Greek for Beginners (4 page)

A waiter appeared not long after they settled in their seats and took their order. She asked for the moussaka, in part because Nick had recommended it, and because she was unfamiliar with the other items on the menu. He ordered the same, as well as coffee for the pair of them and a bottle of sparkling water.

“I get the feeling I'm in store for an authentic Greek meal,” she said once they were alone.

“You are. I hope you like it.”

Her stomach was growling loud enough to be embarrassing. “I'm sure I will,” she told him. “Um, what exactly is moussaka?”

His rich laughter rumbled. The sound was pleasing, especially since she didn't feel his amusement came at her expense.

“It is a dish made with eggplant. Do you like eggplant?” he asked.

“I love it. Yum.”

She'd eaten it...once. It had been breaded and pan-fried, and then slathered in Evelyn's homemade tomato sauce and melted parmesan cheese. The indigestion Darcie had experienced afterward likely had been the result of Tad's mother's fault-finding throughout the meal rather than the food itself.

Nick apparently wasn't fooled. “You are an adventurous one, I see. Willing to try new things.”

She liked his assessment, even if the speculative gleam in his eye gave her pause.

“I believe in being open-minded. Why not take a few chances?”

Nick smiled. “Why not indeed?”

A moment of silence passed as he studied her. She found it hard not to fidget given the intensity of his gaze. Was he picturing her naked? Darcie sucked in her stomach just to be on the safe side and found the courage to ask, “Perhaps you should tell me what's on your mind.”

“A favor.”

“Oh.” She stopped holding in her stomach.

“You look disappointed?”

She brushed her hair back from her face. “Not at all. Ask away. Ask for anything. I owe you.”

This time his laughter was low, intimate and ridiculously arousing. “That is not the sort of thing you should tell a man,
agapi mou.
If I were without scruples, you could find yourself in trouble after making a statement such as that.”

Darcie was too intrigued and too attracted to Nick to be alarmed. Maybe it was the warmth that radiated from his dark eyes, or the slightly self-deprecating quirk of his sensual lips. She was sure he posed no threat to her safety. To her sanity? Well, that remained to be seen.

“But you do have scruples.”

“How can you tell?”

“A man without them would not have bothered to help me yesterday without asking for anything in return.”

“Yet here I am one day later, begging a favor.” His lips quirked again.

“Begging is different than demanding. A man without scruples would demand, I think.”

“I am glad you see it that way.” His expression sobered then. “You are certainly under no obligation to agree to my proposition. I want to make that perfectly clear from the outset.”

Proposition?
The mere word, said as it was in that delicious accent, caused heat to curl low in Darcie's belly. Sitting with Nick inside the little café, she felt worldly, sophisticated and a lifetime removed from the awkward young woman from Buffalo who had allowed herself to be browbeaten into inertia by Tad's overbearing mother.

Darcie was pleased to find her voice was magnificently matter-of-fact when she replied, “It's clear, Nick. So, what is this proposition of yours?”

“I would like to invite you to dinner tonight.”

“Dinner?” She blinked.

Maybe she'd heard him wrong. Darcie wasn't disappointed, but she was somewhat surprised. Sharing another meal seemed, well, a little mundane given his dramatic lead-in. Maybe
proposition
had a different meaning in Greece than it did back in the United States. Or maybe she'd imagined the speculative gleam in his eyes. Or maybe she was just too long out of practice with members of the opposite sex to be able to figure out their intentions beyond mere flirting.

“Dinner. Yes.” He hesitated then before adding. “With my family.”

Her mouth fell open at that. She knew she was gaping, yet it was a full thirty seconds before she could force her lips to close. She'd dated Tad for more than a year before he'd taken her home to meet his mother. Little had she known then that he'd been doing her a favor. Still...

“Are you going to say anything?” Nick asked at last. A grin lurked around the corners of his mouth.

“Sorry,” she mumbled. “I'm just a little surprised by the invitation.”

