and she was visiting my family last night in Athens.”
“It’s okay, Lisa. I gave you the day and the night off. You deserve a break.”
Lisa ducked her head and brushed back one of the errant strands of her dark brown hair behind her ear. If he’d been a younger man, and not a father, he would have flirted with her. Only, he wasn’t that playboy anymore, and Lisa was from a respectable Athens family. A family that would be expecting a proposal of marriage from any man she became involved with.
“I’m headed down to the clinic. I can be reached there,” Chris said as he opened the door, and then he turned back. “How long is your cousin in Athens for?”
“For a while. She’s working there,” Lisa said eagerly. “My father’s brother fell in love with an American girl and settled over there. No one has seen my uncle or my cousin since she was a small girl. It’s the first time I’ve gotten to meet her!”
“Well, perhaps you can spend the weekend with your family in Athens next week. Get to know your cousin a bit better.”
Lisa brightened. “I would like that, Dr. Moustakas.”
He nodded and shut the door. As he walked through the cobbled streets, he saw the little village at the edge of the sea where his yia-yia had lived was coming alive, and that the ferry boat from the mainland sat at the docks as people boarded it for the hour’s jaunt to the mainland and the docks at Piraeus.
It wasn’t too much farther to the clinic, and there was a bit of a spring in his step as he headed there. It felt good to be working again and helping out Ares, Theo and Deakin, his best friends, as well as their significant others—he was still having a hard time wrapping his mind around that.
All his friends were matched up. They’d finally found love. He was the only single one left among them. And that wasn’t going to change anytime soon. No way.
There had been only one woman he’d come even close to thinking about marrying, but he’d bungled that so badly that he’d broken her heart. He deserved to be alone. That was his punishment for the pain he’d caused her. One he’d bear gladly.
Chris sighed and opened the door to the clinic. No one was at the front desk, but the door had been unlocked.
“Ares?” he shouted. There was no answer. “Ares, where are you? Hello?”
“Good gravy, what is with all the shouting? I’m coming!” a soft Tennessee accent answered back. One that he knew so well.
His heart skipped a beat as the owner of the voice came charging out of the back of the clinic, dressed to the nines in business attire—the high heels that he’d always thought were ridiculous and a pristine white lab coat.
Her thick strawberry blond hair was swept up off her neck in a tight bun, which didn’t suit her, and her soft hazel eyes widened in shock as she froze to the spot.
“Naomi?” he said in a daze as he found his voice. “What’re you doing here?”
* * *
Oh, my good Lord, what is he doing here?
She knew that Dr. Christos Moustakas was Greek, but she’d had no idea that he was here in Mythelios. She’d thought he was still in Manhattan, playing all-knowing neurosurgical God and playboy.
She’d thought when she left him behind and started working for an international relief effort as a surgeon that she would never have to lay eyes on him again, and that had been good enough for her.
She’d given up so much to take a chance on love and she’d been rejected. He’d shattered her heart and soul three years ago, and she’d never wanted to see him again. Ever.
That’s not completely true.
She had longed to see him, but she just hadn’t been able to risk him hurting her again. Not when it had taken her so long to put her heart back together after he’d so coldly dismissed her—and then she’d lost their baby. The baby she hadn’t even known about until after he’d left for New York.
She’d tried to tell him, but he hadn’t returned her calls.
So she’d borne that pain alone.
She hated him. He was the reason she didn’t date anyone—ever. She’d put her career first because she was never going to make that mistake again.
Her heart was hardened.
You don’t hate him. Not really.
Yet here he was. Standing in front of her in clinic scrubs and looking just as good as the day he’d left her all those years ago. His thick dark hair still perfect. Those dark eyes still with that twinkle in them. And even though he wasn’t smiling, just seeing his chiseled handsome face made her go weak in the knees all over again.
No. Don’t let him have any power over you.
It had taken her a long time to get over Christos after he’d put his career over her. She’d made her peace with that, and even though she’d blown her chance with Mayo, she’d never blown another one.
And now she was one of the attending surgeons with International Relief. She had a lot of responsibility. Maybe she had him to thank for that—for focusing her mind on her career instead of on him.
Still, she was not happy he was here. Of all the places in the world, why did he have to be here in Mythelios?
Good gravy, why did he have to be here?
She’d been assigned to work between Athens and Mythelios as a surgeon for the next couple of months. When she’d come to Athens in July, she’d gone to the clinic a couple of times, and Chris hadn’t been there. Of course, during the first part of her assignment in Greece, she hadn’t spent a lot of time in Mythelios, since most of the seriously wounded from the earthquake had been sent to Athens.
And now that she was going to be spending more of her time lending a hand at the clinic, rather than working in the city, he was here—and he was in scrubs as if he belonged here.
You haven’t said one word since he asked you what you’re doing here. Speak!
“What’re you doing here?” she asked.
Oh, my Lord in heaven, that was the most pathetic...
She cringed inwardly, because she really didn’t know what else to say.
“This is where I’m from. I’ve come back here because my grandmother died and I inherited her home. Also, this is the clinic I helped found with a few friends of mine. I thought since I was here I would spend some time working here.”
“I’ve been in Greece since last month and I haven’t seen you here at the clinic before—and you haven’t been mentioned by anyone,” she said.
“I’ve been busy dealing with the passing of my grandmother.”
“I had no idea you were from here.”
“We
