Chapter Fifteen
Chapter
Fifteen
Theo
The sun started to creep into the room, but it didn’t matter. Theo was already awake. Wide awake.
It was quickly becoming a habit for him.
And it didn’t have anything to do with the fact that Theo’s mind raced, trying to remember everything his papou had ever said about Crete and the eye, and calculating their next moves.
His thoughts were just a distraction from the fact that Dani was sleeping beside him on the tiny twin bed, her body curled up into his side.
Her hand rested on his bare stomach. He wasn’t sure when she’d snuggled into him, but when he woke up an hour ago with his arm already completely numb from being wrapped around her, he became increasingly aware that it must have been a long time.
That kiss. That fucking kiss. It replayed in his mind all night. The way she pulled at his shirt. How she repositioned her body over his lap. The way her impossibly soft lips played with his.
It was everything he’d wanted out of a kiss with Dani—except that it wasn’t real.
Like she’d said, they’d been caught up in the moment and playing their parts. It didn’t mean anything. She didn’t feel that way about him anymore. If she ever had.
It’s always been you.
God, he felt like an idiot getting that tattoo. The ink burned, searing against her skin pressed against him.
Dani sucked in a breath, stirring. Theo tipped his head, watching her through his eyelashes as Dani rose into consciousness and realized where she was positioned.
Slowly, she pulled away from his body, clearly thinking he was still asleep and not wanting to wake him.
But as she separated their bodies, she stopped and studied his tattoo.
Her fingers grazed over the letters, sending a warm buzz across his skin.
He fought to keep from reacting to her touch, not wanting her to stop.
But his body couldn’t be controlled, and he impulsively flinched.
She shot her gaze up to his and pulled her hand away.
“Good morning,” he whispered.
“How long have you been awake?” she asked, not even bothering with the morning pleasantries.
It was obvious why. She wanted to know if he’d noticed her touching his tattoo.
“Long enough,” he simply responded.
“What does it mean?”
It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what she was talking about.
“It means ‘know thyself.’ ” He said the first thing that came to his mind.
Seeing as Dani couldn’t read Greek, she’d have no idea that he’d recited the words over the entrance of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi—Γν?θι σεαυτ?ν—rather than the actual meaning of her words inscribed on his body.
“Interesting,” she said. “Why did you get it?”
“Seemed appropriate at the time.”
She nodded, seeming to buy his bullshit.
“So, I was thinking about last night,” she said out of nowhere, rolling onto her stomach and looking straight at him.
Speaking of interesting.
He shifted, lifting his body up slightly onto the pillow, careful not to make too much noise, and bringing one hand behind his head while the other rested across his stomach.
“Yeah? What about it?” he asked as casually as he could muster.
She looked down, playing with the fringe on the bedding. “I couldn’t sleep. There was just this clamoring in my head,” she said, bringing her hands up to her temples and demonstrating the raucousness.
“What was the clamoring saying?”
“It was saying, ‘He’s right there.’ ‘Don’t touch him.’ ‘Don’t be weird.’ ”
Theo snickered. “Funny, because when I woke up you were right here,” he said, bringing the hand on his stomach across his body to show her where he’d found her.
“Yeah…I know. That’s how I could finally fall asleep. I scooted back over this morning.”
Hmm…he’d assumed it had been unintentional.
“Theo,” she said suddenly, “what if I don’t want to forget what happened last night anymore? What if I don’t want to pretend?” She looked at his mouth and then back to his eyes. “I’ve been thinking about that kiss all night.”
Theo swallowed. Was that a good thing or a bad thing? He wasn’t sure where this was going.
“I lied,” she continued speaking in hushed tones.
He raised an eyebrow, and his stomach sank. What on earth could she have possibly lied about?
“I wasn’t not into it,” she said, then instantly scrunched her face. “I’m sorry, that didn’t make any sense. You’d think a librarian would be better with words,” she said, nervously laughing. “I guess I lied when I acted like it was any old kiss. And I thought you should know.”
Relief washed through his body, which was quickly replaced by an all-over feeling of elation.
She flashed a quick glance at him, catching his gaze for a moment to gauge his reaction, and then immediately turned her attention back to the bedspread. God, it was cute.
“I was into it, too,” he said, putting her out of her misery.
Dani let out a breath and buried her head in her pillow, then lifted it again with the most beautiful smile he’d ever seen. Just that one look sent a delightful prickling sensation dancing across his skin, and he couldn’t help but smile in return. Her giddiness was contagious.
“Oh good,” she said. “I was worried it was just me.”
He laughed, trying his damnedest not to wake the rest of the house and have the moment ruined. “No, Juicy, it wasn’t just you. So what changed? Because last night, you seemed very much like you wanted to forget it ever happened.”
“I realized that I didn’t want you thinking you were like any other random guy I’ve kissed. You make it different. And you’re right. We’re adults. I think we can handle that we’ve kissed. And that it was…good. Like, really good, right?” she asked, wrinkling her nose.
Acting like it had been no big deal last night had hurt. They’d known each other for almost their entire lives. Of course it was a big fucking deal!
But it was so much more than that, and hearing her admit it felt…nice.
He snickered. “Yeah, it was a good kiss.”
“I know things are complicated right now, and getting out of this mess needs to be our top priority. But I don’t know what’s going to happen here, and if we die—”
“Juicy, we’re not going to die,” Theo said, smiling and brushing a loose tendril of her hair from her face. “We’re safe. He doesn’t know where we are.”
