by Olivia Gates
* * *
Andreas didn’t come back.
After a couple days of absence and silence, suspicion had started to gel in her mind. Then more days passed, and she could no longer find any other explanation.
That evening he’d spent with them must have been a test, to see if he could bear having them around. And he’d found he couldn’t.
He might have also been trying to decide if he still wanted her, and had discovered that he didn’t.
It seemed that night they’d shared, what had reignited her need for him, had only managed to purge her from his system. He’d had the closure sex she’d deprived him of when she’d walked away so abruptly. Now he had no more use for her. And he’d decided to leave her and Dora alone.
Mentally, she knew she should be feeling relieved, that Dora was safe. But she wasn’t. She was only disappointed.
No, she wasn’t disappointed.
She was crushed.
It felt as if she’d lost him all over again.
But it was even worse this time.
This time he’d shown her a glimpse of what she’d dreamed of from the moment she’d first seen him. A taste of Andreas the man, the companion, not only the lover and devourer.
And it had been ambrosia. She craved more of the closeness and fun and spontaneity that he’d given her during that magical evening.
And he’d just walked away. After he’d released the slow poison of longing all over again in her blood. A more potent one this time, since he’d shown her that what she’d longed for wasn’t a mirage. It could be real. It was real. But it would never be hers.
As he never would be.
Eight
“I was beginning to think you’d never come.”
Naomi winced at Selene’s brightness. She couldn’t tell her she was late because she had been debating not coming. It had taken her all morning to summon the guts to bundle up Hannah and Dora and drive to Manhattan Beach.
Not that Andreas had factored in her dread of attending the Sarantos family gathering Selene and Aristedes had invited her to. It was a “family” gathering, and he was the man who had no relations with his.
She’d ended up coming because she wanted a relationship with them, for Dora’s sake. Aristedes had said they’d all considered Petros a brother, and no matter how Naomi felt, she’d do anything to give Dora uncles and aunts who cared about her, and kids her age to grow up among.
Selene linked her arm through hers after she’d kissed and welcomed Hannah and Dora. “No more wasting time, ladies. Everybody is dying to meet you all.”
Walking into the waterfront villa was like stepping through a wormhole and landing in Crete. The Greek influences in design were prevalent throughout, even if the traditional touches were imbued with the latest in modernity. It stood to reason that would be the Sarantoses’ choice, since both Aristedes and Selene were of Greek origin.
It was sumptuous yet unpretentious, spacious yet not massive, a testament to the taste and priorities of those who’d built it. While the man of the house could afford something a hundred times more luxurious, he and his wife cared only about comfort, privacy, safety...and each other.
Naomi’s observations ended when she found the Sarantos family coming to meet them en masse. What with the four sisters, their husbands and children, and a few more people who were close friends or distant relatives, she could barely keep up with the introductions and the new faces. The only ones who stood out were Caliope, Andreas’s youngest sibling, and her Russian husband, Maksim Volkov, one of the world’s biggest steel magnates. With brothers like Aristedes and Andreas, Caliope could have fallen only for someone as overwhelming.
Suddenly, Naomi’s heart rammed the base of her throat.
Strolling in from the terrace, framed by the breathtaking vista of the Atlantic, was Andreas.
Everyone’s voices rose as he came to stand at the periphery of the gathering, ignoring everyone who scolded him for being late in welcoming Naomi and the others.
“Naomi, Hannah.” That was the sum total of his acknowledgment of their presence before he turned his gaze down to Dora, who’d left her newfound friends and was crawling toward him at high speed.
He let her reach him, pull herself up his leg, and only when she gave him the most endearing grin in history did he relent and pick her up.
Voices rose again, some laughingly claiming it had to be the end of the world, others complaining that he hadn’t given their kids that unprecedented privilege.
Andreas gave them all a serene look as Dora nuzzled his neck. “I didn’t pick Dorothea up. She compelled me. Didn’t you see that glance and grin? Ask Naomi. This child is an expert in getting whatever she sets her sights on, and she must have wanted to see what it’s like being at this altitude. I don’t volunteer pickup services, but when your kids lay claim to them like Dorothea did, I will comply.”
Everyone laughed and ribbed him about turning out to be a huge rattle toy just like everyone else. But Naomi knew it wasn’t true. If Dora had resorted to her demanding ways, he wouldn’t have picked her up. But he’d had her trained from just their one encounter.
Andreas would never take the first step, or respond to approaches, until they were made to his strict specifications.
After making the connection with Andreas, Dora asked to be let down so she could rejoin the kids, who ranged in age from one to seven. Then everyone started drifting into smaller groups.
They all seemed to be leaving Naomi with Andreas on purpose. The moment they were alone, he said he was going back out on the terrace. She followed, only because she wanted to blast him apart.
He was braced with outstretched arms on the balustrade, his hair ruffling in the breeze, his gaze searching the horizon by the time she was at his side.
