She swallowed, slowing as she turned into the marina on the other side of the cove, where she lived and worked. She drew to a stop along where the trawler she and her grandfather had refurbished was docked. She looked out across the bay, but she couldn’t see the yacht from this angle. There were too many other pleasure crafts blocking the view.
“I will, Gramps. I’m thinking it might be time to move on again.”
“Listen to your gut and do what you think is right. If you need me to come out there, just ask—or… maybe it’s time for you to come home,” he said.
Her head was already shaking before he finished. Tears burned her eyes. Even after all these years, she still wasn’t ready.
“Soon, Gramps, but… not yet.” She breathed out, feeling her fatigue pulling at her. “I’ll call you tomorrow. I’m bushed.”
“Love you, darling. I’m here whenever you need me.”
“I know. I love you, too, Gramps. Good night,” she murmured.
Dani sighed and slid off her motorbike. She replaced the helmet in the side basket and secured the chain and lock attached to the piling, so her only mode of transportation couldn’t be stolen.
She locked the trawler’s salon doors behind her with a satisfying click. The ridiculous red dress had been tossed somewhere in her brain’s mental recycling bin, right between ‘awkward sea rescues’ and ‘idiotic billionaires’.
Nope. No more billionaires,she silently promised herself.Especially not the Greek god kind with eyes that made you forget your own name. Nope. Not happening. Not tomorrow. Never, she vowed, heading for the shower.
Outside, Demetrius stood in the shadows, watching the unusual woman he had fished out of the water disappear into a 1950s trawler. The vibration of his phone made him smile. He reached up and touched his earpiece to connect.
“She is safe,” he answered in greeting.
“You have her address?”
“She lives on a trawler at Pier 5.”
“Is she alone?”
Demetrius’s smile grew. “I can’t be certain, but I believe she is alone. I’ll have more information for you by tomorrow.”
“Good. Post a team to make sure she remains safe,” Alexandros ordered.
“Yes, sir.”
Demetrius chuckled under his breath as the call ended. He had watched over Alexandros since he was a boy. Over the last ten years,he had grown more concerned about Alexandros’ growing cynicism. All of that may have changed tonight as a defiant young woman pointed out something to the man he thought of as a son—that Alexandros needed better friends.
“Finally!”
Demetrius shook his head, grinning. Dani had no idea that her story with Alexandros was far from over.
Or that the man she was trying so hard to ignore had just made her his next priority.
Three
The sun was barely over the horizon the next morning when Dani navigated the narrow road into the boatyard. The gravel road curved along the shore like a lazy serpent, hugging the slope of the bay before flattening out into cracked pavement peppered with oil stains, tire grooves, and a smattering of crushed beer cans. The boatyard always smelled faintly of diesel, fish, sun-baked metal, and fresh saltwater—and Dani wouldn’t have it any other way.
Her Vespa hummed like the wings of a hummingbird as she eased off the throttle and rolled under the weather-worn sign that arched across the entrance: Kostas & Sons Marine Service. The paint had peeled long ago, leaving only faded blue letters and a sun-bleached dolphin logo that someone had once attempted to repaint with what looked like nail polish.
Morning light cut sharply through the slats of the boathouse roof. It danced off rows of hulls in varying states of repair and reflected off stainless steel, chrome, and fiberglass like sequins on that red dress she had worn the night before. Welders sparked to life on one side, an air compressor rumbled somewhere deeper in, and the occasional clang of tools echoed between the corrugated metal walls.
“Hey Dani!”
“Mornin’, Dani!”
“Got time to tune my girl up later?”
A chorus of familiar voices rose in greeting as she cruised past rows of fishing boats and luxury weekend cruisers. Every guy with a wrench seemed to find a reason to straighten up and grin as she passed, their faces hopeful, eager, or just plain amused.
