His full lips were softened in sleep, and I realized that what I was seeing was the man, not the sun god. There were two sides to him, both engraved upon the same solid coin. Each version was powerful, handsome, and commanding, but Amon the man, who was vulnerable, who doubted himself, who yearned to feel a connection with other people, was the one I was more attracted to.
It was all too easy to imagine him, sleepy, sultry, and warm, opening his arms to me, and me kissing him, slipping my hands into his hair as we passionately embraced. When the idea floated through my mind that I could easily come to fall for someone like him, I removed my hand and chided myself for getting lost in girlish fantasies. I didn’t know what had come over me and I wasn’t prone to rationalization, but I decided to give myself a break. This was the one time in my life I was going to allow myself to indulge in breaking the rules; if I wanted to fawn over a gorgeous man, no one was around to notice or care.
Still, my old way of thinking crept back in. Even if I ended up liking Amon enough to want to do something about it, what did that mean? We could never have a future together.
But he was attentive—not only to me but to others. Sunny—there was something special that happened when Amon turned up the wattage; it was almost like I couldn’t help being happy. Committed—how could a girl resist a guy who would give up his own desires and sacrifice himself to save others?
These traits along with many others cast a brilliant light upon the shadowy dream guy I’d first met. He disappeared and what was left was Amon. I could fall recklessly, dangerously, in love with a guy like him, but I couldn’t create a scenario in my mind where that kind of relationship ended up being anything other than heartbreaking. Of course, my parents wouldn’t approve of him unless he had a graduate degree or political aspirations.
The irony was that if I’d lived in Amon’s time, my parents couldn’t have hoped for a better match. He was a prince of Egypt, after all. Even without the power of the sun god, Amon had been going places. I wrinkled my nose, thinking that maybe he would have wed a sister, like the gods of old. Then again, perhaps he didn’t have one.
Regardless, I’d been granted a temporary reprieve from planning an entire future for myself, and I’d always be grateful to him for that. I hadn’t realized how heavy the weight of my structured life was until it was gone. Being with Amon made me feel like anything was possible. I no longer felt like the person called Miss Young, or Lilliana. With him, I was just Lily, or Young Lily. I liked being Lily much better.
There was a light knock at the door, so I set aside my reflections and opened it, allowing the server to bring in a new cart. He handed me a slip of paper to sign and then he was on his way. Amon woke as I was setting the food on the table.
“Are you coming?” I asked with a smile. “I have to confess, I think I’m ready for a feast.”
Cocking his head, he studied me with wide green eyes. “And what are you celebrating, Young Lily?”
Lifting a glass full of orange juice toward him, I said, “Possibilities. Let’s celebrate the unknown.”
Amon came forward and took a glass, filling it from the carafe. “To the unknown, then,” he said, clinking his glass against mine.
With relish, I filled my plate and didn’t even allow myself to think about the fat, carbs, or calories. If something was delicious, I made sure Amon tasted it. As he exclaimed over the chocolate cake I’d asked him to try, he nudged a plateful of an Egyptian dish he loved toward me and encouraged me to eat it with my fingers. Another dish we scooped up with sections of a thin, flavorful bread. When we’d tried everything, feeding each other bite after bite, Amon got on the phone and ordered everything else on the menu we hadn’t sampled yet.