When a surprisingly deep laugh left him, the warm vibrations travelled through me.
‘What?’ I asked as we continued to dance.
‘I’m happy, what you’ve just said makes me happier than I can remember being in a long time.’
‘You are?’ Relief rushed through me. ‘That’s good… So, it’s your turn… tell me something about you that no one else knows?’
I lifted my head away from his chest to look up at him when he suddenly stopped dancing and offered me no answer. Darkness had swept in and just when I thought our precious moment had been spoilt, I watched with relief as a smile lit up his face.
‘There is something.’
‘Yes?’ I was desperate for any snippet on the man that could possibly allow us to get closer.
‘I had that dragonfly pin made especially for you. I designed it with only you and our wedding in mind.’
‘Oh,’ I released on a soft sigh, as a feeling of warmth spread through me.
‘I’m also eager…’ he started.
Then suddenly we were falling.
His foot had hooked the back of my leg and we were going down to the sand. Initially, he cushioned my fall by letting me land on him, knowing he had taken me by surprise. Then he quickly rolled me over and began to run his fingers up and down my sides.
‘… to know if you’re ticklish,’ he finished.
My spontaneous laughter at the position he had put us in took over and as he started his onslaught on my body, I began to try to push him away. Nico made it his goal to keep me just where he wanted me, lying down with my back pressed into the now rapidly cooling sand. He lifted his leg and threw it over the top of me. Now sitting on top of me and finding himself in a better position, he continued his onslaught.
‘Stop…STOP, Nico.’ I carried on laughing as his hands sustained their attack on my now aching sides. In between the tears running down my face I saw the look of complete pleasure on his face and cursed the fact I couldn’t take a picture of the man.
‘Stop, Nico… please stop, I’m going to wet myself.’
Having a big brother, I had always known what to say to get him to move away.
I heard him tut first, and although he did stop his attack on my very ticklish body so I could finally breathe properly, he still stayed in place. ‘Mio angelo, that won’t work with me.’ He grinned down at me and gently swept my hair off my face.
I wiped the tears of laughter off my wet cheeks and returned his smile.
‘What do you call me, Nico?’
He picked up my hand and pressed his warm lips against it which sent off a ricochet feeling of fireflies doing somersaults inside my stomach.
‘It means, my angel,’ he answered.
‘Why?’ I loved it, but needed to know more.
‘When you stepped inside the church to marry me, in your beautiful dress with the sunlight surrounding you, you reminded me of an angel… my angel.’
‘Oh…’ His words, his commitment and the feeling behind them had temporarily rendered me speechless. I swallowed hard and carried on, giving him the words I wanted him to hear. ‘I like that.’
Nico cleared his throat and rolled away from sitting on my body. He positioned himself to lie beside me, grabbing hold of my hand as he did so. The sudden awakening of the feelings between us was almost too much for me to take in. I also knew that was why he’d moved. Once again, he’d felt the need to sever the connection between us slightly while he regained his composure. I recognised it because it was how I felt too. The man I was lying next to, staring up at the night sky with, was beginning to take over my heart and soul. Ninety percent of me was rejoicing at the realisation that I had found my person and the other ten percent was running for the hills.
‘It’s so beautifully dark out here,’ I whispered to him, trying to break through the sudden silence that had engulfed us.
‘You should always be afraid of the dark, Bee.’ I heard the warning in his tone and snapped my head around to face him.
The man was far beyond anything my head could have conjured up in my wildest dreams. Tall, dark and dangerous were the predominant descriptors for the man, but to me he was so very much more. With his dark hair and solid, now stubble-covered, square jaw, I was convinced he could turn any woman’s head. Why he had chosen me to act out the role of his wife, when he could have had anyone, I was still unsure of. But I was so pleased he had. I could feel that, even with his warnings, he was opening up his heart and letting me in inch by inch.
‘With you by my side… never.’ I spoke the words and watched his head turn slowly towards me.
Although he shook his head slightly at me, his eyes found mine and the threads of gold I found inside them sparked a catalyst of hope throughout me.
‘If we didn’t all contain a dark canvas, how would anybody be able to see just how brightly the stars inside us all shine?’
Initially he screwed his eyes shut and exhaled suddenly through his nostrils in disbelief at my words. Then almost as if he could still feel me staring at him, wordlessly telling him that I meant every word of what I’d just said, his eyes opened again.
‘You can see all of that in me?’ I watched his eyebrow lift up in disbelief. ‘My darkness and some shards of light?’ he questioned.
‘You’re not just a shard of light, Nico. You’re the brightest star in my sky.’
I saw the tears gather in his eyes as he digested the words I’d just spoken. Nico rolled over, pushed himself up on his elbow and placed the heel of his hand to his temple to lean his head on. I felt the fingertips of his other hand gently brush against my chin as he tipped my head back in readiness for his lips.
His head came down to mine slowly, but so very surely in its every movement. Eventually his lips brushed against mine. The connection between us was complete. His tongue came out to taste me like it was the very first time we had ever kissed and perhaps it was. It gently caressed my needy mouth until, satisfied he’d found what he was looking for, his mouth descended quickly to mine. The dance between us was slow, as we tasted and loved each other. The simple truths we were allowing each other were laid bare under the light of the stars on a secluded beach in Crete, and my life had never felt more perfect than it did at that moment. He lifted his head away from mine and for a few short seconds stared at me like I meant the world to him. My heart fluttered against my chest as I lifted my fingers and ran them gently over his still wet lips. In return he grabbed hold of my hand and kissed my fingers gently.
Grinning at me and without taking his eyes off mine, Nico jumped up suddenly and still holding onto my hand he pulled me abruptly up to my feet. Then unceremoniously he swept me up into his arms and strode purposefully to our tent. ‘And now, angel of mine, it’s time to make you mine forever.’
Chapter Twenty-Six
Nico
My blood was on fire for the woman in my arms. But for now, I knew I needed to rein in my compulsions.
“You can’t have anything nice to play with.” My father’s voice echoed around my head and I cleared my throat to free myself from him.
He’d trained Cade and I to be dominants, to recognise a woman’s every want and need. Then he’d watched as, under his so called guidance, we’d trained several women to be submissive to us. It wasn’t the sort of sexual experience any adolescent should have, but he didn’t care about us. He had only cared about satisfying his own sexual needs.