Maybe there were more important things. Like kindness. Trust. Family. Loyalty. Friendship. Passion.
Her gaze fell to his lips, and she yearned for his touch. She knew he wanted her, too.
But she also knew he would keep his promise.
All around them on the terrace, skyscrapers stretched up into the night, their windows sparkling bigger and brighter than the stars.
She trusted him, Honora suddenly realized. She believed he would keep his word. That one simple fact changed everything.
He wouldn’t touch her.
But there was nothing to stop her from touching him...
With an intake of breath, Honora threw her arms around him and lifted her lips passionately to his.
He froze in surprise, then as her mouth claimed his, he wrapped his powerful arms around her and kissed her back hungrily.
“Thank heaven,” he whispered against her skin when they finally pulled apart. “Not being able to touch you was killing me.”
“We can’t have that.” She looked up at him. “If you can commit to a lifetime,” she said in a small voice, “if you’re sure, I’ll marry you, Nico.”
His dark eyes lit up. “You won’t regret it,” he said huskily. “I’ll make you happy. You and the child both. I swear it.”
Honora prayed he was right and tried not to hear the desperate howl of her heart. She didn’t need him to love her, she told herself. Just giving their baby a loving, secure home, being friends, being lovers, would be enough. It would.
And now, it would have to be.
CHAPTER SIX
WINNING WAS TORTURE.
Being kissed by Honora was paradise. Nico gloried in the feel of her petite, lush body in his arms. Her baby bump and full breasts pushed against his flat belly. Her lips were soft and warm, and as they parted for his, a small sigh came from the back of her throat.
Standing on the penthouse terrace in the cooling summer night, after she’d agreed to marry him, he’d felt the wind blow against his skin like the promise of a new life. For a moment he’d felt dizzy as he held her tight. He’d wanted that moment to last forever.
And he’d also wanted it to end immediately, by lifting her in his arms and carrying her inside, to his bed.
But no. Honora wanted to wait for their wedding night. So the next two weeks—filled with agonizingly delicious kisses, but no sex—were agony for Nico.
“I want it to be special,” she said quietly. “This time, I want it to feel real.”
He then tried to persuade Honora to wed immediately, elope to Las Vegas on his private jet. But she’d held firm, wanting to wait and have a real wedding after her grandfather returned from his honeymoon.
“All right.” Nico had sighed, giving in with all the grace he could muster. “I did promise to fulfill all your dreams. You should have the wedding you want.”
She’d looked startled. “It’s not for me. Weddings are for family and friends. For our baby. For the community.”
Which was so opposite to Nico’s usual way of thinking that he hadn’t even known how to argue. To his own mind, all he wanted to do was marry her and start the honeymoon today. She was living in the guest room of his penthouse. So close! But so far away!
They kissed, of course. Constantly. He would grab her in the hallway, at breakfast, at dinner, and lean her against the wall, against the sofa, holding her tight and ravishing her with kisses until they both went weak in the embrace. He felt like an unsatisfied teenage virgin, voracious in his hunger and need.
Two weeks seemed like torture. He felt like he’d never waited for anything so long.
But apparently two weeks was lightning fast for wedding planning. When Honora had suggested that they simply order a cake, hire some friends of hers who were musicians and buy a bouquet ready-made from Phyllis’s shop, he’d wanted to make the ceremony more special for her, so he’d convinced her to hire a wedding planner.
“That would leave me more time to decorate the nursery,” she’d said, stroking her cheek thoughtfully. “Although it seems like a silly thing to hire out.”
“I just want to make your life easier.”