Chapter 14
14
Josefine
“ Kalimera. ” A big, burly and hairy man with a handlebar mustache tosses our luggage into the back of the shuttle van.
“ Kalimera. ” I repeat the Greek phrase for good morning . After two hours of messing around on my Duolingo app, I can officially say “the purple carrot” and “drama in the mini market.” Both should be super handy when I order cocktails at the bar.
“What’s the name of the hotel again?” my cousin asks, examining her freshly painted nails.
“Atlas Luxury Resort & Spa.”
“It’s the place you stayed at last time, right?”
I shake my head. “No. That was a bed-and-breakfast. Atlas is the resort where I fell asleep in the hammock.”
“Oh, that’s right. Where you met Mr. Serial Killer,” she says, scanning our surroundings.
So far, our view is just a runway of white rental cars. I can’t wait to witness her face when the real scenery is revealed.
“Ugh, don’t remind me,” I sigh. If I said I haven’t thought about Cam over the last year, then I’d be a big fat liar. For weeks, I carried him with me. Not only did he bury his very large dick inside me that night, but he buried his soul inside me too. I let myself mope around for precisely one month before I shoved the memory of him in the metaphorical garbage disposal. There was no point in pining over him. After I decided to put him out of my mind, grieving the loss of my long-term relationship with Tyler and building a new life for myself in New York City mostly kept me from thinking about Cam’s perfect pecs and toned ass. Even if I wanted to look him up, I wouldn’t know how. We didn’t share last names or exchange contact information before he made it very clear he regretted our one-night stand.
As we hit a switchback and the city center comes into view, Millie gasps. “Oh my god!”
“I told you.”
Side by side, we admire the expanse of turquoise water. The lighthouse is in the distance, and thousands of colorful buildings are sprinkled in every direction. It’s truly picturesque. And with my best friend and partner in crime by my side, I know this will be an unforgettable experience.
“Feels… so… good,” Millie moans.
“Don’t lay down!”
But it’s too late. She’s already sinking face-first into the mattress.
“I know you’re exhausted, babes, but let’s dig up the last bit of adrenaline we have and push through the rest of the day. We’ve gotta beat the jet lag before it beats us.” I’ll share my melatonin later.
“All I heard was beat ,” she mumbles against the white duvet.
“Up.” I smack her ass .
“Hey!” Millie sits up and straightens her romper. “The only one who should be smacking my ass is Adonis at the front desk.”
“Is that really his name?”
“I have no idea.” She chuckles. “But he was giving off major book boyfriend vibes. Did you see his corded forearm veins? I’d like to drag my?—”
“Easy there, killer. I thought you were into that chick. What’s her name again?”
“Who, Samantha?” Millie joins me in the bathroom and sits on the counter, popping the top of the complimentary shower gel and unleashing the scent of orange blossom and rosemary. “Sam’s hot as fuck and cool as shit, but I don’t think she’s into me.” She frowns.
“Why do you say that?” I spray a cloud of dry shampoo before running a brush through my hair.
“Because,” Millie grabs the brush from my hand and drags it through her shoulder-length hair. “She hasn’t made a move.”
“Well, have you ?”
She shrugs.
“Amelia. You haven’t made a move yet? Hasn’t being a voice narrator for a spicy audio stories app taught you anything?”
She dips her chin and twists her fingers in her lap, then she jumps off the counter. She catches my eyes in the mirror. “Sam’s way out of my league, Jo. Plus, I don’t even know if she’s into girls.”
“Hey.” I soften my tone and grasp my cousin’s hands. “Remember when you didn’t know if you were into girls?”
She nods and drops her gaze. “That was a really confusing time.”
“Maybe Sam just needs more time or a friend she feels like she can talk to.”
“Thanks, boo.” She squeezes my hands three times, our silent way of saying I love you , before releasing .
“Now…” I dig into my cosmetics bag, giving her first dibs on the concealer. “Dab this under your eyes and let’s go find Adonis!”
“You look like you need the caffeine.” Nik, the bartender, places two tall glasses on the counter in front of us. He talked us into trying Freddo cappuccinos, but they look more like failed attempts at Frappuccinos.
