He nodded. “It will be good to have that time. It’s been difficult to process it all. To forge a plan for the future.”
“And the responsibility that’s been handed to you? Are you feeling more at peace with it?”
“Yes.” He caught her hand in his and drew her close. “I need to thank you,” he said quietly, “for being here for me. For telling me the things I needed to hear. For taking the risks you have. You inspire me, Sofía, your grit and determination to survive—to succeed.”
A rush of warmth flowed through her. Her heart felt too big for her chest as she lifted a hand to his jaw. “You pushed me when I needed to be pushed. You made me realize I was living in fear. I should be thanking you for that, Nik. I of all people should know life is finite. I can’t spend my days waiting for the penny to drop. For that bolt of lightning that might never come.”
He inclined his head, his gaze softening. “We make a great team. I told you we would.”
Team. She flinched at the word. They were more than a team, dammit. He felt things for her. Things he wouldn’t address.
Nik’s gaze sharpened on her face. “I care about you, Sofía. You know I do.”
How much? The words vibrated from her across the crisp night air to him. They stayed there, hanging between them as both refused to break the standoff.
Was she completely deluding herself about how he felt? Would the wounds he carried only ever allow her so close?
She realized with a sickening feeling, in that moment, that she wasn’t falling in love with him. She was in love with him. Had been ever since their weekend in Evangelina. Her heart lurching, she wondered how she had ever let that happen.
Sure she had to stop living in fear, but making herself that vulnerable to Nik of all people? A man who didn’t even know what love was because he’d never been shown it? She had been bound and determined that night in New York to end it between them because she’d known this would happen. And now it had.
A grim look on his face, Nik snaked an arm around her waist and brought her to him. Her eyes fluttered closed as he kissed her. His usual tactic for fixing things between them. She remained unresponsive beneath the pressure of his mouth, too terrified to give him any more than she already had. When he finally let her go, she could feel the frustration emanating from him, an overwhelming force it would be all too easy to give in to. Instead she walked away, his muffled curse following her back to the car.
It had been bad enough when she hadn’t loved him, these leaps he was asking her to make. This, this was just too much.
CHAPTER TWELVE
THE WHITE MALTESE stone Akathinian palace glittered in the sunlight as the helicopter dipped down over the sea and headed toward home. A strong headwind had been at their nose all the way back from Athens, increasing Nik’s impatience, fueled by the news Sofía had given him on the phone last night.
She’d felt their baby kick for the first time. Hearing the wonder in her voice had turned his head into a hot mess.
Piero, his pilot, brought the helicopter in to land safely on the pad. Grabbing his briefcase, Nik stepped from beneath still-whirring blades and headed across the lawn toward the front steps to the palace he took two by two. Abram emerged as he reached the top step, his aide wearing that same frozen look he had the night he’d told him Athamos had died.
“What is it?”
“Idas has seized a ship in the Strait of Evandor.”
His blood ran cold. “An Akathinian ship?”
“Yes. A warship doing exercises.”
“It can’t be Idas.” His mind sped a mile a minute. “We have a peace treaty.”
“The ship that took our vessel had Carnelian flags, Your Highness.”
Thee mou. “Have there been any other reports of aggression?”
“Not that we’ve been able to ascertain.”
It afforded him little comfort. His heart pounded as his brain funneled through procedure. “Call an emergency meeting of the Council, including the Joint Chiefs of Staff.”
Abram nodded.
“I’ll go by helicopter. Tell Piero to hold off.”
He found his father and appraised him of the situation. Next he found Sofía in the salon with Stella, the two of them looking through magazines. She smiled when she saw him, but it faded when she saw the look on his face.
“Idas has taken an Akathinian ship in the Strait of Evandor,” he said without preamble. “I’m on my way to meet with the Executive Council.”
Sofía’s eyes widened. “But you have a peace agreement in place.”
Which meant nothing apparently. Idas had made a fool out of him.
Sofía got to her feet. “Maybe it’s misinformation.”