CHAPTER 11
NERO ZANTHOS
“This place is unbelievable,” Nina says, sounding slightly stunned as her eyes lose themselves in the vast stretch of deserted sand before us.
Behind her, the sea breaks in an endless rhythm of coming and going, the sound of foamy water completing the almost idyllic setting of the private beach.
I feel the urge to take a picture of the woman whose hair is being tousled by the wind, along with the short, flowing white dress clinging to her body. I restrain myself—but her eyes lift to mine, catching me in the act.
“What?” she asks, that mischievous little smile on her face.
I close the distance between us and wrap my free arm around her waist, finally giving in to the urge that’s been pressing on my mind since Nina got into my car almost an hour ago: touching her. She tilts her neck back so her eyes don’t lose mine, despite the fact that I’m much taller.
“You’re beautiful.”
Her lips stretch into a full display of teeth as her skin takes on a light flush. It’s the first time I’ve seen someone feel both pleased and embarrassed by a compliment at the same time. Christ—she’s adorable.
“Then you can keep looking at me like that,” she declares, and I laugh.
“I have a better idea,” I murmur, lowering my head slowly and savoring every second before my lips touch hers—drinking in the sight of her face filled with anticipation.
Our mouths meet, and I realize my memory of the kiss hadn’t exaggerated a thing. I let her lead at first, and Nina is both eager and inexperienced at once. Her tongue searches for mine and wraps around it in a delicious caress before pulling away so her lips can kiss mine again and again.
I drop the picnic basket I was holding, letting it fall to the sand with a dull thud. I slide my newly freed fingers into Nina’s hair, tugging lightly, testing her response—and her low moan goes straight to my groin.
I push her head back against mine, deepening the kiss and taking full control, dominating her mouth with my tongue, exploring every corner with hunger, memorizing the details of her taste mixed with mine.
When we pull apart, we’re both breathless, and the sensation of Nina’s breasts brushing against my chest with every uneven rise and fall of her breathing is intoxicating.
I slide my open hand to her face until my thumb grazes her red, damp lower lip.
“Was this what you planned for today? Because if it was, I’m not opposed,” she says, eyes still closed—drawing a laugh from me.
“No,” I reply, laughing. “But I promise everything I planned for today is just as good an idea as this.”
“I can’t believe the island is so small, and yet there are still parts of it I don’t know,” Nina says once we finish setting up the picnic and sit down on a blanket in the sand, her eyes sweeping over the beach again.
“A lot of Khione is private property,” I say, and she laughs.
“Almost all of Khione is private property,” she replies—and I can’t argue. Especially since most of it belongs to my family. “What do you do? I mean, I know you work for your family’s company and that you’re the cotton kings—but what do you actually do?”
“Cotton kings?” I ask, and she shrugs before picking up a peach from one of the containers in front of us and taking a bite.
My gaze lingered for a few beats too long watching her sink her teeth into the fruit and lick her lips when some juice trails along them.
Damn it. “It might sound vague, but I do a bit of everything.”
That makes her laugh.
“I’m pretty sure you don’t harvest cotton in the fields, Nero.”
“It’s been a while since the last time, but that doesn’t mean I never did.”
Her brows lift, then her eyes narrow.
“You harvested cotton?”
“For months,” I assure her. “It’s part of the Zanthos trainee program. Going through every department ensures that the executive—when he becomes one, of course—knows exactly how the company works, in detail. It’s a good strategy.”
I explain, and Nina goes quiet for a moment before biting her lip. Her eyes take on a mischievous glint, and my gaze immediately drops to the peach still in her hand.
“What?” I ask.
“I was just imagining your cotton-farmer version.”
The smile on her face when she says it is bold, and her cheeks warm.
“And how did your imagination paint me?”
“If I tell you, I’ll have to kill you,” she shoots back too quickly, making me laugh out loud.
I shake my head.
“And you?” I ask, accepting the change of subject. “What do you want to do now that you’ve graduated?”
“Work. Help my mom buy our house and the shop. The only way to do that is by working a lot.”
“Sounds like a good plan.”
“I’ve been thinking about it for a long time.”
“How long?” I find myself curious.
