AmayaAs soon as the door was shut behind me, he pushed through it. I let out a yelp of annoyance as the door busted open and swiveled on my heel to see what the fuck he wanted.“How can I help you?” I demanded, furious that he was coming into this place like this. My room was meant to be my space. That was how I understood it. And I had worked so hard keeping him out of here, keeping him at arm’s length, keeping him so far from me emotionally that I could begin to convince myself there was nothing going on, not really. I planted my hands on my hips as he stood there, chest rising and falling quickly, trying to think of something to say.“Well?” I prompted him.“You need to talk to me,” he shot back finally. He was never much good at coming up with what he needed to say at the time he needed to say it, but he seemed to be filling in the blanks a little with everything else, piecing things together slowly but surely. I could see it in his eyes, those feelings for me beginning to swell
Amaya“You too,” I replied as the two of us undressed each other. My hands were shaking as I plucked at his shirt and unbuckled his jeans, and there was still some part of me, paranoid, that was reminding me this wasn’t going to make getting over him any easier. But I didn’t care. After how distant we’d been, I craved the connection to him, that way of pulling ourselves back to each other the way I needed right now.Once he had me fully naked and I had stripped him down, he pushed me back on the bed and ran his hands all over my body. I traced the muscles on his shoulders, wondering once again what the hell a man like this was doing interested in someone like me. He could have had his pick of supermodels with a body like that, yet he touched me like I was fine velvet, expensive, precious, rare.He was already hard, his cock pressed against my inner thigh with an eagerness, and I just wanted to feel him inside me. He was kissing me as he reached over to the bedside cabinet, making out
Kristo“Good morning.”“Morning,” she replied nervously, arms wrapped around herself as she stepped out of the bedroom. She was dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, somehow looking even hotter than she did when she was all done up in her fancy work dresses or to see my family.“You have the day off today, right?” I remarked, and she nodded.“Yeah, it’s a holiday,” she replied. “Why?”“Let’s go out,” I suggested. I had woken early this morning and called work and told them I would be taking the day off. I had no idea what holiday it was, but I was celebrating it with Amaya for the rest of the day and nothing anyone could say was going to stop me.“Are you sure?” She arched an eyebrow. “I have some work to catch up on. I was just going to stay at home and get it all done.”“Do you need to do it?”“No,” she admitted.“Then let’s get out of the city for a while,” I implored her. “Not far, I promise. Just shake off the steam a little, huh?”“Okay,” she replied carefully and glanced down at what
Kristo“It’s going to be all right,” I promised her as I helped strap her into the harnesses. Up front, Nathan was getting everything in hand for us to fly. I had called ahead with the details this morning, and I was looking forward to getting out of the city for a while, especially with Amaya on my arm.“You took my airplane virginity and my helicopter one.” She managed to tease me, even though I could still see the slight panic pulsing in her eyes.“I think that’s it for airborne vehicles,” I jibed with her, hoping it would distract her. “Unless you want me to fire you into space.”“We’ll see about that,” she replied, and she tensed as the safety checks were finished the rotors began spinning above us. “Oh my god, this is crazy.”I suddenly realized she’d reached over and was grasping my hand tightly, her knuckles so tensed, they looked as though they were going to pop out from under her skin. I squeezed her hand, letting her know it was going to be all right as the pilot pulled up
Kristo“They died a long time ago. I told you that,” she replied. “In an accident. I was just eighteen. I was so young, and Jolene was barely a few years old, and I had to step in and look after her. There was no one else in the family who could do it, so I …”She hesitated again, catching her breath.“They gave us a payout, the insurance people, for the accident, and I took it so I could go off to college and support my sister at the same time,” she explained. “But when I finished up, I realized I couldn’t hold down a job and look after her.”“Hey, you don’t have to talk about this if you don’t want to,” I assured her swiftly. “Really.”“No, it’s okay.” She brushed a few tears away from her eyes, as though angry at herself. I fell silent and looked at the store assistant, who was lurking nearby awkwardly and watching us. I shot her a look that told her to back right the hell off, and she scurried away to the other end of the store and left us to it.“I wanted to be with her,” she wen
AmayaI didn’t like talking about Jolene. He must have sensed that because he let it go soon enough. The hurt in my voice must have been clear to even someone as unemotional as him, and he didn’t seem to know how to handle it beyond throwing money at the problem. And hey, if that worked for him, then I certainly wasn’t going to complain.I could feel it nagging at me in the back of my mind. I still felt so guilty so much of the time for not being with Jolene. Here I was, spending all this cash and traipsing around these fancy shops across the state line just because he could and he wanted to take me. It didn’t feel right, knowing she was all the way back in the home and waiting for me. She would have told me to stop being such a worrywart and to enjoy myself while I could, but I was her big sister, and it was my business to worry about her. Going over everything that had happened to us just stirred up those feelings all over again, the ones I had done such a damn good job ignoring ove
