“No, I can’t. It was a once-in-a-lifetime love. The kind that makes your soul burn brightly.”
Tristan rang off and Christos sank down in the leather executive chair, thinking of the tears in Ava’s eyes last night, tears that made him believe that she, too, wanted that kind of once-in-a-lifetime happiness with him.
Ava wasn’tsure what to expect when she got downstairs, but seeing her son playing with Ari wasn’t it. Theo jumped off Ari’s wheelchair when he saw her and ran to the open trunk of a Jaguar convertible, one of Christos’s many cars. He’d given her the keys to a Rolls-Royce.
Theo grabbed a second water gun and brought it to her. She pushed her sunglasses up on top of her head. She hoped thatTheo would suggest she be the bad guy. She certainly wouldn’t mind dousing Ari with water.
“You can be the back-up detail.”
“Thanks, sweetie,” she said, dropping a kiss on Theo’s head and accepting the weapon from him. “Where’s yourbaba?”
“He had to take a call up at the main house,” Ari said, giving her outfit the once over. “Are you sure that’s what you should be wearing?”
She glanced down at her shorts and halter-style tank top. “We’re going out on a boat.”
“I know, but Christos may see some associates at the marina for lunch. You don’t want to look like a tacky American.”
She’d bought this outfit at Ann Taylor, the epitome of conservative American dress. She knew she didn’t look tacky, but Ari made her want to defend her clothing. And she wasn’t going to, because she’d learned the hard way that winning any argument with Ari was next to impossible.
“Babaisn’t working today,” Theo said.
“Business always comes first with Theakis men.”
Ava smiled sweetly at the older man. “One of the things I’ve always liked about Christos is that he makes his own decisions.”
“My son is stubborn, but also very loyal.”
That was true. Christos’s loyalty to Stavros had been one of the things that had driven the two of them apart. “He wants to be a good father to Theo.”
“Mama, I think you need to stand behind that tree over there. The bad guys will be coming up from the garden.”
She tossed her bag in the front seat of the convertible and got into position. Ari got to her as no one else could. She suspected it was partly because she didn’t feel that she was good enough for Christos. Living here at the Theakis compound brought home how different her life had been from Christos’s.
“Mama?”
“Yes?”
“I hear someone coming.”
She did, too. The footfalls were heavy on the stone walkway. She hoped it wasn’t Antonio. The poor man had been doused with water a lot in the past week.
She heard the whirring of the motor on Ari’s wheelchair and then Theo’s small hand on her back. “When I give you the signal, we’ll attack.”
She nodded at her son. A shadow of a man was visible around the side of the large tree trunk and Theo nudged her with his elbow. She jumped out on one side while Theo covered their target from the other. They both fired at the same time, dousing not Antonio, but Christos.
“Baba, we got you!”
Christos grabbed his chest and staggered backward. Water dripped from his torso and face. Theo raced forward and pulled a piece of rope from his pocket. He took Christos’s wrists in his hands.
“Mama, help me,” he said.
Ava dropped her weapon and reached for Christos’s wrists, which was when everything got a little crazy. Christos bent and picked up her gun with one hand and brought the other arm around her waist, holding her to his body. He held up the water gun to her face.
“Back away or the hostage gets it.”
Theo put up his hands, still holding his gun and took two steps back before he dropped into position and fired at Christos. Christos doused her with a shot of water to the face before turning his attention to Theo. Both of them raced down the path toward the garage and Ava stood there chuckling.
“I don’t know what’s gotten into him,” Ari said.
