‘You done pushing?’ he rasped.
‘Maybe, maybe not,’ she whispered.
She almost took it back when he released her. But when she didn’t step away, on account of her feet refusing to move, he held her gaze for a long stretch, adjusted his body then placed his hands on her hips to pull her between his spread legs.
Her hands landed on his shoulders to steady herself. ‘W-what are you doing?’
‘Preventing you from scurrying off to hide in the darkness.’
‘Why…do you care?’
‘The elusive harmony we all search for?’
The charged little laugh escaped before she could stop it. ‘I don’t feel exactly harmonious when you touch me.’ Vayle bit her lip as soon as the telling words escaped then, to counter it, rushed on with, ‘And isn’t sex forbidden in our agreement?’
‘I’m doing nothing besides touching my wife. Touching is not forbidden. But let’s revisit your other statement about how you feel when I touch you,yineka mou,’ he drawled with the intense tone that made parts of her body grow heavy with wanting.
‘You should forget that immediately,’ she tried, knowing she shouldn’t have made that unguarded admission.
The smile that curved his lips then—hot, genuine,devastating—made the heavy parts even heavier. ‘No chance,’ he replied.
She watched the brown of his eyes lighten, then heat up until they were a river of melted, dark caramel she wanted to dive headlong into. A rough sound rumbled from him and Vayle realised she was toying with the hair at his nape, and he…he was leaning into her touch.
That tiny evidence of her power was like a drug to her system. She stepped forward, her head falling forward and her breathing fractured to pieces as his grip tightened.
‘Do it,’ he invited.Dared.
And, with that expertly pushed button, Vayle kissed him while the sun dappled around them, the salt-and-flowers-laden air swirled sultrily, and an urgent whisper at the back of her mind demanded to know what the hell she was doing. A voice she actively ignored. Because she remembered this magic, yearned for a repeat.
And, as she’d secretly longed for him to do, when he took control and swept his tongue forcefully between her lips, seeking entry, she gave in with a lustful sigh and let him stoke the fire sweeping between her legs. At some point her fingers curled into his hair and gripped tightly, and she heard him grunt as she moaned her delight, dancing closer to the edge of that cliff spiked with dire warnings.
She was all for ignoring them when a sharp cry ripped them apart. For a stupefying moment, Vayle wondered if it was a wounded animal or a unique bird’s cry. Then, eyes widening, she fully registered the sound. She started to step back. His fingers convulsed on her hips, staying her for another moment as he dragged his lips across hers one last time.
‘I feel entirely ordinary now, as I believe I’m not the first man to be cock-blocked by his child.’
The wry amusement glinting in his eyes arrested her for several more seconds until Angelos cried out again, his indignation growing.
‘I… We should…umm…’
‘Go,’ he said, adjusting himself with zero self-consciousness, while she writhed in a sea of volcanic need and surging alarm.
They’d been married for less than forty-eight hours of an agreed minimum of eighteen years. And here she was, fightingthe strongest urge to have sex that she’d ever felt in her life. A little more than alarmed by her own surging emotions, she hurried away, gladly evolving into mummy mode.
She was just done feeding Angelos and about to change him when Nelios strolled into the nursery, crossing the room to her side.
‘I will do it,’ he said. He started to reach for the nappy. Then he paused, a twinge of embarrassment crossing his face. ‘Show me how.’
Three tiny words. But oh, how powerfully they ploughed through her defences. So much so she could barely speak as she talked him through his first nappy change, with the standard warning about ensuring the correct positioning so he didn’t get accidentally doused. And she spotted his supremely triumphant look from the corner of her eye when he deftly completed the task.
She remained a little shaken when she excused herself early evening, leaving Angelos with his father so she could video-call Agnes, relieved when the other woman smiled into the phone camera.
‘I thought I might come to Athens soon.’
Vayle’s heart leapt but, remembering Nelios’s intransigence as recently as lunchtime, she winced. ‘Can I suggest you speak to Nelios first before you come?’
‘Speak to me about what?’ came the query.
She spun round to see him entering the room, Angelos tucked snugly against his chest. The sight of father and son sent another pulse of yearning through her. Which was absurd, because this was exactly what she’d agreed to, so why the further yearning…
