Island Paradise

Lucas paced back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. He was starting to wear a path in the lush green grass that grew between his Antebellum beach mansion and the beach itself.

All around him were palm trees and tropical island flowers. The scent of the blooms were heavy in the air, along with the salty tangy smell of the ocean and the undulating roar of the waves crashing onto the shore.

He was back at his private island on Erenveil, awaiting the magical moment when Candace would be transferred to him.

It was a small kidney-shaped island about 150 acres in area and was just remote enough so that he could retreat to it and be away from the crowds and the visuals.

He didn't want to have a lot of people around his secluded retreat which was why very few people even knew about this island.

He had certainly never invited anyone here, but Candace was his wife which meant this was her island too. Other than his staff, she would be the only other person to have complete access to this place.

There were only a small group of staff members living on the island at any given time. At last count, it had barely passed a hundred people, including the children of his attendants and workers.

Ever since Lucas had drawn number 2 in the lot to be with Candace, he'd been so anxious and nervous that he could barely eat or sleep.

What if she hated his island, or thought it was boring? What if she hated the ocean and got island fever? What if she couldn't stand him and felt as if she was stuck with him for seven days?

It had been seven days of pure hell for Lucas, waiting and wondering what would happen once she arrived.

Per their agreement, she would be transferred to the next Prince after dinner of the seventh night. It was now noon which meant he would have to endure through another six hours of this anticipation. Six more and she would be his.

What in the world was he going to do? How was he going to approach this?

He and Candace had never truly been together in any meaningful way. Aside from carrying her in his arms the night she was injured, Lucas never really had much skin time with her.

He'd never even kissed her. What if she didn't like the way he kissed?

Lucas grimaced.

Of course he knew how to kiss. He'd kissed hundreds, if not thousands of girls on set. But those were practiced kisses, done so that a shot would look good at certain angles.

He knew all the techniques. Maybe that would be enough to keep her interested.

Heck. He shouldn't even be thinking about kissing her.

He needed to talk to her first. Get to know her a bit.

He had had barely even talked to her for more than a few minutes at a time. What if she thought he was boring?

Lucas sighed with regret. He'd never done a single real thing in his life. All he'd ever done was to memorize lines written by script writers and pretend they were real.

All his brothers were cream-of-the-crop, top of the line real males. Lucas was nothing but an actor.

For the bulk of the time that she was participating in the Avgo Events, Lucas had to pretend to be Dahlia's boyfriend just to keep an eye on the woman so she wouldn't do anything bad to Candace.

Because of this, he'd never gotten much of a chance to get to know her the way his other brothers had gotten to know her.

It had always been a 'worship from afar' situation for Lucas, and he didn't know how to transfer that to a 'worship from up close'. He felt more comfortable just keeping her at a distance so he could admire her without having to figure out how to make her like him.

It wasn't that he didn't feel sexually attracted to Candace. He just couldn't get over the fact that she really was his wife! That had happened out of the blues and Lucas was still trying to process everything that had happened internally.

He couldn't even think about having sex with her even though his body really needed her. He needed to at least make her feel comfortable around him first.

Lucas closed his eyes and scrunched his hair on both sides of his head with his fists as he calmed the turmoil that grew within his stomach.

This was not going to go well, he could just feel it all falling apart. He just wasn't good enough for her…

Lucas was still pacing back and forth, when a hover pod whirred into sight, hovering above the sandy beach that fronted his mansion.

A panel opened up on the side facing him and a bat jumped out, his wings extended.

In his arms was a woman holding onto his neck with a firm clasp. He hovered onto the beach and landed with a soft thud.

Instantly, his wings retracted and he placed the woman gently onto the sand.

Dante had brought Candace to his island six hours early!

"Candace!" Lucas called out, running up to the beach to meet her.

The beautiful smiling face of his wife took his breath away.

Erenveil's bright summer sun drenched her blonde hair in pale gold highlights, creating a halo effect that made her look like an angel. Her hazel eyes looked warm green in this light, making her look even more enchanting.

He felt his heart swell until it took up so much of his chest he could barely breathe.

"I thought you wouldn't be here until nightfall." He called out a bit hoarsely.

"We're a bit early, I'm sorry." Candace said.

"No no! I'm happy to see you any time at all!" Lucas insisted with earnestness as he reached them.

Dante smiled and patted Lucas' shoulder. He recognized the breathless adoration that Lucas showed to Candace. All his brothers had the same reaction when they faced her. He was sure he did too.

"We have a bit of an emergency so I have to drop Candace off a little bit early. I hope it's okay with you."

"Your other woman is not—still here, is she?" Dante pretended to look around for the nonexistent woman.

"Tch!" Lucas clicked his tongue in irritation. "What other woman! There's nobody here but me."

"I don't know, Lucas. You're the big movie star. You have women everywhere you go!" Dante laughed.

Lucas sighed. "Don't even go there. I am a happily married man! Don't you dare make any wild-ass statements in front of my wife and make her mad at me!"

Dante chuckled. It was so much fun to spin Lucas up.

They made their way back to Lucas' mansion where an attendant had already set up a table with a spread of fruits, pastries, and wines.

Lucas pulled out a seat for Candace and had the attendant adjust the umbrella so she would not have any of the warm summer sun beating down on her.

Meanwhile, another serving maid handed Dante a mojito and, on his command, gave Candace a lemonade.

"What's the emergency?" Lucas asked as he took a sip of his Bloody Mary.

"It's Mother Gwen." Dante confided.