“I was thinking the very same thing while we were inside your plant.”
He inhaled sharply. “When I got the call from Gus, I’d just come from the board meeting. His news was the last thing I needed to hear. If you want to know the truth, before I knew your identity, I was jealous of Georgios, who’d been traveling around on the tour bus with the gorgeous American schoolteacher.”
She stirred restlessly in the seat. “Georgios is happily married with a grown family.”
“When you introduced yourself, I was thankful that I was happily unmarried and could pursue you. After you asked to come with me, I took advantage of your gift. Otherwise I would have shown up at your tour company with an excuse that I needed to talk to you.”
She flicked him a glance. “It shocked me when I saw you in Sakis’s office yesterday.”
“After what we shared, did you really think I would let you get away from me?”
Andrea lowered her head. “I didn’t know.”
“Something extraordinary is happening to us. I know you feel it.”
“That’s the problem. In ten days I’ll be leaving for Brazil with Dad.”
Brazil? He almost went off the road. “What do you mean? You said you were leaving for Indonesia in two months!”
“Dad’s plans were changed. You were right about the unrest there. After this weekend, I don’t plan to spend any more time with you. So if you’d rather I went back to Thessaloniki tonight, I would understand.”
He’d been ready for that. “I have a much better idea. Why don’t we enjoy the rest of this day and forget everything else, including deadlines. I haven’t had a true vacation in ages and would like to celebrate the end of my career at the Konstantinos Corporation with you. Is that too much to ask?”
His question was met with silence.
He realized she was trying to stop things before they went any further, but it was too late. It had been too late from the moment they’d met. The thought of her leaving Greece, leaving him, was too horrendous to imagine.
CHAPTER FIVE
“WE’RE IN LUCK, ANDREA. The tourists haven’t come to this secluded stretch of beach yet. Those with boats will arrive later in the day in droves, but for now they prefer umbrellas and drinks available on the other side of that headland.”
Andrea was delighted. A quick five-minute ride from the marina in Thassos and they had this island paradise to themselves with its backdrop of lush vegetation. Once he cut the engine, the blue-and-white boat drifted onto fine white sand.
After peeling off her clothes to reveal a two-piece white bathing suit, she jumped off the rear of the boat into aqua-blue water. Eighty-degree weather had warmed it close to bathtub temperature.
“This is heavenly, Stavros!”
While treading water, she tried not to be obvious as she watched him strip down to his black suit. It rode low on his hips. Without clothes, he could be Adonis come to life, perfect in coloring and form.
Like lightning he entered the water and reached her in seconds. A brilliant white smile was the first thing she noticed when he lifted his head close to her. With his black hair slicked back, he was so dangerously appealing, her breath caught.
Beguiled by the sight of him, she ducked beneath the water and started swimming away from him. But when she came up for air, he was right there in front of her. From then on began an hour game of hide-and-seek with him the hunter and her the prey.
“Stop!” she begged, laughing, every time she surfaced to find him blocking her way. “It’s my turn to chase you.”
“Come right ahead,” he challenged, but stayed where he was.
“You have to try to get away.”
“What if I don’t want to?” He was waiting for her to swim right into him.
“You’re impossible.” Exhausted by so much exertion, she did an about-face and started to head for shore when she saw a roundish shape moving beneath the water. “Stavros!” she cried. “I think a stingray is out here!”
Somehow, she didn’t know how, he was right there beside her, putting himself between her and the menace. “Keep swimming like hell for the beach and shuffle your legs hard.” His legs moved like pistons, churning the water.
They hadn’t been swimming that far out. But it felt like an eternity before her feet touched sand and she collapsed on the beach out of breath. Stavros knelt down next to her and turned her over. “Are you all right?” His voice sounded unsteady.
Andrea would never forget the anxiety in his eyes. “I’m fine. What about you?”