She smiled and then dove into her stew. Her uncle was such a fan of hers. Would he continue to be if he and her father knew all of the lies she’d told them, all of the secrets she’d withheld from them? Her latest escapade with Max?
Her mind turned on a quid note. Mikayla had texted her while she was preparing the stew. Her friend’s New Year’s Eve party sounded like so much fun. She could text Kas and ask what he was planning to do New Year’s Eve. If he wouldn’t go with her—after all, why should he fly all the way across the North American continent just to go to a party with her? If he couldn’t go, why not ask Dan?
Wait a minute! She was stuck in London, nursing Uncle Terence back to health.
She looked up at his thinning pate of gray hair and wondered.
“Uncle, if you’re well enough, will you be going out for New Year’s Eve?”
He smiled as he dabbed another piece of bread in the stew’s gravy. “My club is having a men’s night of gaming. Free drinks if one buys into a poker tournament. Why? Is there something you’re yearning to do? A pretty young woman like you, surely you have a date. Oh, but your date’s in Washington, is it not?”
“Yes, sort of.”
She blew on her spoon filled with beef. Mustn’t look too anxious. Did she have the money to fly back to D.C.? Of course, she had, thanks to the Skoroses’ generous birthday gift.
“There’s a party in Washington. I thought, maybe I could fly back there early? If you’re feeling better?”
He smacked his lips and downed the bread in one gulp. “Of course I’m feeling better. Mrs. Hughes can fix me something before I run off to my club. Her roast lasts me for days. I owe her a Christmas present, anyway. You know how women are about such things. They like to be remembered. You make your plans, Athena. You’re young only once, dear. Just make certain your parents know you’ll be flying back early.”
Out of the blue, an incoming text buzzed her cell phone. She pulled the phone out of her pocket and read the message. In shock, she nearly dropped her phone. Her jaw fell, and she muttered, “Oh, my God!”
Kas? Thinking of me the same time I was thinking of him. Now who’s the psychic?
She jumped up, went over to her uncle and hugged him. He waved her off, typical English prudence winning out over sentimentality.
“Don’t, my dear. Wouldn’t want you ill next.”
She hugged him anyway. “Uncle Terence, you have no idea how happy you’ve made me!”
Kas, Kas…I do mean something to you.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Seventy-two hours later, Athena pulled to the curb at the Reagan Airport Arrivals terminal. She turned off the ignition, got out, and stood by the driver’s door. Then she saw him. He was looking away, gazing at the queues of cars.
Her heart somersaulted as she took in his appearance. Kas Skoros cleaned up well. He was tall and suave in a sky-blue sweater, a dark-gray sports coat, and pale-gray slacks. His brown hair was slicked back, and he was clean-shaven, almost shiny with good looks and robust health. What had happened to the rugged, whiskered mountain man of Thanksgiving week? Today, he looked like a Capitol lobbyist. With anticipation, she hoped to get a chance to see all the faces of Mr. Skoros. More importantly, were they going to finish what they’d started a month ago? She certainly hoped so.
She called out his name and waved. Soon he was tossing his large carry-on bag into the back seat of Athena’s sedan. Or rather, the four-door sedan that her father leased, mainly for her mother’s sake, during their long posting in D.C.
He leaned over and gave her cheek a peck.
“This was a great idea, Athena,” he said as he buckled up. “I was looking for an excuse to see you.” He looked at the cast on her left arm. Although hampered a little, her left hand held the steering wheel while her right hand worked the automatic gearshift. The pain had subsided to nothing. The full-arm cast was cumbersome but tolerable.
“I can drive—“
She shook her head.
“I heard what you did to help the FBI catch those guys. You’re a real pistol, Athena Butler.”
She smiled. “I assume that’s a compliment. It wasn’t my idea. The Embassy’s security detail planned the trap. I just went along, and things happened. Just got unlucky with a ricocheted bullet.”
“Or maybe that was the luckiest day of your life.”
