by Sun Chara
Silly girl, to think she stood a chance of outsmarting the big man.
He tossed the anchor overboard, unhooked a coil of rope from the wall and secured one end around her waist, and the other around his. “Don’t want to get separated”.
A premonition or a mockery of what had become their life and what was still to be?
Lightning split the sky, and then a thunderclap accented her thoughts. A hysterical sound burst from her mouth, but the windstorm whacked it away.
“We’re only half a mile from shore.” Battered by the storm, he grasped her hand, dragging her with him and staggered to the edge. “The life raft would smash against the rocks and go under.”
She nodded, glad she’d spent her time swimming in their private beach in Athens, while Michalis had been working overtime. She slammed her brain cells shut, not wanting to remember with whom he’d spent those late hours, when she, the ninny, had taken him at his word that he’d been working.
“Ready?” he asked, forcing her thoughts to the present.
“No-o,” she said, her teeth chattering.
He tightened his grip on her fingers, and she revised her answer.
“Ye-s.”
At his signal, she sucked in a breath and bailed, plunging with him into the depths of the sea.
Chapter 8
Julia surfaced, gasping for air, her arms flailing, the salt water stinging her eyes.
“I’ve got you.” Treading water beside her, Michalis swiped at his waterlogged lashes to clear his vision and pointed to shore.
She nodded.
By this time, the wind had abated a bit, and Michalis strong-armed the waves with his front crawl. Julia followed, determined to keep pace with him, but she lagged several yards behind. It was like fighting a wall of water, but after what seemed like an eternity, they collapsed upon the shore, the waves washing over them.
“Okay?” he panted, his voice gravelly.
“O-okay.” She coughed, flipping on her back and sucking in mouthfuls of air. “You?”
“Yeah.” He nodded, and before he could reply further, the heavens opened, pelting them with wind-whipped rain.
A roll of thunder and then lightning streaked across the ink-black sky.
“Come on.” He hauled her up with him and led the way up the sandy bank toward the palatial resort.
After trekking through pebbles, patches of grass and bamboo, plus the uphill battle against the rainstorm, they reached the hotel.
“Made it.” He wiped rain from his face with his palm and tilted the corner of his mouth in a half grin.
“Yep.” Her pulse raced, but desperately resisting his magnetic appeal, she pulled away, the rope still stretched taut between them. She yanked her life jacket over her head and worked at the knot binding her to him.
“So quick to break away.” He bashed at a soaked tuft of hair flopping over his brow with his fist, and squinted at her.
A raindrop trickled down his temple, and she jerked to brush it with her fingertip, but squashed the impulse. Were his words a mere statement of fact or a query? But next moment, he assisted in the ‘separation’, and that put a lid on her analysis.
“Here, this is easier.” He removed his life-vest, pulled out a jackknife from his back pocket and severed the twine, setting her free.
For some uncanny reason, she felt sad but she shook away the foolish feeling. She’d done ‘devastatingly sad’ a year ago, and finally over it, had no intention of succumbing to it again. No siree.
He slogged ahead of her, leaped up the three marble steps and pounded on the double doors with his fist. No answer. By the time she caught up to him, he’d walked the wrap-around verandah and jimmied a window open. He crawled over the windowsill, his footsteps echoing to her from inside. Seconds later, he pulled open the front doors and mocked a bow. “Welcome to my pad.”
“Some pad.” She elevated her shapely brow, but her mouth curved to almost a smile, and then she bit it off. No surprise, since he could afford these palatial digs three times over, just as he could a year ago. But still, curiosity got the better of her. “Bet this costs a hefty bundle in upkeep.”
“A mil for this weekend at any rate.” He shrugged. “But who’s count—”
“A mil?” She gulped, fanning her face with her hand. “Is that all?”
He swung his head back and laughed.
