He turned, and his stomach went tight.
Beautiful. But treacherous.
Emerald was standing in front of him, her red hair free around her shoulders, curling delicately against her pale, bare skin. The dress that she was wearing clung to her generous curves, and the green, like her name, was a glorious foil for all her natural beauty. She had put on red lipstick, highlighting her mouth in a way that made his blood turn to liquid fire.
He was a man of great control. He had been alone with her countless times since that first spark had been ignited in his blood. He’d thought that he had mastered the art of self-denial.
But he feared, then and there, that that control had nevertrulybeen tested before. Out here in the ocean, surrounded by nothing but water, with Onyx far away on a distant shore, and his time with her running down like sand in an hourglass, his control felt much more tenuous than it ever had before.
Yes. He was ready to eat. But it was not food that he was hungry for. It was her.
If she knew the fantasies that he had about her, she would run away and hide. In spite of all the pain that she had endured, Emerald was an innocent. It was something that made him feel both pride and shame. She had never been able to date, had never been able to bring a man home, because he had always been there. Standing in the way. If he had been a different bodyguard, one who wasn’t interested in her body, but only in the guarding, then perhaps he would’ve made space for her to have romantic entanglements.
As it was, he hadn’t allowed it on his watch, and if he had ever observed a man showing interest in her, he had done his level best to scare the man away.
Emerald was untouched, and he knew it. Because no one had ever been given the chance to touch her.
Courtesy of Andrei.
“Andrei?”
He realized that he had lost himself, and the number of times that had happened was negligible. If it ever had before.
Normally, he was supremely in control of himself, and his reaction to her. It was always there, present, lurking beneath the surface like sharks out in the ocean. But he had dominion over it. Not here. Not now.
He couldn’t afford it. He was going to have to be hypervigilant once they got to Alabria. King Lucian had the potential to be an enemy, a danger to Emerald, and Andrei had to keep her safe. Above all else.
“Yes,” he said. “I’m ready.”
“Oh good. I asked to have your favorite made.”
“Why did you do that?”
“I don’t know. To tell you the truth, Iwasmad at you and my brother.”
He snorted. “I noticed.”
“But I realized today how much I’m going to miss you both.”
“I’m with you,” he said. “You can’t miss me.”
He ignored the way that made him feel. He ignored his feelings with the same ease with which he drew breath.
With her though, it was always harder.
Suddenly her eyes filled with tears. “I know. But it isn’t the same.”
Why? Why wouldn’t it be the same?
He knew why it wouldn’t be for him, but suddenly he was desperate to know why that was true for her.
It was a question he couldn’t ask. A question that he shouldn’t even have.
He had never allowed himself to believe she felt what he did. But now…now he wondered. He shouldn’t wonder. He shouldn’t ask things like this.
So he shoved it down deep and followed her to where a table was set with white linens, overlooking the sea, almost as if it were a date, which was something neither of them had ever had.
Not with each other, not with anyone.
