by Caro LaFever
“Love…making.” He echoed her, his pause even longer between the two words.
Jerking back into the circle of the seat, she pinned her gaze on the rolling hills of the park. “Are we done? I need to get going.”
A dry chuckle slipped across the stone. “We’re not done. I still need answers.”
Folding her shaking hands in front of her, Natalie gritted her teeth in resigned disgust at herself. And at him. She was an idiot to stay here even though her curiosity and bittersweet emotions kept her glued to this bench. And he was an idiot for missing the most important answer she’d given him moments ago.
She loved him.
But he’d missed the subtle confession. Thank God.
“Let’s talk about love.” His voice drifted across to her.
Her hands tightened into aching fists again. Why would she ever think this intelligent man would miss anything? “Let’s not.”
“I think…” He paused and although she wasn’t looking at him, Nat could imagine the expression on his face by the tone of his words. One of befuddled confusion. “I think I need some answers about love.”
Stupid man. Swinging back to stare at him once more, she let him have it. “You already know all about it.”
“What?” His eyes widened. “I don’t know—”
“Don’t tell me you don’t love your grandparents. Don’t tell me you don’t love that entire family over in Greece.”
His face went pale. With fear.
Fear? This man who charged through New York City, conquering everything before him. This man who founded companies in his spare time. This man who could do anything he set his mind to—was afraid?
Afraid of love.
Now that she took a moment to think, however, it made sense given his history with his father and stepmother. Nat had a feeling she’d just scratched the surface of his past, but she knew enough to understand his reluctance to trust. And a person had to trust to love. Yet whatever damage his father had done to him beyond throwing him out of his house, his grandparents had blessed him with at least a partial healing.
A knowing settled in the center of her soul. He might not love her, still, she could give him this answer. This answer that hopefully would help him find his way back to the love he needed in his life. Not hers, that wasn’t the love he wanted. But his family’s. “Aetos.”
“What?” His expression turned hopeful. “Tell me.”
“You love. You love like no man I’ve ever met.”
The fear lashed across his face once more, but he didn’t pull back or reject her words with a tight, harsh snap of his accented tongue.
Taking heart, she kept going. “You love your giagiá and your pappoús. You love Doris and Uncle Orion and Rhea. You might not say the words, yet your actions speak louder than anything you could say. You love them.”
His brows furrowed as if he were actually taking her statements in and rolling them through that formidable brain of his. Nat held her breath, hoping for a miracle.
She got one.
“You’re right.” His dark gaze locked with hers. “I do love them.”
Gasping out the breath, she smiled. A genuine one, although her heart broke all over again. Because he might have admitted his love for his family, but that was a far cry from admitting any emotions for her. “There’s your answer.”
“What?” He reared back against the stone rail, his face filling with confusion once more.
“Your family is your answer.” Brushing her hands down her coat, she tried to turn brisk and business-like. “You need to spend time with them.”
“Do I?” he said. “That’s the only answer?”
She glanced at him to find his gaze centered like a laser on her. “That’s the main answer.”
“The main answer,” he echoed her again, his expression going contemplative.
“Yes. Go back to Greece and spend time with them. You’ll find any other answers that you need there.” This was the last thing she could do for him. She’d had enough and her poor heart couldn’t take being with him any longer. Standing, she stuffed her hands in her pockets. “Time for me to go.”
The confusion and contemplation fell from his face, replaced by dogged determination. “No.”
“I’ve given you all the answers I have.” That was so true. She’d given him everything, more than she thought she had to give. “I need to get going.”
An intense light flashed in his eyes. “Where are you going to go?”
There was a good question. But for now, she’d keep it simple. “Back to the limo to get my luggage.”
“And then where?”
For a moment, she let herself return to the girl who had dreams. The girl who’d imagined traveling the world and telling stories. It suddenly hit her that she was finally free. Free from her mother’s despair, her father’s sins, her brother’s schemes. She stared at the man sitting on the bench in front of her. The man who’d taken her heart into his hands. Tied her to him with golden strands of light and lust and life. Nat knew she wouldn’t be free of Aetos Zenos for the rest of her life. Still, he had given her the freedom to move forward. Move toward her old dreams once more.
“I’m not sure yet.” She wasn’t dead. She didn’t owe the mob a dime and for that, she should be grateful. “ But thank you.”
With a jerk, he straightened, a frown creasing his brows. “You don’t owe me any thanks.”
“Yes, I do.” Shifting on her feet, she gave him a grateful smile. “You’ve given me my freedom.”
“What do you mean by that?” His frown turned into a scowl.
“I can go anywhere.” The words strummed inside her. Why had she let her aching love for this man blind her to the possibilities? She was a healthy, young female who could do anything she wanted. Natalie glanced away from him and looked out across the park, imagining another kind of life. One bereft of Aetos, yet still worth living. “Now that I don’t owe that money, I can travel anywhere in the world.”
A tense silence came from the end of the bench, before he blurted, “like Greece.”
The two words shot into the air, bringing her focus back to him. “Um. Yeah. I suppose.”
“With me.”
