Page 65 of Claimed

“Better?” she asked, with a twist of her lips, throwing his own words back at him. His breath escaped in a tight hiss, and he lifted his hands to her hips, seating her more firmly against him as her body rocked. He found his gaze darting everywhere,her breasts, her face, the tight knot of her abs as she flexed to hold herself in place—and then further up, to where her precious heart lay safely beneath skin and bone. An unreasonable tide of possession surged inside of him, and the message traveled straight to his groin.

Nicki’s gaze riveted on him as she felt the difference. “Oh,” she breathed, and he grimaced.

“Yes. Oh.” He tried to loosen his grip on her hips, but then she lifted her chin, her body stretching taut as she dropped her head back. He watched as her eyes drifted shut while she absorbed the complete experience of him—and the sheer joy of her expression added exponentially to his enjoyment. They moved with increasing speed and strength, her body flexing, tightening around him until there was no way to tell where she ended and he began. The symbiosis of their movement was as timeless as the sea and filled with laughter, light, and sunshine, like the smile on Nicki’s face.

The sudden orgasm rushed up on him so quickly that he growled. Nicki’s eyes flew open as she fell forward, her hands bracing on his chest, her lips parting as he bucked with sudden, frenzied need beneath her. She cried out, too, with sudden, unfettered happiness, and he gripped her even harder, wanting to hold her, keep her, and make her his far beyond this moment, far beyond this day. Within that moment, they shared thoughts, they shared emotions, they shared sensations, they sharedall. In a flash, Stefan knew the truth: that was the gift and the curse of their connection; that was the future he faced. Whether they stayed together or he let her go, Nicki would remain linked to him…as long as she lived.

How could he let her go, knowing that?

With a great, gusting sigh, Nicki rolled off him, sprawling onto the jumbled sheets, her body appearing as boneless as his felt.

“See?” she murmured, curling against him. “That wasn’t stressful at all.”

Their quiet, shared laughter flowed easily into the sea-bright sunshine.

Forty-Nine

Nicki stared in wonder as they pulled into port. The yacht was greeted by a small army of workers who marched out of a bright-white boathouse and trotted down an equally white boardwalk to greet their ship. The entire mini marina appeared freshly scrubbed, and as Stefan handed her off the boat, she squinted at him.

“No one lives on this island but the royal family and their guests? It’s literally a private island? And they own it? Like…theyownit, own it?”

Stefan glanced at her, his face looking a little bemused. “Technically, the country of Oûros owns it, but it’s in the royal family’s name, yes. For use as they see fit, whether for guests or extended members of the family.” His lips quirked. “If you stay in Oûros for any length of time, however, you’ll find the family extends…quite a long way.”

“But all of these people?—”

Stefan cut off her confusion. “The island isn’t all that isolated. We are actually not too distant from a larger island with a robust fishing village—Miranos, home of Dimitri Korba’s family. The staff for Asteri draws heavily from Miranos—and supplies are shipped over weekly when guests are in residence.”

“But they don’t live here.” Nicki shook her head. The island was everything she could imagine in a tropical paradise—lush vegetation peeking from high cliffs that surrounded impossibly tranquil turquoise waters. Beyond the boathouse, a manicured road wound off into a thick overhang of trees. “No one lives here permanently.”

“They could if they wanted,” Stefan shrugged, as if deciding whether or not to live on a remote Greek isle was an everyday occurrence. “Most of them prefer the community of Miranos. There is a staff who stay onsite, primarily when there are?—”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it. When there are guests on the island.”

More voices sounded behind them, and they turned to see Ari emerge on the deck. Stefan had wanted them already off the boat when Ari saw the dock for the first time, and he observed the prince keenly as Tamas escorted him to the gangplank. Ari appeared happy, animated, and not at all familiar with the location.

Beside her, Stefan tilted his head. “I don’t know anything about memory loss or the effect of a concussion on the brain. He doesn’t appear to be damaged otherwise, but…it’s impossible to tell.”

“He doesn’t recognize anything, but he’s not upset about that,” Nicki said. “That has to help, right?”

“One would hope. We’ve arranged for three different specialists to examine him, once we have the island equipped with the proper scanning devices.”

Nicki blinked. “You’re shipping a cat scan machinehere? To the family’s pleasure island?”

“There’s a fully outfitted medical facility here. For the immediate future, the family would prefer not to let Ari’s condition be revealed to anyone. Oûros is a small country, but our media is persistent. Especially when it comes to the royal family. In the end, the cost of shipping equipment and personnelis far less onerous than enduring a twenty-four-seven newsreel on the health of the crown prince.”

“Fair enough.” Nicki let her smile broaden when Ari joined them on the dock. He stared around in appreciation, then grinned at Stefan.

“You have friends in high places, Stefan,” he said, speaking flawless English. Nicki hadn’t let drop that she could speak Oûrois yet. She wanted to keep that her little secret for the discernible future. “But I’m not about to believe I do. What is this place?”

“A private island—Asteri,” Stefan said, watching Ari with deceptive ease. “How much do you remember of the Aegean?”

“Standing here right now? Not a damned thing.” Ari shook his head ruefully. “I know my name, that I was flying on a job—but not for who. I think I know how to pilot a plane, but I wouldn’t want to get behind the controls unassisted anytime soon.”

Nicki laughed. “Well, then at least your sense of personal safety isn’t impaired.”

They turned toward the main drive as a car cruised to a stop and Stefan started walking. Ari and Nicki followed behind him, and Nicki had to force herself not to catalog Ari’s every move. It’s not as if she knew what she was looking for. Ari could start quacking like a duck and she wouldn’t know if that even meant anything.

“Who will we be meeting?” Ari asked, a note of apprehension creeping into his voice. “I assume—my family?”

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