“Since high school,” she admits, and my brows lift. She rushes to explain. “The only thing my mother really wants is something to call her own. Ours, really.”
I nod.
“Raising a daughter alone made that… not exactly easy. She’s always done everything she could to give me the best within her means. For a long time now, my mother has been putting herself second.”
“Your mother is an incredible woman. An incredible mother.”
“She is,” Nina agrees with a proud smile. “Did you know that when my mom came to Greece, she left me with an aunt in Rome?”
“I didn’t,” I reply.
She shakes her head, her eyes turning distant for a moment, as if picturing the weight of her next words.
“She left Italy a few months after we lost my father. It was an accident—a badly treated flu that turned into pneumonia and killed him.”
“I’m so sorry,” I say quickly, because the expression on her face tells me she is too.
She shrugs.
“I don’t remember him. I was only two.”
She turns to me with a sad smile.
“My mother left Italy with nothing, looking for a better life for the two of us. It took her three full years to get settled and come back for me.”
“I remember when you arrived. The wide-eyed little girl following Rosa everywhere,” I tease, and Nina rolls her blue eyes.
“She took me to the orphanage because she had no one to leave me with.”
Nina shakes her head, as if still unable to believe everything her mother did.
“Giving back was as easy a decision as breathing. Ever since I was old enough to understand everything my mother did for us, I couldn’t wait to stop being a burden.”
“I seriously doubt Rosa ever saw you as a burden, Nina.”
“I know she’d do anything for me—but to do that, she had to do almost nothing for herself. Or only the bare minimum.”
She pauses.
“During the years I was studying—even though I worked and earned enough to support myself—she insisted on sending me money because she knew I was barely managing. I had a scholarship, but I still had to eat, commute, and pay for school supplies.”
She exhales.
“Every cent I received was meant to make me need as little as possible from my mother’s resources.”
Something in her words strikes a familiar chord in my chest: admiration. I can respect someone who thinks like this just as much as I can respect a mother who chooses to sacrifice for her child.
“You graduated in nursing, right?”
“She really told everyone in Khione about that, didn’t she?” Nina asks, practically huffing.
“You just said she did everything she could. It’s natural she’s proud you achieved what she dreamed for you.”
I pause.
“I’m sure that regardless of your plans, that’s the only repayment she truly wants.”
“Well, it’s not enough,” she says firmly. “And yes. I graduated in nursing.”
“The island’s hospital belongs to my family, you know? I could—”
“No!” she interrupts, almost desperate—and if I thought she was firm before, I don’t know a word strong enough to describe what she is now. “I really appreciate the offer, but I already have a plan for that too.”
I nod, finding yet another reason to respect her.
“La proposta è a tua disposizione,” I say.
Her brows lift.
“You speak Italian?”
“It’s actually a funny story. But yes—I do. Drako, Apollo, and Atlas do too.”
Her eyes narrow when I don’t continue, telling me I’ll need to.
“A few years ago, an Italian woman moved to the island. Apollo decided he needed to date her—and when she didn’t fall for his smile and terrible jokes like he’s used to, he decided becoming her student was the best way to get closer.”
“Oh my God!” she exclaims, laughing.
“The problem,” I continue, “is that she only taught groups of more than three students. He forced all of us to enroll.”
Nina throws her head back, laughing.
“And it gets worse,” I add. “Some time later, the woman’s boyfriend arrived in Khione. Turns out she’d been in a long-distance relationship. When Apollo realized she’d never fall for his charm, he wanted to quit the lessons.”
“But you didn’t let him, did you?”
“Of course not. Miss the chance to make him taste his own poison? Never.”
I smile.
“Two years of intensive classes, putting up with a sulky Apollo in all of them—but we all became fluent.”
“Molto bene,” she says, clapping her hands together. “What is it? Am I beautiful?” she asks playfully after I spend too long just staring at her.
I smile back.
“You’re very far away,” I say, reaching for her hand in a silent request.
Nina arches a brow.
“I don’t think so.”
She brushes her knee against my leg as if that’s proof enough.
“You could be closer. That’s farther than I’d like.”
I give her arm a gentle tug, and she accepts with a small laugh—letting herself be guided until she’s exactly where I want her.
On my lap.
Her thighs straddling mine.