One Greek Summer Wedding

Chapter 60

Cara was sure the noise was a church bell, but it sounded like it was going off right next to her head and it wasn’t stopping. She tried to uncrumple her eyes, which felt like they were stuck together. Where was she? This didn’t look like the room at the Arcadion Hotel. Then she remembered. She’d had too much to drink. Akis had carried her to his apartment. She quickly did a surreptitious look under the covers. Clothed. And then…

‘It is 7.57.’

Akis was there by the bed and he was holding out a mug that she could smell was full of steaming coffee. She straightened herself up and reached for it.

‘Thank you,’ she said, cradling the mug gratefully.

‘You know how I know it is 7.57?’

‘Your watch?’

‘The church bell.’

‘What?’

‘It is always three minutes out. For years.’

‘That is very Greek,’ Cara said as she took a sip of her coffee. ‘Thank you for this. And thank you for obviously letting me stay last night. I apologise for anything I did or said that was ridiculous and please don’t tell me any of it.’

‘OK,’ Akis answered.

‘There’s a smile on your face. Why is there a smile on your face? Did I do or say anything ridiculous?’

‘You said you did not want to know.’

‘I know I said that but…’

‘But?’

‘But you could stop looking like you are the keeper of all the world’s secrets!’

And he could also stop looking so goddamn hot. It was a vest today, dark grey, teamed with jeans.

‘Not the world’s,’ he told her. ‘Only yours.’

She put the coffee mug down on the nightstand then picked up the pillow to the side of her.

‘What are you doing?’ Akis asked.

‘Nothing,’ Cara answered, trying to look chill but knowing she was failing.

‘O-K,’ Akis said.

He was ready the second she struck the first blow. He dodged, then grabbed the other pillow.

‘You really want to do this?’

‘I’m good at this,’ Cara said, up on her knees now, pillow held tight in her hands. ‘We use pillows to test space in the suitcases at Carried Away.’

‘Anastasia thought she was good at this when we were kids,’ Akis countered, raising an eyebrow.

‘It sounds like you are laying down a challenge.’

‘You’re the one who wants to know the secrets you gave up.’

She struck out with her pillow but, before she could retract again, Akis had grabbed it and was holding on tight.

‘Let go!’ Cara exclaimed, pulling with all her might. ‘That’s not fair! There are rules in pillow warfare!’

‘Oh, is that right?’

She gripped harder, fingers digging into the fabric, trying to hold on. She was never going to win on pure strength. She had to employ another tactic. She went for it, straining everything to tug harder and then… she let go.

Expecting to see Akis stagger backwards at the change in counterbalance, she was taken aback when she realised he had let go of the pillow a millisecond before she had meant to and it was her who was falling backwards onto the bed.

And then, like a flashback to the hen night, she was flat on her back and Akis was astride her, his pillow in the air, the look on his face saying victory was his.

‘You tricked me,’ Cara said.

‘What?’ he asked. ‘You were going to have me fall! I could have knocked myself unconscious on the coffee table! That’s one thing you almost did last night by the way.’

Cara groaned. ‘Don’t tell me. I take it all back. I don’t want to know anything.’

He took the pillow he was holding and gently put it behind her head. ‘You said you valued feeling safe.’

She swallowed. Had she really told him that? She had let her thoughts and feelings go. ‘Yes.’

‘You said what “home” meant to you.’

She looked into his eyes and felt every feeling. She barely managed a nod. He was right there, over her, and it felt so completely natural, like they did this all the time. Should she take a chance that this was right? That despite what she had been through with Seb, with her career, with everything, should she trust in how she had grown to feel about Akis in such a short space of time? He was so close. She could reach up and palm his cheek, pull him down towards her and have those lips on hers again and who knew where it went next…

‘And what did you say?’ she asked, continuing to gaze into those beautiful eyes.

‘I said that?—’

The church bell rang again and it took them both by surprise. Cara jolted and it was enough to break the moment. Within a second, Akis was off her, rebounding as if the bell ringer might be about to knock on his apartment door.

‘I will… go out for bougatsa. Enjoy your coffee.’

And with that, he was gone, out of the door, before Cara could even ask what bougatsa was.