Chapter 19
“Happiness is a great thing.
Unfortunately…
Happiness is a trigger to those who never had it.
And when they see yours?
They have only one wish in mind.
To destroy it.”
Jimena
Jimena
Soft lips trail down my body, leaving flickering sensations and causing goose bumps to pop all over my skin while a sigh escapes me and my fingers curl into the mattress. I burrow my face deeper into the pillow, welcoming the sweet ache spreading through me. “Wake up, princess,” Florian murmurs, scraping his teeth over my shoulder and sending shivers down my spine. A smile curves my mouth, only to turn into a gasp when he sucks hard on the flesh, intending to leave another mark on my skin.
He’s been doing that a lot lately on the island, marking up my body in all the places so no one doubts I belong to him, and while I may complain, I love every minute of it.
He can use my body as his canvas for any desires he has. I don’t mind as long as he loves me and belongs to me as well.
He rolls me on my back, and my eyes snap open to connect with his as he looms over me, water dripping on my collarbone from his wet hair, and I laugh. “Florian.” I run my hands over his muscles until they circle his neck. “You’re wet.”
“I think you stole my words, princess.” His voice turns into a hushed whisper, and he leans closer, his breath fanning over my lips as his tongue licks over them, seeking entrance to my mouth. And when I give it, he dives right in and steals a hot kiss that ends way too soon. “Eager are we, princess?”
“It’s your fault.” I lace my fingers in his hair, pulling him toward me, but he remains unmovable. I frown at him. “What’s going on?”
“As much as I want nothing more than to fuck you hard in this bed until nothing but me remains in this pretty head of yours…I have to go.” He puts his lips to my chin, trailing them to my neck and collarbone, and my back arches when he circles his tongue around my nipple, giving it a light kiss before moving to the other one and repeating the action. “We have a visitor on the island.”
“Who?”
Although I’m not that surprised.
We’ve been here for almost a week, and various people arrived bringing food, clothes, and other things we might need while we indulged in each other and spent time together. We explored the island, made love, and talked for hours. With each passing day, I fell in love with Florian even more.
Somehow, on this island where we were outside of the world that either forbade or judged us, our relationship flourished, and finally, everything that held us back from being together stopped mattering, and we could focus only on each other.
Glorious, glorious week.
“An unexpected guest.”
I’m too focused on the familiar fire spreading through my veins to pay much attention to his words, especially when his mouth drifts to my stomach, and my heart melts as he places several soft kisses over the bump. “Hi, baby.” I feel the soft flutter in my belly where the baby is kicking, and he laughs. “Hi, darling. I think he recognizes my voice now.” Another soft kiss. “Or he just likes me.”
He’s been obsessed with my baby bump and all the changes my body is going through. During the evenings, he’d lay his head on my lap and speak to the baby, telling various stories, and the baby always listened to him.
He even stopped kicking when Florian asked him to because I couldn’t sleep with all the activity in my body.
I’m still salty about this since all my requests were followed with more kicks. “The baby might be a she, you know,” I tease him, and he lifts his head, scowling at me. “There is a small possibility.” I can still find out, but I probably won’t because messing with him is so much fun.
“We will have a son.”
“Why? Is it hard for a manwhore like you to imagine having a daughter?”
He swallows my groan when he connects us in yet another kiss, this one longer and deeper than the previous one. It quickly turns heated, and we both breathe heavily when he leans back. “Ex-manwhore, princess. No one but you exists for me.”
Ah, my man sometimes says the most romantic things, and it’s not like I care about the past much. He always tries to reassure me whenever the subject comes up, which makes me fall for him even harder because he tries to apologize for something he shouldn’t have to.
He sits back on his calves and tugs me right along until I sit up. “Your brother is here.”
Those words are akin to cold water pouring on me from above, and all my desire and playfulness instantly vanish. “What?” I shriek, gathering the satin sheet and covering my breasts like my brother can walk in on us at any moment. “He’s here? As in on the island?”
“Yeah. Security alerted me about his arrival, so I’m going to meet him on the deck.” He stands, his naked body glistening like water under the sun. At any other time, I would have appreciated the view, but not now.
Santiago is here!
After we spent the night together, I called my mom to tell her I was all right, and she was excited for me. In fact, I think she and Aunt Calliope had a party along with a baby shower planned with Grandpa Atlas shouting in the background about me getting him a gift. Something about appreciating him living this long to meet his great-grandchild. Leave it to him to make the baby shower all about him.
However, all this time, I avoided speaking to Dad or Santiago.
I should have expected that my brother wouldn’t sit on the sidelines for long, though, and considering his recent mood swings, I don’t even know what to expect now.
“I’m going to quickly take a shower and go with you.”
“No.” I blink at his harshly spoken words as he puts on his jeans and T-shirt before slipping into his leather shoes.
“What do you mean no?” His eyes narrow at my cold and slightly pissed-off tone because I’m barely holding back from shouting at his condescending order. “My brother is here to probably save me or whatever else. I need to be there, or God knows what would happen to both of you.”
They’re both stubborn and have not been on speaking terms for months. Usually, Remi and Octavius were around to interfere.
“This is between Santiago and me. You stay here, Jimena.” I open my mouth to protest but shut it when he comes to the bed again and palms my face, tipping my chin up as he runs his thumb over my lips. “You don’t act like a damn peacemaker around me. Do you understand? I don’t need you to soften the blows for me.” My heart squeezes in my chest as a tear falls down my cheek that he wipes away because yes, I understand.
He gives me another soft kiss. “Now take a shower, have some breakfast, and wait for me here. Do not go anywhere, okay? Security will be with you at all times.” I nod. “Everything is going to be all right.”
Fisting his shirt, I keep him in place while ordering, “Don’t come back with more bruises.”
“If I do, will you kiss them all better?”
This man. I roll my eyes and nod. “Yes.” Another kiss. “Now go. Patience is not his strong suit.”
“Don’t give a fuck,” he replies to my exasperated huff and pats my stomach. “Stay good and safe for the mama while I’m gone, darling.” He steps back and grabs his keys from the nightstand. “Bye, princess.” He winks at me and blows a kiss right before disappearing into the hallway while I fall back on the bed.
I hope like hell all this goes well.
My stomach growls, so I get up and do as he told me, taking a shower in record time before picking a summer dress because the humidity here is insane, and I feel hot in everything else.
Polishing my breakfast, I step outside on the terrace and breathe in the fresh air around me, loving the warm climate on the island, but at the same time, it’s never unbearable.
My baby chooses this moment to kick several times, and I sigh, tapping my fingers over the prominent foot. “Half an hour without your daddy, and you’re already misbehaving.” Several more kicks. “Can’t wait to have you run around here with us, little one. And I hope your uncle won’t cause too much trouble today.” Another hard kick. “Starting to think you take after him in the stubbornness department.”
I freeze when an unfamiliar, raspy voice speaks up, coating everything around me in darkness and horror. “Well, isn’t this a sight for sore eyes? I feel almost bad for destroying it. Almost.” Something pinches me on the side, and I spin around, gasping at the sight of piercing green eyes that flash in victory and anticipation. “Hello, darling. The time has come to pay.” That’s all the warning I get before something hard hits me on the back of my head.
Sometimes Death comes in the form of a familiar face of the one you never expected.
Who would have thought?