by Andrews, Amy
“He was a con artist with a get rich quick scheme. And I was young and in love. I thought he was a tech genius who was going to be the next Steve Jobs and I wanted to support him, so he could fly to those dizzying heights.”
“So you gave him your money.”
“Yep. Between my mother and I we handed over half a mil.”
He winced. “Ouch.”
“Yeah...I didn’t do it to get rich, although he’d certainly implied that I would. I did it because I loved him. He was funny and charming and wanted to take care of us. Like my father had done before he’d died.”
That’s what probably stung the most – not that he took off with their money but that he’d fooled her into believing he actually loved her. Sure, she’d been young when she’d met him – nineteen – and he’d been almost eight years older but she’d never been an idiot. And they’d been in a relationship for a year before she’d offered him the money.
Clearly Eric had been in it for the long game.
“It wouldn’t have been so bad if it had been just me but my mum losing her money, too...”
He’d refused her mother’s money to start with but when she’d insisted several times he’d caved magnanimously.
Fucking. Bastard.
“My mother had just been diagnosed with a degenerative eye condition at the time and we knew she’d slowly go blind over the next ten years. But that didn’t seem to matter to Eric.”
“Did you report him to the police?”
“Of course. It wasn’t his first rodeo, though. There’s a warrant out for his arrest but we aren’t holding our breath. And with my mother’s health situation we knew we didn’t have time to sit around and lick our wounds. We decided his greed wasn’t going to keep us from our dreams so I dropped out of university and got a job with the Hermes line with the goal to save as much money as I could for as long as I could to set us up for when mum became more dependent.”
“You’re not exactly paid a fortune, though, right?”
“Well, no...But my salary has increased year on year, the conversion rate is in my favour, the tips are excellent and with absolutely nothing to spend my money on I can save most of it. One more contract after this and I’m calling it quits.”
“Because of your mother’s sight?”
“Yes. She’s lost about fifty percent of her vision in each eye now. She can still work in a reduced capacity so she’s relatively independent but she can’t drive and they expect her eyesight to decrease more rapidly over the next few years. Plus, we’ll have enough money for a sizeable deposit and it’s important we’re settled and established with the house modified and supports in place while she still had useable eyesight.”
He didn’t say anything for a while but his lips brushed her skin again and Kelsey shut her eyes and let her head flop back against his big, hard shoulder. It felt so good here in the circle of his arms.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured quietly. “About your mother’s sight. That must be tough for you both.”
Kelsey’s eyes fluttered open. It had been a devastating diagnosis eight years ago. But her mother had always been pragmatic. She’d picked herself up after becoming a widow at thirty-one and she hadn’t let impending blindness set her back for long either. “It was. But we adjusted.”
“Is it hereditary?”
“Yes. Although there isn’t a family history that we know about. But...I’m lucky. I’ve been tested and got the all clear.”
His arms tightened again and Kelsey snuggled in close to him aware of the press of his cock against her buttocks. Even flaccid it was an impressive part of his anatomy.
“I’m also sorry about your malaka ex. Is he why you’re still single?”
“Mostly. It’s hard to trust men thanks to Eric. I don’t let them close.”
Except for Ari. In seven years she’d let him closer than any man and she’d known him for five days. Five days. That should be terrifying her but there was too much bliss here in this bubble right now to go there.
“But he’s not the only reason?”
“No.”
A light breeze danced across her sun kissed skin and she turned in his arms, settling her back against the wall tiles as she snaked her legs around his waist jamming his not-so-flaccid-anymore cock between them. He shut his eyes as she wiggled a little.
His hair was starting to dry and get springy on top, the sun had deepened the bronze of his skin, emphasising the dark dots of stubble prickling his jaw. His hands slid to her hips, his eyes opening to rest on the buoyant float of her breasts, her nipples putting on a blatantly sexual display.
Her wiggling turned to rubbing and was about to become grinding. She just couldn’t get enough of this man. But Ari obviously wanted to talk. He clamped down tight on her hips to stop her squirming and captured her gaze.
“You were saying?”
His hands were remarkably proficient in their hold and Kelsey gave up trying to create some friction.
“Cruise life isn’t exactly conducive to permanent relationships,” she said. “Long absences away from loved ones make it difficult which is why there’s a huge hook-up culture amongst staff.”
“But you could get involved with another crew member right? On the same ship?”
“Sure. But there’s no guarantee you’ll both stay on the same ship which makes getting serious difficult and, I don’t know if you’ve noticed this or not, but The Hellenic is like the United Nations. The crew hail from all around the world which means that eventually, if you do become serious with someone who lives in a different country to you, there’ll be all those challenges and choices to make as well.”
“You don’t think something like that could work?”
He seemed serious all of a sudden. Maybe he was thinking about his wife, about how they’d made their cross culture marriage work. About the value it had brought to his life, despite the pain.
“I’m sure it can and does,” Kelsey said. She didn’t want to diminish anyone devoted to making relationships work. “If both parties are committed. But I’m committed to going back home to Australia. To my mother. She’s going to need me more and more and that’s my priority. Cruising has only ever been a means to an end for me. And why,” she said with a little smile, trying to rub against him again, “the hook up scene is more my style.”
