Epilogue
SOFIA AGNES PETRALIS was born at home on Apeiron to a mildly terrified father who then broke into reams of smiles, showering kisses the second he held his daughter.
And for the next three nights he straight refused to leave the nursery, completely in love and in awe as he experienced every small gesture his baby girl made.
Vayle had yearned to see what a besotted Nelios would look like in those testing weeks before they’d confessed their love. Now it was almost overwhelming.
Not that she took it for granted. They’d been through fire and anguish to get to where they were today. Seeing Nelios and Agnes finally at peace with one another was heart-warming. Healing.
‘It’s time, agapita.’
She turned at the low, sexy rumble and smiled when Nelios strode towards her. Her heart flipped at the sight of their daughter cradled in his big hands, the bib thrown over his shoulder as he carefully propped Sofia up and held out his hand to Vayle.
Slotting the hoop into her ear, she checked that her cream-and-yellow sundress was in place and crossed the room.
‘I’m ready. Guess I can’t be fashionably late to my own baby’s christening, huh?’
He smiled, his heated eyes trailing appreciatively over her body before lingering on her mouth. ‘We have time for me to steal a kiss then, ne, we must go. Andreas is vocalising his unhappiness at being kept waiting to hold his goddaughter. Capaldi is aiding that rebellion.’
She rolled her eyes but smiled.
She’d agreed wholeheartedly when Nelios had asked his two trusted friends to be godfathers to their children. Now that she knew what they’d been through, she was certain both men would move heaven and earth to protect them if needed.
Nelios caught her in a one-armed hold, pulled her close and sealed his mouth onto hers, kissing her until they had to come up for air. His forehead touched hers and they breathed each other in, just for another moment. ‘My heart is full. You’ve made me so happy, eros mou. I love you, so much.’
Vayle blinked back tears, reaching up to wipe the traces of lipstick from his mouth. ‘If it’s half as much as I love you, then I’m so glad I stowed away on your plane.’
He laughed as he caught her hand and led her out of their bedroom. ‘Indeed. And I’m thrilled I let you.’
As his senses compelled him to do these days, Nelios sought out his son as soon as they stepped onto the terrace.
Angelos, now a boisterous sixteen-month-old, could barely sit still on his grandmother’s knee. It became an impossibility the second he spotted his parents and sister. He bolted towards them, and his wife caught him up and perched him on her hips.
Nelios, attempting to look stern but failing, walked with his family to the aisle of the tiny chapel, then tried to keep himself together as his daughter was baptised.
And failed. Not a single soul dared to call him on it, though. So he presumed some of his monstrous reputation remained unsullied.
Later, he was celebrating his many bounties when his friends joined him beneath the largest orange tree in his grove as the sun went down. For a moment, all three men observed the festivities, Vayle charming their guests and spreading her infectious joy all around.
‘Never thought I’d see the day,’ Andreas muttered after swallowing a mouthful of beer.
‘Me neither,’ Capaldi agreed.
Nelios shrugged. ‘What can I say? I’m a changed man and it feels fucking great.’
They slapped his shoulder, laughed and drank some more.
Until a ping from Andreas’s phone distracted his friend. Nelios’s eyes narrowed at Andreas’s dark expression. ‘Everything okay?’
‘It will be. But I need to go.’
‘To Athens or Sicily?’ he asked, hoping it wasn’t the latter—for his friend’s sake and the family ties to the mafia Andreas had been trying to escape all his life—but fearing it was.
His jaw clenched. ‘Sicily.’
It was Nelios’s turn to slap his friend’s shoulder. ‘Go, my friend. But if you need me, I’ll be there.’
‘Me too,’ Capaldi echoed.
They watched him leave, then Capaldi was distracted by his wife and kids.
And, even before he walked away, Nelios strode towards his own, a compulsion he fully surrendered to drawing him to the love of his life.
‘Everything okay?’ Vayle murmured, sliding her arms around him.
Nelios watched his wife kiss his daughter then hug their son, pure adoration on her face.
He wrapped his arms around his wife and kissed her. Then dropped his forehead to hers.
‘With you here in my arms and an abundance of love around me? Absolutely.’
Keep reading for an excerpt from Bodyguard’s Royal Temptation by Abby Green.