‘Spoken like someone who has been telling himself he shouldn’t fall in love.’
He watched her pupils dilate at his words and it drove fire through his veins. He couldn’t stop himself now, only would if she didn’t want this. He reached out, cradled her jaw with his hand and stroked his thumb over her cheek. ‘But…einai polí argá… it’s too late.’
A second felt like a lifetime, but then her lips met his and unrivalled sensations pulsed through his body as his mouth showed hers exactly how much she meant to him. He’d never wanted a kiss longer or deeper, never wanted to hold someone closer or tighter, never knew this could exist for him. But then she broke away, held his face in her palms, fingertips in his beard.
‘There’s somewhere I want to take you,’ she whispered to him.
‘There are so many places I want to take you,’ he answered, tone flooded with libido.
She smiled. ‘On the bike.’
He laughed, put a hand to his hair, brushing it back and trying to cool his ardour just a touch. ‘OK.’
‘OK?’ she asked, still holding his face.
‘Sure,’ he replied. ‘I’ll take you anywhere you want to go.’
70
ALMYROS
Faye still had the keys and they were shaking a little in her hands as she put one in the lock of the white-washed house at Almyros. The owners lived on the mainland, would not be coming back, did not want any of the furniture, and Alexandros trusted her now he had the deposit that had officially taken the property off the market.
She watched Kostas locking up the bike, then he walked towards her, this gorgeous guy who had just told her he was in love with her. It was like something out of a beautiful dream or a summer romance novel, but apparently, this was her new Greek life now.
‘What is this place? A friend’s?’ Kostas asked, surveying the outside.
She flicked a light on just inside the door then opened it wider. ‘Go on in.’
She watched him have to duck a little and then she followed behind. She wanted to see what someone with so much money would think of this tiny, rustic, basic home.
‘Wow, this is… almost as small as my grandmother’s treehouse,’ he remarked, turning around in the kitchen-dining area with not much room to spare.
‘You like it?’ she asked him.
‘I think it has everything you could need to… set up plates forgyrosfrom Dimitris and… OK, fuck, is it right on the beach?’ He had walked through into the living area and was looking through those doors that opened up onto the terrace that led to the sand. He already had his fingers on the keys in the lock and was unfastening them.
‘I mean, I don’t know why I didn’t think it would go straight onto the beach but, wow, that’s some view.’ He stood on the terrace, looking out onto the moonlit sand, the sea rolling back and forth. ‘So, is it a friend’s? You didn’t say.’
‘No,’ Faye said, taking a breath. ‘It’s going to be mine.’ She breathed again. ‘All mine.’
He turned to her then. ‘Faye, what is this? I buy in Avlaki and you move out?’
‘Well, I wanted somewhere I could be a bit more certain of my neighbours.’
He smiled. ‘Very funny.’ But then he slipped an arm around her shoulders and drew her into him. ‘Faye, this is amazing. It’s perfect. I mean, it is small, but it’s perfect and it has everything. Is there a bedroom for Saffron too?’
She nodded. ‘Yes. There’s even a cat that comes round for Saffron.’
‘And your ex-husband?’ he asked, arm coming away from her. ‘Will he come round?’
Faye sighed. ‘You know he’s here on Corfu.’
‘Yeah,’ Kostas said. ‘So, does he want you back? Actually, I do not know why I asked that. Of course he would want you back.’
‘No,’ Faye answered. ‘I mean, I think he maybe thought of trying to make an idea of us a reality again, but there is never going to be any way back to anything for our marriage.’
‘Are you certain?’ Kostas asked.