Snatching a glance back, to make sure they were out of earshot of the others, she fixed her eyes to the same point in the distance. “What are you doing here?”
“Right this second?” The voice that was as deep as that ocean, as alluring and merciless, washed over her. “I’m looking at the ocean.”
She turned to him, found him regarding her in amusement, which he seemed to think she’d reciprocate.
She didn’t find turmoil amusing. Nothing had explained the past ten days other than that he’d come, seen, conquered, then left. And just as she’d resigned herself that she would never see him again, she found him here. And could think of no good reason for that.
“How about a real answer?”
His lips twisted quizzically. “What’s your theory about my presence? You must have come up with a few.”
“Just one. You’re toying with me.”
He frowned. “How and why would I do that?”
The sudden seriousness in his eyes, that tinge of confusion, of dismay, deflated the bubbling accusations.
Had she gotten it all wrong, again? Could it be he’d just decided to visit his family and it had nothing to do with her?
The terrible thing was, that made sense. To go to the effort of toying with her, he’d have to think about her first. And he seemed to have dropped her from his consideration.
Without another word or look, she turned and walked back inside, wishing she could just take Hannah and Dora and leave.
God, why had she come? She should have never wished for more, even for Dora, just protected what they had. Now every exposure to his family—and him, now that he’d gotten it into his mind to start seeing them—would chip away at her. He’d already damaged her. More injuries might cripple her for good.
All her senses screamed a warning that Andreas was approaching. She lengthened her stride, reaching for the sanctuary of company.
Before he caught up with her, she fell into step with Caliope, who’d just left one of her older sisters.
Caliope tur
ned with a radiant smile, stopping and forcing her to, as well. “Back already? Is it as nippy outside as it looks?” Her turquoise eyes went over Naomi’s head. “Or is it another temperature-compromised reason that sent you back so soon?”
“All this creativeness to call me cold, Cali?” Andreas tutted.
“Not cold, my dearest brother, cool. Maddeningly so.”
“Another lie, since I’m not your ‘dearest’ brother. We all know I’m at the end of the list of dearness around here.”
Caliope laughed, not contradicting him, but clearly very fond of him. Andreas made people love him without doing a thing. Or while doing everything to make them hate him.
“It’s just lack of exposure. Let us see you and you’d climb the list and share the top spots in no time.”
“Hmm. That’s all it takes? That might be arranged.”
Caliope’s eyes widened. “Really?” Without warning, she jumped forward and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Oh, yes, please, Andreas.”
He looked as if he’d been hit by lightning.
This probably was the first time Caliope had hugged him.
Naomi could only hope he wouldn’t rebuff her eagerness.
Then, as if approaching an abandoned package that might explode, he slowly wrapped his arms around his sister.
Yelping in delight, Caliope surged up to kiss him exuberantly.
Evidently thinking things had gone far enough, Andreas eased his hold on her and straightened to his full height.
No doubt knowing she’d gotten more than she could have expected, Caliope let him go with a sigh of contentment. “Man, I can’t believe I have your promise we’ll be seeing more of you. After you attended my wedding, too. Have I told you how much that meant to me?”
His lips twisted. “Only thirty-four times.”
“Oh, I thought it was thirty-five.”
“Four. It’s how many times you’ve called me since.”
Caliope’s mouth dropped open. “You count people’s calls?”
“Only yours...and Aristedes’s. He always has something earth-shattering to tell me, while you, mikrá Cali, I dread even more.”
Caliope laughed again, turning to Naomi. “Do I look tiny to you? But that gives you an idea when the last time Andreas really saw me was.” She turned back to her brother. “And what was so dreadful about my calls? I only updated you about where each of us was, to see if you could drop by.”
“It’s your efforts to ‘remodel’ me that I dread.”
Caliope looked back at Naomi with a conspiring grin. “I think I can abandon all my efforts now, don’t you think?”
Meaning that Naomi would be the one doing the remodeling? If only Caliope knew.
But she wasn’t about to correct her assumptions. All she wanted was to escape this scene of familial reacquaintance, and Andreas, until she could leave. She would never come within a mile of any Sarantos ever again.
Andreas’s eyes had turned to her, as if expecting her to respond to his sister, before being drawn back to Caliope when she winced and started stroking her belly.
He frowned. “You all right?”
“Oh, it’s just Tatjana’s daily acrobatic exercises.”
His eyebrows rose. “You already named her?”
Caliope chuckled. “We decided on Tatjana Anastasia, after Maksim’s mother and late sister, before we found out the sex. Then we did, and that was it.”
Something like indulgence hovered over his lips. “I thought you looked your most beautiful at your wedding, but you’ve...blossomed since. Cliché, I know, but nothing else would do. Married life has been good to you. After a few bumps, that is.”
“Maksim has been good to me. Phenomenal wouldn’t even cut it. And those bumps only made things better.”
Andreas whistled. “Better than phenomenal? Maksim must be some kind of supernatural being.”
Caliope’s grin was so bright, it nearly blinded Naomi. “He is.”