“What the hell is this?” Millie scoffs.
“You Americans think you know coffee.” Nik tosses his head back. “But us Greeks? We invented coffee.”
“Is that true?” I sip from a paper straw, savoring the bitterness.
“We invented everything.” Nik smacks the bar, a wide smile plastered across his sweaty face.
Millie spits her drink back into the glass like a fucking toddler, her face curled in disgust. If there’s no sugar in her coffee, she doesn’t want it.
Nik laughs and hands over packets of sugar before we take our coffees to the cabana and settle on the blue-and-white striped chaise lounges.
“What do you want to do tonight?” she asks, stirring the sugar into her drink with her straw.
“I one thousand percent plan on sleeping.”
“Oh, come on.” She swats at me. “Don’t be such a buzzkill.”
“Says the woman who was making out with the mattress earlier.”
“That’s before I had this freaky Freddo drink. I’m wired. What the fuck do they put in their coffee over here? I feel like I’m going to have a heart attack. I’m too young, Joey!” She brings the back of her palm to her forehead, overly dramatic as always.
I chuckle. “I doubt it’s the jitter juice. You put like forty packets of sugar in there.”
“I’ll let you be lame for one night,” she huffs. “Then I don’t want any excuses, missy. This is a trip of a lifetime and shouldn’t be wasted in a hotel room.”
“You’re making it seem like I’m no fun. I’m hella fun, Mills. I’m just exhausted from traveling. I swear I won’t hold back tomorrow. It’s just you and me, boo.”
True to my word, I wake bright and early, ready to take on Greece. We pop into the only Starbucks on this side of the island so Millie can get her sugar fix. I opt for an Americano, and with our drinks in hand, we roam the never-ending shops of Old Town.
We turn a corner down a cobblestone alleyway, and I gasp at what’s laid out before us. “Oh my god. Look.”
Four vending machines are tucked into a hole in the wall. The first contains ice-cold drinks, the second is filled with a host of European snacks, the third with medicine, toiletries, vapes, and baby products. But it’s the fourth machine that intrigues me. It’s stocked with lube, condoms, and sex toys. Who knew a variety of vibrators, dildos, and anal plugs could be bought like a bag of chips?
Millie squeals, snapping a picture with her phone. “Now there’s something you don’t see in America.”
“See anything you like?” I laugh.
“ Actually .” She drags a finger over the tempered glass and pauses at B4. “You, right there. ”
Once she’s inserted twenty-five euros, a hot pink rabbit drops from its shelf.
“I can’t believe you bought a sex toy from a vending machine.” I cackle, inspecting the box. It looks legit.
“When in Greece.”
“How much more time do you need?” Millie asks, applying another coat of mascara to her lashes. Her cheeks are dewy, courtesy of our outing earlier today.
I’m in the middle of curling my hair, towel still wrapped around my body. “Another ten or fifteen minutes?”
“I’m going to head down to the lobby and book a reservation for that excursion we talked about while you finish up. Let’s meet at the fountain I pointed out on our way in.”
“Sure. See you there.”
Earlier at dinner, the people at the table behind us were talking about getting caught in the rain on the beach yesterday, and it instantly catapulted me to last May. To Cameron. I swore I wasn’t going to think about him while I was here, but I can’t help it. I couldn’t stop the image that sprung to mind first. The one of him wearing a wet shirt that clung to his broad chest and shoulders when I noticed him in the hotel lobby. He was flustered and angry about missing his connection to the cruise ship, and maybe I’m romanticizing our interaction, but it’s almost as if that all floated away when he saw me standing next to him.
And the look on his face when I stepped out of the bathroom in our little room at the B&B? I’d never admit it, but I was wearing lingerie. I’d been so out of sorts that morning that I must have tossed it into my beach bag by mistake. The look he gave me when he saw me come out of the bathroom? Damn, what I wouldn’t give to have someone look at me that way again.
I saw him on the ship that last day. He was lounging on the pool deck with a drink in his hand. It took the mental strength of a Navy SEAL not to rush over and demand a redo of our morning-after conversation. When the ship made it back to port, did he go back to his perfect little prepackaged life, or did he have the balls to go after what he wanted?