Page 37 of Hot Greek Summer

He watched her take a sip from her glass, and then just carried on looking at her, scrutinising her almost.

‘What?’ she asked softly.

‘I was wishing I could draw you just the way you look right now. Relaxed. Softer.’

‘Softer?’ She was almost glad if he saw her as tough; it was a new look for her. People back home had regarded her as someone they could walk on, and a big part of coming here had been about being the person on the outside that she was on the inside.

‘Less guarded,’ he said, assessing her. ‘Are you brave, Winnie?’

‘Am I brave?’ She repeated his question slowly, turning it over and looking at it from every angle. Was she brave? ‘I don’t think of myself as especially brave all of the time. Maybe I’m like Matt Damon in that movie where he bought a zoo – you know, the one with the famous quote? Every now and then I’m prone to twenty seconds of insane courage.’

‘Cool,’ he said, getting up and crossing to slide open the glass doors on the back of the house. He disappeared momentarily, and when he sat back down again, he was holding a pencil and a sketchpad. Looking at his watch, he studied the second hand.

‘I’m going to ask you something now, and then you have twenty seconds to decide whether to be insanely brave.’

She stared at him, almost holding her breath in anticipation.

‘Ready?’ he asked, and she nodded without blinking.

He nodded too, his dark eyes nailed on hers.

‘Take your dress off and let me draw you naked?’

CHAPTER NINE

‘What? No!’ Winnie stared at him, wide-eyed with shock.

He didn’t speak, just stared at his watch.

‘Jesse, I can’t,’ she said, and still he didn’t look up.

God, how long was twenty seconds anyway? She should have paraphrased the movie and said five. She couldn’t take her dress off, that just wasn’t who she was. But then … who was she? Wasn’t this a chance to redefine herself, not for Jesse, but for her own benefit? A handsome man wanted to draw her naked at sunset; just six months ago this would have seemed beyond the realms of reality for her life.

She’d probably blame it on the wine when she recounted the story to Stella and Frankie later, but right there and then she didn’t feel like it was the wine talking as she made her decision and got to her feet.

‘Stop the clock,’ she said quietly.

Jesse finally looked away from his watch and stood too, waiting for her to make her move. She looked him square in the eyes for a moment, and then turned her back.

‘Help me with my zipper?’

She said it so quietly that she wasn’t even certain that he’d heard her, but then she heard his breath close to her ear when he stepped in.

‘You’re insanely brave,’ he murmured, and his fingers brushed her neck as he slid the zip slowly down the length of her spine. He let her dress fall to pool around her ankles, leaving her standing in just her underwear.

Closing her eyes, she went for broke. ‘Now unhook my bra.’

He stilled. ‘You’re sure? You don’t have to.’

She swallowed hard. ‘You can hardly draw me naked if I don’t.’

‘It’s enough that you said yes. You’ve proved it to yourself,’ he said, reading her too easily.

‘Just unhook it.’

The sound of his breathing made her heart pound, and then his fingers moved to deal easily with the clips of her bra.

‘There,’ he said. ‘You’re undone.’

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