Chapter Eleven
Chapter
Eleven
Theo
Ξ?ρω ποιο? ε?σαι.
Lydia’s words echoed through his head as they soared through the sky in a private helicopter on their way to Athens. I know who you are.
Theo didn’t know whether to be worried or hopeful. What did she know? How much did she know? And who was this person he reminded her of?
Should I be worried? she’d asked Theo.
I don’t know, but I am. I’m sorry.
It was the most direct contact about his situation he’d had with anyone on the outside in months. He wished they’d had more time. An opportunity to give her more information—and to ask for her help not just in finding the eye.
But then again, how did he know if he could trust her?
And could he trust Andreas?
Theo replayed Lydia’s half of their phone conversation in his head:
They want to meet today. I don’t know who they are, but they have access to a helicopter. They clearly have connections…
The archaeologist…you may know him…American and Greek…he knows you.
The couple…it seems something is off. Like they don’t trust the other two men. See what they know but keep your eye on them…and call me if anything happens.
Fortunately, he’d been able to come up with some bullshit excuse about good luck and safe travels when Louis had confronted him after they’d left, wanting to know what Lydia had said to him.
Unfortunately, Maurice had been able to arrange for a last-minute helicopter pickup in a remote area of western Crete. Vautour certainly did have connections.
And Theo hated helicopters.
The helicopter hit a bit of turbulence and bounced in the air.
Fuck. He held his breath and clutched the seat belt strapped across his chest. His hatred of flying hadn’t stopped him from traveling, but it had been a year since he’d flown, and every dip and bump still freaked him out.
The maneuverability of the helicopter wasn’t helping things.
This was why he preferred overnight flights.
He would have much rather taken the boat even if it took them all goddamn day.
Dani reached over and loosened his death grip on his harness. She then took his hand and placed it in her lap, threading her fingers through his. Theo stared at their hands interlocking with each other. Slowly, she rubbed her thumb over his, calming his nerves. She’d always been good at doing that.
He leaned his head back and closed his eyes, taking in the steady rhythm of her stroke. God, Dani had a way with her hands.
The events from the last couple of days flooded his thoughts as everything else faded to the background. The pool. The bath. This morning, Dani straddling him in the bed. Flirting. Touching. Her hands making their way all over his body. The same hands that were holding his right now.
He couldn’t wait to be alone with her again.
To hold her. To comfort her the way she comforted him.
He pictured her lying beside him, her palm skating across his abs and diving beneath the waistband of his pants.
Those delicate fingers wrapping their way around his cock, stroking him. He swallowed to keep from salivating.
Theo quickly shook the thought away and his eyes shot open. What the fuck was he doing? They weren’t on some holiday. He couldn’t be over there, fantasizing about Dani jerking him off while they were literally being transported by their captors in a helicopter.
Not to mention the fact that Dani was with someone else. Everything that had been going on between them the last few days was clearly nothing but his imagination running wild. She wasn’t coming on to him. She was simply doing what she’d always done: taking care of him like family.
What the hell was wrong with him?
He untwisted his fingers from hers and took back his hand. But not without catching a confused glance from Dani.
What was there to be confused about, though? They were only pretending to be a couple. Was holding hands really necessary?
Finally, they neared the mainland and headed to an area on the outskirts of town where Andreas would be waiting for them.
As the pilot hovered for their landing, Theo fought to not reach for Dani again, this time closing his eyes and holding on to the straps at his shoulders.
Once they were safely on the ground, they quickly hopped out of the helicopter, grabbed their bags, and hustled away from the aircraft into the wide-open field.
Dani and Theo waited about a hundred feet from the helicopter as Maurice and Louis finished up with the pilot.
The sun was high in the sky, beating its rays down on them.
Normally at this time of day—the hottest part of the day—Theo would have insisted on waiting out the heat inside somewhere.
At least on Crete they had the benefit of the sea breeze.
Here, the temperatures had to be pushing close to one hundred degrees.
Theo glanced over at Dani, pulling up her hair and fanning her neck.
He watched a bead of sweat run down the side of her face, down her neck, and straight into her cleavage below her V-neck.