“What?” Her brain was so overloaded with old dreams, she couldn’t take in his odd suggestion. “You don’t want me with you.”
“Don’t I?”
Her mouth dropped open as she stared at him. He eased himself back on the bench, his long legs stretched in front of him like he didn’t have a care in the world. Like he hadn’t just said something incomprehensible. “You paid me to leave you.”
“Did I?” Keeping his gaze on her, he slid his hand into his coat and pulled out the envelope. “Then how about I pay you to stay with me?”
The slap of the money-laden packet on stone cut through the silence between them.
Nat didn’t know if she should be offended or confused. So, she decided to be both. “Are you crazy?” she snapped. “You can’t buy me.”
He flinched, his big body going taut. “That’s not—”
Marching up to him, she leaned down to glare into his pale face. “Do you think you can throw money at me and I’ll trail around after you to wherever you want to go?”
‘I thought perhaps you’d want to go back to Greece with me.” His chestnut eyes gleamed with fragile hope, a golden twist of light swimming inside them. “I thought you might like to see my family again.”
What was going on here? She lurched back, her mind in awhirl. “I like your family—”
“You love my family.” The claim was made with his usual confidence, as if he’d finally figured out all there was to know about love.
His arrogance made her anger tick up a notch. “You’re suddenly an expert on the subject of love?”
“Not really.” His lips curved into a tentative grin. “But I’m learning.”
They stared at each other, the soft wind ruffling his hair and hers, the cold air sifting a chilly, barren
breath around them.
“Natalie.”
“What?” She shivered before folding her tense arms around her in protection. Leaving was the best thing for her to do, yet there was something in his eyes, that golden, delicate hope, that kept her feet frozen to the sidewalk.
“Could you sit down?” His focus never wavered from her face.
Glancing away, she tried to think about what was best for her. “I think—”
“Please.”
There was that word once more. That inconceivable plea coming from Aetos Zenos.
She sat.
His blunt fingers slid across the stone and picked up the envelope. Staring at it for a minute, he slid it back inside his coat. “So you don’t want my money.”
“No, I don’t.” That was one answer she could give him with complete sincerity. “And while I’m thankful you paid those awful men off, I still plan on paying you back.”
“That’s not the deal we made.” He immediately scowled. “You walked with me so that debt is paid in full.”
You walked with me.
The words hit her, just as before. So simple. So inviting. So impossible. Brushing the thoughts and the welling tears aside, she swiveled away from him and looked at the cold winter landscape. “Fine. If that’s the way you want it. But don’t think I’ve ever been interested in your money.”
A male grunt was his reply. As if he finally understood the truth of this and couldn’t quite get past the revelation.
Nat didn’t feel like reaching out and helping him find his way across the minefield of her truth. Sure, he’d figured out he loved his family and that was a good first step. Yet, he still had all his baggage about women to deal with and she didn’t have the strength or the will to fight that particular battle. He might want her to come to Greece and be with his family, though she was honestly confused by the request. Maybe he thought she did pretty well last time as a buffer and he wanted that protection again as he eased himself back into the act of loving. But she had to protect herself from his appeal and the last thing she needed was more exposure. “I should get goi—”
“You asked me what was wrong with your gift,” he cut in with a terse statement.
“Huh?” She jerked around to stare at him one more time.
“The New Year’s gift you gave me.” He met her gaze with a tenacious one of his own. “The cufflinks.”
“I don’t want to talk about that.” Shifting her gaze to the park again, she tightened her lips. “It was a stupid thing to do.”
“Giving me something was a stupid thing to do?”
“Obviously.” Nat flashed a glare his way. “You hated it.”
“I didn’t.” His confession was quiet and slow.
She gaped at him. “What?”
“Didn’t my giagiá tell you what the two eagles flying together meant to me?”
Frowning, she kept her gaze on his tense expression. She noted the tight crease of his mouth and the rigid line of his shoulders. This was important to him, she sensed instantly. “She told me I had to be brave when I showed her the cufflinks. That’s the only thing she told me.”
He sighed before glancing down at the sidewalk. “My father’s family has an emblem and a motto.”
His father. Somehow she’d tripped over another one of his triggers without realizing it. “Yeah?” she offered in a gentle tone.
“Yeah.” He swung his focus back on her, his gaze going soft when he met hers. “Yeah.”
She shouldn’t be interested, shouldn’t spend any more time with him and his allure, but she wanted to find out what went wrong before she left. So she forced herself to be brave again, taking a step into his painful past, this time aware she was venturing into territory that hurt him. “What was the emblem?”
“Two eagles.” He slipped his hand into his coat pocket and pulled out the velvet box that had haunted her nightmares during the last few days. Flipping the box open, he stared down. “Just like these.”
“I didn’t know—”
“I realize that now.” He gave her a wry smile. “It was just a surprise. A painful one.”
Instant guilt swamped her. “I’m sorry—”
“No, I’m sorry.”
I’m sorry? From Aetos Zenos? Her brows shot up in shock.
“I am sorry.” His voice went tough, his eyes narrowing. “Believe it.”
