“I was a pilot in the Air Force in my country,” Nikos said proudly. “When I was younger, I never thought it was something I would want to do. It wasn’t like it was a dream of mine. But when I joined after high school, I fell in love with it. There’s nothing better than being in the sky. It feels like home up there.”
Honey could tell he was telling the truth. Nikos’s eyes were already bright but seemed even brighter while he talked about flying. She had never seen him like this before, and it made her wonder why he was done here with her, in New York, when he could be up there somewhere flying.
Unlike the other men in his uncle’s profession, like his cousin Theo, Nikos didn’t seem to enjoy what he did. Even now, after taking over for his uncle, he didn’t seem to enjoy it.
“Why did you stop?” Honey asked curiously. That question dimmed the light in Nikos’s eyes and almost made her regret asking. She didn’t want to spoil his mood.
“Life,” Nikos stated plainly, and that was all Honey needed to hear because she knew well what ‘life’ meant. Such a simple word but somehow managed to express various things because ‘life’ had happened to her too. It had given her a gift in the form of her son, but it had also bestowed her with other troubles. It was the same answer she would give if someone asked her why she wasn’t a chef.
“I want to be a pilot just like you when I grow up, Nik,” Kai said, and Nikos’s eyes brightened again.
“You can be,” Nikos told him. “I know you will be. Sergeant Pilot Kai Wells. I can see it now. We’ll even fly together one day.”
Kai’s smile was so wide and toothy that it could split his lip as her son threw himself into Nikos’s arms, giving him a big hug that Nikos returned as he ruffled Kai’s hair. Without warning, her eyes warmed as tears pricked behind them. She didn’t think she would be this emotional over something like this, but Kai had never been this way with Andre before. Never could be, in fact. Andre only wanted to show Kai off but was rarely there ever to spend time with his son and get to know him. Kai loved his father like most people loved their parents— because they were.
But their bond was barely there, and already, in a matter of a few months, he was so much closer to Nikos. It made her happy and fearful all the same. Happy because she always wanted Kai to have a bond with a male figure, so he could receive the things from him that he couldn’t receive from a woman. But she also felt fearful because it was Nikos he was forming a bond with. Nikos wasn’t her boyfriend. She had just started to admit to herself that she considered him to be a friend. She didn’t want them to be too close, resulting in heartbreak in the end for her son.
***
After leaving the flying area, Nikos took her and Kai to dinner at a nice restaurant. Though she had declined, he had insisted on paying for dinner for them both, and she was glad that he did because, honestly, she wouldn’t have been able to afford it. The restaurant he took them to was expensive, and it didn’t help that whenever Kai said he wanted to try something— he was an eight-year-old boy, so that meant he wanted to try everything— Nikos ordered whatever he wanted, not caring about the price at all, reminding her that he was the son of a rich gangster back in his country.
By the time they left the restaurant, the streetlights, the dark sky, and the moon were out. And though Honey was grateful for everything he had done for them today, she was also very confused. She had imagined today to be very different, much different. Actually, she thought she would be topless in front of Nikos, personally dancing for him.
But instead, she was walking back up the steps to her apartment with Nikos, who carried Kai, who was snoring in his arms. Honey opened the door, and Nikos carried her son inside, taking him in the back. Confusion didn’t leave Honey as she helped him tuck Kai in, and it didn’t leave her when it was only them two alone in her living room.
“You shouldn’t have told Olivia to leave,” Honey said, and Nikos, who was stretching his shoulders after carrying Kai, frowned with confusion. He couldn’t have thought she would do something like that with her son a door away.
“Nothing can happen tonight,” she explained. “I’m not doing anything with my son here.”
“Oh, that’s not a problem,” Nikos said as he reached inside his coat pocket and pulled out a thick envelope. Honey gingerly took it and glanced at him before she opened it. The amount of hundred dollar bills nearly made her jaw drop. This was more than she had ever made in a month.
“I…I didn’t do anything,” Honey said, baffled.
Nikos just simply shrugged with his signature smile. “Just being in your presence is worth that amount.”
It was in his usual flirtatious manner, a tone and a collection of sly words that he held for every beautiful woman he met. But still, those words made her heart warm because it was sincere. No man had ever paid her this much just to be in her presence. They always wanted something from her. To touch her, to hear false words of her wanting them. But of course, Nikos wasn’t like those men. He had never been.
“What about the sex?” Honey asked bluntly. It wasn’t that she had been looking forward to it, but she wanted to know what this would be because she doubted he would do this every time.
“I don’t pay for sex,” Nikos said cockily, and Honey rolled her eyes. She guessed that was true. Nikos didn’t have to do those things with a face like his and his natural charm. Women just threw themselves at him, and she had seen that firsthand with the girls at the club. They all happily parted their legs for Nikos just because they wanted a taste of the Greek man with a charming smile and bright blue eyes.
“If we ever had sex together, it’ll be because you want it just as bad as I do,” Nikos continued.
Honey snorted. “You want it?” she asked sarcastically.
She expected some flirtatious words or his whimsical laughter to follow, but instead, Honey was surprised to see theserious gaze on his face. “It’s never a question of whether I want it.”
He didn’t say anymore, but then again, he didn’t need to. Honey already knew what was unspoken. She stared at him, and he stared at her before he gave her a small smile.
“Bye, Honey.”
She watched his back as he left, and Honey found herself stopping him. Nikos had his hand on the doorknob, but he turned to look at her with an arched brow.
“Thanks for not taking advantage of my vulnerabilities,” Honey said sincerely. She knew if this had been Antonis, he would have used that situation to force his way to be with her. But Nikos wasn’t like that. He could have easily used this to have sex with her, and then he could go around the club, probably with the moniker of having sex with all of the women there, including her. But he didn’t.
She respected it.
She respected him.