The white T-shirt almost glowed on her honey-colored skin and perfectly molded around her breasts.
He’d always liked when she wore white. Sometimes he imagined what she might look like with one of his white tees or button-downs barely covering her ass.
He stared at her chest, her sweat glistening in the sun. When he lifted his eyes and met hers, she was already watching him. She narrowed her gaze, though he tried to look away quickly. But it was too late. He’d been caught.
Fuck. What was wrong with him?
“See something you like?” Dani asked, folding her arms, which had the (un)fortunate effect of propping up her boobs even further. There was a hint of attitude in her voice. Like maybe she wasn’t too pleased that he’d been looking.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
“Sorry, I zoned out thinking about something,” he said.
“Such as?” she questioned, tilting her head to the side.
He looked past her and blurted out the first thing he saw. “Church!”
Theo winced internally. Church? She caught him looking at her chest and that’s what he came up with?
“Church?” she repeated, raising her brow.
“Uh…yeah,” he said, shifting his weight. “It’s been a while since I went.”
Now Dani scowled. “Theo, you haven’t gone to church since you lived with your parents.”
“You don’t know that.”
It was true. “Mm-hmm. Sure, Theo,” she said rolling her eyes.
“What’s that supposed to mean? ‘Mm-hmm’?” he said, mimicking her.
“You’re a terrible liar, that’s all.” She looked at her fingernails almost as if she was bored. But his shame crept in.
“Okay, fine. Look, sorry I looked at your chest. For like a second. But I told you, you’re like a sister—”
“Riiiiiiiiight,” she said, cutting him off and glancing away. “Your sister. Got it.”
His face twisted. He didn’t like the way she said that, how irritated she seemed.
“It’s not like it meant anything. That would be messed up, you know?” he said, trying to smooth things over.
And assuage his guilt.
“Great,” she scoffed. “Annnnd you’re being weird again.”
“Weird, how?” he asked, scrunching his face. A horn honking in the distance caught his attention, and he looked over Dani’s shoulder to see where the noise was coming from. “What the…?” He craned his neck, searching for the cause of the ruckus.
“My God! I can’t with you!” She uncrossed her arms and turned to walk away from him, bringing his focus back to her.
“Sorry, I got distracted,” he said, rushing up behind her and putting his hand on her biceps, but she snatched it away.
“Juicy—”
“Don’t call me that,” she snapped.
“This again? Fine, Dani—”
“Don’t call me that, either.”
Her snarl took him aback. “Then what the hell am I supposed to call you?” he asked, bringing his hands to his sides, palms facing out as if asking, What gives?
“Daniela,” she said, glaring.
He cocked his head. “I haven’t called you that…I don’t know. Maybe ever?”
“You did yesterday.” She shot her gaze to him, her eyes like daggers. “Maybe you should make it a habit from now on.”
“Okay, what is going on? What did I do? I thought we were good. Is this about this morning?”
Or last night, he thought.
She laughed to herself, crossed her arms again, and looked away. Clearly she had no intention of telling him what he’d done wrong.
The honking was back, this time more erratically. Where the hell was it coming from? Theo looked over, noticing a small, yellow Jeep-like vehicle careening down the road. Something seemed off, but he couldn’t make sense of it from that distance.
“Can we talk about this later?” Theo asked, keeping his eye on the car in the distance. The noise caught Maurice’s and Louis’s attention as well, and they spun around, putting their hands above their eyebrows to shield themselves from the sun.
“What more is there to talk about?” Dani continued, oblivious to what was happening behind her. “You checked out my boobs for a second. I saw your dick. Now we’re even and can go back to our normal brother-sister relationship.”
He ticked his head to the side. He wouldn’t say his full-frontal nudity was quite the same as checking out her fully clothed tits, but it didn’t seem like the time to argue about semantics.
“Okay, Juic— I mean, Dani…ela—” Damn, that was going to take some getting used to. “We might want to—”
He didn’t finish his thought, though. Not after the approaching vehicle picked up speed and launched off the road…
Heading straight toward them.