Page 40 of Modern Romance July 2025 #4-8

CHAPTER EIGHT

R EBECCA KNEW THIS was wrong. This kind of pleasure had to be the kind of sin her parents had always warned her about. It made her forget everything. All the ways she should protect herself, her baby, her future.

Everything except him. Everything except more .

How many times could he drive her to this peak? This cliff? How many times would he fling her off, always demanding more, more, more.

It should have been a warning. She should have heeded it as one.

Instead she dived. Again and again into him. Into this.

He held her hips in an iron grip, moved into her with a precision, a ferocity that didn’t seem fair. Until his perfect, careful pace began to fracture. Until he got that wild look in his eye.

She did not understand it, but there was something inherently gratifying in watching him lose himself. She did not know him, and yet she knew that was not a common occurrence for him.

He roared out his release, and the vibration of sound had her spinning into her own final one. A breathless, sensory overload that she knew eventually she would regret. She’d have to.

But she couldn’t work up to it just yet.

They lay next to each other on the bed, haphazard and winded. She felt alive. A sparkling, energetic flame of life .

Which reminded her why she was even here. The life they’d created and she was growing. She closed her eyes, trying to hold on to a flicker of regret rather than self-satisfied smugness over pleasure.

“We can’t keep doing this.” That was clear. It was…distracting, and if they kept doing it, it was going to complicate things that she could not allow to be complicated.

“I cannot see why not. The damage has been done.” He glanced over at her, and his hands reached out, traced the curve of her breast so that her nipple pebbled and sensation that couldn’t possibly still stir within her did just that.

Especially when his mouth curved into the sharp blade of a smile “And you like it.”

So much. Too much. But… “ You like it,” she replied, almost managing to sound lofty instead of stirred .

“I would venture to say we both more than like what we are able to bring out in each other.” He propped himself up on his elbow, looked down at her his gaze dark and intense. His body… God , his body was unfair.

“What do you do?” she demanded, gesturing at the hard wall of muscle in front of her. “Lift weights all night?”

“I prefer to strength-train in the morning, actually.”

Strength training. She shook her head. It was so clear this man was a stranger. How did she keep allowing herself to be naked with him?

“Listen,” she began, hoping for sense even though they were both still naked on top of all the bedding.

She stared at the ceiling so she wouldn’t be distracted by his body or his eyes.

“Yes, we both enjoy this. But people enjoy drugs, too. Doesn’t make them good for you.

We are going to be parents.” She met his gaze now with a quiet determination, she hoped. “We have to start being responsible.”

His eyebrows puzzled together. “I have never been anything but responsible, omorfiá mou .”

She placed her hands over her stomach, where she needed to remind herself their child grew. And that child had to be the most important thing. For both of them. “A surprise pregnancy says otherwise, Theo.”

He grunted, some irritation working its way into his gaze. He looked away from her, up to the ceiling now. He crossed his arms behind his head, making no move to leave.

“Perhaps,” he finally agreed. “But I have suggested the responsible move forward. Marriage. I do not see the problem.” His gaze landed on her again, like a lightning strike. “There is certainly some compatibility here.”

“Sexual compatibility. People don’t just get married because of sexual compatibility .”

“I’m sure some have, just as some have gotten married over the presence of a child. In that case, we have two items in our favor.”

She shook her head, wondering if there were words that would get through to him or if he was just so…pigheaded, he would keep saying the same things over and over. “We are strangers .”

“So you keep saying. How about this? We stop being strangers, then.”

“Oh, and how do you suppose we do that?”

“You stay. For more than two days. We get to know one another. Discuss what we’d like our child’s future to look like. Et cetera. Et cetera.”

Rebecca found it frustrating this was not an…unreasonable request. Perhaps he’d gone about it unreasonably , and perhaps that would be something she would get to know him and understand.

Or she wouldn’t. But she couldn’t know unless she gave him time. Unless she gave him the opportunity. And maybe…

She’d always dreamed of marrying a man she loved. Her parents loved each other, and though she’d wanted more than a little cottage on someone else’s land, she’d wanted that love more.