That much money would be life changing to her…Amy, and most of the world, but to Michalis it was pocket change. And so the words burst out of her, “You actually dished out a million euros to get this place ready for two days just so—”
“Money well spent.” He tapped the door with his palm, but his eyes narrowed a fraction. “I never make an investment without expecting a high return.”
A tremor zipped through her that had nothing to do with the wet clothes clinging to her body, and everything to do with the message beneath his words. And so, she hit back, “Why splurge when we’re about to—”
A deadly silence coiled them in its grip, and behind them…the lull in the elements accentuated the threat.
“About to what, Julia?” he bit out, his words steely.
“Di-divorce.”
Nature unleashed its fury, the wind whooshing through the building and the rain ricocheting off the windowpanes. He grabbed her elbow to propel her inside, but the force of movement smacked her against his chest. Her nipples strained against his soaked t-shirt, and she glanced up, clashing with his dark gaze. A loaded moment, and he pivoted, shutting the doors with his shoulder against the force of wind.
Noticing the transparency of her drenched top, she stepped back and crossed her arms across her bosom. Noting her movement, he scowled and advanced back into her sphere.
“Until D-day, we’ll have a last fling…” He seduced with his words, the deep timbre of his voice, his breath warming her chilled cheeks. “And make it a memorable one, mmm?”
“How could I forget the price you’re demanding for a night of—?”
“Passion.” He finished for her, stroking her cheek with his still damp fingers, but his heat steamed right into her, extracting the coldness from her.
“But you’re wrong.” His hand trailed down the curve of her jaw to her neck, every touch a flare, until he reached her cleavage, igniting a bonfire. A brush of his fingertips, a promise of what was to come. “This night… this weekend is simply foreplay to the month ahead.” He raised his hand and outlined her tremulous mouth with his thumb.
Without batting an eyelash, she made to nip his thumb, but quick on the uptake, he pulled away.
“Uh, uh.” He chuckled, and she was amazed he could find anything amusing in the shipwreck of their marriage. A pause, and he bent his head, his provocative words feathering her mouth. “A taste of heaven?”
“Hell on earth, Michalis.”
A gust of wind hurled against the building seeming to rock it from its foundation.
“How’s it go?” Michalis leaned back and cocked a brow. “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorn—”
“I’m hungry,” she blurted. “I’m going to scout around for dinner.”
“—or a man taken for a fool.” His barely audible warning drifted over her head, and waggling her shoulders, she meandered across the lobby, dismissing the uncanny feeling…and him. She stepped forward, tilted her head and slanted him a curious gaze, but he’d already turned his back, marching to the front desk.
A heavy sigh struggled from deep inside her, and she rubbed the tension from her neck. Exhausted from the events of the day and the emotional tug-o-war, the plush sofa amidst the opulent décor designed with a modern slant in the spacious lobby looked most inviting. She wanted to crash out on it, close her eyes and wake up to find this nightmare gone. She wiggled a finger beneath the wet strap of her top and squirmed in her damp shorts. Too tempting, but she didn’t dare stain the rich fabric with seawater.
“They bailed.”
“What?” She swung around, bumped into a matching armcha
ir and hugged it so she wouldn’t sprawl over it.
“The hired help winged it to the mainland on a rescue chopper before the storm broke.” He waved a note at her, and then flicked it back on the granite countertop with his thumb and forefinger. “Left dinner on the table.”
“A dress up affair…dinner?” Amusement tugged the corner of her mouth, and then at the absurdity of the situation, she burst out laughing. With nothing but the clothes on their backs, they’d be hard-pressed to dress to impress.
“You have a point,” he said, his eyes glinting with merriment, connected with hers.
And just for a moment, the past faded, the future too distant to contemplate, which left the present ambivalent, yet filled with possibilities.
A shutter clattered in the wind, and startled her back to her senses. She turned to resume her tour, glimpsed the telephone on the counter and vaulted for it, snatching it off the hook.
“Hello? Hello…” When no one answered, she pounded the receiver against her palm. “Come on, somebody.”