She nodded, wanting to change the subject. Her right hand flipped up and down before she pulled into the flow of traffic. “Your family didn’t mind your leaving on the spur of the moment?”
The smile he shot her had an edge to it. “They don’t rule me. Except for the work I do for Skoros Enterprises, I come and go as I please. The holiday’s a slow time, anyway. Pop’s doing fine, the others are all in town, and I haven’t had a vacation in over a year. Don’t you think I deserve a five-day break? Especially with my favorite blonde psychic?”
“Of course.” Pleased with his words, she glanced over at him. “But you live with them, as I do with my parents. It’s different, don’t you think?”
“Athena, you probably wouldn’t know this, but I live in a condo in downtown Sacramento, near our corporate office. I go home to the Loomis hills place only when the Search and Rescue Team calls me, or something special comes up. Jeez, I keep forgetting how young you are, how tied you are to your mother’s apron strings.”
That stung a little, though what he said was true. The traffic slowed to a crawl, so she turned to face him. “I’m trying to cut those strings. That’s why I’m here, instead of in London.”
He grew serious. “I’m going to be upfront with you, Athena. This can be just a sightseeing trip with you as my tour guide.” A pause when his eyes met hers. “Or it can be something totally different. It’s up to you, sweetheart. I’m wading into dangerous waters, here. Part of me wants to jump in, part of me—not so much. With women, I want to have fun and then run like hell.”
She had to laugh. Was he so afraid of her and that booze bottle he alluded to before? “Kas, you make me sound like a man-eating shark.”
That remark made him chuckle. “You’re too young to be one…yet. Look, I’m booked into the George Washington Hotel. I’ve never been there, but I read it’s a stately old, remodeled hotel and a block or two from the White House, prime location, close to everything. I want to see a couple of the Smithsonians while I’m here. Also, the Capitol building, the Lincoln Memorial, the Mall, whatever else I can squeeze in. But I want to see them with you.” His voice took on a raspy edge as he went on, “Or I can go to this party with you as a friend, and afterwards we go our separate ways. I do some sightseeing on my own and fly back. No harm, no foul.”
She said nothing for minutes. This was a test, she realized. Was she up for it? Or was she totally not ready for primetime? By the time she turned the corner and stopped in front of the entrance of the George Washington, her mind was made up. She’d packed a bag just in case….
She told him, “I’m going to drop you and your suitcase off, and then I’ll go to the parking garage two blocks away. Meet me in the lobby, okay? Give me fifteen minutes.”
The look he gave her made her want to laugh. She’d caught him by surprise. Kas Skoros, man of the world, underwent a series of expressions—from shock to surprise to extreme pleasure. The last one showed a fine set of straight, even teeth, making him look more boyishly handsome than usual.
“Okay, hurry.” His voice was a little hoarse. Could Kas be showing a little emotion? Well, bless his jaded heart!
“I will.”
She wanted to jump in the air and kick up her heels.
Yeah!
****
Two hours later, they were lying in his queen-size hotel bed, completely naked, the perspiration cooling on both their bodies. Reveling in the way he stared at her bare breasts and shoulders, Athena left the sheet at her waist. She’d cleaned up a little and, though her genitals were throbbing a bit, she felt wonderful. Awesome. He was gentle and loving, even solicitous toward
her. Every step of the way, he’d put her feelings before his galloping desire. She lay on her stomach, propped on her bent, casted left arm and braced against his side. Her right hand snaked across his chest and tugged gently on his chest hair.
“Are you okay?” he asked her. “You look…”
“Different? I should. I certainly feel different.” I’m not the same person I was an hour ago. And it’s all because of you. “You didn’t hurt me, Kas. We can do this again, can’t we?” She looked up and caught his lopsided grin.
“Oh yeah, as often as you want, babe. Just as soon as I get some room service and get recharged. I brought a pack full of condoms, that’s how hopeful I was.”
She hadn’t yet begun taking the Pill, so she was relieved by his initiative.
“You traveled all night. Do you want to take a nap?”
