“Antonis doesn’t trust me,” Nikos said as he pulled his jacket off, and Honey grabbed it, placing it on her coat rack. Nikos dropped down on the couch, and a second later, Honey followed suit.
“Does he suspect there’s something between us?” Honey asked, fear clear in her brown eyes. He wished he could erase that fear from her eyes, but he knew words would not do it. That fear had been imprinted there for a reason from the many years of his uncle getting rid of every male in Honey’s life who so much as looked in her direction. He knew it was the same reason why she had been hesitant to start something with him in the first place.
“He might,” Nikos admitted. The night Antonis returned, he had checked to see if Nikos had really been at Allison’s place. It meant that he suspected he had been somewhere else. On top of that, his comment tonight on Honey’s help made Nikos even more certain.
“What are we going to do, Nikos?” Honey asked, her shoulders slumped with defeat and distress.
“We could end this,” Nikos said, and Honey’s eyes widened. “We could go our separate ways as if nothing ever happened between us. My uncle only suspects, Honey. He has no proof.”
“Are you sure he doesn’t know?” Honey asked.
“I’m positive. I’m still right here in front of you, aren’t I?” Nikos said with a smirk, and Honey sighed, turning her eyes away from him. It was clear that she was in no mood for jokes, especially since, technically, it wasn’t one. His being alive was proof that Antonis didn’t know, because if he did, Nikos was certain he would be lying in a body bag somewhere.
“It would be the easy thing to do, just letting it end here. But…” Honey’s eyes found his again, her brown eyes looking like her real name at that moment. “If you want to be with me as much as I want to be with you, then I’m willing to do anything for you.”
Her eyes watered, and Nikos pulled her hand into his, squeezing it. He knew that Honey didn’t like to involve herself with problems and that she actively stayed away from them. It was why she had adamantly avoided him in the beginning. She had closed herself off to romantic relationships because of his uncle’s obsession with her.
Nikos knew that she wanted to go with the first option, not only because she wanted to protect herself and her son, but because she wanted to protect him too. He was happy with that, happy with everything that Honey was. Happy with her stubbornness, her determination, and the walls he had been slowly breaking down over their shared time together. He enjoyed everything about her, and he didn’t want to lose any of that, but if Honey didn’t want to take the risk, he wouldn’t force her.
He knew how dangerous this would be if they took that road. It was not an easy road to walk down, and Nikos would not drag her down a path she was unwilling to take, even if everything in him wanted to be with her.
“This is ridiculous,” Honey said, wiping her tears. “We’re not even in a relationship.”
Nikos knew they hadn’t placed any titles on their relationship yet, in part because of Antonis. But, for some reason, the title of their relationship didn’t matter to him at all. The only thing that mattered to him was Honey.
“It doesn’t matter what we are,” Nikos told her as he took her hand in his before pressing it against his heart. “Only what we feel.”
Honey looked at her hand against his heart and pressed it down firmer, feeling his heartbeat that he was certain matched her own— thumping and racing and alive.
“Okay,” Honey said as she looked up into his eyes. “I want to be with—”
Nikos didn’t let her get the rest of her words out before he leaned forward and kissed her deeply, glad that Honey felt the same way he did because he didn’t want to lose her. Though he had given her the option, the idea of losing Honey crushed him in a way he had not felt before. He wanted Honey more than anything in this world.
This life he had built with her, he didn’t want to lose.
He kissed her and kissed her again and kissed her some more, and just when he thought he was done, he found himself chasing her lips for more, pressing shallow kisses against her lips down to her chin and then to her neck. Honey’s fingers scraped the nape of his neck before tightening through his locksof hair. He found his way back to her lips again and only then did he pull back.
He didn’t want to. Right now, he wanted to be buried between her legs, but he had work to do. He pecked her lips once more before he stood.
“Where are you going?” Honey asked, her lips plump and bruised.
“I’ve got work to do,” Nikos said. “But I’ll be back again. Not as often as before, but I will be.”
Honey nodded, and Nikos went to the coat rack and slipped his jacket on before heading to the door. Before he could open it, Honey stopped him.
“Wait a minute,” Honey said as she padded over to him. She reached behind her neck and fiddled about before taking her necklace off. It was her Jesus piece necklace. She wore it whenever she went to the club, but whenever she got on stage, she would take it off and leave it on her desk.
She stood on the tip of her toes, reaching her arms up, and Nikos leaned down, letting her fasten the necklace around his neck. Nikos looked at the gold piece of jewelry in question.
“Call me superstitious, but I feel it always protects me,” she said, and Nikos took her necklace, kissing the back of it, the same way he had seen her do countless times before she hung it up on her vanity.
“I’ll be safe,” Nikos told her, kissing her forehead.
“Promise?” Honey said as she wrapped her arms around his waist, nestling her chin into his chest as she looked into his eyes.
“Promise.”
C H A P T E R