“Okay, but what if he finds us again? And what if we do die here? What if we help Andreas and we fall off a cliff? Or a temple collapses on us?”
“We’re going to a museum. I think we’ll be fine,” he said with a slight chuckle.
“You don’t know that. You certainly didn’t leave the States thinking you were going to lose a year of your life. So what if that kiss last night was the last kiss either of us ever has?”
“What are you trying to say?” he asked, cocking his head to the side.
“I’m…I’m trying to say that all I could think about last night is how I really want to kiss you again.”
“You know, you could have led with that.” He smiled, then reached his hand for her. “Come here.”
She scooted up toward him, and he wrapped one of his hands around her waist, the other cupping her cheek. A pleasant buzz swirled through his stomach as she started to lean in, but then stopped herself, bringing the swirling to an abrupt halt.
“This doesn’t have to change anything, right?” she asked.
He let out the breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding and grinned. “No, not a thing.”
She leaned in, then again pulled back. “It’s only a kiss.”
“Yep. Only a kiss.”
She nearly closed the gap, but once more, stopped herself, “And I—”
But he didn’t let her finish. He pulled her face to his, enveloping her mouth with his own. Reminding himself of what it had felt like to kiss her last night for the first time.
The second time was just as good.
Their tongues tangled together as her fingers tangled through his hair.
His hands held her body against his as their mouths melded.
Lying beside her, every inch of his body felt her presence, from the top of his head to the tips of his toes.
Her lips moved away from his mouth and planted soft, delicate kisses along his jawline and neck.
Theo let each of her kisses sink in, implanting their etch along his skin like the tattoo on his side.
He licked his own lips and closed his eyes, allowing himself to be immersed in her touch.
She took his hand, lowered it beneath the blanket and placed it on her ass.
This ass he’d fantasized about. Pictured in his dreams. It was now in his hands, and it was even more tender than he’d imagined as he kneaded his fingers into her.
Their bodies twisted as he groped her, and slowly, she started rocking against him with her apex grinding against his thigh.
This wasn’t only a kiss.
His cock ached to relieve some of the pressure, and he pulled her body atop his, placing their cores against each other’s. The hardness of his cock couldn’t be mistaken, and for a moment, he’d considered that he’d gone too far too fast. But Dani’s hips rolled against him with firm, slow circles.
A low groan escaped his lips, and she lifted her head from his neck and looked him straight in his eyes.
“I feel dirty doing this in Phoebe’s daughter’s bed,” Dani said, though she made no effort to stop.
“Doing what? It’s just a kiss,” he said with a smirk.
Without taking her eyes from him, she picked up the speed in her hips, and he could feel the slippery wetness between her legs soaking through the fabric of their underwear.
There was an intensity to her stare. A hunger in her eyes that wiped his smirk away and replaced it with a ravishing desire.
The pressure built as he fought not to roll her over, strip her of her clothes, and bury his cock deep inside her.
A loud rapping on the bedroom door startled them. Dani gasped and quickly rolled off Theo, pulling the blanket up over her chest, as he shifted to hopefully conceal what they’d been doing.
“Theo? Daniela?” Andreas called from the other side of the door.
Theo and Dani looked at each other. Her hair was a mess. Her cheeks flushed. But damn, was she beautiful.
“You okay?” he asked. Once she nodded, Theo called out to Andreas, “Come in.”
Andreas opened the door and immediately laughed upon seeing the two of them in the tiny bed. “I didn’t realize this was where Christos had put you up.”
“Yeah, well, we broke the bed in the other room,” Theo said.
Andreas’s eyebrow raised and he gave them a suggestive look.
“Not like that,” Dani said, laughing.
“Okay,” he said, still smiling. “Well, I thought we might head to the museum early this morning so you can see Papatonis’s journal. Get there before it opens to lessen our chances of Vautour’s men lurking around waiting for you.”
“Good idea,” Theo said.
“Great. Well, Christos is making breakfast if you want to get ready and then come out to eat. I’ll leave you to it,” Andreas said, giving them a quick nod and then closing the door.
For a split second, Theo thought maybe they’d resume what they were doing before the interruption, but the moment had passed.
“You can go first this time,” Dani said.
He looked down at his groin and, no, he certainly could not go first. “No I can’t, Juicy.”
“Why not?”
Theo lifted the blanket to show her his rock-hard dick.
“Oh.” Her eyes went wide, and she licked her lips. “Well, I can’t go first, either.”
“Why not?”
She took Theo’s hand and placed it between her legs.
Against her very. Wet. Panties.
Oh, fuck me.
He didn’t remove his hand, though. Maybe the moment hadn’t passed. Theo cupped her mound, letting the slick wetness soak through the fabric and coat his fingers. She closed her eyes and bit her bottom lip as a sinful moan escaped her mouth. God, he wanted to fuck her.
Another knock came at the door, and Theo took back his hand faster than a bolt of lightning from Zeus himself.
“Christos wants to make sure you don’t have any other allergies,” Andreas said through the door.
Theo opened his mouth to respond, but just a garbled mess came out. He quickly cleared his throat and said, “No, just apples.”
Dani got up from the bed, officially ending the moment. He strained to keep himself from putting his fingers in his mouth and tasting her. Though maybe he’d get another opportunity later.
“We’d better get moving,” she said. “I’ll go first.”
Theo watched as she bounded out of the room. But as she was about to shut the door, she looked back at him one more time.
And he put his fingers in his mouth.