His hands held her firm but she didn’t miss the way his eyes glazed over a little or the very definite, albeit brief, drop of his gaze to the shift of her breasts in the water.
“So you’re just using me, huh?” he said as he ground against her this time.
Kelsey grinned as his cock hardened between her folds. “I’m trying my best.”
Then she leaned in and kissed him, gasping as he entered her, giving herself up to the sun and the water and the potency of his possession.
By four o’clock, Kelsey was dressed and standing at the door with Ari indulging in lazy goodbye kisses. It had been a glorious day – a day that would live in her memory forever - but all good things came to an end.
Including this relationship - or whatever the hell it was. They’d agreed this was it, their final hurrah. But that didn’t stop her wanting to linger.
“I got you something,” Ari said, when they finally parted, pulling a small beribboned box from his pocket.
Kelsey frowned as she stared at the offering in his hand which was obviously jewellery of some description. “You didn’t have to get me anything.”
“I know.” He smiled and damn if that smile didn’t do funny things to her tummy. She’d never had a problem with goodbye where men were concerned but Ari was proving to be the exception. “I wanted to.”
Her hand shook a little as she took the box. She should refuse but...she was curious. Untying the ribbon she flipped the box open to discover a beautiful Greek mati – evil eye – bead attached to a silver chain.
A black dot stared out at her from the centre of the blue glass bead. Kelsey had seen a lot of this type of jewellery ov
er the last seven years. Most of it was the cheap and gawdy stuff they sold in the tourists haunts.
But this was the real deal from a bona fide jeweller. Everything about it screamed class from the fine silver chain, to the luminescence of the bead, to the exquisite polished finish.
She’d bet this cost more than a couple of euro.
“A little something to remember Mykonos,” Ari said as her finger stroked the surface of the eye.
Kelsey glanced at him and smiled. “If you think I’m going to forget anything about today, you’re crazy.”
He returned the smile. “Here.” He reached for the box. “Let me.”
She really should refuse but it was such a lovely gesture and before she could knock it back he was taking it from her hands, removing the necklace from the box. And it was an easy step from there to turn around, face the mirror near the entrance and swoop her hair out of the way so he could secure it around her neck.
“Well?” he said, their gazes meeting in the mirror. “What do you think?”
It was divine. The chain was short and the eye sat just below the hollow at the base of her throat and Kelsey loved it. “It’s beautiful,” she whispered, fingering the eye, “thank you.”
He smiled and dropped a kiss on the side of her neck. “You’re beautiful.”
God...this man was good for her ego and she was going to miss him. “I shall treasure it. But...I feel so bad. All I got you was a lousy umbrella.”
He chuckled, his lips bussing her skin spreading goose bumps and tightening her nipples. “And I shall treasure it.”
Kelsey laughed and then she turned in his arms and hugged him. She would always remember Mykonos.
The following two days were sea days on their way to Venice and they flew by. Ari spent most of them holed up in his cabin writing his report which was extensive and which he was presenting at the board meeting in Venice the day after the ship docked.
Being cabin bound was also a good way of avoiding Kelsey. They’d decided Mykonos was it and Ari was fine with the decision. Perfectly fine. Kelsey had been some kind of aberration, a crack of sunlight into the bleakness of his life – nothing more. They lived on opposite sides of the planet with very different lives and neither of them was looking for a commitment.
Plus she was very busy with a ship full of passengers. Too busy to smile and chat and flirt. Definitely too busy for one last hook up.
Although hooking up wasn’t what they’d been doing. Not that there was anything wrong with it if both parties were keen. Hell, Theo almost exclusively hooked up. As did most of his cousins if the European tabloids were any indication.
Ari had even done it a few times himself – before Talia.
But it hadn’t felt like that with Kelsey – not even the first time. There’d been something between them from the second she’d served him at the bar on the day of their departure.
A spark. A connection.
And it hadn’t been sexual. Or not just sexual anyway. It had been...deeper. Beyond the recognition of her as a woman and him as a man. It had been...
The umbrella.
That silly little umbrella. Or the sentiment behind it, anyway. A cheap, tacky bit of fluff that had probably cost less than one lousy cent to produce had dragged him kicking and screaming into the land of the living. Had opened his eyes. To life.
To her.
And he wouldn’t be seeing her again after today. They’d made their majestic entrance into the Venetian lagoon an hour ago and passengers who’d had an early breakfast were already disembarking. Ari was all packed to go but he didn’t want to leave without seeing her one more time. Even if it was just eyes meeting across a room, he needed to catch a glimpse.
Heading to the dining room, he scanned it, his gaze running over the sparsely populated tables. Obviously, most passengers had decided to eat early and get out into Venice as soon as possible. He couldn’t blame them – Venice may be a waterlogged old relic to many but to Ari it was a majestic citadel of inconceivable beauty.
