30. Vanessa
CHAPTER 30
VANESSA
Greece.
I, Vanessa Ann Hughes, am in Greece.
A country rich with history and beauty and bursting with life.
When Teddy suggested we explore the city, I was more than game, plus after last night’s cold shoulder dinner where only his mom and I spoke, trying to fill the awkward silence, the last place I wanted to be was on the yacht and risk the chance of running into his father.
Teddy holds his hand out to me after he hops out of the small boat that he drove from the yacht to here—yeah, there’s a boat inside a boat, in fact there was more than this one plus several jet skis. I can’t imagine having enough money to own a basic boat, and Teddy’s father not only owns one of those, but several, a mega yacht, jet skis, a private plane, and God knows what else.
It’s more than a little horrifying thinking about one person having control of so much wealth.
“You act like you know where you’re going.” The palm of his hand is warm in mine, a bit rough, but it feels nice.
“That’s because I do. It’s a little café about a ten-minute walk from here. It’s my favorite.”
“Where all have you traveled?” I blurt incredulously. I can’t imagine living a life where I’ve been to a place like Greece so many times that I have a favorite café to visit.
“Too many to name.”
“Wow.”
We grow quiet on the walk, mostly because I can’t stop staring around me at the bright white buildings and the bustle of life on the island. We pass a chaotic fish market where it seems like everyone is yelling to be heard. I don’t understand a word they say, but I’m certainly fascinated.
We continue along, eventually turning down a narrow street where Teddy tugs me inside a building. The café is tiny, with only two tables, but the scent of coffee and pastries permeates the air, making my stomach growl. We skipped out on breakfast, choosing to come straight here.
“What would you like?”
I look at the menu that’s very much in Greek, not English. “Um … something like I usually get back home … I guess.”
He laughs. “Do you trust me?”
“Yes.” The answer rolls off my tongue effortlessly, and I realize it’s true. Over the past few months, I’ve come to trust him more than anyone.
He steps up to order, my jaw dropping when he starts speaking Greek.
What the fuck? It seems there’s still a lot I don’t know about my fake boyfriend.
Looking behind him, he chuckles at my open-mouthed expression, and my stomach churns with … oh no.
Oh. Fucking. No.
I cannot, under any circumstances, catch feelings for this man.
Not him, not him, please not him .
I know pleading is futile, because somehow, slowly, gradually, one second at a time, I’ve started to fall for this man in all the ways that matter. Sure, he’s good looking, but there’s so much more to him than that.
And he just spoke Greek like a fucking pro, and that might be the most attractive thing I’ve ever seen.
“What?” he asks innocently, the brim of his baseball cap shielding me from the intensity of his eyes.
“N-Nothing.”
“Lies.” He unleashes that carefree grin on me, and my stomach does the weird flippy thing again. Not cool feelings, stop this right now! “I know you well enough now that I can sense when you’re hiding something.”
“Just grateful to be in such a beautiful country,” I lie.
He doesn’t buy it one bit, but lets it drop when our order is ready. He says something in Greek that I assume is the equivalent of thank you, and then we sit down at one of the tables.
He passes me the glass with cold coffee and some kind of foam. “Try one.” He points to one of the two matching pastries on the plate.
I do as he says, surprised at how yummy it is. It’s savory but somehow sweet at the same time. I’ve never tasted anything like it. “That’s incredible.”
“Now the coffee,” he coaxes, enjoying this based on the upturned tilt of his lips.
I take a sip, my eyes widening. “Wow, this is so much better than back home.”
“See, I know what you like.”
For some reason his words make me blush. Ducking my head, I study the depths of coffee like it’s the most fascinating thing in the world.
My skin prickles all over when he touches his index finger beneath my chin, forcing me to raise my head. “It’s okay, you know?”
“What’s okay?” I rack my brain, trying to figure out what he’s talking about.
I nearly cower away from the intensity of his green eyes, but somehow I manage to hold his gaze.
“That you want me.”
“I don’t?—”
Thumb on my chin, he holds me in place. “Don’t lie. Not to me.”
My breath catches in my throat.
I am so fucked.
