Page 20 of Modern Romance Collection March 2025 (1-4)

She had no experience with romantic love, of course, but she loved her family dearly. Even when her brother was obnoxious, even when her mother felt more like a burden than an authority figure, even when her father had descended into a bitterness that would take his life.

They were the center of almost everything she did.

And Athan was posing the question as if there wasnoanswer, when of course there was. “Love is the things you said. Enjoying someone’s company. Wanting to be with them and planning futures together.” Lynna thought of her family, her friends. Tried to put all those feelings into words, which was not exactly her strong point. She preferred acts of service to having toexplainthings. But here she was, and she was hardly going to admit to Athan she wasn’t sure or didn’t know something.

“And it’s wanting their happiness as much as if not more than your own. It’s caring for them and finding joy in that.”

“Interesting,” he said. As if itwas. Which somehow made this whole strange conversation worse. “What about them caring for you?” Athan asked.

It was a strange question to have posed to her. She always took on the role of caretaker, felt she thrived there. The only time she’d really been taken care of outside of childhood was when her friends had rallied around her after her father died, but she’d been so mired in grief she hadn’t really, fully recognized what was happening in the moment.

Still, Athan had a point of sorts. For some people. “I… I suppose you’d have to find joy in that too.”

“Yousuppose?”

She frowned at him as the car finally came to a stop after circling around a huge fountain. She refused to say anything else on the matter.

“Well, IsupposeI’ll have to take your word for it, expert or not. I certainly haven’t seen any evidence that thislovepeople are so obsessed with is a reality. Outside of people with nice families, of course.”

“My parents loved each other.” She said it quietly, and the words felt like they’d escaped against her will. Because she didn’t want to be that vulnerable, but it also felt like a strange betrayal not to put that forward.

Hehad seen her parents. He’d been there when their families had been the best of friends.

She tried to look back on that time from his perspective. His parents had divorced when Lynna had been young and Athan couldn’t have been more than a young teen. She remembered him having to spend holidays with his mother, but during the school year he was in his father’s custody.

Constantine had never remarried, but there’d been a steady stream of women. Each younger and more glittery than the last—or so Lynna’s mother had said once when she didn’t think Lynna was listening.

Athan stared at her for the longest time, a faint line between his drawn-together brows. Then the driver opened her door and she pulled her gaze away and allowed the driver to help her out.

Before she could even catch a breath, Athan was at her side. “Welcome home, Mrs. Akakios.”

“I amnotchanging my name, even temporarily,” she said through gritted teeth, under her breath. Just the thought had her recoiling. Akakios? No. Never.

But Athan only grinned at her. “Let me show you around your new home.”

* * *

Athan had known his father wouldn’t stay away. So, that night in Athens, satisfaction twisted through him as he watched his father’s sleek sports car pull up on the security monitor at just a little after ten.

No doubt his father’s attempt at asurprisevisit, but Athan was still dressed for the day. Still debating if he should actsurprisedwhen Constantine showed up, or if he should play the unbothered protégé.

Ideally, Lynna would be with him. Ideally he could tell herI told you so, but she had retired to her room after dinner, despite his attempts to coax her to stay downstairs and enjoy an after-dinner drink.

He’d shown her around the house on their arrival, given her one of the larger rooms in the estate. Then she’d demanded to get a tour of the kitchen. She’d spent over two hours getting acquainted with the layout and where everything was, she’d made a list of cooking and baking items she would need supplied, and she’d studiously ignored him as he’d sat in that very kitchen and, once again, watched her make a meal.

It had been delicious. He had a very good cook for his Athens home, but Lynna had a…special talent. He personally didn’t understand how one chef could be better than another when they were all just following recipes, but there was something about the food she made that stuck with him.

Then, despite his best efforts, she had refused to retire to the library with him. Said no to a drink, a swim, a walk around the property. Once she’d cleaned up the kitchen, she’d soared past him and gone upstairs to her room.

Athan was determined to be patient. It was his father’s greatest weapon, and Athan needed to use it effectively here. But something about Lynna poked at all the control he’d learned at his father’s knee.

But he hadn’t gone after her. Hadn’t resorted to demands that definitely would not work on someone as hardheaded as hiswife. He’d spent the last hour awaiting his father’s “surprise” arrival, nursing his own after-dinner drink on the sprawling porch that overlooked the sparkling pool. As the sun set, the lights came on inside the water, giving everything an eerie blue glow.

A staff member stepped outside and Athan knew it wasshowtime.

“Mr. Akakios. Your father is here to see you.”

“Thank you, Sebastian. Show him to the library. I’ll be there in a moment.”

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