Suddenly he spotted Kelsey approaching a table with a pot of coffee and his heart leapt. Striding towards her he seated himself at the empty table next to the one she was serving. When she was done, she turned and spied her newest customer, heading in his direction, faltering only slightly when she realised it was him. She was in her formal uniform which clung in all the right places and his necklace was at her throat.
“Good morning, Sir,” she said, a smile fixed on her face but wariness in her gaze. “Would you like coffee?”
“Yes please,” he said, holding out his cup to be filled.
“Are you eating breakfast, Sir?”
“Stay with me in Venice.”
She blinked. Hell – he blinked. Ari had not been going to say that at all. But then she was wearing his necklace and they were both going to be in Venice together so...why not?
She didn’t say anything for a beat or two and a hollow feeling in the pit of Ari’s stomach deepened to black hole proportions. He didn’t want this to be it.
Glancing around, she dropped her voice. “Ari...”
“I know,” he conceded quietly, his heart beating like a gong in his chest, wanting this so badly suddenly he could barely breathe. “I know we agreed to not do this but... you’re in Venice for the next two nights and I’m in Venice for the next five. It seems a shame not to take advantage of that.”
He searched her face, her teeth digging into her bottom lip like she was giving it serious consideration. Like she was torn. And Ari wasn’t above pushing his advantage.
“Come on agápi mou. It’ll be just like Mykonos but better. Two solid days in bed. No early morning interruptions for the breakfast shift. We’ll order room service and stay naked. Just you and me in a place where nobody knows us.”
He had the board meeting tomorrow at ten but other than that he had no commitments. He just needed to book some mid range accommodation somewhere because he was pretty sure staying in the family suite in the Gritti Palace, would raise questions.
For the first time in days, a little knot of guilt bunched at the base of his spine. Apart from misleading her about the villa in Mykonos, he forgotten that he’d been deceiving her all this time. Sure, mostly by omission but he hadn’t been up front with her and there was no sugar coating it.
Being incognito for his investigation on the ship was one thing, continuing the deception after his mission was complete was another. If she did agree to stay in Venice with him, Ari knew he had to tell her the truth, as soon as she arrived at his door, before anything else happened between them.
“I...don’t know,” she said, her brow furrowed.
“Okay.” Ari knew better than to push and he didn’t want to be that guy. As unwise as it might be, he wanted to see her again, to spend the next two days with her but he wanted her to want it too. He wanted her to be as unable to resist the idea of more time together as he was.
He grabbed a nearby napkin and asked for her pen. “Just think about it.” He wrote the name of a hotel on the napkin. It was a good modest hotel and Ari knew the owner. He handed the pen back with the napkin. “I’ll be here. Just ask for me at the desk. What time do you knock off?”
“Sometime between one and two,” she said, her voice faint like she couldn’t quite believe she was even contemplating his proposal.
“Excuse me, Miss?”
She turned to the man who had called from the table behind. “One moment, Sir,” she said with a smile.
Turning back to Ari she pocketed the napkin. “I’ll think about it.”
Ari nodded and prayed like hell as she departed that she’d find this crazy pull between them as impossible to resist as he did.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Kelsey could not believe she was doing this as she stood in front of Ari’s hotel door at two o’clock in the afternoon. She knew it wasn’t technically against the rules now. They weren’t on board, Ari was no longer a passenger and she was on two days off.
Bu
t she was supposed to be severing this connection. There was no point letting it blossom any more. Yet here she was at his door, a bag of fresh, crumbly spumiglie in one hand and a stupid yellow cocktail umbrella in the other, ready to dig herself in a little deeper.
God...she should go. She should just go – walk away now before another two days of fun and laughter and rolling around in the sheets with Ari made it harder to keep her focus. She went to turn away but the door opened abruptly and he was standing there in a t-shirt and cargo shorts and her heart gave a crazy lurch.
He smiled at her then in a slow, lazy way that had other parts, significantly lower, lurching. “You came.” He placed a hand up high on the door frame as if he knew how skittish she was and didn’t want to go too hard too soon.
“I did.” Damn it, she was here. Time to own it. “And I came bearing gifts this time.” She held up the cocktail umbrella which he took with a smile. “And some food.” She thrust the brown paper bag at his chest.
He removed his hand from the door frame, opening the packet and peering inside. “Ah...spumiglie.”
God, he sounded so...Greek when pronouncing non English words, his very English accent segueing into something far more rich. He stuck his nose in the packet and inhaled before glancing at her and saying with a smile, “My second favourite thing to eat.”
Every erogenous zone in her body fizzed at the innuendo and Kelsey’s pulse hammered like crazy. She wanted him. She missed him. It might only have been five hours since she’d seen Ari but it felt like five days.
She was utterly, tragically lost.
Still smiling, he stepped closer, his hand gliding onto her hip urging her nearer and when their bodies were pressed together he kissed her long and slow. All thoughts of after Venice fled as she moaned and clung and went boneless against him.
Long, drugging moments later, he lifted his mouth from hers, his breathing just as heavy and Kelsey was pleased for the solid press of his body as the ground tilted beneath her feet. His thumb brushed along her bottom lip. “Come on,” he said, intertwining his fingers with hers and tugging gently, “let me show you around.”
