Page 47 of Her Red Hot Secret Royal Fling

She wasn’t asleep,and nor was he, but neither spoke. Instead, he stared at her bare back, the elegant curve of her spine, her soft, honey-coloured skin, and he thought back to their conversation last night with a heaviness that was unusual for Ares.

He had faced things. Dark things. And he’d always found that tackling them head-on was the best way. He’d grieved his parents and brother, yes, but by staying active, keeping busy, holding his head high. He’d pushedthroughhis sadness, rather than letting it engulf him. Sofia leaving would be just the same.

Just like with Louisa, he’d get past it.

Only…it wasn’t the same.

It was so strange how, in the space of one short week, Sofia seemed to have stitched herself into his soul in a way Louisa never did. And yet he’d adored the other woman. He admired her. He thought of her as a good friend and truly one of the best people he’d ever known.

So why did the thought of Sofia leaving feel almost impossible to contemplate?

He reached out and stroked her hip with his fingertip, felt her indrawn breath almost as if it were his own.

“What will you do after this?” he asked into the early morning, stroking his finger lower, near the curve of her backside, then higher again.

“Today?”

“Tomorrow. And the next day. And so on.”

Silence sparked for a moment, and then, “Do you know, I’m not actually sure.”

His finger paused. “No?”

She flipped onto her back and then turned to face him, and for a second his lungs failed to work, as he simply stared at her face and tried to process how beautiful she was, and the fact that after today, he wouldn’t see her again.

“Please don’t say anything to Salvatore—it’s not a secret, exactly, but rather, I’m just waiting for the right time to tell them.” Her brow furrowed. “I love the Santoros, but I know that, after this, I won’t keep working for them.”

His brows lifted. “No?”

She shook her head. “They’ve wanted me to join the company for so long, I didn’t feel right refusing without at least giving it a try. But it’s not right for me.”

“Why not? You seem so passionate about the company.”

Her smile was uncertain. “I’m passionate about the people,” she said thoughtfully. “But it’s a family business, and they’re not my family. I know they go out of their way to treat me like it, but…” she tapered off, lifting one shoulder. “I want to stand on my own two feet. It’s more than time for that.”

Ares was, as so often happened with Sofia, torn between two emotions. There was a tightening in his abdomen, as though a band were being squeezed, but there was also a lightness that came from the hint of an idea. A possibility.

“So, you’re resigning?”

“Well, I’m hoping I can soften the blow of leaving with good news first,” she replied archly, and the tightening sensation grew. He knew one thing for certain, and it came from a place of having always put his country first—above all else. He couldn’t award the contract to the Santoros just because he wanted to give that good news to Sofia. He couldn’t play favourites. But nor could he be responsible for letting Sofia down.

“It’s why I’ve been so passionate about it,” she admitted. “Because I really would like to show my gratitude to them by winning such a prestigious opportunity.”

He made a noise of understanding, but he was sad for her–that she should feel she had to thank the Santoros at all. “Has it ever occurred to you that all the thanks they require is you being happy?”

Her eyes widened and she looked over his shoulder, as if mentally rejecting that notion. Because her mother had made it impossible for Sofia to see her true worth, to value herself as others did. He wished there was some way he could change that, but with only this one day before she left the country, he knew he’d never be able to achieve it.

And what if you had longer?

There it was again.

The idea.

The hint of hope.

The possibility that he could ask her to stay, and she might agree. For another night? Two more nights? A week?

A month?

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