‘He’s an old man, Theo. Of course I’m patient and it’s not hard to be kind.’
‘You’re patient with everyone. You do things for people.’ He drew in a deep breath. ‘And you’re talented. You made the blanket you gave that woman at the home. Your cardigan you wore that night at the ballet...’
She nodded.
‘I saw the drawings in your apartment. They were on graph paper.’
‘I work up the patterns, yes.’
‘You learned some maths then, back with your parents’ insistence.’ He grinned.
‘I wasn’t bad at it, I just wasn’t good enough by their impossible standards. I’d be sent to my room to study and end up knitting to help me relax,’ she acknowledged. ‘I made leg warmers for my ballet class. Awful stripes from ugly leftover balls of wool that were cheap. Zoe wore hers to company class the other week and a friend wanted some.’
‘You could sell them.’
‘They take a while for me to knit. They can buy machine-made ones for cheaper.’
‘So you’ve thought about it.’ He sat beside her. ‘Yours are artisan creations. Hand-crafted, beautiful wool—a premium product.’
She shook her head and giggled at the flattery. ‘Hardly. I make mistakes. I can’t put a massive price tag on imperfect pieces.’
‘Handmade doesn’t have to mean perfect.’ He looked thoughtful. ‘You could sell the patterns. People would then knit them themselves.’
She hesitated, half tempted by his idea. ‘You think they’re that good?’
‘Don’t you?’ He turned her face up when she glanced down. ‘Don’t you believe in yourself, Leah?’
She swallowed again.
‘Because you should. Just because you didn’t get top in every damn math or physics class doesn’t mean you’re not capable of amazing things. It’s just different.’
‘I know that. I know.’
‘There’s a difference between knowing and believing.’
He stole her breath with his words. Then he kissed her and stole everything else she had to give.
* * *
A blissful hour later he nudged her with a smile. ‘Let’s go exploring.’
She wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to move again. But she let him tug her to her feet and followed him into the shower. Theo drove them to Delphi, where they spent the afternoon exploring the ruins.
‘This is incredible.’ The beauty of her surroundings amazed her but at the same time she was keenly aware of the strong man walking beside her. ‘Thank you.’ She glanced towards him, only her gaze ensnared with his. ‘You’re supposed to be seeing the sights.’
‘I am.’
She rolled her eyes, but when she swallowed it was hard to push past the lump that had formed there. This was so lovely, it scared her. He took the lead, turning into the most knowledgeable tour guide ever, telling her anecdotes about the area, pointing out all kinds of features.
‘I read up yesterday morning,’ he explained as she looked at him in disbelief over one obscure fact.
‘I thought you were working.’
‘I couldn’t concentrate.’
Theo couldn’t resist holding her hand as they turned to walk back down the hillside. When he’d watched her at the ballet she’d been like this—the expressive emotions flickering on her face. There was nothing better than seeing her entranced. Smiling. Moved. He liked it best of all when she was moved by him—by his touch. In bed—vulnerable and exposed.
‘Do you need to check in with Dimitri?’ she asked as they walked back towards the car.
She really cared for the old man. He glanced at her and knew she was genuine. She was good at building relationships—she had an easier relationship with Dimitri than Theo had ever had. Which was remarkable given her own family dynamics. ‘What about you checking in with your family?’
‘I did. My brother sent a message back yesterday morning,’ she said happily. ‘He actually remembered.’
Smiling, Theo phoned Dimitri, who immediately asked to speak to Leah. With dutiful mockery, he passed his phone to her and watched as she shyly said hello in Greek. It was only a couple of moments before she ended the call.
‘I think he likes you more than me,’ Theo teased as he drove them back to the private villa.
She grinned and looked at him. ‘You’re the CEO of his business, Theo. That’s after adding to the conglomerate. You’ve done everything he’s ever asked of you. More than everything.’
‘He expected nothing but the best.’ He stilled.
‘And you’ve always delivered.’ She angled her head. ‘But what do you want for yourself, Theo? I have my outlet—what’s yours?’ She leaned close. ‘Please don’t say it’s having one-night stands with women in London...’
He couldn’t smile. ‘I have my work. I like my work.’
‘Is that enough?’
What else was there? He got into the car and waited for her to fasten her seat belt before driving off. ‘I was young when I went to live with Dimitri,’ he said. ‘He was a tough taskmaster, but it was a good distraction.’
‘And that’s it? You just work? I thought the adage was work hard, play hard...’
‘I don’t feel my life is boring, Leah.’ It certainly wasn’t any more. Not with her in it.
But he felt her gaze on him, too searching, too soft.
‘You take it upon yourself to ensure Dimitri’s happiness—by pleasing him.’
‘Like you’ve never tried to please anyone?’ He forced a laugh. ‘You make that your life’s work.’
‘We both had expectations placed on us—the difference is I failed all mine. But you surpassed them—awards, accolades, grades, prizes, acquisitions, business acumen...and you’ve been perfect ever since,’ she muttered.
‘I have been so far from perfect, Leah.’ He grimaced. He didn’t want her feeling sorry for him; it was preposterous. ‘No one is perfect.’
‘Were you afraid he’d send you away too?’
Suddenly it was as if all the oxygen had been sucked from the car.
‘Is that what happened?’ she asked softly. ‘Did your mother send you away?’
He kept his eyes on the road and pressed harder on the accelerator. He didn’t talk about that—ever.
‘Why did she let you go?’ Leah was so calm and soft and insistent and somehow...safe.
It was the question he’d spent most of his life asking and he still didn’t know the answer. All he knew was that it hurt. It would always hurt. He just never admitted it. He never let it get this personal with anyone. But Leah disarmed him with her self-deprecating lovely laugh that made him smile. She was so gorgeously human and he truly couldn’t resist confessing it to her.
‘She said it would be better for me to be with the Savas family. That she couldn’t look after me properly any more.’ He sighed. ‘She’d started drinking and only drank more as their marriage fell apart.’ He cleared his throat. ‘Don’t think badly of her.’
Leah shook her head slightly.
‘My father was Dimitri’s golden boy. He was their only child and I guess he had a lot of pressure on him. But he was also spoilt and selfish and partied hard. And I guess it was partly rebellion that made him marry the girl he’d got pregnant and move to the States with her.’ He tensed. ‘He was unfaithful from the start. My mother kept me informed—justifying her own indiscretions, her own addictions. But I didn’t need her to tell me. He brought them to our house.’
As a kid he’d walked in on his father kissing another woman when he’d had no clue what he was seeing. Only that it felt wrong to witness. He’d never wanted to know any of it. He’d been a kid.
‘She drowned her hurt in drinking and they fought all the time while maintaining this...supposedly glamorous lifestyle. My dad visited Greece often—keeping up with his friends here, supposedly satisfying Dimitri with his efforts to learn some of the business...but he didn’t really care. He brought my mother and me here only the once for my tenth birthday. My mother hated it here. When he got back late one night they had another big fight and he stormed out again. He shouldn’t have been driving. The crash killed him instantly. It was lucky there was no one else involved.’ He still felt furious with his father for that. ‘Dimitri blamed my mother for everything. In his opinion she was why they’d never lived in Greece—because she wasn’t Greek. She was the one burning through the money, being unfaithful... Dimitri thought it was all her fault because my father was miserable with her—of course he was going to play up a bit. And then there was me, the reason they’d had to marry in the first place.’