“Is it that you don’t think I’m attractive anymore?” She shook her head with humiliation and despair. Her voice trembled as she voiced her sudden fear. “Or is there another woman?”
He stared at her, his dark eyes narrowing.
“Is that what you think?” His voice was low, furious. “You think I would betray you t
hat way?”
“What else am I supposed to think, when you—”
“You are the only woman I want,” he ground out. “The only woman I will ever want!”
“Then why?” She shook her head. “I don’t understand!”
“This last month has nearly killed me,” he shouted. “Each day is worse than the last, seeing you right in front of me but knowing I can’t have you. It’s like falling into hell over and over again!”
“But I’m right here,” she whispered. “Why won’t you touch me?”
“If I do,” he said in a voice so low she almost couldn’t hear it, “I will lose you.”
That didn’t make any sense. Tears fell unheeded down her cheeks.
“Please, Talos.” She looked up at him. “I need you.”
Their eyes locked, held. She could see the rise and fall of his chest, hear the shudder and rasp of his breath.
Then with an explosive curse, he surrendered.
Sweeping her up in his arms, he kissed her, murmuring words in Greek. His embrace was hot and tender, full of anguished longing and regret as he kissed her.
“Eve, oh, Eve, I can’t push you away,” he whispered, looking down into her eyes with dark pain and yearning. “Whatever the cost—whatever happens—I can’t hurt you anymore.”
For a month now, Talos had been in anguish.
Wanting Eve but not being able to have her.
Loving her but not being able to tell her.
He could have lived through his own pain. He could have continued to endure it forever. But it was seeing the pain in his wife’s beautiful face that had finally broken his will.
Horror had gone through him when he saw her in front of the computer where he knew she could eventually discover everything. Her tears pleaded for what should have been hers by right—his love and attention.
There was no place remote enough. Nowhere they could hide. No way he could keep her safe, not when by trying to protect her, he himself had caused her such hurt!
And finally he couldn’t bear it any longer.
Scooping her up into his arms, he swept her upstairs into their bedroom. He tenderly set her down on their bed, the bed that they should have shared for the last month. She looked up at him, her eyes shining with tears. He could smell the sweet vanilla fragrance of her hair, feel the softness of her skin. He saw her hand shake as she reached up to caress his rough chin.
“Talos…”
Closing his eyes, he placed his hand over her smaller one, turning his face into her caress. He’d yearned for this for so long. For the last four weeks, he’d had to anesthetize himself—with hard exercise, with ouzo, but mostly with work—to try to fight off the constant desire for the woman down the hall, this frustrated desire that was always rising higher and higher until he feared he’d break apart.
Whatever happened, he could no longer resist her sweetness. He wanted his wife. Needed her. Loved her.
He pulled off the soft pink cotton dress with its innocent eyelet lace. Removing his own black T-shirt and jeans, he dropped them to the floor. His eyes greedily drank in the vision of Eve in her translucent white bra and panties.
Looking into her eyes, he finally spoke the words that had long ago been written across his heart.
“I love you, Eve.”