we both knew this had to end sometime.”
“I didn’t know that. Or I guess I just didn’t want to believe it.”
“Well, then, that’s your problem.”
And he hated himself for saying those words, but they needed to be said. He had to put an end to it. She’d given up a job for him, but he’d never asked her to do that. She had to move on from him.
The sting of her slap on his cheek didn’t catch him off guard. He was expecting it.
“Enjoy New York, you bastard! I hope to God I never see you again!”
She pushed past him, and he didn’t turn around as the door opened and then slammed shut behind her.
Instead he sighed, felt a tear almost slipping from his eye. He wandered to the window, watching her get into her car and drive away.
When had he become such a coldhearted monster like his father?
He was selfish, greedy. He’d wanted her so badly, and for a year it had been bliss. Then she’d started to creep her way in through his carefully constructed walls. She’d started to plan for a future that he had never wanted.
It was time to let her go—even if his heart really didn’t want to.
She would find someone better than him. Someone who deserved her. He was not the man for her.
He didn’t deserve her, but he would never forget her. There would never be a woman like her for him again—he’d make sure of it—and he was also sure that he would never love another woman the way he’d loved her.
There would only ever be one Dr. Naomi Hudson in his life, and he’d just thrown her away. She’d be happier without him, and he’d be miserable without her, but it served him right.
He picked up the contract for the job in Manhattan again. This was what his life was all about—saving lives. In some ways, at least, if he excelled at his job, it might make up for the hurt he’d caused her.
At least he could do something good with his time...even though his life and his heart were beyond saving and always would be.
Three years later, Mythelios, Greek Islands
ANOTHER SLEEPLESS NIGHT.
The heat wasn’t helping. Even though he’d been back in Greece since the middle of July—two months after the earthquake—Chris still wasn’t quite used to the temperature. His body was firmly set to Manhattan mode and Manhattan temperatures. It also didn’t help that the island of Mythelios was still recovering from that earthquake.
His late grandmother’s home didn’t have air-conditioning either. And, since the island still remained in repair mode, renovations that weren’t crucial to the infrastructure and safety of the citizens had been put on hold.
Air-conditioning would have to wait.
He yawned as he opened the doors to the small terrace of his grandmother’s beautiful villa. He leaned over the balcony, watching the sun rise over the Aegean Sea.
It had been a long time since he’d watched the sun rise bright and beautiful over the turquoise sea of his youth. It had been years since he’d picked olives in his grandmother’s garden or swum in the sea. The garden was overgrown now, but up on the top level of the house he had an unobstructed view of the horizon.
His grandmother’s home was the oldest and the highest of the old homes that had been built into the cliffs of Mythelios. It had thankfully fared pretty well during the earthquake, only suffering slight damage, while newer homes had suffered and crumbled.
It was funny how it had managed to stay intact through the powerful quake.
It was funny how nothing really seemed to have changed here since he was a young man.
He’d been in America for so long, pursuing women and his career, that he’d forgotten to stop and smell the roses—or in this case the orange blossoms that wafted up from his late grandmother’s garden.
His life for the last three years in New York City had been endless parties, women and work. Work had been his priority. He’d let nothing get in the way of becoming the top neurosurgeon on the eastern seaboard.
Well, that wasn’t quite accurate. One thing had gotten in the way—and that was the reason for his sleepless nights and why he’d returned to Greece.
An ill-fated one-night stand in a long string of the one-night stands he’d had in order to get over losing the woman he truly loved had led to him having a baby dropped off on his doorstep. Well, not so much on his doorstep. He’d paid a lot of money to the mother so he could keep his son.
Baby Evangelos was his world now, and even though Chris could afford a nanny, and had one for his infant son, she was entitled to take a night off—as she had last night. He was on feeding and diapering duty whenever that happened.
Chris scrubbed a hand over his face.
Why had he let his life go completely sideways like this?
When had it gotten to be so hard?
Right—he knew exactly when that had happened: when he’d walked away from Naomi and put his career before love. That was when it had all gone to heck. He’d left behind the only woman who had ever broken down the careful walls he’d created to keep people out. She’d started to come even before his work, and that had annoyed him.
He’d sworn he would never settle down—not after watching his parents’ disastrous marriage crash and burn.
So he’d left her. Frozen her out and left her behind in Nashville while he pursued his high-flying career in New York City. And even worse, she’d loved him and he’d held her back. He hadn’t been able to give her what she’d wanted, and yet she’d turned down an excellent job for him. That guilt still ate away at him.
He hadn’t been able to forget about her. So he’d tried moving on by bedding a series of different women. And that was how he’d ended up with Evangelos.
And there was no question that he loved his son. He loved being a father—something he’d never thought that he’d ever want—but this was not how he had pictured his return to his home village.
“Nice abs!”
Chris frowned and then looked down to see Ares walking through the square in the tiny village. His long curls were hidden under a baseball cap—one that Chris had sent him when he first went to America.
Ares had been one of his best friends since he was a child. He was one of the four founders of the Mythelios Free Clinic and he worked in emergency medicine. All his friends were back on Mythelios now, since the earthquake, when one of their number—Theo—had put out a call for their help.
Ares had boyish good looks, and the silly hat that Chris had sent him as a joke looked so out of place on him, but it made Chris smile
