Page 144 of Love Among the Ruins
“She’s beautiful,” Eleni remarked, obviously unwilling to let it go.
He tried to understand what she was getting at. “So are you.”
She made a noise in her throat. Dismissive, perhaps. “You know so much about me. You know where I came from, what I’m doing. You know about my past; you even know about my ... about Jonas and that I’m climbing the mountain. I know next to nothing about you.” She’d completely ignored his compliment.
“What do you want to know?”
“How did it work, with you being in the US and her being here?”
“It didn’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because it was a short summer fling. It was over by the time I returned home.”
“But if it had…”
“Had what?”
“If it had been long distance, then what?”
He didn’t want to talk about Demi. She was irrelevant. He didn’t want to talk about his fleeting relationships, or the fact that he’d broken up with his last girlfriend nine months ago. He didn’t want to talk about anyone because all he could think about was Eleni.
And he couldn’t talk about Eleni because she was in love with the man who’d died so young and so tragically.
Most of all, with his erection so large and throbbing, he couldn’t sit here and look at her a moment longer, nor could he excuse himself and turn in for the night, because he wouldn’t be able to sleep. Chances were he’d be jerking off all night.
So, he did the only thing a man in his situation could do.
* * *
ELENI
She didn’t understand why when she’d asked him about his girlfriends and past love interests, he gave her nothing. But he’d told her enough: that long distance relationships would be tough. A rock, heavy and solid, sank inside her.
“You’ve been staring at the pool all evening,” Dominic commented.
“It looks so tempting.” She couldn’t help it. She’d been thinking about jumping in and cooling off in the water ever since she’d arrived here.
Much to her jaw dropping surprise, Dominic stood up and stripped off his T-shirt. Her thoughts were in complete disarray seeing him naked from the waist up. Staring at his steel hard abs and muscles sent a tsunami of shivers rolling along her spine.
Before she could take a breath, he dove into the water, coming up when he was halfway in the pool, rising up, broad shoulders, arms thick and corded. The only thing missing were tattoos, but somehow, Dominic wasn’t a tatted type of guy. She couldn’t imagine him with a spot of ink on his body. But she still drooled at the thought. Her legs threatened to crumble under her, as if her bones were made of feta.
He swept his hair back, lifting his arms, and she felt as if she were watching a slick aftershave commercial.
“You tease,” she mumbled, her voice shaky. She’d bored him. Seeking distraction, something to do, she lifted the glass of lemonade to her lips and took a long gulp, biding her time, deciding on what to do. She’d expected them to sit here, talking all evening and all night, and into the early hours of the morning. Around him, she felt so at ease, as if he were a friend.
But watching him in the water tempted her more than ever. She ran a hand along the back of her neck, the dampness sticking to her skin. She longed to cool down.
“Nothing stopping you from getting in,” Dominic shouted.
“I don’t have a swimsuit. You should have told me there’d be a pool.”
“There’s always a pool.”
She got up and walked around, because her body was buzzing. Her cells were a vibrating, shaking mess, her nerves jangling and dancing, dizzy for joy. It was impossible to sit still and watch him.
Feeling hot and sticky, she instinctively lifted her arms and swirled her hair up into a bun. When she gazed at the pool, Dominic’s eyes were on her.
He swam away and when he reached the far end of the pool, he turned and swam back. Then he repeated it all over again, swimming lengths in silence, making her feel as if he was done with the talking.
Putting her hands together, she shouted, “Show off!” He lifted his head briefly to give her a half grin of acknowledgment before he continued swimming.
She couldn’t take it anymore. Irritated, tempted, frustrated and hot, she jumped in, fully clothed.