“Oh, hell no.” He reached for her and cautiously rolled her over onto her back. His dark hair tickled her as his mouth found her breast. She turned off the images that flooded her mind, seeing what he intended to do next. Pleasure swamped her ordinary senses so much that nothing else was needed or mattered. She closed her eyes and sighed as another wave of pleasure rolled over her.
His bravado lasted four more hours before he finally crashed. She dozed, rising in and out of sleep every so often, curled against him in a safe, loving cocoon.
Wow. Bloody incredible. So this is what it’s like to make love with someone you’re in love with. Nothing else can measure up to this…incredible feeling.
The days sped by. Other than the leisurely walk they took around the circumference of the White House grounds one morning, they took a one-day tour of the city inside The Beltway. The remainder of Kas’ five days, they were content to talk and make love. Athena forgot all about Mikayla’s New Year’s Eve party as she dined with Kas at the hotel’s rooftop restaurant that night.
They never mentioned love for there was no need to. Athena read his mind at will and knew what he was thinking and feeling. He was in love with her, surprised that his emotions had been stirred so rapidly and so deeply, and he was determined to make their romance last as long as possible. Mindful of his mother’s prediction about the two of them—their romance doomed for the present but possible in the future—she and Kas made no plans, preferring to live and love in the here-and-now. They ignored their cell phones and didn’t answer the hotel phone in their room. For now, the hotel was their sanctuary.
On Sunday afternoon, Athena, trembling inside, took Kas to the airport. They held each other for a long moment then kissed.
“I’ll see you soon,” Kas told her, his voice catching a little, but he was no more specific than that. What could they do? They had separate, very different lives. A continent apart, no less. She had no idea when she’d see him again. Unlike his mother, she couldn’t predict the future.
Nevertheless, she refused to cry as she smiled and waved him off.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Two weeks later, Athena was knee deep in school projects, and everyone in her family had returned to their normal routine. Chris was back at the boarding school in Virginia, her father was putting in long days at the Embassy, and her mother had another translation job to finish and sequestered herself in the study most days and evenings. Every night, Athena dedicated herself to finishing Alex’s portrait in her corner of the living room.
On Friday night, her mother paused at the living room’s threshold to wish her goodnight.
“I want you to know, Athena, that I’m not judging you for your…what shall we call it?”
Good grief, she couldn’t keep anything a secret from her clairvoyant mother! Now she understood the resentment of others, the “normal” people who didn’t have the powers of her bloodline. How had her mother found out? Did she read a thought, a memory, as she casually touched Athena during the course of daily life? Probably. Had Lorena picked up something from her son? Probably. Had they put two and two together? Most likely. She, herself, hadn’t breathed a word. Of course, living with her mother, such a normal thing—verbal communication—wasn’t at all necessary.
Athena put her brush down and turned to face her mother.
“Let’s see, the Americans call it a fling. The French call it a liaison. You Italians call it una relazione. I call it an awesome five days and four nights. And I might never see him again.”
Her mother frowned and picked at some lint on her sweater.
“And if you have your heart broken? Lorena foresees that it’s impossible for you to be together…at least, for some time.”
“Then so be it.” Athena huffed and turned back to Alex’s portrait. “Now, may I return to this painting?”
“You used protection?” her mother persisted.
Athena held her breath and counted to twenty, marshaling all her patience. Her mother was just being…a mother. She couldn’t help herself. But if Athena could prevent the precious moments with Kas from becoming the subject of a family rumor mill from D.C. to California, or fodder for Chris’ mockery, then she would. With all the power she possessed.
“Protection? What’s that? I’ve never heard of such a thing—“
Evidently, her mother didn’t appreciate the sarcasm.
“Buona notte.” Then she was gone.
Relieved, Athena took up her brush. She had to get Alex’s smile just right. She didn’t know what, but something compelled her to finish the portrait that night. She wouldn’t go to bed until she was satisfied with his smile.
