“And you were able to get all this from that book?” he asked.
“Well”—she shrugged—“I took a few liberties.”
“Show me where you got this,” he said, pointing to the handwritten words.
She flipped the pages in the library book, then handed it to him. The pages were still damp from their swim through the canal. He read through the passage she’d translated, and she hadn’t done a bad job.
“God, this room is seriously like an oven,” she said, reachingher arms up and twisting her long, black hair into a messy bun on the top of her head, magically securing it with a pencil.
He thought that was something they did only in movies. How could a pencil, after all, manage to hold all that hair in one place?
Man, it was hot.
“Is that a prerequisite for all librarians and teachers?” he asked.
“Is what?”
“The pencil-in-the-hair updo? How does it even manage to stay in place?”
“Oh this?” she asked, pointing to her head. “It’s easy. See?”
She pulled the pencil out of the bun like a knight unsheathing his blade, then shook her head, letting her shiny, silky hair cascade to her shoulders. It was hands down the sexiest thing Theo had ever witnessed.
Fuck me now.
She repeated the motions to twist her hair back into a bun, leaving wispy tendrils of hair floating on her neck. He glanced over at her face, noticing her eyes focused on his boxer briefs.
So maybe her mind was elsewhere, too.
“How was my translation?” she asked.
He blinked a few times to get back to reality and cleared his throat.
“Pretty close. The whole thing says, ‘The exact birthplace of Demetrios Papantonis is unknown. It is believed he was born in a fishing village off the Attica coast. He lived on Crete for many years before returning to the mainland and living out his days in present-day Athens.’ So the name of the fishing village wasn’t Attica—it is referring to the entire coast.”
“Well, that could be any number of villages,” Dani pointed out.
“Here, let me grab a map.”
He went back into the main room and grabbed his satchel, then made his way back.
Theo unfolded the map on the desk, smoothing it out with his hand and leaning over as she sat on the chair beside him.
“Here’s the coastline,” he said, running his finger along an area on the map about two inches long, pinpointing the Attica coast.
“Well, that really narrows it down,” Dani said, sarcastically. “Shall we stop house by house and ask if anyone knows where Demetrios Papantonis was born?”
“Fuck,” Theo said, standing straight and pacing in the small open area with his hands resting atop his head. “This is impossible.”
“No, we’re just missing something,” Dani said. “Do you have that translation from the Papantonis journal? The one about the resting place of the Minotaur?”
“Yeah, let me grab it,” he said, reaching down and digging his notebook out of his satchel. “Here,” he said, handing it to her.
She took the notebook and read through his scribblings, running her finger along his handwriting. He’d always loved watching her read. It was like he could see the wheels turning in her mind.
Her brow started to wrinkle, and she pulled the notebook closer to her face.
“Need to borrow my glasses?” he joked.