After exploring the city for several hours, and sticking my toes in the ocean, we go back to the yacht to relax a little before enduring dinner with his dad. Easy going, carefree Teddy grows tenser with each passing hour that brings us closer to the meal.
I hate that one single person, his own parent at that, can fill such an otherwise happy person with so much dread. It’s not right, and he deserves more.
“You wanna go to the pool?” He hooks his thumbs into the back of his tee and yanks it over his head.
“The … pool? You mean the ocean?”
He rifles through the dresser drawer where he unpacked his things—unlike me who hasn’t bothered and is living out of my suitcase.
Holding up a pair of swim shorts, he shakes his head. “There’s a pool on the yacht.”
“Is there a shopping mall too? Perhaps a bowling alley?”
“A bowling alley would’ve been a good idea, but no.”
“It must be nice to be rich.”
He freezes, looking at the bright green shorts with white stripes clasped in his hands. “I’d take being poor and surrounded by people who care about me any day.”
“Teddy—”
“But money, or lack of, guarantees nothing in life. I mean, you grew up differently than I did and look at how your sister has treated you. If there’s any knowledge I wish I could impart on the world, it’s that people, the ones we love, matter more than any of this shit.” He waves his hand, indicating all of the luxury encasing us.
I don’t know what makes me do it, maybe I’m feeling weak, or maybe this attraction to him is just too big to ignore, but I stand on my tiptoes and press my mouth to his. It’s barely a kiss, more of a glide of my lips, but he growls low in his throat, and his hand goes to the back of my neck holding me there as he deepens it.
Kissing Teddy is like standing in the pouring rain—exhilarating, raw, and somehow melancholic at the same time because I know at the end of the semester, I’ll be saying goodbye to this, to him .
Then why don’t you enjoy everything he has to offer while you can? My mind taunts me.
My body sinks into his and he holds me steady. Teddy is my pillar in so many ways. I didn’t even realize until now how I’ve come to rely on him. He seems like someone you shouldn’t be able to count on, but it’s the complete opposite. He’s the person that would drop anything to be there for the ones he cares about.
Standing on my tiptoes I deepen the kiss, moaning when his tongue tangles with mine. I gasp when he grabs me under the ass and lifts me easily until my legs twine around his hips. I want to scream that I’m too heavy and to put me down, but clearly, he’s not having any trouble holding me, so I keep my mouth shut.
“God, I could kiss you forever,” he murmurs, peppering small kisses on and around my mouth. He dives back in, giving me a long, deep kiss. My pussy clenches in response to his words and the feel of his growing erection pressing into me.
I want to blame my hormones for this lapse in judgment. It’s been too long since I’ve had sex, and I’d be attracted to anyone. But it’s not true. I don’t want to admit it to myself, but I want Teddy.
My back is pressed into the wall, and he uses his hips to hold me in place, taking both my hands in his and pinning them above my head. He kisses my neck, sucking on the skin hard enough to leave behind a mark.
“Been dying to kiss you again.” He skims his lips over my collarbone.
“Why haven’t you?” I sound breathless and moany, and I would cringe at myself if I wasn’t so turned on right now.
“Waiting.” Kiss to my jaw. “For you.” He kisses the corner of my mouth. “To make the.” Another kiss to the other corner of my mouth. “First move.” He punctuates that statement by kissing me fully on the lips, his tongue seeking the seam of mine.
I open willingly for him. I don’t think I’ve ever been kissed this passionately, like I’m his entire world and he’s trying his hardest to prove it to me with every touch of our lips. His erection pushes into me, and I moan at the feel of it.
“I want to fuck you,” he confesses, a tad breathless which is the biggest turn on ever. “Fast. Slow. Hard. All of it. Then I want to do it all over again, every day for the rest of my life. I want to make love to you slowly until you beg me to let you come. I want to take you fast and hard because we both can’t fucking stand waiting. I want you in so many ways, Vanessa, and not just sex.”
His confession should freak me out. It should send me running off this boat and straight into the ocean. But I hear his sincerity, I feel it in the way he holds me.
“You weren’t supposed to fall for me.”
Brilliant green eyes hold me captive. “Too fucking bad. You’re mine.”