“Hello, somebody,” Michalis whispered in her ear, grinning.
“This is not amusing.” She banged the phone down on its cradle, his warm breath tingling her skin from the roots of her hair to the tips of her toes. Because of that, and to cover her vulnerability at his nearness, she belted him with her icy glare and frosty words. “No dial tone, no way to communicate, to call and know Amy’s all right.”
“Amy…” –he bashed his brows over his shadowed eyes— “is safe.”
“How do you know?” she asked, her voice rising.
“The nanny is m—”
“Oh, you impossible Greek.” She threw up her hands and paced to and fro across the foyer. “I don’t care who she is, Michalis.” She paused, a catch in her throat and a moist glint in her eye. “My child’s not here with me.”
“In the circumstances,” he quipped, “better she’s not.”
A huff of a breath. “You’re right, of course.” It goaded her to admit it, but then she made up for it by hurling back, “How are we going to get off this piece of rock—”
He guffawed, up-staging her words, and she finished lamely, “Albeit a regal stone.”
Still chuckling, he swerved behind the reception area and folded his arms on the countertop. “I’m at your service, madam.”
“Michalis, how can you joke about this?” She stamped her foot on the marble tiles and her waterlogged sandal squelched; amazing she hadn’t lost it in the deep. “We’re stranded.”
“Hardly.”
“Can you get me my daughter?”
“Our daughter.”
But Julia was on a roll, and distraught, she wanted to hit out…at him.
Slam him with her angst about Amy, about them…the uncertainty surrounding her, engulfing her…smothering her.
“Can you get us out of here—?” She broke off as his words pierced through the cloud of near panic. She caught her bottom lip between her teeth, and nodded. “Our child…” The words melted on her tongue, and she gaped at him standing behind the counter, his shirt plastered to his chest, the neckline rip revealing the dark sprinkle of hair she’d toyed with her fingers, her mouth…once upon a time…a forever time ago. She nearly buckled but lunged back, missed the marble pillar and clutched onto the sofa.
“Yes and yes.” He bit out. “I told you, Amy is in good hands.”
“Don’t tell me,” she let fly. “Show me.”
“You think I’d endanger my own child?” His features hardened, his nose flared, and his words skimmed his tight lips. “What do you take me for?
She stepped up. “A double-crossing, cheat—” She swatted at him, but her hand sliced through the air.
He seized her wrist, his eyes reflecting the ferocity of the elements outside, a muscle bashing his jaw. “You’re distraught—tired—”
“…no good—”
“Calm down.”
“Two-timing…”
He seemed to pale around the mouth, but too worked up to give it much credence she took a second swat at him with her free hand, but he leaned away from the strike, and that infuriated her more. Within a heartbeat, he dragged her across the counter, her tongue still spitting venom.
“Thug.”
“What?” The one word detonated from deep in his chest.
“Practically kidnapping me, demanding…no…exacting retribution,” she hiccupped. “Plotting to take…no…buy…” Another swipe at him missed. He shackled her wrists, and she collapsed onto his chest like a rag doll, “…my daughter from me.”
“You’re crossing the line, agape mou,” he bit out, his words steel, but his warning glided off her like ice melting over fire.
“I won’t let you,” she spat, her words muffled against his chest. “I won’t, I won’t.” The hitch in her voice did reflect her bravado, but more her deep anxiety for her child. “She’s the only family I’ve got.”
Michalis stilled for a deafening second, and inhaling sharply, he filled his lungs, and then the air blasted from his mouth like a grenade. “I’m not… part of the family?”
“You forfeited that right when you—”
A sound sizzled between his teeth, hinting at his barely controlled emotion. It should have tipped her off, but she took no heed, all out to best him on this once.
“You used me, Julia?” he asked, his words hard, remote. “To give you a child.” Folding his fingers, he bumped his fist on his chin. “And when you got her, you slunk away like a thief in the night.”
