Greek for Beginners (12 page)

She had just finished tying the top's knot behind her neck when a tapping sounded on the interior door. She grabbed her robe, hastily pulled it on before going to answer it. Her mouth went dry at the sight that greeted her. Nick's shirt was open, the buckle of his belt hung to one side of his unbuttoned trousers. The man was built like a god, with ripped abs and the kind of chest that it seemed a sin to cover with a shirt. This was why she'd decided to go for a swim. This was exactly how she'd pictured him looking.

“I interrupted you,” she said.

“I believe I am the one who knocked.” He sounded amused, but his expression was intense, aroused.

“R-right. I knew that.”

“Is this what you plan to wear to dinner?”

She shook her head and managed to drag some air into her lungs. She had one hand on the doorjamb and plunked the other one on her hip. “Terry cloth is a little too casual, I think.”

“You will not hear me complain.”

She laughed softly.

“But I am disappointed.”

“Oh?”

“I see red.” He reached out and plucked at the bow that peeked from the collar of the robe. “You promised to model
everything
for me.”

“I offered. You left.”

“Because we were in public,” he reminded her. “Will you keep your promise now?”

She swallowed. Nodded. And nearly forgot how to breathe when he loosened the robe's belt.

“Do you like it?” she found the courage to ask.

“Take off the robe.”

She did as instructed. The robe slipped from her shoulders and pooled at her feet.

“Well?” She tilted her head to one side and managed a smile.

Nick, however, did not smile. Nor did he say anything. He acted, swiftly and decisively. One minute Darcie was on her side of the door, posing provocatively in the itty-bitty red two-piece. The next she was in his room, pinned between his hard body and the wall while his mouth devoured hers.

“I'm taking this to mean you like what you see,” she told him on a breathy laugh when the kiss finally ended.

“I do indeed.”

“I was thinking about going swimming. You know, in the hotel pool. Um, that's why I'm wearing my bathing suit.”

“Is that why?” he asked. He had maneuvered her away from the wall and was now slowly walking her backward toward the bed.

“Why else?” she asked innocently, even as the edge of the mattress pressed into the back of her thighs.

“I think you put on your bikini to torture me.” He stepped back far enough so that he could do a slow inspection of her body. A groan of approval vibrated from his throat.

“I didn't know you were going to knock on my door,” she pointed out. “So, that's merely a bonus.”

Darcie was amazed at her boldness. Not only did she feel comfortable standing nearly naked before him, but she also felt sexy and confident. She planted her hands on her hips and turned slowly side to side before presenting him with her back and glancing flirtatiously over one shoulder.

“So, you like my suit, hmm?”

His gaze skimmed down a second time and he let out a low whistle. “The suit, what little of it there is, is nice. I like the way you look in it, Darcie. You are beautiful.”

Better yet, she felt that way. Smiling in earnest, she asked, “So, are we going?”

“Wh-where?” he stammered.

In addition to looking turned on, Nick looked off balance. Darcie's confidence shot up another notch.

“Swimming.” She grinned. “You remembered to pack a pair of trunks, right?”

“I did.”

“Good. Put them on.”

She slipped around him and started for the door, but only managed two steps before his hands clamped on her waist and she was hauled back against his rock-hard chest, abs and...

In the mirror that hung on the opposite wall, their gazes met. Neither one of them was smiling now. The time for humor and teasing had passed. Nick brushed her hair aside and nuzzled her neck a moment, then his hand came up, his fingers fiddled at the nape of her neck. The knot in the bikini's halter went slack.

“It appears that your top has come loose,” he murmured huskily.

He gathered both sides in his hands, holding them at her collarbone. If he were to let go...

“So I see, although I believe it had a little help.”

“I can retie it,” he offered.

She met his gaze without blinking. She thought she might have stopped breathing, too. “Have you got any other suggestions?”

His hands moved lower, slowly exposing more of her skin inch by inch. They both watched his progress in the mirror.

“I can stop. I
should
stop.” His eyes pinched closed a moment and he uttered an oath before pulling the straps taut and retying them. At her questioning gaze in the mirror, he said, “My grandmother thinks I am chivalrous. This is a moment that calls for such old-fashioned thinking.”

“It is?”

He turned her to face him, framed her face with his hands. “I want you, Darcie. But I...we...” He pulled his hands away and started stalking around the room. The rest of his explanation was in Greek. Oddly enough, she thought she understood what he meant.

“I only have another week left in Greece.”

“Yes. But it is more than that.”

A lump formed in her throat. It was?