Possessive terms like you’re mine used to be one hell of a turn off for me, but coming from Teddy, I’ve changed my mind. I know he isn’t trying to control me.
“You’re fucking gorgeous,” he continues as my head falls back against the wall, my hands still caged in his. I nearly fall apart when he kisses the exposed swells of my breasts. I had no idea when I put on the fitted tank this morning that it would serve such a good purpose, but here we are.
“Teddy? Vanessa? Are you back?”
The door rattles and we both startle like we’ve been caught doing something wrong. We were both so lost in the moment we didn’t even notice a knock at the door.
Teddy sets me down slowly, his chest rising and falling rapidly as he struggles to regain his breath. I’m equally as winded. We stare at each other, both knowing that something’s changed in this moment, something we can’t come back from. His eyes hold a promise of later .
Bending, he scoops up his fallen swim trunks, holding them in front of his obvious erection so he can open the door to face his mom.
Running my fingers through my hair, I try to smooth it down so it’s not a tangled mess that screams, “I almost let your son fuck me against the wall.”
“Hey, Mom,” he says in greeting.
“Hi.” She smiles, looking for me over his shoulder. I give an awkward wave when she spots me. “I wanted to see if you and Vanessa wanted to join me for tea.”
“Sorry, no can do, Mom. We’re headed up to the pool.”
“Oh.” I hate how disappointed she sounds. “Another time, then. Enjoy your pool time.”
Her high heels clack down the hall, because even on vacation she’s wearing stilettos.
Teddy closes the door, leaning his head against the thick wood. “Cock-blocked by my fucking mother.”
I throw my head back and laugh.
The look he gives me says he thinks this is anything but funny.
Side-stepping him, I rifle through my luggage pulling out the hot pink bikini I bought for this trip.
Never have I worn a bikini—at least not a true one that exposes so much skin. Even the swimsuit Teddy bought me for lessons was more full coverage—a tankini I guess you’d call it.
Despite my lack of swimming, I have spent summers on the lake or by the pool, and I always opted for a swimsuit that covered as much skin as possible. Not this time. I’m embracing my curves, stretch marks, and cellulite. Those things don’t define me and they’re not imperfections like some people think. They’re a story, a road map woven into my very skin.
Shutting myself in the bathroom, I take a moment to gather myself after our intense makeout session. When I look at myself in the mirror, I find that my eyes are a shade darker than normal and have a glazed quality to them. My hair? That’s a complete and utter mess. My lips are red and deliciously swollen. My face is a bit red too from the rough scratch of his stubble, and sure enough there’s already a hickey forming on my neck that will be nearly impossible to cover up. Hopefully my concealer will do a good enough job when it comes time for dinner. The last thing I want is his father commenting on it. Ick.
After I’ve changed, I open the door to find Teddy lounging on the bed looking at his phone in all his tanned skinned, muscular glory, and I have to bite my lip to not moan at the sight of him.
I’ve never been able to deny that he’s hot.
He looks up from his phone quickly and then back down before he does a double take, staring hard at every inch of my body. In the past, I would’ve felt nervous under such blatant scrutiny because I don’t do well with attention but having Teddy’s undivided attention makes me feel good.
He falls dramatically into the pillows, covering his eyes with the crook of his elbow. “You’re trying to kill me. You really are.”
The giggle that erupts from me sounds girlish and foreign to my ears.
“Hurry up. I thought we were going swimming.”
He sits up, pointing to his crotch. “You want me to go swimming with a hard-on?”
“Don’t be such a baby.” I gather my hair back into a messy knot and tie it off. “You didn’t teach me to swim for nothing did you?”
He groans, rising from the bed. “Guess not.” I shiver as he steps up beside me, skimming his finger lightly down my arm. “I hope you plan on letting me remove this later.” He toys with one of the thin straps tied around my back.
My throat is suddenly dry, my heart pounding in my ears.
“No, I’m capable of taking it off myself.”
He grins, leaning in so his mouth presses against my ear with every word he speaks. “You and me Vanessa. It’s happening. What just happened proves it. Stop denying yourself what you want.”
“And what is it I want?”
Green eyes twinkle. “Me.”