After breakfast, they agreed to rest, though he wasn’t sure how much sleep he would be getting.
Hours spent with Helene were akin to plugging in to a live wire. He was electrified.
He showed her a set of rooms she could use, equipped with their own bathroom and shower, and left her there while he found a change of clothes for her in the supplies closet.
After laying them on the bed, he left the room to take his own shower and rest.
As energizing as her company was, he ultimately fell asleep quickly. Being in the military for so long had taught him to take advantage of opportunities to sleep when he could.
Hours later, he woke, fully alert the moment his eyes opened, another holdover from a career in the service. He was hyperaware of the absence of Helene.
He found her, equally alert, when he rapped on her door. She looked rested, though he wasn’t certain how he could tell, having never observed her looking tired.
He had never met another woman who embodied the wordindefatigableso well, something he appreciated as buoyant as he was feeling.
“How did you sleep?” he asked, smile wide and warm. He was eager to begin planning the next stage now that he had secured her cooperation, but he had the sense not to start when she’d only just woken up.
Seeing her again, though, after their time in the pool, had his blood thrilling again, his pulse as jumpy and eager as a little boy with a big present.
Impossibly, she was even more beautiful. They had slept much of the day, which was to be expected after almost sixty hours of near constant activity. It was past the normal dinner hour, but still bright enough outside that he considered a late dinner alfresco. And after that, they could christen another pool room.
He loved that she was so at ease in the water.
Her smile was coral magic. “Wonderfully, thank you.”
His mouth quirked up at those impeccable manners. Blue-blooded-ness really was her default, for all that she was a soldier.
“Are you hungry?”
“Trying to feed me yet again?” She quirked up an eyebrow.
“Can I help it if I was raised right?”
She smiled and for an instant he simply let himself appreciate the way the smile warmed him. He was driven, determined and unstoppable. It was easy to forget he was also a man. A man who wanted to hold his woman, for just a breath, before they got back to work.
“I’m not hungry, but I would like a walk on the beach,” she said.
“Then a-walking we will go. There are spare sandals where the slippers were.” He offered her his arm and she smiled at him, cheeks tinged with pink, and took it.
They walked together, arm in arm, while he marveled at the lightness between them. She was a royal guard, a consummate professional, and he was a retired admiral turned privateer specializing in hunting down traffickers, and together, they were in the business of revenge, and yet there was a lightness to being around Helene...as if alongside work, there could be play.
“Do I need sandals on a deserted island?” she asked, a light in her eyes.
He shook his head. “You have something against footwear?”
She laughed, stretching her arms wide. “I don’t like being hemmed in. I told you. It’s the barefoot-and-free-seafaring life for me now.”
He snorted. “More like the barefoot-with-babies life for you now. At least temporarily.”
Laughing, she said, “Well, not right away! I’ve got to get back to work eventually, and now that I’ve broken the seal, there’s so much to explore before babies...”
He stopped, still smiling. “There’s no rule that says we have to stop exploring when you’re pregnant. But we should begin right away if we want the best chances. The process of marriage and unifying titles is lengthy and should be begun immediately, as well. It’s hitting the ground running and a lot all at once, but in the long run, it’s just two to three years...”
Stopping beside him, Hel frowned, a sense of warning, like a frigid gust, blowing through the languorous tingles that had been pulsing in her body ever since the pool room. “I can’t get pregnant now,” she said. “It’s not the right time with my job.”
He smiled. “While we both know you’re far from decrepit, at your age, it’s best we don’t waste time.”
Hel snorted, “Calling me old now? Hardly. I’m in fantastic shape. And we certainly have options if that traditional way didn’t work out.” She blushed, her body still tender and alive with doing things the traditional way. “Kids and marriage will need to wait, if only temporarily,” she assured him with a grin, then added, “but in the meantime, we can keep practicing...”