Page 191 of Love Among the Ruins
She inched closer, because she was most interested, because she wasn’t sure she’d heard right. And because his cologne was so utterly familiar and intoxicating. He slowly, deliberately, annoyingly rolled his sleeve up revealing his other forearm. She was consumed by the urge to smack her lips and kiss it all over, like the uninhibited creature she suddenly became whenever he was around.
“You said this was for the summer,” she whispered. Suddenly, she was back in that bed lying flush against his chest. His arms like a protective band around her.
She wanted that again.
“Nikolaos isn’t coming back. He helped his wife recover from breast cancer. She’s doing well, but he doesn’t want to return to work. He said something that stuck with me. He said you can’t buy time, and that he wanted to make the most of every moment he had with his wife. “
“She’s going to be okay, isn’t she?”
“She’s going to be okay,” he assured her.
“He’s a wise man,” she said, then, “What does this mean?”
“I have to stay here.”
“In Athens?”
He nodded. “Unless you think Linus should take over?”
She didn’t realize he’d moved closer until she was in a bubble of ocean breeze. So she did what any hot-blooded female standing next to Dominic Steele’s forearms would do. She grabbed them and placed her hands over the veiny smooth surface.
He took a shuddering breath, unusual for a man of his poise. “Did you ... were you here to see me … for something?” He was faltering. She loved that she had the power to make this man do that.
“Miranda told me Galatis was here. I had to come.”
“Oh.” He looked down, his stoic mask slipping.
“But I wanted to see you at some point, before the weekend.”
He looked at her intently, his gaze bouncing from one eye to the other. “Why before the weekend?”
Her thumbs moved over his smooth skin, as if rubbing them would bring the genie out of the lamp and grant her wish to return to Santorini again. Dominic didn’t make a move, didn’t take charge, didn’t reciprocate. He seemed to be battling with something inside of him, an intense look in his eyes.
“I’m sorry.” He didn’t wait for her to answer his question. “I’m sorry you found out the way you did, about my family’s yacht.”
“That’s not why I came …” That electric hum between their bodies was back again, the zinging and zapping energy bouncing off their bodies.
“I have to explain.”
“You don’t, not right now.”
“It’s important. Don’t you want to know why I lied?”
She’d done nothing but try to work out why he’d lied. Why he’d done what he did. And today, she wanted to tell him that she was ready to leave, sooner than her contract ended.
She’d planned to go home to work things out because she couldn’t move forward in her life until she’d climbed the mountain. There was an expedition at the end of September she was considering going on.
Ending her contract early, next week, if he would let her, meant she could leave work and have time to get herself together, and prepare mentally and physically for the trip because once that was done, she could heal from whatever this had been between her and Dominic.
And in time, she would forget him, too.
That had been her aim when she had believed he would soon be returning to the US. But it sounded like his plans had also changed.
“Dominic, it’s not important. I’m sure you had your reasons. I know whatever they were, they were good reasons, but you don’t need to tell me.” She didn’t want to know why Dominic had lied to her because it didn’t matter anymore. He was a good man, she knew that much, but him telling her anything more would make it that much harder for her to forget him.
He was breaking her heart, looking at her like that. As if he couldn’t bear for her to leave this room without hearing him out.
“It’s important for me to tell you. Please hear me out. Please.”