Hours later, she dragged herself to bed after applying the finishing touches on Alex’s face. When the oils were fully dried, she’d spray the canvas with a varnish fixative before Fed-Ex-ing it to Kas in California. It was early Saturday morning, two o’clock. Her eyes closed almost before her head hit the pillow. She slept soundly for an hour or two. Then the dream began.
This had never happened before! She found herself in Kas Skoros’s mind without having to touch him. How could this be? No matter, for she wanted to be there.
He was at his favorite watering hole in the old gold mining town of Auburn, up in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Alex’s pals were hosting an engagement party, and all the guys were downing beer, bumping elbows and knuckles, full of themselves and jokes about marriage. The ol’ ball and chain. A prisoner of love chose his own cell with the words, I do—the most hated words in the English language. Falling in love was a kind of insanity, and marriage was the cure. On and on they went, rubbing it in while Alex laughed and good-naturedly took it all. Irony reigned, for the only one to remain silent was Kas, the only single man among this crazy bunch.
Single and free, but even he was sick and tired of casual sex. Meaningless physical couplings, lacking in emotions other than a mild fondness or a lusty attraction. No woman he’d ever want to wake up and have breakfast with, anyway. Except for Athena Butler.
While the men joked and laughed, Kas thought of his time with Athena in Washington. His mind was recalling every moment, every day, every night, from the time he’d arrived to the Sunday afternoon when he kissed her goodbye. Playing it over in his head like a video loop. Meanwhile, feeling the pleasure, the thrill of discovery—she constantly surprised and challenged him. Discomfiting moments when doubts beleaguered him, when he felt she was too good for him, too young, too inexperienced.
Time droned on and he was downing his, what, fifth or sixth bottle of beer. He got up and wove his way to the men’s room, barely got to the urinal in time. Zipped down, relieved himself, zipped up. Washed his hands and looked into the mirror and scowled at himself, noticing the new furrows on his forehead, the first gray hairs at his temple. God, he was only twenty-eight! His brothers all married—even Alex was looking forward to getting married in one month, the date all set, the Greek Orthodox church and hall booked for the grand event. He couldn’t believe his brother was going through with marrying Nikki. She was pretty, but shallow and selfish and she was going to drive poor, crazy-in-love Alex insane. Of course, not only was Nikki the d
aughter of their father’s business partner, Abe Theopoulis, but his sap of a brother had gotten her pregnant. Poor Alex couldn’t see through her. Hey, shit happens. What could Kas do? Nikki was pregnant with Alex’s child. There was no reneging on such a compact between families, even if Alex wanted to. And that dumb sonuvabitch wasn’t saying no to anyone.
Back at the table, he slurped down another beer. This time, his eyes began to cross, his vision blurred, and everyone was swaying, the whole room listing left and right. Like he was on a goddamned ship in a storm. His brother stood up and insisted on taking him home, his shoulder under Kas’s arm, steering him to Alex’s sports car in the side parking lot. Kas’s mind was a swirling blank and everything was spinning around him. That was strange, everything was strange. Otherworldly.
A moment later, his stomach lurched, felt on fire. He made it to the men’s room in time, but just barely. Minutes later, Alex found him on the floor, hugging the toilet and muttering, although Kas figured he was the only one who knew what he was saying.
“Bad beer…bad peanuts…bad something…”
His mind churned, and delirious dreams swirled around his head. They were in the boathouse at lakeside. Athena, that strange, beautiful girl, was struggling with her wetsuit. He went over to help her, and his fingers grazed her back, her neck. He had the urge to grab her to him. Why couldn’t he have her? He’d wanted her, ever since he saw her that first day at the airport. She had such a tall figure, was slim in all the right places, plump in all the right places…oh, yeah. When he’d looked into her eyes, that sea green, he’d sensed the depth of her mind, the fullness of her heart. He wanted to hold her, possess her, claim her as his own. But no…not possible, his mother had warned him. Why not? He was needed for something else. Fuck the something else!
Nope…not possible, not now.
In his delirium, she dove into the lake and swam away. He jumped on the Jet Ski and tried to find her, but she’d disappeared, into the depths of the cold lake.
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