He shook his head. “It was a solid business move.”
“Oh, yes?” she asked in a teasing tone, not really believing it.
“Very much so. Did you know that Greece took in more tourist dollars than any country in the EU last year?”
“No.” And she wouldn’t have expected it either.
“Where there is a will and a modicum of intelligence, there is always a way to make money.”
“Don’t tell my father that.”
“He knows my feelings on the subject. I told him investing in bonds and banks was foolish five years ago, but he did not listen to me.”
“So, what did you name the ships?” she asked, not really wanting to discuss her father’s business failings.
“They are named for the Greek gods of mythology.”
She smirked. “Not exactly original.”
“No, but popular with the guests.”
“Where do the rest of your fleet sail?”
“Two out of Amsterdam, one to Alaska, one to Hawaii, two in the Caribbean and one to Mexico out of L.A. We hope to commission three more ships next year.”
“What does your grandfather think of them?”
“He says they aren’t as pretty as our cargo ships, but they’ll do.”
She laughed, the sound so genuine, it startled her. “That sounds like him.”
This was what she and Ariston were like together. It wouldn’t be easy to remember that their compatibility didn’t mean they were destined to fall in love.
But they were good together and it didn’t hurt to remember that, too.
When he reached for her, she went to him without hesitation though. This was what they were good at. She and Ariston undressed each other, touching in ways they’d learned in the three years of marriage and the few times they’d been together intimately since then.
She led him toward the bed, her hand wrapped boldly around his erection.
“You are a temptress,” he offered gutturally as he pulled her back onto the soft mattress with him.
“Do I tempt you?” she asked as she stroked him up and down, her rhythm stuttering as his fingers found intimate places.
“Ne. More than any other woman ever has,” he ground out.
Then he burst into movement, rolling them over, so she was under him.
“We are even.”
He kissed her passionately and then moved down her body to torment each erogenous spot with his mouth, using lips, tongue and teeth to devastating effect.
She was getting lost in the pleasure but that wasn’t what she wanted right now. She needed to prove to him that in this they truly were equal, even if their emotions never would be.
She pushed at his chest. “Let me.”
“Let you what, yineka mou?”
“I want to touch and taste. It’s my turn.”
“But I am enjoying myself.”
“So, enjoy being tasted.”
Finally what she was offering must have clicked, because he rolled off her and offered himself with an alacrity she wasn’t sure she would have been capable of.
“I am at your disposal.” The remark would have been flip but for the husky quality to his voice.
“Thank you.”
“I am certain, sweet one, that it is I who will soon be thanking you. Profusely.”
She smiled and loved that he could still do that—make sex fun. Even after everything that had gone on between them.
She knelt between his thighs, rubbing against her own aching nipples, trying to soothe the need for his touch.
His nostrils flared and his eyelids dropped to half-mast. “You are so damn sexy.”
“Glad you think so.” She caressed his inner thighs with both hands, gently guiding his legs a little farther apart.
He bit off a sound of pleasure at that simple touch and satisfaction coursed through her. In this, he was hers.
She gently cupped his heavy scrotum sac with one hand, carefully rolling the balls as his shaft grew harder, pointing toward his stomach, viscous fluid beading at the tip.
“Is this still one of your favorite spots to be touched?” she wondered aloud as she slid her other fingers behind to caress his perineum.
The way his body jolted at the first light caress to the soft skin between the base of his balls and his backside said he did. She pressed in a little, looking for a bigger reaction and got it when he groaned long and low. “That feels so good.”
“I can tell.”
He smiled at her, pleasure warming the azure of his eyes.
“I know what will feel even better,” he hinted.
“So do I.” And with that, she dropped forward and placed an openmouthed kiss on the underside of his sex, just under the head.
It was the most sensitive spot on his penis and he used to go nuts when she would drag her teeth along it so lightly the touch was barely there.