Page 107 of Modern Romance March 2025 (5-8)

IWAKE UPto sunlight warming my skin. I breathe in deeply, my body heavy. I can’t remember the last time I slept so deeply. But I also can’t remember the last time I made love four times in one night.

Thinking about the last time, when Tessa got on her hands and knees and allowed me to hold her hips up with my hands as I drove myself inside her, has me hardening almost instantly.

I reach out for her. My fingers cross nothing but cool silk sheets. My eyes fly open. The room is empty.

Slowly, I sit up. This is good. A show of Tessa keeping what’s happening between us physically separate from any emotional developments.

It’s a good thing, I repeat to myself. A knock has me standing and pulling on a robe before I go to the door and open it. Tessa is right outside the door in her wheelchair, a silver tray balanced across her lap. She’s wearing a plain yellow sundress, her hair damp and falling over one shoulder. She gives me a shy smile, one that arrows straight into my chest.

“Good morning.”

“Good morning. I thought you might like some breakfast.”

I glance down at the tray. “You brought me breakfast?”

She shrugs. “It’s the least I could do after last night.”

I stand back and let her past, slightly amused that I’m being served breakfast by the woman who I thoroughly seduced multiple times over the course of the evening.

She moves to the table on the balcony and I take the tray from her, setting it down and pulling up lids on dishes of eggs, bacon, and Greek yogurt topped with honey and plump strawberries.

“Thank you.” I glance outside and note the sun has barely cleared the horizon. Another glance at the clock in my room has my eyebrows raising. “How long have you been awake?”

“An hour or so. I had a lot of work to do,” she adds lightly.

I sense the slight distance between us, the deliberate establishing of a barrier as I sit down across from her. Even though it’s a good thing, part of me wants to talk to her, get a sense of how she’s feeling after our night together. But I have no desire to make her first morning after making love a tense one. Especially when my questioning after our first round of lovemaking made her relive a painful moment.

I mentally curse Lucifer. He had been furious ever since he’d learned of my proposal to Tessa and realized I had done what he had failed to do for years—acquire Tessa’s family’s company. Yes, it had been a smart acquisition. But besting my sire had been a satisfying revenge after decades of torment.

A revenge I’ve now realized hurt someone who didn’t deserve any of the pain I inflicted with my carelessness. Another sign that, despite my growing affection for my wife, I’m not the right man for her.

I mentally shift my focus away from the ghosts of my past and concentrate on something I excel at.

“Later today, I can take a look at your business plan.”

“Thank you.” She murmurs the words without looking up.

“Something on your mind?”

She stirs a dollop of honey into her yogurt. “I was thinking about going out this morning and didn’t know if you’d like to join me.”

My brief flash of pleasure disappears as quickly as it reared its head. The idea is tempting. No conference calls, no proposals to review, no site visits. A morning to enjoy the company of my wife.

Just the fact that I want to is a red flag that I need to step back. That I’m at risk of feeling more than I should.

“Unfortunately, I can’t. I have an hour or so to look over your plan.” I keep my voice even, businesslike. “After that I have a conference call, and our flight to Corfu departs at noon.

Her face falls before her expression smooths out. I know I’ve made the right decision. I need to maintain distance. Even if I feel like a bastard for hurting her. Again.

We finish the rest of the breakfast in silence.

Tessa

I walk out onto the dock of Rafe’s villa, excitement pumping through me as I take in the speedboat tied up at the end.

“Good morning!” a man calls to me from aboard the boat.

“Good morning,” I call back. “Are you Emerson?”

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