Chapter 24
Angelos fell with her into the satin sheets. His breath warm against her ear, he whispered: “I can wait no longer. Se thelo, asteri mou .”
I want you, my star. Mia shivered and raised her leg over his waist, letting him caress the silky skin of her inner thigh. She wanted him too.
- One Week with the Greek
CALLIE
A fter spending the past few weeks on Lyra, I was shocked by how crowded and busy I found Rhodes.
As Teresa led me through the stone archways of the medieval city, I found myself missing the quiet of my little house, where all I could hear was the humming of the cicadas and the gentle lapping of waves on the rocks below.
“We can go to the spa first and then have lunch,” Teresa shouted over a group of tourists. “A body scrub and wax?”
That sounded heavenly. “Yes, please. I still can’t believe that a couple weeks ago, I was washing myself in cold water and bathing in a hot spring. Don’t get me wrong, the springs are amazing and now that my ankle is healed, I plan on going back there—but I’ve never felt so filthy in my life.”
“I still cannot believe they did that to you and that he ”—she pointed to Yiannis—“agreed. I told him that until your restaurant is built, he can forget about a—what do you call it?—a blow up?”
I laughed. “Oh my God, I love you. It’s called a blow job.
But don’t be too hard on him. He already feels bad about it.
And I’ve come to accept my own role in the whole situation.
” It’s true that I hadn’t done much research on Lyra, or I would have known that that cottage was not representative of the island.
Teresa’s spa was near the beach not far from the old city. A morning of pampering was exactly what I needed. As I got undressed though, I realized I had red marks on my hips and thighs where Nikos had dug his fingers into me.
I was trying not to think about him, but it wasn’t easy, given what he’d done to my body last night.
I’d felt thoroughly ravished and worshipped at the same time.
It was the strangest sensation. Like, I’d had hot sex before, at least I thought I had.
But I’d never felt like someone was so into my body—and into me .
And seeing those marks brought me right back to the image we made in his mirror.
“Oh? What is this?” Teresa asked when she saw the mark on my neck. Then she shook her head. “I did not want to believe it was true, but it is! You and Nikos?”
“Look, it’s not like we can fight each other.
It was rage sex, pure and simple.” Maybe that’s why it was so hot, I’d never slept with someone who pissed me off so completely.
When I saw him this morning, I was torn between jumping on top of him or grinding my heels in his crotch.
I’d never had such a physical reaction to anyone before.
It was messing with my brain cells and my hormones.
I should probably go to a doctor about it.
Ugh, and now I was imagining him bending me over his examining room table . . .
“Anyway, I put an end to it,” I assured Teresa, leaving out the fact that I was already having doubts about the benefits of this plan. I mean, really, why should I deprive myself of pleasure just to punish him?
“Hmm, I thought you were smarter than that, Callie. I admit he is good looking, but he is like a mean old man. And he has been that way since we were kids,” she warned as she wrapped a towel around herself. “Only now it’s worse because he is stuck on Lyra.”
“What do you mean stuck?”
“Well, Yiannis told me that he cannot go anywhere else. He has not been back to America in years, and the last time he went to Athens, he got so sick he had to come back immediately.”
“But he goes once a week to another island,” I argued.
“A small island. By boat. Planes and big cities are impossible.” Teresa nodded knowingly. “He has the island curse.”
“What’s that?”
“It is a fact that most people never leave. They cannot. There is a magnetic force that pulls them back.”
I laughed at the absurdity of such a belief. “Oh, come on.”
“He might want to trap you too. I don’t trust him.”
I knew I shouldn’t either after everything he’d done. Yet, there were times when I could understand his reasons for doing what he did. Oh God, was this Stockholm syndrome? Was I really making excuses for someone who’d humiliated me? It would be pretty on-brand for me.
“Just promise me that you won’t fall for him. That would be terrible.” Teresa sighed.
“I’m not going to fall for him.” I laughed at the absurdity of it. “It was just sex.”
* * *
After another fabulous meal—did one ever eat badly in Greece?
—we walked to Teresa’s small but charmingly decorated apartment where we went over my notes from the presentation.
Yiannis translated some of the suggestions in the notebook—most of which involved more celebrities to invite—and I told him what I’d written in my proposal to Greystone.
My new plans for the resort were taking root in my head.
