“Shut up.” I glare at him, threatening death by ukulele-up-the-ass.
“Alena, look.” I turn back, kneeling beside her chair. “Do I want to make you smile and grow old with you? You know I do. But right now, all I’m asking for is a date tomorrow night. A real one with romance and roses. That’s all.”
“Ahem.”
I glance over my shoulder. It’s Mom, dripping in Chanel and chagrin. I don’t care. “Mom, I’m wooing here.”
She arches a brow. “And making a scene?”
“Mom, it’s a romcom.” Nick pops up from the row in front of them. “You wouldn’t understand.”
“Alena.” I reach for her hand. Thank fuck, she doesn’t pull it away. “Babygirl, what do you say? Just one date? One chance?”
“Okay,” she whispers, smiling. “One chance.”
Goddamn, I really want to kiss her, but I don’t push my luck. I stand, ready to fly this fucking plane to Athens, fueled by my relief alone.
But Mom flits her hand. “What do I always say about love?”
No telling with all my mom’s sayings.
I twist my face, gambling. “Uh, the older the fiddle, the sweeter the tune?”
She laughs. “No. There’s an ass for every seat. Now, go sit in yours.”
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
ALENA
Loch takesme on a romantic dinner date, high atop a hill, with sunset views overlooking the white buildings of Mykonos.
He gives me a red rose and holds my hand there and back to our hotel with a chaste peck on my cheek at my suite door.
The next day, we hike to the iconic windmills of Mykonos, where he teases my lips with a pucker for our selfie, as the cobalt sky kisses the azure Aegean Sea behind us.
But that’s it.
He doesn’t try anything else.
When he takes me to Elia Beach the following day, I smirk, knowing his game.
It’s a popular nude beach, loved by all sexualities, frolicking in the sun. And all it does is set me on fire watching Loch strip bare. Men everywhere drop their jaws as he rises, naked, hard, and rubbing oil on his inked muscles with his eyes only on me.
So I snap my bikini free, feeling stares my way, but I don’t care. With him, I always feel beautiful as we lie on whitepadded sun loungers, facing each other, nude yet not touching, aroused bodies glistening, hungry breath huffing, driving ourselves insane.
Am I still mad at him?
What the hell is anger when I want him so much?
Because Loch’s doing it again. He’s being so damn perfect, and this time, he’s literally not hiding a thing. He needs me to see how much he wants me.
Hours later, Axel and Ruby host their rehearsal dinner on the glowing terrace of The Mercier Mykonos.
Luca Mercier, the hotel’s owner, is Ruby’s brother-in-law. He spared no expense, giving Ruby and Axel his entire lavish hotel, spa, and beach for their wedding week.
When Loch asks me to dance as our families enjoy dessert, toasting with milky shots of ouzo, I gasp as he silently pulls me near.
Sweat dampens his white linen shirt. I’m getting misty in my gauzy white dress. Not from the temperature. It’s mild in Mykonos in the fall.
