She felt something for him, and in moments like this where he spent time with her and her son, it made her want to spend more time with him. It made her want to be close to him. Butshe was also terrified of this feeling and desire festering inside of her. She wanted to get rid of it before Nikos could find it.
“What do you want from me?” Honey asked seriously.
The sex should have been enough. He had fucked her twice already, and at this point, if fucking her twice more would get him to leave her alone and stop stirring these feelings inside of her, then she would willingly do it. She wanted to get off of this roller coaster ride. She wanted to rid herself of these feelings.
“You,” Nikos said.
“You’ve already had me,” Honey said.
“I haven’t even scratched the surface yet,” Nikos said, and Honey felt her heart beat faster because he sounded so sincere.
Nikos moved closer before pressing a gentle kiss against her lips, and she felt like putty in his hands.
“Why are you running from me?” Nikos asked again, and this time, she felt compelled to answer as if Nikos had cast a spell on her.
“Your uncle,” Honey said, feeling her heart race again, but this time from a different feeling— fear. Though it had been a few months since Antonis had gone out of commission, he had never left the back of her mind. She could still remember his threat that rang loudly in her ears of what he would do if she did something with Nikos. Back then, she thought it was foolishness and him being the paranoid son of a bitch that he was with any man that so much as breathed near her. But now that she was in this precarious situation with Nikos, maybe Antonis had foreseen this.
He had always been smart, too smart, so damn smart that she didn’t think it was worth it to continue this. Two times had been enough. They shouldn’t let it happen again. That was what she thought, but as she looked into Nikos’s eyes, they were asclear and as calm as still water, so much so that it made her heart slow down to a normal pace.
Why wasn’t he feeling the same anxiousness that she felt?
“Don’t worry about him,” Nikos told her, and the inflection in his voice was serious, but not enough to quail her thoughts. Antonis was someone to fear and had been instilling fear in her since the day she met him. That wouldn’t just go away with a few words.
“But—”
Nikos kissed her until she was breathless, and her senses were filled with nothing but him. They had kissed plenty of times before, but nothing compared to this. She melted, breathing nothing in but him.
Nikos pulled back, holding her gaze.
“Only think of us. You and me. Whatever this is between us, I don’t want to lose it before I even get the chance to explore you. Your body is only the surface, and even then, I haven’t even gotten the chance to do everything that I want to you.”
“A poet, aren’t you?” Honey drawled sarcastically, though she must admit, she wanted to know what those things were that he wanted to do to her.
“I try,” Nikos said with a small shrug, but it was enough to make her smile and forget the monster hiding in the back of her mind. She wanted to feel at ease. She wanted to let go of her fears.
Nikos leaned in again, but Honey stopped him.
“My son is here,” Honey said pointedly, and to keep it as a reminder to herself too, because she was becoming lost in Nikos’s persuasive words, she turned her back on him. But instead of returning to the other side, Nikos came up closerbehind her, wrapping his arm around her waist and tugging her closer to him.
“I hope you give us a chance,” he said, and she could feel his breath against her neck. They lay together in silence with Nikos’s hand playing with her own. She could feel the thrum of his heart against her back. It matched her own. As his chest fell, her chest rose.
“Okay,” Honey finally said quietly, wanting to give in to what she wanted. Olivia was right. She didn’t have to make a big deal about this, and she could enjoy this, like other people. It was not as if Nikos was asking to marry her. He was asking for a chance, and right now, not only did she want to give one to him, but she wanted to give a chance to herself so she could experience the joys of dating again; something that had been long stolen from her since Antonis appeared in her life.
Nikos held her tighter, intertwining his fingers with her own, and they fell to sleep together like that, as one.
C H A P T E R
35
THE SMELL OF FOOD AND THE SOUND OF LAUGHTER MADE HONEY’S EYES FLUTTER OPEN. Blearily, she looked around, slightly disoriented from how far the ceiling was from her until she remembered what happened last night. She stretched like a cat before she sat up, withholding her groan. This would be the last time she had a sleepover on this hardwood floor that hadn’t been kind to her back even with a thick quilt underneath her.
“What’s that, Nik?”
“Feta Cheese.”
“Feta Cheese?”
“Yes, my friend. In my homeland, you can’t make eggs without them. Pass me another.”
