Adonis in Athens (Romancing Europe #1)

“Yes. Anyway, that’s my life. What should we talk about now?”

She laughed. “Anything you want! Tell me about where we are and what I’m looking at.”

Apollo seemed enthusiastic about that idea and launched into a lengthy description of each of the little towns they passed and some of the historical highlights. There were hills and houses on the left and miles of clear, azure waters on the right. She longed to put her feet in and told him so.

“Let’s go find you a suit,” he suggested. “Then we can go for a swim. Mine is always in the car, along with towels.”

“I can’t really afford—”

“I know,” he interrupted gently. “Let me do this for you. I have the money and it was my idea for us to come down here.”

“I have a suit at the hotel. We can go to the beach tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow I have meetings in the morning I can’t miss, and then I want to take you to Monastiraki.”

“What’s that? I saw the name in the guidebook.”

“It’s a touristy area, but it’s in an old, historic part of the city right near the Acropolis. You could shop—there’s a little of everything and some of it is dirt cheap. For a couple of dollars you can find Italian Murano glass pendants and items like real leather shoes and handbags for reasonable prices. Not to mention souvenirs. We can eat down there and later in the day, when it’s not so hot, we’ll climb the Acropolis. So today we should swim.”

She looked down. “Okay. But you can’t buy me a lot of things. Tom was always buying me things and it made me feel like I owed him.”

“You owe me nothing except four days of your company and that beautiful smile.”

“Okay.”

“There’s just one condition.”

She narrowed her eyes. “What?”

“I pick the bathing suit.”

She shook her head. “I’m not wearing a thong or going topless or anything like that.”

“Not a chance in hell,” he said gruffly. “While I appreciate a sexy woman’s body, when that woman is mine, I don’t want anyone else to see that much. Sexy is good, showing some cleavage maybe, but your ass and breasts? That’s not for anyone but me.”

“Even though I’m not really yours?”

He set his jaw and met her eyes. “Until I sign those papers, technically you’re absolutely mine.”

She wasn’t sure what to say, but had to look away, afraid he would see the flush of happiness that washed over her and warmed her from the inside out. “A lot of guys would go out of their way to take advantage of a situation like this.”

“That’s not who I am, koukla mou.”

“What does that mean?” she asked softly.

“Literally, it means my doll, but the expression is a term of endearment like honey or sweetheart.”

“I wish I knew some Greek.”

“You will by the time you leave!” He pulled off the highway and into a little beachside area. “I think we can find something here. You ready?”

“As I’ll ever be!”

An hour later they were chest-deep in water with the most spectacular view. There were mountains on one side where, if she looked up, she could see the Temple of Poseidon. Hills with white boxes that were actually houses were on another side, with the water’s endless horizon if she looked straight out. The sea was warm and as smooth as glass today, and she let her body relax into a floating position, the salt content high enough to keep her buoyant.

Apollo had bought her a gorgeous turquoise one-piece bathing suit that was strapless and high-cut on the sides, well above her hips. It hugged her curves in all the right places, offering the slightest peek of cleavage at the top but covering everything else. She felt sexy and relaxed, and when his strong arms came up under her, pulling her upper body against his chest so that she could rest the back of her head on his shoulder, she didn’t even try to hide her sigh of contentment.

“I haven’t touched you in three years,” he murmured against her temple. “I will absolutely respect your boundaries, but you have to tell me what they are.”