Amaya“What’s up?” I asked softly, and he turned to me and cocked his head.“I was just thinking,” he began, and for a split second, I had this crazy thought that he was going to suggest we make things serious, that today had convinced him as much as it had convinced me that things needed to be more secure between us once and for all. I shoved those thoughts to the back of my mind. Of course, he wasn’t going to say anything like that. He would have come out with that already if he was going to. He wasn’t going to start with that shit now, just because I wanted him too.“Oh, yeah?”“We should invite Jolene up here for a day out,” he continued, and my heart twisted in my chest.“You’re serious?” I raised my eyebrows at him.“No, I just came in here to tease you about it,” he shot back, grinning. I fell silent for a moment. This was a lot, even for him. Did he have any idea how big a deal this was to me? No guy I had ever dated had suggested involving Jolene more in our lives. In fact, m
KristoWhen my eyes opened the next morning, I could hear music playing somewhere, a voice singing along to it, soft and breathy like it was coming from the dream I’d woken from. I yawned, ran my fingers through my hair, and got to my feet to find the source of it.When I stepped out of the bedroom, I laid eyes at once on where it was coming from. Amaya was in the kitchen cooking up something that smelled good and swinging her hips back and forth to some song on the radio. She wasn’t dressed for work yet, wearing a silk nightgown we’d picked up the day before, one that showed off her generous thighs and her shapely waist. She glanced over her shoulder at me and flashed me a smile.“Good morning,” she greeted me, and I made my way tentatively over to join her.“What’s going on?” I asked. I felt as though I might still be dreaming or woken up in some alternate reality because there was no way I had come to and found this woman, scantily clad, dancing and cooking breakfast for me in my k
KristoI went to the window and stretched, running my hand through my hair and grinning. I couldn’t believe we were actually in Greece. We were supposed to be arriving right about now, but I couldn’t wait that long to get her alone and was glad I’d incurred the extra expense to fly us out here at the last minute. It was worth it, so we could just be together after the hectic chaos of the wedding.I had called Cleo when we’d arrived, and she’d told me everyone had an amazing time. Nonna had a little too much to drink that night and had held court with stories about her young adulthood in Greece. Everyone had found it hilarious. And it seemed like Cleo and Darla were officially together, judging by the fact that I could hear Amaya’s friend in the background of the call long after they’d gone to bed.Amaya wasn’t awake yet, and I was glad for that. I still needed a little time to come to terms with the fact that I was actually married to the woman fast asleep in the bed behind me. My rin
AmayaOnce I had changed into something more party-worthy, the reception began, and at last, I could really relax and enjoy myself. Jolene and I spent a good hour dancing together before Kristo cut in to get his hands on me, holding me close and swaying with me as the band played a slow song. He kissed my neck softly, and I felt that burning desire for my husband pick up intensity. I couldn’t wait to get him alone, but we weren’t leaving for our honeymoon to Greece until the next day, so I had a while to wait yet.The food was amazing. There was even baklava, which Nonna had insisted on making herself. It wasn’t quite as good as Kristo’s, but I didn’t say a word of that to her. She would never let me hear the end of it. I ate and drank nonalcoholic cocktails, danced, and watched my guests do the same. I couldn’t believe how perfect this was. Darla and Cleo spent the night basically glued to each other’s sides, and I couldn’t help but coo internally over how cute they were.When I fina
AmayaI couldn’t even put into words how nervous I’d been that entire morning. My mind was taken up with questions about whether everything was going to go right. In my head, I was certain something was going to happen, that Kristo’s dad was going to squirm out of it at the last second and let us down, that the flowers weren’t going to arrive, that the dress wasn’t going to fit, that something was going to throw off this whole perfect day we had put so much time and effort into putting together.Then, I was sitting there in the room they had set up for me to get ready in, and I was staring at myself in the mirror, wearing the dress I had fallen in love with from the moment I’d laid eyes on it the week before. Jolene had picked well. She knew blue was my favorite color, and when I had slipped into the dress, even though it barely fit, I’d known this was the one for me. Sitting in front of the mirror, it was hard to believe this was really me, and this was really happening. How long had