A rushed chuckle escaped her. This was the Zenos she knew. “Okay.”
“I overreacted.” Apparently satisfied with her response, he plucked the cufflinks from the cushioned interior and held them in front of him. The sunlight glinted off the gold and onyx. “But there was a reason. Do you want to know what my father’s motto is?”
Feeling like she was tip-toeing toward a mine, she pushed herself to be brave once more. “Tell me.”
“Patrída. Oikogéneia.” The words were matter-of-fact and detached. “Homeland. Family.”
“That was important to your father?” Another push.
“Nai,” he said simply.
Yet there was something complicated lying underneath this information. She could tell by the way his eyes glazed with pain and his athletic frame contracted into a tense mass of agony. Pushing wouldn’t work here. Instinct told her so. Even pulling wouldn’t work. Only waiting with patience would.
A long silence fell. Aetos didn’t move, his hazy gaze didn’t swing toward her. She felt as if he had gone back in time and only his body remained here on this stone bench.
“He didn’t think I was a part of that.” His sudden statement was stark and raw. “He didn’t think I was worthy enough to be part of the Zenos family. Even before he believed my stepmother instead of me and threw me out of his house, he didn’t think I was worthy.”
Her heart flipped over in her chest with compassion. “Oh, that’s not—”
“It’s okay.” Finally, his gaze met hers.
Surprise filtered into her compassion. Because there were golden glints in the chestnut and she knew him well enough to know that meant he really was okay. Still, her heart ached for him. “You have to know—”
“It really is.” He sounded surprised himself. “I know I am worthy.”
“Yes, you absolutely are.”
The conviction in her voice caused him to smile. “This from the woman who was so angry with me a few minutes ago she had to be bribed to come here with me.”
Shifting on the stone, she threw him a token glare. “Don’t make light of what you just told me.”
“It makes it easier for me to deal with.”
Her heart flipped again at his honest confession. “I guess I can understand that.”
He shrugged like he was done with his father once and for all. But he needed more than this. She knew it deep inside. “Did your father’s whole family think you weren’t worthy?”
A quick scowl crossed his face. “Nai.”
“Are you sure?”
“Nai.”
“I don’t think so, Aetos.”
He glowered at her in instant rejection. “You don’t know them—”
“I met two of them. They are part of your family as well.” Risking another step, she kept her gaze on his face to make sure she didn't go too far. “I don’t know what your father did to you, but other members of that side of your family love you.”
A whisper of uneasy reflection crossed his face. “Stavros and Nikolas.”
“Are those the men we met at the hospital?”
“Nai. My cousins.” Turning back to the cufflinks, he stared at them.
“They didn’t look like they hated you.”
“They only want my help with their business,” he growled. “Their failing business.”
“That’s a compliment, isn’t it?”
He stilled as if stunned.
“Come on, Zenos. Use that brilliant brain of yours and stop filtering everything through your father’s actions years ago.”
His dark gaze flashed to her, his lips twisting in a sardonic grim
ace. “Bossing me around again?”
Something about the way he held himself told her he wasn’t angry. Somehow, she’d managed to pry into his past without setting him off this time. Relieved and strangely elated, she gave him an encouraging smile. “Just think about it.”
Leaning back on the stone, his gaze dropped to the cufflinks once more. “Okay. I’ve thought about it.”
“Already?”
“You did say I have a brilliant brain, didn’t you?” The lick of a tease filled his voice. “You’re right about this too, mágissa.”
A sweet swell of relief and joy ran through her. Not because he acknowledged she was right about something, but because he was healing. Right before her eyes.
Glancing at her, he gave her a tentative smile. “Do you want to know what mágissa means? You’ve asked once or twice.”
“The nickname.” She made a face at him and was astonished that she could. Somewhere in this odd conversation, they’d come upon a peace that flowed between them. Not that she held out any hope that it could lead where she wanted it to, but there was a comfort in knowing that the animosity and pain they’d ended their relationship with was gone. “I have to confess, I do want to know.”
“Witch.” His chestnut gaze didn’t waver even when she flinched.
“Nice. Thanks.” She straightened on the cold stone, feeling the peace she’d imagined floating around them sift away. “I have to go—”
“You are a witch, you know.” His voice was low and cautious as if he were offering a pitiful human offering to a powerful goddess. “You’ve enchanted me.”
“What?” Her defeated heart sprang to life causing a wave of aching delight to sweep through her. One she couldn’t control and the realization frightened her into a frown. “That doesn’t sound like a good thing.”
“No?” His brows rose. “Isn’t that for me to decide?”
A puff of exasperation left her mouth. “Whatever.”
He choked out a muffled laugh and then, went silent.
Nat sat on the bench trying to figure out where she stood. Her emotions were all over the place, but the primary one was confusion. What did he mean by this? This semi-kidnapping, this plea to walk with him, this strange conversation. She’d learned more about his past and his emotions in these last few minutes than she had in the entire time she’d known him, and yet, she still understood nothing of what was really going on. She was so bewildered, she didn’t even know what to do or say next.