“Remember when we spoke of your life being at a crossroads?” he asked.

“I said it was more like a busy intersection without a working traffic light.”

“In other words, dangerous. Which is why we are going slowly.”

There was slow and there was snail-like. “I thought you saw me as adventurous for wanting to rush across and hope for the best.”

“I have changed my mind.”

“Worried I could get hurt?” she asked with a tilt of her head.

He didn't answer her question, at least not directly. Instead he said, “The stakes have gotten higher. For both of us. Do you understand?”

Her heart gave an unsteady thump. She knew she had been developing strong feelings for Nick. Real feelings. Feelings that could make walking away from a casual fling in a week very difficult. But until now she hadn't thought Nick might feel the same way. Or that having those feelings might be a problem for him. She knew Nick didn't do more than casual, not since Selene. Darcie sighed. “I think so. Now what?”

He expelled a gusty breath and asked, “Do you still want to go for a swim?”

“Sure. You?”

“Yes.” He kissed her cheek before adding, “If I am lucky, the pool will be very, very cold.”

* * *

Nick got his wish. The water was chilly, especially compared to the hot afternoon air. He and Darcie had the pool to themselves and they stayed in it for nearly an hour. Even so, it wasn't long enough to counteract the effect simply being near her was having on him.

It wasn't only lust he felt when it came to Darcie, which was why he begrudgingly had retied her bikini top and hustled her out of his hotel room. Other emotions were involved that made the prospect of a mere holiday fling less and less appealing.

He liked her. He respected her intelligence, her drive, her resilience. The last thing he wanted was to be responsible for her returning home filled with regrets. That was where chivalry had come in. But self-preservation, he could admit, played a role, too.

So much had happened between the pair of them in such a short time. The feelings Darcie inspired were not unwelcome, but they were unexpected. He'd meant it when he said the stakes had gotten higher for both of them.

Now what?

The question Darcie had asked earlier haunted him. He had no clear answer.

TEN

Darcie yawned and
stretched as she lay on the bed in Nick's guestroom. The sun had crested the horizon a few minutes earlier, but she had been awake for more than an hour listening to the distant sound of fishing boats heading out of the harbor.

Since her and Nick's return from Meteora, time had passed much too quickly for her liking. She blamed it on their busy schedule, which was a combination of business and pleasure. Lots and lots of pleasure, even if it stopped just short of actual sex. In addition to doing research on the internet and writing articles for the auction brochure, she and Nick had met with a deep-pocketed repeat client who was eager to add a 1950s-era, American-made muscle car to his already expansive collection of automobiles, and a new client looking to score his first vintage Porsche.

They also had managed a couple more sightseeing day trips on Greece's mainland, and they'd spent one glorious afternoon lazing on a beach on the island of Andros. She'd worn the bikini again. And she'd known from Nick's expression that he loved seeing her in it, whatever the cost to him personally.

Darcie was having the time of her life. It didn't matter what she and Nick did. She enjoyed being with him and talking to him, whether about the automobiles she was researching or movies they'd seen or current happenings in the world. It amazed her, really, how much they had in common for two people who had grown up in different cultures on different sides of the world.

As for their relationship, she wasn't quite sure how to categorize it.
Fling
didn't fit since the word implied sex. She and Nick hadn't had sex, although she swore that every moment she spent in his company qualified as foreplay. She enjoyed kissing him, the exquisite torture of feeling his mouth and hands on her skin. But she wanted more.

On a frustrated sigh, she rolled to her side and hugged a pillow to her chest. She'd never met another man who made her feel more desirable or quite so aware of her femininity. Yet since Meteora and their brush with physical intimacy in his hotel room, Nick had shown the kind of restraint possessed by the monks who lived in the terra-cotta-tile-roofed monasteries they'd toured the following day. No matter how far things progressed between them physically, he always stopped just short of taking her to bed. Now their time together in Greece was almost over.

Part of Darcie acknowledged that maybe it was just as well they hadn't had sex. Physical intimacy would complicate things, at least on her end. As she'd told Nick, she wasn't the sort of woman to fall in bed with a man simply to scratch an itch.

But another part of her ached to be with him in every sense of the word, no matter how short their time together.

She wasn't on the rebound, as her family might assume. Nor was she confused or vulnerable over her breakup with Tad. Indeed, Darcie had never felt clearer on her reasons for ending her engagement, despite her ex's continuing messages, the most recent of which had been surprisingly conciliatory in tone. Tad wanted her back. He wanted to work things out. But Darcie knew no matter how much he was willing to change, she already had changed more.