I could see it now and I was excited! We’d be as fully sustainable as possible.
The olive grove would be incorporated into the design of the hotel, and the oil we produced would be used not only in the kitchen but in some of the spa products, as would the pomace from Stamatis’s vineyard, and thermal water from the springs.
I was still working out some of the seasonal menus, but they would all showcase local products.
All I had to do now was convince Greystone to accept this compromise.
And, though I told myself it shouldn’t matter, I really wanted to prove to Nikos that I had the island’s interests at heart.
“So, Yiannis, do you think Nikos will approve of this new plan?” I asked as I took a sip of frappé, my latest addiction.
“Approve, no. He won’t approve but maybe relent. Is that the word?”
“Yes, I understand. He’s still reluctant to give up his fight against Greystone, but he must see it’s a losing battle.” I checked my watch. “I have my video call with Fred now. Mind if I take it outside?”
To my surprise Gaz was on the call. His hair was messy in a very purposeful way. He had a new lip piercing and a new neck tattoo. Somehow, I no longer found any of it very sexy—it was too studied, obviously done to reinforce his image of kitchen “bad boy.”
As I started to present my report to them, Gaz cut me off.
“I’m sure you did a fab job, love. Just send the report to Fred here and we’ll look at it.
I wanted to talk to you about something even more important.
We’ve got good news. The so-called artifact is a fake, so we can move forward with the permits. ”
“Oh!” That was unexpected. I thought I’d feel vindicated, but my stomach sank.
I’d brought Nikos’s book with me to read on the ferry, and I could see the spine sticking out of my purse.
All those stories of mermaids and pirates and ancient spells—they’d sucked me in.
I guess I secretly wanted them to be true. They felt true.
“Here’s the plan, love. We want to feature you in an article for Tastemakers . We’ll have the magazine come out for a photo shoot. I’m letting you know now so you can maybe shed a few before then. I can even get you some Zempy to get back to where you were when we met.”
“When I was miserable and starving, you mean? Fuck you, Gaz. I’m not going on a crash diet for a photo shoot. This is who I am. Take it or leave it.” I was fuming and tempted to toss my computer out the balcony.
“Didn’t mean it like that, but I know how you are, darling. So hard on yourself.”
“If I’ve been hard on myself in your company, it’s only because of your constant little barbs.
” He was so infuriating, but he was right about needing more of a media presence.
No one knew me yet, and I hadn’t figured out what my brand was.
“I’ll do the photo shoot, but what you see is what you’re getting, okay? ”
“Fine, babe. You’re gorgeous. You know I didn’t mean anything by it. We’ll see you soon then.”
“We?”
“Yeah, I’ll be coming out as well. Have that real estate friend of yours find me a place to stay, all right?”
“I have just the place for you.” I’d stick him right in that old cottage. He wouldn’t last an hour.
After we hung up, I sat there in shock. Teresa came out tentatively from the bedroom to check on me. “Everything all right?”
“It will be,” I said with more conviction than I felt. I hated the way he made me doubt myself. When was I ever going to be enough?
Thanks to Gaz, I was in a foul mood for the rest of the afternoon. What a waste of a good spa day. Leave it to him to ruin that for me. Now I had to take the ferry back to Lyra. Teresa had offered her couch for the night, but I didn’t want to intrude on her private time with Yiannis.
As Yiannis walked me to the ferry, I kept up an internal monologue berating myself for my poor taste in men. First, Gaz, and now I’d slept with a man who apparently had multiple children on other islands.
“I suppose it’s too much to hope that Nikos will be gone when I get back to Lyra.” I sighed. “How often does he go see his children?”
“His children?” Yiannis let out a loud guffaw. “Not his children! He helps at the migrant camp on Kos. There are many children, unfortunately.”
“The migrant camp?” That was not the answer I was expecting and immediately felt guilty for thinking the worst of him. “Why didn’t he ever mention it?”
“He does not like to talk about it because it makes him angry.”
“Wow, I wish I had known about that earlier. It might have changed my opinion of him.” I marveled at the complexity of the man I’d written off so quickly.
Was he overbearing and secretive? Yes. But he also cared deeply about things.
He had principles. It was confusing to learn about these different facets of him.
I almost wanted to go back to knowing nothing about him because I didn’t know what to believe anymore.