Page 58 of Hot Greek Summer

Winnie slowed as the familiar outline of the villa came into view, the sound of the sea washing onto the sand a soothing backdrop to their quiet conversation. ‘Are you asking me for my thoughts, or telling me yours?’

Jesse looked away, slowing up at the edge of the terrace. ‘Just idle conversation, I guess.’ He dug his hand in the pocket of his jeans and pulled out the small silver key. ‘Will you take it now? If you decide you don’t want to use it then that’s fine, but keep it anyway, just in case. You never know when you’re gonna need a bolthole.’ He tucked her hair behind her ear. ‘If you ever have to run, run to me.’

Winnie shook her head, looking at the floor. ‘Damn it, Jesse. For a man so insistent on keeping things simple, you sure know how to make them feel complicated. Do you even know how romantic that was?’

He dropped his arm around her waist and pulled her close, sliding his hand into her hair. ‘I prefer to think of it as practical.’

‘It was romantic.’

‘Are you still wearing those rose-tinted glasses, Legs?’ He held her face in his hands. ‘Take them off and crush them beneath your foot. You don’t need romance and sentiment spun around things to make them real.’

He kissed her then, soul-deep, making a lie of everything he’d just said.

‘Do you want to come in?’ she whispered, sliding her hands inside the back of his T-shirt.

He kissed her again. ‘Yes. But I’m not going to.’

‘Is that the first rule of living an uncomplicated life? No spooning?’

He shook his head at her, his hand around her nape as he kissed her forehead.

‘Go inside.’

She stroked his jaw. ‘Can I still come and visit my donkey?’

‘I think we both know you were always visiting me.’

‘So vain,’ she said, backing away. ‘So sure of yourself.’

‘Goodnight, Legs.’ He winked, then turned away and walked down the lane without glancing back.

Winnie watched him until he was out of sight, then wound her way around the side of the villa and saw Frankie flat out on one of the sunbeds facing the beach, with Seth Manson alongside her on another. They were talking, gazing up at the stars and laughing softly. Winnie tiptoed inside, made her way up to the top floor and tapped on Stella’s door. She heard footsteps and then it swung open.

‘I’m glad you’re awa–’ Her words dropped off, because it wasn’t Stella. It was Angelo who opened the door, dressed only in Stella’s badly fitting silk robe. ‘I’ll just … goodnight,’ she said, half laughing, almost running for the safety of her own room. She climbed into bed, leaving the French doors open so she could hear the sea, and as she closed her eyes she wondered how they’d all wound up spending their evening with someone so extraordinarily perfect for their individual needs right then.

Stella might think she wanted a Scandinavian puppy, but a big, bad Greek wolf had her in his sights tonight.

Frankie thought romance was a thing of the past for her, yet right at that very moment she was stargazing with one of the most lusted-after men on the planet.

And as for Winnie … she was discovering her inner Venus, and how twenty seconds of insane courage really could lead to a whole evening of bone-melting bliss. Thank you, Matt Damon, she muttered. You might have bought a zoo, but we bought our own slice of paradise, and I don’t have to wrangle lions as a result.

And that’s how it happened that they all took their eye off the ball, and no one noticed Mikey Miller drink himself into a stupor on island gin and then pass out in the garden with a lit cigarette in his hand.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

‘Christ! Winnie, get up!’

Someone was yelling and banging on her door.

Stellawas yelling and banging on her door.

‘Win! Wake up! Fire!’

Fire?Her feet hit the smooth floorboards before her eyes were even properly open, her heart thumping with panic. Struggling to focus, she squinted at her watch. Half past midnight. She could only have been asleep for half an hour or so.

‘What? Where?’ she shouted, dragging her robe on over her slip as she half ran, half stumbled across the bedroom and yanked her door open. Stella had already disappeared; Winnie could hear her footsteps receding down the stairs at a pace.

‘There’s a fire in the garden!’ Stella shouted back up. ‘Have you seen Frank? She’s not in her room.’

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