“No!” She shoved him back, but trapped between the counter and his unyielding body, she had nowhere to go. “That’s a foul thing to say.”
“Is it?”
“Well, what would you call it?” she flung back at him.
“This.” He swooped down, his mouth devouring hers, his tongue tangling with hers, rekindling a chemical combustion of the senses.
A whimper slipped from her mouth onto his tongue, and he lapped it up. Not allowing her to come up for air, he fused her to him, her breasts pressing against his chest, his hips rocking against hers, his sex rock hard.
“Michalis, I—”
“Shh,” he groaned, intensifying the onslaught on her mouth.
He nibbled his way down her chin to her throat, feasting at the pulse point, and then buried his face in her bosom. He scooped her up and stretched along with her across the counter, his hands rediscovering every inch of her body, every curve, dip and valley. Stroking her calf and exploring higher, he brushed the apex of her thighs, feathered across her navel and upward cupping her breast.
A gasp, and Julia tilted her head back, arching into him. He slipped the strap of her halter-top off her shoulder and settled his mouth on one exposed breast. He suckled, he fondled with his tongue, sending a spiral of sensation into her belly and downward where he cupped her with his other hand.
Spasms fanned inside her, and she held his head to the spot, her hands swimming through his hair, drinking him in. She’d loved this man once…and then he…the shadowed ache throbbed through her but was diminished by the assault on her senses.
She knew she should push him away, but her heart… her body…cried yes. Why was that?
The query flashed through her mind, then dissipated beneath his magic touch.
He flicked her nipple with his tongue, his hand across her belly sent ripples skittering through her, and she curved into him, his male strength pressing into her. Lifting his head, he captured her lips, his hips rocking against her pelvis, his signal clear.
The storm outside pummeled the palace, but it was minute compared to the tempest of the senses erupting inside between them.
“Do…you read…” the static words from the switchboard jammed through their erotic heat. “I…repeat … come in…”
“Wha-at?” Julia froze in his arms, her breath fanning his mouth.
“No,” Michalis panted, tapping his forehead to hers, the denial exploding from his mouth. “No.”
She w
iggled beneath him, but he held her close a second longer, then heaving a mouthful of air, reluctantly released her and slid off the counter top. Cool air slapped her skin, but she barely noticed, his heat still warm upon her body.
Brushing back his still damp hair with his fingers, he blasted into the transmitter, his tone gruff, and his words gravelly. “I read you, come in.”
Julia sat cross-legged on the counter and clutched her sagging top over her sensitized breasts. Licking her bottom lip, she groaned; his taste still upon her tongue. Dear God. What had she almost allowed to happen? She covered her face with her hand and her hair fell on either side, hiding the blush on her cheeks. Drawing in a forced breath, she let it slither out between her fingers; every cell in her body stimulated with sensual fervor, poised for him.
Another huff of oxygen, and she flung her head back, swung her feet over the side and wobbled to a standing position, gripping the edge of the counter to keep from crumbling to the floor. She nearly burst out laughing at her idiotic thoughts. The danger they’d tackled out at sea must have spiked the adrenaline rush, heightening the emotion between them. Of course, it could be nothing more than that.
But then he turned, locked her with his smoldering gaze, and shattered her theory. Probing her from head to toe, he caressed her breasts with a dip of his lashes and plunged down to her half-open shorts, then shot back up to her slumberous gaze.
A flush seared her skin, and to cover the awkward moment, she blurted, “Anyone there?” Amazing and maddening that he could still make her blush, after all the sleepless nights they’d spent those first three months together, tangling beneath the sheets. The red-hot images branded her brain, and she bashed down a betraying moan.
“Nope.” An unbidden smile curved his lip. “No response.”
“Hit it,” she said, her words emphatic. Anything to change the mood between them.
“Do what?”
“If you hit it, it jiggles the wires…that’s what I do to my TV set… works every time.”