She’d loved Patrick. She’d been able to picture their life together. And look how that had turned out. He’d chosen duty over love and seemed to be happier for it.

Should she do the same? Think of her child over herself? Stay here and… Well, it would be no hardship to stay here. She might miss her parents and her horses, but this was beautiful. Peaceful. She could picture a child here.

Or maybe you’re letting great sex make you insane, Rebecca , she told herself sternly.

Because there was a major hurdle here.

She didn’t know anything about Theodorou Nikolaou beyond what an internet search had told her and what he could do to her body when they were naked. There was a lot of important information in between those two things.

But only time and at least some proximity would get her that, this was true. Whether she wanted to admit it or not. Two days was not enough time to get to know someone.

She could give him a week. Maybe two. And then reassess. It would take longer than that, but in a week she should be able to have some sense of him.

“I may agree to…get to know you. To stay for more than two days,” she said slowly, carefully. But she needed to make it clear that wouldn’t end in some kind of shotgun wedding. “But I’m not going to agree to marry you.”

He made one of those noises she was supposed to take as agreement and didn’t.

“And,” she added loftily, not sure why she was trying to make herself out to be a liar, “we shouldn’t sleep together again.”

His smile was feral in the darkening light. No noncommittal noise this time. “We shall see.”

He had the bath drawn for her, and though he was tempted to stay and draw it himself, some things had to be seen to. He had settled everything at the office so that he could take a small leave of absence, but he still needed to address this with his father.

Atlas would be all for Theo taking a vacation, but Theo needed to find a way to impress upon his father he was not to try and make major financial decisions without him.

Theo had nothing against his father’s impulses, but they needed to be more than impulse . They needed to be vetted, for starters. At least two of the “companies” his father had wanted to ship off money to had turned out to be fake charities. Scams, essentially.

Theo did not understand a man who’d once been a titan of industry falling for such ridiculous schemes, but he could only lay the blame on his father’s one weakness: women. In particular, right now, the one he was married to.

Theo hadn’t even bothered to learn her name. She was a nonentity to him. And if she wanted to suck Atlas dry, Theo figured that was their business.

But it would not be allowed to affect Titan Banking. Not under his watch.

So, he went into his office. Here at home, it was decorated for comfort. He didn’t work here, per se, but he put out fires when need be.

He sat in the soft overstuffed armchair and dialed his father’s private line, already bracing himself for the Atlas hurricane.

“So he does know his father is still alive and kicking,” Atlas answered in his booming voice, laughter along the censure. Theo often wondered if his father’s easy laugh and jovial nature tended to smooth over the carelessness that was at the fiber of his being and made it impossible to hate him.

“Hello, Father. How are you feeling?”

“Every day is a gift and a chance for redemption.”

Theo grimaced. His father’s redemption was as messy and careless as all he’d done to need it. “And your rehabilitation?”

“My nurses have no complaints.”

“I’m sure they’re very pretty.”

Atlas laughter boomed into the phone. “I am a married man, boy. But yes, very pretty. Wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Theo considered that his requirement of small talk for the day. “I wanted to let you know that I’m at the island. I will likely be staying a few weeks. I’ve left Christopher in charge, for the most part, but if you need anything, you may call me, of course.”

“Is everything all right? It isn’t like you to take an impromptu trip to the island.”

“It’s a…small vacation, is all. You needn’t worry. All my best men are handling the day-to-day, and any major problems will be brought to me.”

“I am not worried about Titan. I am concerned about my son behaving out of character.”

“ I am worried about Titan,” Theo said by way of a sidestep. “I need you to promise me you will not try to bully everyone into one of your…endeavors while I am gone. If you have any ideas, you email them over to me first.”

“You shouldn’t work on your vacation.”

“And you shouldn’t work during your recovery. So how about we both agree to keep our hands out of it?”

