by Abby Green
Sophy saw Apollo’s smirk and splashed some water at him. He said warningly, ‘You’ll pay for that, Kyria Vasilis.’
She was Kyria Vasilis again. Except officially this time. They’d got married here on Krisakis in the small Greek Orthodox church. The inevitable media interest in Apollo marrying his widow’s twin sister had been handled well by his PR team and it had quickly faded from the news pages.
Sophy stood up now and undid the wraparound kaftan, dropping it to the ground. She saw the way Apollo’s eyes narrowed on her and the inevitable flame in their depths.
Her own body—so attuned to his—tingled and fizzed with anticipation. Lord knew, she shouldn’t be feeling sexy. She was eight months pregnant and the size of a small hippo but nothing was capable of diminishing their desire. Even Ajax’s arrival had been precipitated by Apollo’s very sensual brand of trying to ‘hurry him along’ when she’d been overdue with him.
She went over to the steps that led down into the pool and sat down, relishing the feel of the water cooling her sun-warmed skin. Apollo left Ajax splashing happily in the shallow end and came over to where she was, sliding his arms around her and stealing a kiss. Something they never got away with for long in front of their son.
He pulled back and sat beside her, putting a hand over her belly. The baby kicked. It was a girl. But they were keeping it a secret from Ajax. She put her hand over her husband’s and they looked at each other, a wealth of emotion flowing between them.
They’d already been tested by grief when Sophy had lost their second baby at about four months to a miscarriage, almost a year ago now. But that experience had only made their bond even stronger.
Ajax’s voice suddenly piped up with an imperious, ‘Mama, come here! I want to show you something.’
Sophy smiled wryly at Apollo and moved into the water, swimming lazily over to her son, the way her husband had taught her.
Apollo looked at his wife and son playing and his heart was so full he didn’t know how it didn’t burst. But it didn’t. It just grew and expanded every day. And in another month or so it would expand a lot more.
And what he’d found, thanks to his love for his wife and his family, was that it was always infinitely better to make love the goal. And not self-protection. Because the thought of not experiencing this beauty and love and joy... Well, that was more terrifying than anything.
Coming next month
BEAUTY AND HER ONE-NIGHT BABY
Dani Collins
Scarlett dropped her phone with a clatter.
She had been trying to call Kiara. Now she was taking in the livid claw marks across Javiero’s face, each pocked on either side with the pinpricks of recently removed stitches. His dark brown hair was longer than she’d ever seen it, perhaps gelled back from the widow’s peak at some point this morning, but it was mussed and held a jagged part. He wore a black eye patch like a pirate, its narrow band cutting a thin stripe across his temple and into his hair.
Maybe that’s why his features looked as though they had been set askew? His mouth was…not right. His upper lip was uneven and the claw marks drew lines through his unkempt stubble all the way down into his neck.
That was dangerously close to his jugular! Dear God, he had nearly been killed.
She grasped at the edge of the sink, trying to stay on her feet while she grew so light-headed at the thought of him dying that she feared she would faint.
The ravages of his attack weren’t what made him look so forbidding and grim, though, she computed through her haze of panic and anguish. No. The contemptuous glare in his one eye was for her. For this.
He flicked another outraged glance at her middle.
“I thought we were meeting in the boardroom.” His voice sounded gravelly. Damaged as well? Or was that simply his true feelings toward her now? Deadly and completely devoid of any of the sensual admiration she’d sometimes heard in his tone.
Not that he’d ever been particularly warm toward her. He’d been aloof, indifferent, irritated, impatient, explosively passionate. Generous in the giving of pleasure. Of compliments. Then cold as she left. Disapproving. Malevolent.
Damningly silent.
And now he was…what? Ignoring that she was as big as a barn?
Her arteries were on fire with straight adrenaline, her heart pounding and her brain spinning with the way she was having to switch gears so fast. Her eyes were hot and her throat tight. Everything in her wanted to scream Help me, but she’d been in enough tight spots to know this was all on her. Everything was always on her. She fought to keep her head and get through the next few minutes before she moved on to the next challenge.
Which was just a tiny trial called childbirth, but she would worry about that when she got to the hospital.
As the tingle of a fresh contraction began to pang in her lower back, she tightened her grip on the edge of the sink and gritted her teeth, trying to ignore the coming pain and hang on to what dregs of dignity she had left.
“I’m in labor,” she said tightly. “It’s yours.”
Continue reading
BEAUTY AND HER ONE-NIGHT BABY
Dani Collins
Available next month
Copyright ©2020 by Dani Collins
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