There was no going back, even if in a matter of days, she would be flying home to Buffalo. She wouldn't be returning to her old life. The old Darcie was gone. The new Darcie wasn't going to settle and make do. That almost made up for the fact that her idyllic vacation with Nick was coming to an end.

Would they see each other again? That was the million-dollar question, and it weighed heavily on her mind.

Not long after she returned to the United States, he would as well. From what she knew of his schedule, he would leave Greece the day after Pieter's wedding. But even without an ocean to separate them, she and Nick would hardly be neighbors. Besides, he had made no mention of getting together once they were both back in America.

Sure, at one point early in their acquaintance he had offered to show Darcie the sights should she ever find herself in the Big Apple again, but the offer had been more polite than anything else, and he hadn't made a similar one since then, much less issued a formal invitation.

In fact, the more involved they had become the less was said about what the future held for the two of them. Personally, at least. Nick made it plain how pleased he was with the features she'd written for his upcoming auction brochure.

“Use my name as a reference if you think it will help,” he'd told her.

He'd also given her the contact information for the editor of an online car collectors' blog that sometimes used freelance writers. Why not? she thought. Clips were clips and the more experience under her belt the better.

Overall, Darcie was pretty satisfied with the work she'd done while in Greece. It wasn't going to win her any Pulitzers, but it was a start, a first step in a new and exciting journey.

She had one last feature to write for Nick for an upcoming auction brochure. The car was a 1914 Packard 4-48. The owner lived in New Jersey and was selling it to finance his daughter's college tuition. Nick had inspected the Packard prior to his trip to Greece and estimated it could bring in up to half a million dollars. He agreed with Darcie that, with the right buyer, the sixty-horsepower touring phaeton might bring in even more since many of its parts were original. That was what made her articles every bit as important as the photographs included in the brochures that would be sent out in advance of the auction.

Darcie tossed the pillow aside and rose. She might as well start to work on it. She was nearly finished with the article and was making a second pot of coffee when the doorbell rang. Nick's appearance was unexpected, even though they had plans for later in the day.

When she opened the door, his gaze swept down to her toes before returning to her face.

“You are dressed.”

“And you were hoping otherwise.”

He didn't bother to hide his smile. “I was. It's why I didn't call first.”

“Sorry to disappoint you then.”

“Did I say I was disappointed?” He yanked her into his arms for a hard, fast kiss. While she was still recovering from it, he said, “I have a favor to ask.”

“After kissing me like that you can ask me anything.”

He made a humming sound and she swore his pupils dilated. “Anything?”

Darcie was playing with fire, but she no longer cared. She wanted to feel not just the heat, but the burn. “Anything.”

The devil was in his eyes when he asked, “My grandmother has invited us for coffee. Do you want to go?”

The mention of his
yiayia
threatened to put a damper on seduction. She thumped his chest with the back of her hand. “
That's
the question you come up with? Seriously?”

His lips quirked. “Not the only one, but I would like to know your answer.” Darcie was wearing the turquoise tunic she'd purchased in Trikala. It had a peasant-style neckline that closed with a ribbon tie. Nick fiddled with the ends of the ribbon as he added, “First.”

Her brows shot up. First sounded promising.

Still, she asked, “Will the rest of your family be there? I want to know exactly how large of an audience to expect for this command performance.”

He shook his head. “My mother is with Selene and her mother
—
some last-minute wedding preparations. My father and Pieter are working today. It will just be Yiayia.”

“All right,” she said slowly.

“We will not stay long,” he promised. “Afterward, I thought we could ride the cable car to the top of Lycabettus. The view from the hilltop is even better than that from the Acropolis.”

It would be the last touristy thing Darcie did in Greece, but that wasn't why she frowned. “Nick, about spending more time with your grandmother, I really like her, which makes me feel—”

He stopped her with another kiss. This one was slower, deeper, sweeter. By the time he finished, they were fully inside his house with the door closed behind him and the foyer wall against Darcie's back.

“If it helps, I am as uncomfortable as you are with the charade, but it is not all an act now.” He tipped her chin up. “Is it?”

“It was never
all
an act.”

“Exactly. We might not have met when and where we said we did, but I have not lied to them about my feelings. I have always been attracted to you physically, but it is more than that now. Yes?”

“For both of us,” she agreed.

“Which brings me to my other question,” he said softly.

Darcie could barely breathe, but she managed to say, “And that is?”

Nick tugged on the tunic's ribbon until it gave way. The neckline gaped open, offering a tantalizing glimpse of cleavage.

“May I please make love to you?”

