Page 23 of Modern Romance October 2025 5-8

His gaze shifted from her to the table. A few moments passed before he drew breath. Bethan steeled her heart.

‘It reminded me of here,’ he murmured. ‘I liked the lacework. The whirls from the shells.’ He pointed to a low spot of the vessel. ‘That blue is the exact blue of the water down by the boat shed.’

And of his eyes. She felt his fingers shift on her wrist.

‘I liked the form,’ he added, pointing to another part. ‘This washes like the wave over that split rock on the beach, this mirrors that branch of that olive tree.’

She blinked to hold back her spiralling emotion because he’d nailed it. He’d seen it exactly as she’d seen it in her mind. He’dunderstood. And now she couldn’t actually speak. He looked at her, a new storm building in his eyes.

‘Itwasin the office,’ he said savagely. ‘In Athens. Not in reception but inmyoffice upstairs. It was there until I couldn’t stand to look at it any more.’

‘Why couldn’t you stand to look at it any more?’ she whispered.

‘Do you really need to ask? Can you honestly not work it out?’ he erupted. ‘Ithurt, Bethan. You hurt.’ He dragged in a breath. ‘You hurt me.’

He finally released her and stalked towards the villa but only got two paces before she grabbed his arm as hard as he’d gripped hers.

‘You can’t say that and then just walk away.’

‘Why not?’ he snapped back and stepped towards her. ‘Isn’t that what you did?’

She paused. The truth hit hard. She’d done exactly that. ‘Maybe I shouldn’t have.’

The wildness in him ignited and he grabbed her waist, tugging her against him. ‘It’s too late to say that.’

Yes. They were on the verge of divorce. But now she felt his hard, hot sun-dried body pressing insistently against her. Felt his biceps bunch beneath her grip and his hold on her tighten.

‘It’s far too late,’ he repeated in a whisper.

Emotion surged. She knew that look in his eyes. She knewexactly. ‘It is.Yes.’

His hands hit her waist and hauled her close while she reached around his neck to bring him closer still. Her breasts smashed against his hard chest. Sensation shot from her too-sensitive nipples to where she was slick and hot.

‘But there’s still this,’ he raged.

There wouldalwaysbe this. That was her true fear—that she would never shake free of it.

‘Thisis what needs to be destroyed,’ she growled. ‘I want you to destroy it with me.’

His hands swept lower to her butt and he hoisted her. She instantly wrapped her legs around his waist, shuddering as her pelvis pressed against his. He stalked, not to her room, but to his. It was a dark cave-like space with navy sheets on the enormous bed and no other furniture. He tossed her with such energy she bounced over the mattress. With a savage laugh he grabbed her ankle and slid her back to him. He stripped her in seconds. His savage intensity turned her on more. He wanted her ruin as much as she wanted his. But he didn’t tumble down to the sheets with her. Instead he stepped back and surveyed her—naked and sprawled on his bed. The smile on his face was utterly predatory.

‘It’s not going to be fast, Bethan. And you’re staying right here until we’re done.’

As angry, as aroused, as she was, his expression caught her fast. Almost paralysed with need, she shivered as he skimmed light strokes down her body. She was so turned on it would take nothing.

‘Such bounty,’ he drawled. ‘So sensitive.’

Oh, she was. He cupped her breasts but even in his big hands her flesh overflowed. His thumbs scraped over her tight buds. She arched her hips. He wasn’t even touching her sex but she was so close to coming.

‘Ares...’

He kept tormenting her nipples with that feral smile as she twisted beneath him. So close. Soclose. But just as she arched—the jerk didn’t let her finish. He chuckled and moved his attentions away. She gasped and he merely kissed her with an almost mean lightness as the release slipped beyond her reach. She breathed hard, glaring at him as he sat back and watched her anger ignite.

‘Ares.’

He ignored her stare, dropping his focus to her legs. He palmed her thighs, spreading them. Relief swept through her. Briefly. Because once again he teased—so lightly, so consistently—until once more she strained. Almost there.Almost.And once more he released her. Eased her back from the precipice with deliberately slow caresses going in the wrong damned direction. And she was going to kill him. After she came. Desperately she slipped her fingers between her legs but he gripped her wrist and yanked it away.

‘Oh, you don’t get to do that,’ he scolded. ‘You come when I let you.’