He came back to the bed.
She licked her lips. "Nikos?"
"I, too, could use a nap, Ash. I have slept poorly since the night you disappeared from Boston. We will rest together. And for now, that is all we will do."
She should argue, but deep inside, she didn't want to. She trusted him not to push for anything sexual if he said he wouldn't. And she wanted to be held. So much. Her world was a maelstrom of frightening events and even though he had betrayed her trust, Nikos looked like an island of comfort for her storm-tossed heart.
Silently she uncurled from her protective position and climbed under the covers, leaving room for him to lie beside her. She wasn't sure, but she thought he sighed with relief. He joined her, pressed the button above the bed to cut the lights in the tiny cabin and then pulled her into his arms.
She didn't fight, but she didn't relax, either. She couldn't. With loving came wanting and since her love for him continued to beat in her heart, her desire for him was there, too. But she didn't want to act on it. She didn't think she could handle it right now if she did.
She was barely holding it together and the way he made her feel when he touched her would rip away the barriers she'd manage to erect to protect herself since discovering both his and her mother's duplicity. Besides, he was right…she both needed and wanted the healing rest of sleep. She was hungry to be held and to feel safe, if for just a little while.
He seemed to understand and did not try to cajole her into relaxing. He curled his big, warm body around her stiff one, wrapping his arms around her and spoke soft, soothing things into her ear until she grew drowsy. Bit by bit, her body gentled into his until she fell into a more restful sleep than she'd had since the last time he shared her bed.
She awoke sometime later to the sensation of someone gently brushing her cheek. Her senses told her it was Nikos before mind even became fully aware.
"Wake up,agape mou. We will be there soon."
Her eyes fluttered open to a vision of him dressed and sitting beside her on the bed.
"I slept the whole flight?" she asked disbelievingly.
"You needed your rest."
She'd needed her rest the night before, too, but she'd tossed and turned until giving up on sleep and had gotten up before dawn to work on client files. "So you said."
"I was right."
"You don't have to sound so happy about it."
"What man does not like to be right?"
She wrinkled her nose. "I don't know one." It was all she could do not to snuggle into his hand. "I can't believe I slept so well."
"It was being held in my arms. I confess I, too, slept better than I have in weeks."
She scooted into a sitting position, holding the sheet against her chest. "Yes, well…we'll have to get matching teddy bears or something."
"Or something."
She wasn't touching that. "How long until we land?"
"Thirty minutes."
"Oh." She looked around the well lit, utilitarian cabin. Thank goodness there was a door to the small bathroom from the sleeping area. "I need to freshen up."
"You look very good to me, but I can understand you might think the just-been-loved look is better saved for our times of privacy together."
"I haven't been loved."
"Are you sure about that?"
What was he saying? That he loved her? No. He didn't believe in the emotion, but could he have changed his mind? Her mom had changed and she thought that was impossible. Had Nikos had some kind of emotional breakthrough? But if he had, surely he would have said something. Not made some oblique reference and expect her to get it.
She swallowed questions she wasn't sure she wanted answers to in her current emotional state and stared at him. "I mean we didn't have sex."
"That I concede. It comes later, I think."
"No," she breathed, more for form than vehemence.
He leaned forward until his mouth was a bare centimeter from hers. "Are you sure that is the word you will be saying?"
She opened her mouth to answer, but whatever she would have said remained locked in her throat because he kissed her. His mouth totally claimed hers, his lips molding to hers and his tongue sweeping her interior. Any protest she would have made died before she even breathed it and she kissed him back until she was panting and his hands were clenched in fists on either side of her.
"We will revisit this discussion later," he said and then stood up just as if he hadn't kissed her to within an inch of her life and made implications that were soul-shattering. He tapped the end of her nose. "Get ready, pethi mou . I will see how your mother is holding up." Then he was gone.
Dazed, she climbed out of the bed and made a quick trip to the bathroom to brush her hair and other things before getting dressed again. Nikos had been right. She'd slept much better without her clothes and they were certainly fresher looking than they would have been if she'd worn them to bed.
The drive from the small municipal airport to Heather Grant's home was less than an hour, but the tension inside the limousine was palpable by the time it pulled up in front of her modest ranch style home.
Ash put her hand on her mother's arm. "Are you going to be all right?"
Her smile was reassuringly warm, so different than the way she used to look at her. "Yes, but what about you?"
"I'm scared," she admitted, surprising herself.
But then, maybe she was changing, too. Knowing you were loved changed the way you reacted to another person, she found.
She laid his hand over hers. "It is all going to be fine. Trust me, sweetheart."
"I don't want Emma hurt." Or her mom. Or herself. Or Heather Grant, for that matter. Yet, she didn't see how at least some emotional bloodshed could be avoided.
"Neither do I. We're going to handle this the best we can and trust for the outcome."
She swallowed and nodded. She left the limousine first, then Nikos, who turned to help her out. He pulled her into his side with an arm around her waist as they walked up to the front door and she was grateful for the contact. Despite the warmth of Southern California's weather, she felt chilled. She cuddled against him in a public display of affection that she would not have shown a month ago.
Something inside her had definitely shifted.
Her mother rang the bell. Less than a minute passed before it swung inward. A woman stood there, her wavy blond chin-length hair, cut in a bob and petite frame with trim figure proclaimed her Heather Grant. She looked exactly like the photos taken of her recently as well as those Blade had procured from years past. There was an almost fey quality about her that enhanced Ash's already signaled protective instincts.
Heather's hazel eyes widened and darkened with distress as she seemed to recognize Rachel Hemsworth. Her gaze skimmed to Ash, jolted up to Nikos' impassive features and back to Ash again. "You look just like her. You look just like my baby."
Her mouth moved, but no other words came out as her eyes filled with tears and her knees gave. Nikos grabbed her before she could fall to the floor. Swinging her up into his arms as if she weighed no more than a child, he carried her inside. Rachel and Ash went in after them and closed the door.
Heather's quiet sobs were the only sound any of them made as Nikos led them unerringly into the living room. He carried Heather to the couch and gently lowered her onto it. Helen stared at Rachel through rain drenched eyes as if she could not believe what she was seeing.
She dropped to her haunches beside the sofa and took her hand. "It is going to be okay."
But the blond woman shook her head, unending rivulets of tears rolling down her cheeks. "It can't be. I knew this day would come, but I kept hoping it wouldn't. That wasn't fair of me. I know. I've been so selfish."
"Tell me why you took my daughter." She said it so gently that Ash wanted to hug her.
She hadn't known she had this kind of patience and gentleness in her. Not even with her behavioral changes since her collapse.