“I have no doubt of that. We have only just met, after all. And it is a big favor to ask.”

The server returned with their bottle of water, a couple of glasses and two demitasse cups of coffee, forestalling her reply. Darcie took a sip of the coffee. It was stronger than she was used to, very sweet and hot enough that it burned her tongue. She barely noticed the pain. She was too preoccupied with the gorgeous man sitting across from her. Things like this didn't happen to her. There had to be a catch. Or a camera crew lurking nearby, waiting to jump out and tell her she'd been punked.

She glanced around, ruled out a hoax and asked, “Why do you want me to meet your parents?”

“Not only my parents. My grandmother will be there as well.”

“Why not?” She lifted her shoulders. “The more the merrier.”

“Yes.” But there was nothing merry about his expression. He looked downright grim.

“So, um, why? Not that I'm not flattered by the invitation,” she hastened to assure him. “But I'm curious.”

“I told you that I was in Athens because my brother is to be married.”

She nodded. “In two weeks.”

“My mother and grandmother have had their heads together for months trying to find a date for me.”

“You can't find one on your own?” Darcie winced as soon as the words were out. “What I mean is, so you are single.” She winced again and picked up her coffee, braving a second burn on her tongue if it would keep her from blurting out any more embarrassing remarks.

“I'm not in a relationship at the moment.” A pair of dark brows rose. “And you? I should have thought to ask if you are involved with anyone.”

“Nope. No one.”

And she had to admit, her emancipation
—
that was how she was coming to view it
—
felt pretty darned good right now. She was free. Free of Tad's lukewarm affection and his mother's passive-aggressive jabs. Free of her own mother's well-meaning interference and her married sisters' well-meaning advice. Free of self-doubt. Well, mostly free. Yes, Darcie was happily free to flirt, to enjoy the company of a handsome man and to accept, if she so chose, his invitation to dinner.

And she so chose.

His dark eyes warmed. “That is good. Very good.”

“Oh?”

“It would not do for me to be propositioning a woman who is already spoken for.”

“No worries there.” Feeling emboldened, she added, “I speak for myself these days.”

“Another reason to like you. Now, back to my predicament. My mother and grandmother mean well. They think I am pining.”

“Pining?” She didn't like the sound of that. It implied another woman was in the picture.

He shook his head. “Perhaps lonely is a better word.”

Better, but improbable. “I don't think so. You don't look lonely to me.”

More to the point, men who looked
like
Nick Costas didn't tend to get lonely. They tended to have smartphones filled with the names and numbers of women who were eager to share meals and mattress space.

Nick took a sip of his coffee. “Lacking for companionship,” he said at last.

Laughter bubbled out before she could stop it. “Sorry. I find that even harder to believe.”

“Unfortunately, my mother and grandmother are less inclined to see the truth. So, they have been...matchmaking. I told them I have no need for their help.”

“Because you can get your own dates.”

“Yes, as our lunch proves. But...” The corners of his mouth turned down and he shrugged.

“How do I figure into this?”

Darcie thought she knew, and she was already flattered, but since jumping to conclusions was her specialty, she decided a little clarification wouldn't hurt. Besides, it would be really embarrassing if she was wrong.

“There is a woman who recently returned to Greece after living in London for a few years. My mother knows her mother, and has invited both of them to my brother's wedding. Now I am expected to be her escort. I told her and my grandmother that I already have a date. You.”

The smile he sent Darcie could have melted a glacier. She shivered anyway and gooseflesh pricked her arms.

“Oh.” Her mouth threatened to fall open again. She kept it closed by putting her elbow on the tabletop and propping her chin on her fist.

“What is this look?” he asked, his eyes narrowing as he studied her face.

She dropped the hand from her chin and busied herself lining up the cutlery next to her plate. “I was going for nonchalant, but I suppose you could call it gobsmacked.”

“Gobsmacked? I am not familiar with this term.”

“Um, it means shocked.”