A chorus of
Hallelujah!
rang in her head, but she couldn't keep from asking, “Right now?”

He flicked open the button on her capris. “Right now. I can wait no longer.”

* * *

They arrived at his grandmother's house two hours later. Darcie was still tingling all over from the best orgasm she'd ever experienced. At one point she hadn't known whether to laugh out loud or start to cry. She'd done neither, thank goodness. Nor had she burst into song, though the lyrics to U2's “Beautiful Day” had been on the tip of her tongue.

As Nick shifted the car into Park, she checked her reflection in her compact mirror for the third time.

“You look the same as you did five minutes ago. In other words, perfect,” he assured her, leaning over to give her a kiss.

“I feel...conspicuous,” Darcie replied. “Like your grandmother is going to take one look at me and
know
what we were doing less than an hour ago.”

“There is no need to worry. She might suspect, but she will not
know.
” Nick winked.

“Gee, thanks. That puts my mind at ease.”

* * *

“Something about you is different,” Yiayia said to Darcie the moment she and Nick walked through the door.

Darcie felt her face flame scarlet and she shot Nick a panicked look.

He put his arm around her shoulders and said mildly, “Greece agrees with her.”

Yiayia's expression was shrewd. “Something agrees with her.” Then she motioned with her hand. “Come. We will eat outside. The day is too nice to sit in the kitchen.”

They followed her through the house and out to the veranda. Darcie took a seat in the shade of the pergola. The midday air was heavy with the scent of roses.

“I made
koulourakia portokaliou
just this morning. I have the recipe for you.” She sent Darcie a wink.

“Thank you,” Darcie said.

“Are you excited for the wedding?” Yiayia asked as she poured the tea. “Selene and Pieter's wedding, that is.”

The older woman's smile turned wily.

“Weddings are exciting,” Darcie evaded. She nibbled a cookie.

“What color is the dress you will wear?”

“My dress. Oh, um...” She glanced at Nick for help.

“Darcie wants it to be a surprise.”

Yiayia frowned at that, but couldn't resist offering a little unsolicited advice.

“You should wear a bright color. Do not be afraid to stand out. When I was a young woman, I favored red. I was wearing red the night Nicolas's grandfather saw me at a dance. He said the color caught his attention even before I did. For every anniversary my Alexandros gave me red roses.” She sighed.

“How long were you married?” Darcie asked.

“Thirty-seven years. It has been twenty-three years since I lost him. But it feels like yesterday that I was a young woman planning my own wedding.” She patted Darcie's hand. “Time passes too quickly. Now my grandchildren are falling in love and getting married.”

Falling in love...was that what was happening to Darcie? The assessment felt alarmingly right. Her gaze connected with Nick's. His expression was one she could not read.

“What about you, Yiayia?” he asked then. “What color will you wear to the wedding?”

Now a smile lurked around the corners of his mouth. Darcie knew it was because his grandmother always wore black.

Yiayia pointed a finger at him and smiled. “It is to be a surprise.”

They all laughed.

Then Yiayia asked, “Have you ever been to a Greek wedding?”

Finally, a question Darcie could answer with complete honesty. “No. Never.”

“Ah, then you are in for a treat. It is too bad you will not see Selene ride the donkey to church, but there will be video to watch later.”

“A donkey?” Darcie tried to picture the lovely young woman she'd met perched atop an animal in her wedding day finery. The image simply wouldn't come.

“It is a tradition that represents the bride leaving home,” Nick explained. “Her family and friends will walk with her.”

“It sounds like fun.”

“You wait until you have your turn on the donkey. You will not think so,” Yiayia warned. “The donkey I rode, he wanted to run. My father had to hold the rein tight to make him go slow. My mother said it was because the animal knew how eager I was to get to the church.”

Once again, they all laughed. The good humor didn't last long. It vanished as soon as the older woman asked Darcie, “Has Nikolos told you about the
koumbaro
?”

“Yiayia.” His voice was uncharacteristically sharp.

But his grandmother was undeterred. She briefly explained it to Darcie, including the custom with the switching of the crowns.

“It sounds lovely,” Darcie replied, unsure what else to say. Meanwhile, Nick's expression had grown pinched. If Sophia noticed, she chose to ignore it.

“It also is a special honor that Pieter has asked of Nikolos, but he refuses.”

“Yiayia,” he said again. This time, his tone was not sharp, but sad, pained.

“After we met you, Darcie, and we saw with our own eyes how you and Nikolos are together, we all hoped...” Yiayia's shoulders rose in a shrug as her voice trailed off.