KristoDarla, who had stepped in last-minute as a bridesmaid, followed her a minute later. She was wearing a dress in a delicate mint shade, and I could feel Cleo shift next to me when she emerged from the house.“Easy, tiger,” I murmured to her, and she nudged me playfully and straightened up again. I had a smile on my face, and I was beginning to relax. Then, I saw my bride walking toward me down the aisle, and I could hardly keep the tension out of my body.She looked incredible. No doubt about that. She’d told me she had only really looked at one dress, and I could see why. She looked unbelievable in it. It was cut to just below her knees, a flowing skirt that faded from cream to a pale blue color. The bodice hugged her body perfectly, and she was wearing the sweetest veil that covered her face as she made her way toward me. Even through the fabric, I could see the huge smile on her face, as though she couldn’t believe this was really happening. I knew exactly how she felt.It see
KristoI stared at myself in the mirror, wearing the tuxedo Amaya had picked out for me. I had seen myself in it before, of course, in the hurried fitting earlier in the week, but I felt as though I was looking at myself in it for the very first time. I stared at myself in the mirror for a long moment and pressed my lips together. Why the fuck was I even nervous? I had done this all before with Amaya. And yet, here I was on my wedding day, scared a little bit shitless.There was a knock at the door, and I spun around at once. In my head, I was sure that somehow this was all going to go wrong, that Amaya was going to back out of it before I got her up the aisle, that the speed this had all happened was going to scare her off in the end. Instead, my lawyer entered, and I rolled my eyes.“What is it?” I demanded. He stood there in the door wringing his hands with a panicked look on his face and wearing a slightly rumpled suit.“I just wanted to let you know there’s still time to get a pr
AmayaBefore he could say a word more to me, I leaned forward and took him into my mouth. He tasted so good, even better than normal, the sweetness of the gel lingering on his body. I could taste that hint of vanilla, just a touch, making him taste like the pastry he had spent all day baking. Guiding him as far into my mouth as I could manage, I wrapped my hand around his base and began to stroke him, taking him deep into my mouth and listening to those appreciative little noises he kept on coming out with. I slipped a hand around his thigh, gripping him tightly, letting him know I would have made him come right here and now if he wanted to. I sank my nails into his skin, wanting to leave marks on his body, to remind him who he belonged to and who belonged to him.I wasn’t sure how long I was there on my knees in front of him, the water running over my body and down my back. I could have stayed there all day, but after a while, it became clear he didn’t want to come like that. He want
AmayaWhen I arrived back at the house, I caught the scent of heaven floating through the room at once. I closed my eyes as I stepped through the door, inhaling deeply—cinnamon, sweetness, a little sharpness. Whatever it was, even if it made me sick, I had to have it right there and then.“Hey, where are you guys?” I called into the house, looking around for Jolene or her nurse. She had arrived today, and Kristo had offered to help her settle in, which I was glad for, as I wanted to get as far ahead on my work at the library as I possibly could before the baby came along.“In the kitchen,” Jolene called back, and I crossed the room to the kitchen. All three of them were there, and Kristo was carefully cutting up some pastries that were still in a steaming-hot pan.“We made baklava!” Jolene exclaimed excitedly, pointing to the pan Kristo was maneuvering his knife around.“I can see that.” I inhaled deeply again and smiled my greeting at Pamela. “And what exactly is that?”“It’s a Greek
KristoI took a deep breath, planted my hands on the desk, and tried to center myself. There was no point getting upset about this. At the end of the day, either he was going to make the effort and come to my wedding or he wasn’t, and there was very little I could do to change his mind if he didn’t want to. Short of flying out to Greece and dragging him by his collar back to Nonna’s house to be there for the ceremony, if he wanted to skip it, he would. And I had a feeling he was going to. Amaya wouldn’t want this to be a stressful time for me. She wanted our wedding to be full of joy, peace, happiness, not me yelling into a phone to my father from half a globe away.I focused on the voices outside the room. Well, they weren’t saying anything, but they were laughing, and that was enough to get me feeling a little better. After a slight delay, Jolene’s nurse Pamela had arrived this morning, and the two of them were getting to know each other. I had offered to stay at home that day to wo
Kristo“Malaka,” I muttered to myself, forgetting for a moment that my dad was the one on the other end of the line, and he could well understand I had just called him an—“Did you just call me an asshole?” he snapped at me. I rolled my eyes, tempted to point out that the word didn’t have a specific English translation, but playing the smart-ass was only going to land me in a heap more trouble. As if it wasn’t bad enough as it was.“No,” I lied swiftly. “Look, are you sure you can’t get back sooner than that? You need to be here, Dad. It’s my wedding.”“I know,” he replied tersely. “You think I don’t know that? I’m as annoyed about it as you are.”“Then why won’t you just make the effort and actually come back home?” I pointed out. “This is ridiculous, Dad. Even you must be able to see that.”“I didn’t plan it this way,” he snapped back, but I didn’t believe him. I knew my dad well enough to know he had everything in his life carefully planned out. If he was stuck in Greece right now,