“Glad to know I’m related through marriage to a superhero. He might come in handy.”
Caliope poked him. “You should try them, you know.”
“Maksim or bumps?”
Poking him harder with an unfettered laugh, Caliope flashed a devouring glance at her husband, who was watching her in the same way even as he talked to her sister Melina.
It was impossible to see those two together, just like Selene and Aristedes, and not be buffeted by the force of emotions they shared. But there seemed something extra between Caliope and Maksim. According to Selene, they’d been through hell and back together, and it had clearly fused them in ways that the most sublime happiness couldn’t have. Maksim looked at their child, Leo, and Caliope’s advanced bump as if he were watching his own beating heart. As for how he looked at Caliope...it made Naomi’s hair stand on end. It was almost too much love to witness.
Still chuckling, Caliope said, “Sorry, Maksim is taken, for this life and whatever comes next. You go get your own bumps with your own soul mate.”
Naomi escaped Caliope’s glance, which swerved to her, only to find her eyes colliding with Andreas’s.
Slowly releasing her gaze, he turned to his sister. “Don’t I require a soul first?”
“Oh, you have one somewhere. Even if it’s buried under decades of dust. All we need to do is unearth it.”
“As long as you leave the unearthing to me and don’t try to precipitate it with your drilling methods.”
After that, Caliope’s direct comments forced Naomi to participate in the conversation, until Hannah called her away, thankfully, to inform her that she was taking Dora to the pool.
Afterward, counting the seconds until she could leave, Naomi tried to respond to everyone’s welcome and reciprocate their interest. It was as if all present considered her and her family theirs already. Which only made her decision not to see them anymore harder.
But one thing made it easier to forget her turmoil: the rich family spectacle unfolding before her eyes. Everyone weaved such a complex tapestry of relationships and emotions, it was fascinating to watch them interact. With her own father dying when she was five, only a year after Nadine was born, and growing up with just her mother, an only child, and Hannah for family, Naomi had never known what an extended one was like.
The most interesting part to her was when their reactions and interactions involved Andreas. It was clear they loved him, not that even they seemed to know why. And it was equally clear they didn’t know what to make of him or of his unaccustomed presence among them today.
But her real fascination was in watching Andreas. Though there was nothing too overt, she started to believe that he actually cared about them, especially Aristedes and Caliope.
At one point, Naomi found herself with Caliope again. This time she told her the story of their early life in Crete, mainly about their parents’ dysfunctional relationship.
Their father had been a charmer and a user who’d drifted in and out of their mother’s life, each time coming back to add another child to his brood and take all she had, before disappearing again. He’d vanished from their lives for good when Caliope was not yet born, leaving their mother heartbroken and unwilling to go on.
This made Naomi look at Andreas in a new light.
Had he inherited his lack of emotion from their father? The others seemed unscathed by the man’s genes. Aristedes seemed to have emotions in abundance, while Caliope had said her late brother, Leonidas, had been the most loving man on earth. So had Andreas been the only one who’d won the lottery of their father’s terrible legacy?
From then on, Naomi watched him even more closely. Whenever she could find him. He disappeared for stretches of time before reappearing again at random.
She wondered if she had only imagined that he cared for his family. Had sh
e merely seen what she’d wanted to see, still hoping to find something redeemable about him?
But whatever he felt or didn’t feel for them, it wasn’t relevant where she was concerned. Though he did talk to her during the evening, it was in conversations involving others. Like that evening in her apartment, he made no effort to be alone with her. If she’d needed any reinforcement of her previous analysis, that gave it to her in spades.
He no longer wanted her.
While it hurt like she hadn’t thought anything could ever again, at least it meant Dora was safe.
At the end of the evening, as everyone kissed her and she made promises that she knew she wouldn’t keep, Andreas stood apart, watching her and his family. Just watching.
Hannah went ahead to put the sleeping Dora in her car seat before catching a ride to her daughter’s house. While she did that occasionally on weekends, Naomi suspected she was doing it tonight hoping for something to develop in her absence. Turning away with a generalized good-night and thanks to everyone, Naomi rushed after her.
She wanted this over with...now.
She was almost outside the door when she found Andreas beside her. “Did you enjoy yourself today?”
Feeling seconds away from tears, she nodded without raising her gaze to his.
“Dorothea and Hannah seemed to enjoy themselves, too.”
God, now she knew what a mouse felt like being tormented by a majestic, indifferent feline.
“Everyone loved having you all here.”
She almost rounded on him and screamed, “Everyone but you. And just what do you want now? It’s sure not me.”
Out loud she said nothing, concentrating on counting the steps till she reached her car and escape.
He kept up with her until she got into it, kept the door open before she could slam it.
Bending, he seared her with his steady gaze. “I was coming to your place tomorrow, but I thought I’d give you a heads-up, since you’re not big on surprises.”
Fury at his presumption burned away her misery. “Or on people deciding to drop by without consulting me.”
“I am consulting you now.”
