Page 49 of After-Hours Heir

She began to tremble, her whole body shaking, and when she came, she squeezed around him, tight, and pushed him over the edge.

He gripped her hips, his fingers digging hard into her as he shouted out his pleasure.

And it was like he was floating. Not in the air, not on the sea. It was like he had entered another space and time.

Christos was always connected with his body.

With everything that was happening around him. He never had the luxury of losing himself, and in fact, had never believed that it was possible.

But for suspended moments of time, the only thing was her. The only thing was them.

They were in a space created entirely for them. It was safe. And it was perfect.

It was like she had cast some sort of spell around him, one of protection, or maybe just an enchantment, but he, who felt like he had seen everything, known everything, suddenly felt as if he had never known anything at all.

And when the moment subsided, when he was brought back to reality, he felt something cold and hard double down in his chest. Expand there.

This wasn’t real. More than that, it wasn’t sustainable.

He was living in some kind of fantasy world. Still.

Finding out who she was, seeing her, it had done nothing to bring him back to reality.

He was a fool.

Yes, she was his wife. But she was having his baby, and logic was of the utmost importance here.

Keeping his mind sharp, his instincts honed, was essential.

He pulled away from her, sitting on the edge of the bed, pushing his hands through his hair.

“Christos…”

He knew better than to let an adversary see him in weakness.

But she was not his adversary. Not exactly.

It was complicated. He did not quite know what to make of it. He did not quite know what to do with it.

“Come to dinner,” he said, standing, finding his legs unsteady.

He would have to collect his clothes. They could not go to dinner naked.

He looked at her, and her glowing skin, her bright eyes. That unruly hair. He wished that they could go to dinner naked. And part of him wondered why people didn’t. Why they didn’t just do whatever they liked. Why they didn’t simply follow their animal instincts.

Because it leads to dark places.

He had never minded the dark. That was the thing. He had been thrust into it against his will. And he had decided that he could make quite a happy home there.

“Are you all right?”

She moved as if she was going to touch him, and he pulled away.

“I am well,” he said. “I need dinner.”

“Do you get hangry, Christos?”

He frowned. The gentle teasing and her tone were…odd. It was the kind of thing she might have said to him over text before she knew who he was. But not as Sylvie. And not to him.