The thought of that ending...of never experiencing it or her at some point in the future...twisted in something close to agony inside me.

The state was further evidenced by the quiet panic this very argument was fuelling inside me—the fine trembles coursing through my body, taunting me with the possibility that this might be the one deal that eluded me. That my actions last year and since finding her on Bora Bora might have doomed me in her eyes. The very thought that I might fail where I’d succeeded at everything else. Everything that mattered...

No.

‘I know what I promised, but I no longer think it’s—’

‘No!’

She surged to her feet, and the trembling in her hand seemed transmitted to her body as eyes steeped in turmoil centred on mine. But when she spoke her voice was firm, the most resolute I’d ever heard her. And that only twisted the knife in deeper. Because I sensed a dynamic shift in her the like of which I’d never experienced before.

She seemed to falter for a moment, her hand sliding to her stomach, before she shook her head. ‘You made a promise, Axios, and I’m going to have to insist you deliver on that promise.’

That gesture...

‘Tell me why, Calypso. Give me a reason why you won’t even hear me out,’ I challenged, feeling the ground slip away beneath my feet even as I rose and faced her across the dinner table.

‘Why?’ he grated again when words failed to emerge from my strangled throat in time to answer his question.

His features were changing from a determined sort of cajoling to frighteningly resolute.

‘Are you pregnant?’ he added hoarsely, and there was a blaze of what looked like hope in his eyes as they dropped to my stomach.

‘What? No, I’m not pregnant,’ I blurted, dropping my hand.

Was that disappointment on his face?

‘Can we take a breath and discuss this rationally?’ he asked.

The desire to do just that—to let him talk me into dreaming about an impossible future—was so heart-wrenchingly tempting it took the sharp bite of my nails into my palm to stop agreement spilling from my lips.

‘No. I’m all talked out, Axios. All I want now is action. For you to stick to your word and...and let me go.’

His grey eyes went molten for a handful of seconds before his jaw clenched tight. ‘Why? We’ve proved in the last few weeks that we’re completely compatible. As parents to Andreos. And in the bedroom.’

Desperately, I shook my head. ‘We...we can love Andreos as much together as apart. As for the bedroom...it’s just sex. Basing a marriage on it is delusional.’

‘I beg to differ. The kind of compatibility we have is unique. Don’t be so dismissive of it. Besides, how would you know? I’m the only lover you’ve ever had,’ he tossed in arrogantly.

And he would be the only one for me. ‘That still doesn’t mean I want to give up everything for the sake of—’