Atlas let out a huff of breath Theo chose to hope was acceptance. “I heard a rumor,” Atlas said slyly after a moment. “A woman. An Irish woman. In your office. With important news. I don’t suppose that could have any bearing on the sudden vacation?”

Theo found himself utterly speechless. How had that gotten back to his father? His assistant was always the most discreet. His staff at home had no ties to his father. Who would have given him this information?

“The Irish part I found very interesting. Especially when I remembered you’d gone to that wedding. In Ireland. In my stead. Three or four months ago, wasn’t it?”

Theo remained quiet. Did his father know ? Surely not. He’d never paid much attention to what was going on beyond his own nose, unless…

“Dr. Gataki contacted you.” That was the weak link. He’d used one of his father’s contacts, and now Atlas knew . Not a tragedy, just…annoying that he could not share the information with his father on his timeline, in a way that would not require… this .

Atlas made a humming noise. “Dr. Gataki had some concerns.”

The doctor’s concern would soon be that Theo would not be consulting him again. Theo would find a new doctor for Rebecca. One who would stay on the island for the duration of her pregnancy. Perhaps longer. One who would never gossip with his father.

“Do you have concerns, Father?” Theo asked smoothly.

“I, too, was once surprised with the happy news I’d be a father in the offices of Titan Banking.”

Theo winced. How he detested the idea that he’d repeated history. Except he hadn’t. Maybe there were unfortunate similarities, but Rebecca was still here . And she would stay here. She would not be allowed to run off scot-free like his mother had been.

“Congratulations, Theodorou. Being a father is a great joy. Perhaps it will lighten you up some. And I shall look forward to meeting the Irish woman who swept my dour son off his feet.” Atlas laughed heartily. “Perhaps Ariana and I will come out to the island and meet—”

“No.” Theo bit it off before he thought better of it and came up with a more diplomatic response. “While I appreciate the idea, now is not the time. Rebecca is still dealing with the physical aspects of the pregnancy. No doubt I will invite you and…” What had her name been? “Alicia to the wedding.”

“Ah, so there is to be a wedding? I’m sure Ariana would be keen to help plan.”

“That won’t be necessary.” Again, too curt.

Too clipped. He needed to get himself together.

“I will let you know once Rebecca is feeling up to visitors and we will…work something out. But in the time being, I need you to focus on your rehabilitation, on your lovely wife, and leave Titan Banking alone . And keep my happy news to yourselves.”

“Hmm.” It wasn’t denial, but a thinking noise that set Theo’s teeth on edge. “And you. You’d like me to leave you alone.”

Theo pinched the bridge of his nose. His father had never once cared what Theo thought or wanted. Not before the heart attack. It never would have occurred to him to consider what Theo would like.

He’d lamented it as a young man. Now that he had his father’s sudden interest, he lamented that much more. It was easier when he could move through his life as he pleased without dealing with his father trying to…be a better man.

“I have been through what you’re going through,” Atlas said when Theo offered nothing.

“No, you had a child dumped on you. Rebecca will be a mother to our child. This is not the same.”

Atlas made a noise, far too close to the noise Theo made when decidedly not agreeing with Rebecca but not wanting to say so.

But it was not the same. They would be married. They would be stable. They would put their child first. There would be no upheaval. There would be stability and structure.

Rebecca herself had clearly grown up with it, so she should understand. But maybe she simply took it for granted.

He would explain it to her. She would understand. And once she thought of him as less of a stranger, she would agree to the wedding. She would agree to everything.

“Good night, Father, I will be in touch.”

“Good night, Theo. And relax. Enjoy this time. Once the baby comes, everything changes.”

But it wouldn’t. Not for him. His entire life had been responsibility. Building foundations his father could not be bothered to build. This was just an extension of that.

In a few weeks, at most, Rebecca would agree to marry him. In the meantime, they would enjoy each other physically. Why not? They would be stable. They would be good parents. They would do all this as he saw fit.

Theo would accept nothing less.