‘Some do.’
‘Do not.’
‘Annie,’ he warned.
She bit down on her lip. ‘Okay, keep going.’
‘Only two butterflies bit Annie.’
‘Hey.’ She punched his shoulder.
He grinned.
‘They lifted Annie far away from the planet and carried her out into space. The End.’
‘Wait a second.’ She shook her head. ‘That’s not a happy ending.’
‘Isn’t it?’
‘No, and you said there’s always a happy ending.’
‘Ah, so there is.’ He stood up from her bed, and Annie wriggled down, arranging her head on the pillow. Lewis pulled the quilt up under her chin, then stroked h
er head. ‘How about this, then? The butterflies carried Princess Annie through space, all the way to her home planet, where she was met with rose petals at her feet and jubilant cries from her adoring public.’
‘Better,’ she murmured, her eyes heavy.
‘She was brought to the palace in a golden carriage, shaped like a pumpkin but with butterfly wings, and there the prince she’d fallen in love with as a child was waiting—he’d never forgotten her. They got married and lived happily ever after.’
Annie smiled, sleep almost claiming her. ‘And the Zap Aliens?’
‘They never bothered her again.’
Annie woke with a start, a disorienting confusion seeping into her, so she pushed up and blinked, trying to remember where she was. Not in the small bedroom she’d grown up in, and not with Lewis telling her bed-time stories. Not in her home in Sydney, where she and Max had spent the last six years. Something spiky caught her attention, and then the hint of pine-needle fragrance, and it all came whooshing back.
She lifted her hand to be sure, eyeing the enormous diamond.
Dimitrios. Their marriage. Singapore.
She moved a little, looking at him sleeping, her heart hammering against her ribs. God, what was she doing? Dreams and memories of Lewis had formed a lump in her throat; she stepped out of bed as quietly as she was able, padding gently across the room to the door, which she opened silently, slipping downstairs and into the industrial kitchen.
She silently made a cup of tea and carried it through the downstairs of the sprawling mansion. One of her favourite rooms was a sunken sitting room that seemed to jut out of the house itself. She liked it because there were enormous trees in front of it, so she felt almost as though she were perched in a bird’s nest in a rainforest. She pushed the windows wide open and breathed in deeply. It was raining—a heady, tropical rain that smelled of heat, thunder and papaya.
The furniture in this room was dark wood, the cushions colourful. She curled up on a corner of the sofa, cradling the cup in her hands, staring out at the falling rain.
‘It’s early.’ His voice was roughened by sleep. She turned towards the door, bracing herself to see Dimitrios—but nothing could have braced her adequately for the sight of him in only a pair of boxer shorts, his toned, taut abdomen calling for her attention. She looked away quickly.
‘I couldn’t sleep.’
He walked across the room, taking a seat down the other end of the sofa.
‘Did I wake you when I left?’
‘Must have.’ He shrugged. ‘I’m a light sleeper.’
‘I’m sorry.’
‘Don’t be. I like getting up early.’