“Thank you,” her mother said, catching her up in a hug as the helicopter blades started to whir. “It’s lovely to see you so happy, sweetheart.” She drew back and for the first time seemed to see the conflict in her daughter’s eyes. “You are happy, right? Nik is wonderful.”
She bit her lip. She didn’t want to worry her mother with her own wedding so close at hand. “Yes, Mama,” she assured her, giving her mother a last tight hug. “I am happy. Call me when you’re home so I know you’re safe.”
Her mother nodded and climbed aboard the helicopter with Benetio. It had been Nik’s idea to organize the helicopter ride so the couple could enjoy the spectacular views before flying from Athens to New York. A thoughtful gesture on her fiancé’s part that had Claudia Ramirez over the moon and terrified at the same time.
It seemed, Sofi´a thought wryly, as if her fiancé was intent on making all the Ramirez women face their fears.
Nik wrapped up his outstanding business and the next morning they flew by helicopter to the island of Evangelina, a few miles off the coast of Akathinia, to the summerhouse King Damokles had built for his wife, Evangeline. Aware of her nerves in the dipping and swaying helicopter that seemed so fragile to Sofi´a, Nik wrapped his fingers around hers and kept them there the entire short ride to the island.
His description of them as complex came to mind. It felt very accurate at the moment with a dozen different emotions swirling through her head. Would they be able to come to an understanding of each other? Could Nik really let her in? Trust her? Let go of his suspicions of her? Realize she was that same woman he’d met in New York? Or would their defensive barriers prove too thick for either to pierce?
Set on a pristine private island with glorious white sand beaches and surrounded by a brilliant azure sea, summerhouse seemed an amusing term to Sofi´a for the palatial villa that had been Nik’s great-grandfather’s hideaway, a place where he and his family could enjoy time away from the pressures of ruling.
Nik showed her around the eighteen-room villa built by a renowned Italian architect of the time, complete with fifteen bedrooms, an art gallery, a chapel and formal gardens.
“It’s magnificent,” she said as they finished their tour in the grand foyer with its spectacular staircase and priceless Renaissance paintings.
Nik took his sunglasses off. “It’s cooling off now. I thought we might enjoy a walk and a swim before dinner.”
She eyed him. “You really aren’t going to work?”
“On us? Yes. On official business? No.”
Her stomach rolled. The banked intensity that had swirled around her fiancé ever since she’d rejected him for the second time the night of their engagement party was an ever-present force that sat between them like a living entity. Unsure of what would happen when they unleashed the passion between them, the only thing she did know for certain was that it would change the rules of the game yet again. To what, she had no idea.
But really, she conceded, they had no choice. They had to make this work.
“I’ll go change, then,” she said huskily. “Will you show me to our room?”
He led her up to the ethereal, beautiful blue bedroom that overlooked a strip of white sand beach and an endless vista of blue. Dark, hand-carved furniture contrasted with the airy feel of the room, a massive canopied four-poster bed perfectly positioned to drink in the spectacular view.
A lazy morning sunrise or an evening sunset would be incredible from that vantage point, she determined, then steadfastly ignored the thought. She needed to see more evidence from Nik that he was willing to let her in before they went there.
Her clothes had been magically hung up while they had toured the villa, her bathing suits nestled in one of the ornate drawers along the wall. She slipped on a white bikini and some sunscreen, then pulled a short sundress overtop. By the time she was finished dressing, Nik had finished his call and was waiting in the bedroom for her clad only in low-slung black swim trunks.
Heavens. Her eyes drank him in. It was one thing not lusting after him when he was fully clothed, another thing entirely when so much of his tanned olive skin was on display. When the matching Vs that defined the top of his pecs and the bottom of his abs were cut deep into his rock-hard flesh in a work of perfection that begged to be drooled over. Touched. Paid homage to as he held himself over her and took her to heaven.
“You want to skip the walk, glykeia mou?” His gaze speared hers, all leashed testosterone. “I am all about a morning nap.”