getting pretty impatient.”
“What? What the hell does he want?” Adriana’s voice was shrill and angry.
“Well, that was just what I wanted to know, so I approached him and took him to lunch to find out,” Brat said shaking his head. “He wouldn’t specify the terms, but he said that he is going to be expanding the business, and he believed Milos would be interested in helping him.”
“Syn sukinsynu,” I cursed in Polish. “How dare he attempt to blackmail me? Does he not realize who I am?”
From there, I couldn’t help but let go, and I stood cursing in my native tongue, knowing Adriana would not be able to understand. When I had gotten it out of my system, I took a deep breath and looked back at her. She was standing there, clutching the doorframe with a face full of fear. Immediately, I felt terrible for not comforting her first. I raced across the room and hugged her tightly, kissed her on the head, and looked up at Brat standing in the foyer.
”I’m sorry, my love,” I whispered. ”Don’t worry about a thing. I will take care of all of this. I will not allow this gutter trash to reveal anything about our past. Our life together is too important for that.”
I didn’t know exactly what I was going to do about this, but I knew that whatever it was, Reg Evers would be lucky to leave with his head intact. I had just gotten my relationship with Adriana back on track, we were expecting a child, and the people of Silesia were more than ecstatic to have her taking the reins from Mother in the future. Everything was absolutely perfect, for the first time in my life. Then, this happenened. Maybe I couldn’t expect my past to stay hidden forever. Karma had a tricky way of sneaking up on you when you least expected it.
”My dear,” I said to Adriana. ”Would you mind getting Brat some dry clothes and starting a pot of hot tea for us?”
I smiled kindly at Adriana and watched her disappear into the other room. I didn’t want any tea, but I needed Adriana to feel as if nothing had changed. I needed her not to worry about this, especially being pregnant. She needed to stay calm and comfortable at all times. I took in a deep breath and stepped out onto the covered porch. The rain hit the thatched roof and ran over, cascading over the edges like a waterfall. I could feel the anger simmering in my stomach, and I didn’t know what to do with it. I had never been blackmailed before, simply because of the fact that I never gave a damn about revealing what I was doing. That was, until it became a situation that affected my wife and unborn child. I clenched my fists and gritted my teeth as I paced across the patio floor.
”Damn it,” I growled as I kicked the trash can sitting out back.