“Because we barely know one another,” he guessed.

“Sure.” She moved the knife one-sixteenth of an inch to the right. “That reason will do.”

“It is a lot to ask, but I was hoping you would agree.” When she continued to fuss with her utensils, he reached across the table and settled his hand over hers. “I would be most grateful.”

Darcie glanced up and moistened her lips. It was all Nick could do not to moan. That sexy mouth of hers was going to be his undoing. The table was narrow enough that it would take little effort to lean across it and kiss her. It was tempting.
She
was tempting.

“I don't speak Greek,” Darcie said, interrupting his fantasy.

For a moment, he wasn't sure he could speak at all.

“Nick?”

He cleared his throat, bemused by the strange infatuation he felt. “That will not be a problem. Both of my parents are fluent in English, and my grandmother knows enough to get by. I can always translate if she does not understand something or if you do not.”

“That's...good.”

And still she hesitated. So, he decided to sweeten the deal. “Have you had any luck getting a refund on your tour?”

“No. I left a message last night and planned to call again today.”

Nick had left messages as well. Stavros was either passed out cold or screening his calls. If Nick had to bet on one, he would put money on the former.

“What if I were to be your guide? In return for accompanying me to dinner, I will take you to the sites mentioned on the tour's brochure.”

And why not? It would give him something to do for the next couple of weeks while he dodged his mother and grandmother's well-meaning mediation and Pieter's ongoing attempts to bury the hatchet. And he couldn't think of another woman he'd rather pass the time with than Darcie.

“That's very generous of you, but without a refund from Stavros I can't afford to stay in Greece much longer, let alone for the full two weeks.”

“Leave Stavros to me.”

One way or another, Nick would see to it that Darcie Hayes had her trip...and enjoyed it.

“You do realize I will be heading home the day before your brother gets married, right?”

“That is fine.”

Nick did not need an actual date for Pieter's wedding. All he needed was a viable reason in the interim to avoid a setup. Once his mother and grandmother met Darcie, they would cease and desist in their matchmaking. As solutions went, it was perfect. Now if only his family would stop trying to force a reconciliation between him and Pieter.

“I don't know,” Darcie began. “It sounds as if I'm getting the better end of the deal.”

She only thought so because she hadn't yet met his
yiayia
or the rest of his kin, Nick thought wryly.

“Does that mean we
have
a deal?”

“I... Why not? Sure.” She stuck out her hand just as she had the previous day.

Nick studied the long, unadorned fingers for a moment before giving in to his previous impulse. Bypassing her palm, he leaned over to kiss her full on the mouth. Her sweetness had him lingering and wishing for privacy. Unfortunately, there was none of that here. Sure enough, when he drew back, the restaurant erupted in applause and shouts of
“Opa!”

Darcie's blush was becoming, if at odds with the frank interest evident in her eyes. Maybe she had gotten the better end of the deal after all. Not that Nick minded one bit.

* * *

Back at her hotel, Nick insisted on parking his car and walking her inside. Darcie thought she knew why. He wanted to kiss her again. Well, no problem. She wanted to kiss him again, too.

The lip-lock they'd shared in the restaurant had been amazing. On a scale of one to ten, Darcie would rate it a ten...thousand. That didn't even take into account the degree of difficulty involved. Nick had managed that score with a table wedged between them and a wide-eyed crowd of spectators, whose spontaneous applause afterward, by the way, had been entirely appropriate. Heck, that kiss had deserved a standing ovation. Darcie would settle for an encore.

Should she ask him to come up to her room? They would have privacy but it might seem too forward. He might think she wanted to sleep with him. Did she?

Why yes, she did. She was human and breathing and he was gorgeous and sexy beyond belief. But should she?

Probably not a good idea. She'd never been the sort of woman who slept with a man on the first date. Or the second. Or the third...

“Darcie
—
”

“Even the fourth would be pushing it.”

Nick's brow wrinkled. “Excuse me?”