Chapter 4 #2
“Of course not.” He shook his head. “I still don’t know exactly what transpired; my grandfather was too proud to discuss it. Too loyal, as well. But I do know that Aristotle was kind and fair. For him to have exiled my father, there must have been some great wrong committed.”
Saphire’s sigh made her hair move; it tickled his chest.
Thad cleared his throat before speaking. “Do you want to go for dinner?”
“Go for dinner?” She asked, her eyes sparkling as she lifted her face to look at him.
He made a noise of agreement. “We can go back to Athens. See the town. Explore.”
“Oh.” She shook her head. In the middle of the summer? Not if it meant she might run into anyone with the slightest connection to Jordan or her.
“Will you think I’m some kind of sex addict if I say I’d rather stay here, naked with you?”
His laugh caused her to smile. “No. I shall think you even more perfect than I already do.”
And then, because the danger was still swirling at her feet, threatening to pull her under the water, she composed her features. “I know this is just sex, Mr Konstanides.”
“Please, would you just call me Thad,” he begged with a laugh.
She shook her head and spoke as though he’d said nothing. “It’s just sex.” She swallowed. “For both of us.”
His eyes narrowed. That’s all he’d ever wanted from a woman. His longest relationship had lasted a month, but during that time, they’d only seen one another three times. So why did her pronouncement make his stomach lurch?
She didn’t wait for him to speak. There was nothing he could say that would change her mind, and nothing he could ask that she’d be willing to explain.
She pushed up and then, as she was about to get out of the bed, thought better of it.
She crouched beside him and leaned forward, pressing a kiss against his lips.
“I’m very sorry about your grandfather.”
Again, his heart squeezed. Her kindness was diametrically opposed to her cold detachment; her determination that the only thing they had going for them was sex.
Fine. If she wanted sex, then that’s what he’d give her. Just sex. Nothing else.
“Not your fault, nor your problem apparently.” He caught her wrists and flipped her back on the bed.
He was moving over her instantly, pausing only to secure protection before plundering her sweet depths once more.
She cried out and wrapped her legs around his middle, eager as always to feel his strength stir her soul.
She squeezed her eyes shut as sensations began to flow through her; though when had they ever stopped? Since coming to the island, her body had been in a permanent state of satisfaction and readiness. Her limbs tingled, her legs ached, everything felt alive and grateful.
God, when she thought back to the stale sex she and Jordan occasionally indulged in, she practically fell asleep. No wonder he’d cheated! Why hadn’t she? Why had she ever thought that was good enough? Why had she ever thought they had anything worth saving?
She froze.
The very idea was utterly wrong.
She was cheating on her husband to save her marriage. Precisely because she believed it was stupid to throw away so much history over one stupid indiscretion. Because she believed that sex wasn’t everything.
That surely meant they had something that was definitely worth saving. Didn’t it?
“Hey,” Thad dropped his head and captured her lower lip between his teeth. “You are doing it again.”
She blinked up at him. “Doing what?”
He shook his head. “Did you know that sometimes, when we are together, you cry?”
“What?” She lifted her fingers to her face in surprise. Sure enough, her cheeks were wet. “I didn’t realize.”
He pushed into her again and she groaned. “It must just be a reflex or something.”
“Yes, I’m sure,” he said, disbelief obvious in his tone. And not for the first time, he wondered what was going on behind the curtains. What more was there to this woman he had become completely addicted to?
It was the sex he was addicted to. Not her. And he had to remind himself of that anytime his intentions started to stray.
He enjoyed stoking her flames until she burst into an explosion of pleasure. He doubted he could ever tire of seeing her head tilt back and color flush her cheeks. He doubted he would ever get enough of the mewling noises she made low in her throat when she was at the height of pleasure.
He held her tight and tipped himself into her, and he told himself to stop thinking in such florid terms. He’d had dozens of partners.
Prior to Aristotle’s death, he would have only entered into a relationship that was as satisfying as it was noncommittal.
So why was he letting this get the better of him?
It must have been emotional splash-back from Aristotle’s death. And he couldn’t let it sway him. If this was going to work, he had to keep the focus on the physical, just as she was.
He stared at her, ignoring the beautiful way her eyes danced and her cheeks flushed. “I have a meeting in Paris next week.”
And for a second, Saphire’s heart almost stopped still. To go to Paris with Thad would be a dream come true. It was ridiculous, for how complicated things were. She couldn’t even go to Athens with him for dinner. How could she possibly contemplate a visit to Paris?
On the brink of demurring he spoke before she could. “Stay until then. I will take you to the airport when I leave.”
The pain was unexpected. It lanced her sharply. She felt it like a hot blade, but she nodded.
He mistook her silence for doubt and expelled an impatient sigh. “What more do you want, Zafeiri?” He demanded, using the Greek pronunciation of her name. It sent threads of warmth knotting through her.
“I want …” She shook her head. “I want to call my friend,” she mumbled, pushing out of the bed.
He watched her walk across the room. Naked, as she’d been almost the whole time they’d spent together. “You will stay.”
It wasn’t a question, but she spun around anyway. “Yes,” she expelled the word as though not saying it might have harmed her. “I’ll stay until then.”
Thad fell back against the pillows, his expression impossible to read and his feelings difficult to decipher.
For Saphire’s part, she paused outside his bedroom only to grab a robe from the adjacent bathroom.
She wrapped it around herself and cinched it at the waist before padding downstairs.
Her handbag was in the entrance way, where it had been since arriving.
She lifted her phone out as though it were a bomb.
Still switched off from the flight, she brought it to life now with a sinking feeling. Sure enough, it began to beep almost instantly. Message after message spurted onto the screen. Anita, Anita, Anita, Jordan, Jordan, Anita, her mother, Jordan, Jordan, Anita. Her stomach rolled.
She clicked into one randomly.