Page 163 of Love Among the Ruins
But she’d told Dominic.
But she and Dominic had slept together.
She wasn’t sure what that meant or where it left her.
“We should get together on the weekend,” Eleni suggested, taking up her friend’s suggestion. “I was thinking about going back home this weekend.” She longed for Stefanos’ company, to sit in their small spot by the beach and watch the sun set. But first she was anxious to see what Dominic would be like on his return. Unease clawed at her throat. The man could be mercurial and moody, and the intimacy of that night might be something he now regretted. She dreaded falling victim to his silent wrath.
“Again?”
“Huh?” Eleni’s lack of sleep was making conversation difficult.
“You just went home.”
“I mean in a few weeks’ time.” She rushed to cover her tracks.
“According to his diary Dominic was in Santorini for a wedding,” said Miranda, conspiratorially.
“Was he?” Eleni couldn’t bring herself to meet Miranda’s gaze. She picked at the tomato in her wrap. “They shouldn’t bother rolling these up for me. I always end up picking bits out of them.”
“I wonder what he did this weekend,” mused Miranda. “The wedding was just one day but …”
The tomato stuck in Eleni’s throat and held there. She choked, coughing uncontrollably, thumping the table until Miranda came over and thwacked her on the back.
Miranda had worked it out.
Eleni wiped her mouth, coughed, and placed a hand to her chest, then took the glass of water that Miranda was holding out to her. “Thank you,” she said weakly.
Miranda looked pensive. “I called Helen’s office this morning to check on some contracts Dominic needed, and her secretary—I know her well—told me that Helen’s away and back tomorrow.”
Relief swept over Eleni like a silky veil. “And you think ...?”
“I think what a lucky woman. A weekend with Dominic in Santorini.”
“But Helen’s in—” She stopped and shut her mouth. At least Miranda didn’t suspect her. “When is Dominic back?” she asked, picking out a piece of succulent meat.
Given that her phone call had gone straight to his voicemail, indicating that he might have turned his cell phone off, she wasn’t sure her call would even have registered as a missed call on his phone. In which case he wouldn’t have known she’d tried to contact him. But it still didn’t explain why he hadn’t contacted her.
Did he not miss her?
Or remember what they had shared?
“According to his schedule, tomorrow evening.”
Eleni’s heart sank. Miranda might as well have said next month for all the waiting it involved. Three days felt like a lifetime, and the absence of Dominic endeared him to her more than ever.
She couldn’t focus on her work. Her thoughts weren’t here in the office; they were all the way in the villa, in bed, with him.
Their night together was so vivid and real, so potent that the mere remembrance of his touch and his kisses made her aroused.
