eyes closed tightly. She was haunted by what he’d told her. “How long did it take you to realize your own value and bring a woman in here to dance the night away?”
“I never did.”
Raina’s hands had a mind of their own and slid to his cheeks where she could feel the slight rasp of his hard male jaw. She forced him to look at her, trying to understand. “I’m the first?”
“I’ve been waiting for the right woman, but the way I’m feeling about you at this moment, I need to get us away from here now. Let’s go.” She knew how he felt and would have suggested it if he hadn’t.
They walked back to the table. He handed her the crutches. After leaving money on the table, they left the club without having tasted their drinks.
The water felt like glass during the ride to Anti Paxos in the cabin cruiser. A sliver of a moon lit up the dark sky. Raina wanted this romantic night to last forever. When he pulled into the slip at the harbor, he turned to her. “How would you like to sleep out on the cruiser tonight?”
“Can we? I’d love it!”
“Tell you what. We’ll drive to the house and pack a bag. I’ll grab some food and we’ll come back. Tomorrow we’ll begin a tour of the different islands.”
She removed her life jacket. “You’re sure you want to do this for me when you’ve lived here all your life? Won’t it be boring for you?”
“Being with you is like seeing everything for the first time because your excitement is contagious.”
“This part of Greece is so glorious, I’m speechless, Akis.”
“I’m in the same state around you. Come on.” He picked her up and carried her to the dock. They reached the truck and drove to the house in record time. At the house she changed out of her sundress and put on her lightweight white sweats. After packing bags and food, they returned to the cruiser. She really was doing fine without the crutches and had never known this kind of happiness before.
Being with Akis made her realize what a pitiful marriage she’d had with Byron, whose selfishness should have warned her she was making a terrible mistake. Theo’s best man was the best man she’d ever known, and the most generous.
“We’ll cruise over to my private beach and lay anchor until morning. The seats go back and make comfortable beds if you want to sleep on deck. Or you can use the bedroom below.”
“I want to stay on top and look at the stars.” That way they didn’t have to be separated.
“Then that’s what we’ll do.”
Euphoria enveloped Raina as they followed the shoreline to his area of the island. After cutting the motor, he dropped anchor. Theirs was the only boat around. He turned on the lights. It felt like they were on their own floating island. When she looked over the side, she could see beneath water so clear it didn’t seem real.
She turned around with her elbows on the railing and smiled at him. “I feel enchanted. It’s this place. The air’s so warm and sweet, and the sky is like velvet.”
His gaze swept over her. He’d turned on music and strolled toward her still dressed in the same clothes he’d worn earlier. Akis was so handsome, her mouth went dry. “I want to dance with you again. This time we don’t have an audience.”
Raina propelled herself into his arms and he swung her around. He murmured words into her hair she didn’t understand. “What did you say?”
“That you smell and feel divine.” He crushed her against him, running his hands over her back and molding her to him. They slow-danced until she lost track of time. His mouth roved her cheek until she couldn’t bear it any longer. Needing his kiss like she needed air, she met his lips with her own. They became lost in a sea of want and desire.
“I could do this with you forever,” he whispered against her warm throat. “My father told me it could be like this with the right woman.”
She rose up on tiptoe and kissed his face one dashing feature at a time. “In my darkest moment, my grandfather told me the same thing and warned me not to lose hope. He and my grandmother were happily married for sixty-nine years.”
Akis smiled down at her. “Imagine that.” Twining his fingers with hers, he walked her to the banquette across the rear of the cruiser and pulled her onto his lap. He smoothed some strands of her hair tousled by the breeze. “If I were your great-grandfather, I’d paint you like this and name it Aphrodite by moonlight.”
Raina buried her face in his neck. “If Rodin were alive, I’d commission him to sculpt you cavorting in the swells of your Hellenic world. Have you been to Paris?”
“No. But I’ve seen pictures of The Kiss. All the boys on the island liked looking at those kinds of pictures.”
“I think everyone does. Do you think Rodin got it right?” she teased.
“As much as he could working with cold marble.”
His comment sent a wave of heat through her body as she imagined them the models for the sculptor’s famous work.
“You’re all warmth.” He lowered his head and kissed her until she was lost in rapture. A low moan passed through him. “Raina—I want to eat you up, every last centimeter of you. But if I do that, there won’t be anything left for me tomorrow, so I’m giving you a chance to escape me. There’s a comfortable bed waiting for you below where I won’t be joining you. At least, not tonight.”
He helped her off his lap. The last thing she remembered was the black fire of his eyes as he said good-night.
Her legs almost gave way from the blaze of desire she saw burning there and practically stumbled her way to the steps leading down to the galley. She was still out of breath when she finally climbed under the covers. Akis was the one who had the incredible self-control she lacked. Hers had deserted her the first time he’d taken her in his arms.
The frightening realization had come to her that to know his possession would change her life forever.
Forever...
Akis was a male force no woman could resist. There was no one else like him.
* * *
As Akis had done many times before, he slept on the top deck of the cruiser. But he couldn’t sleep yet. When his father had talked about meeting the right woman he’d said, “Akis? You’re only in your teens and you’ll meet a lot of women before you’re grown up. When you find the one, you must treat her like a queen.
“Your mother was my queen. I cherished and respected her from the beginning. She deserved that because not only was she going to be my wife, she was going to be the mother of our children.”
There was no question in Akis’s mind that at the age of twenty-nine he’d found the one. What tormented him was the fear she wouldn’t think he was the one. How could he possibly measure up to the educated men she worked with and knew? Maybe that was why Vasso had cautioned him to be careful. Because he knew there was a vast chasm of knowledge separating Akis from Raina.
But
