Page 133 of Dagger in the Sea

Her fingertips traced over my chest. “You know, your god Dionysus fell madly in love with a princess.”

“Did he? I don’t remember.”

“Ariadne. Her Athenian prince boyfriend dumped her on an island and took off.”

“Ass.”

She let out a soft laugh. “And she’d just saved his life too. Anyway, Dionysus found her, rescued her, and they fell in love. Years later when she died, he took a crown he had given her and placed it in the sky with the stars.”

“He was a soulful lover,” I said, kissing her forehead, and she snuggled against me.

My gaze returned heavenward. Yes, my and Adri’s pleasure was up there in that Greek sky—a crown of bright stars. Bright, bright, and so damn fierce.

37

Turo

Flutter,flap, flutter, flapinvaded my sleep, and my arm curled tighter over Adri.Flutter, flap.My eyes peeled open. The light wind was making something snap close to us.

My shirt.

My linen shirt, perfectly clean from the rose liqueur was stretched out end to end on a small laundry line to the side of the garden terrace. The fabric puffed and filled with air. Bright, white in the morning sun. Teasing me.

Last thing I remembered was her ripping it off me, and us losing ourselves in each other. Adri smiled, her eyes still shut.

“What did you do?” I asked her.

“I woke up to get a glass of water and washed it for you,” she replied, her voice lazy and warm. “I didn’t want it to be stained.”

“I liked that stain,” I murmured.

She kissed my throat and nestled back into the blanket.

“Thank you, Lovely.”

“Hmm. You’re quite welcome.” A smile rose over those lips—damn, I loved those lips—and I kissed them.

I reached up and snapped a soft branch of small jasmine flowers and traced them down her back, her arm. She hummed. I dropped the jasmine at her side on the pillow. “Sleep, baby.” I pulled the hand knit blanket higher over her bare shoulders. The awning of woven ribbons of canvas flapped in the wind overhead as if we were on a great sailboat. Our very own cutting through our own blue, blue sea.

“Let’s be lazy today,” I whispered. “I’ll go get us breakfast and bring it back.”

“Hmm,” and a slight grin were her only responses.

I moved the blanket out of the way and planted kisses on her bare ass. She buried her face in the pillow and giggled softly.

“You stay here, I’ll be right back.” I put on my jeans, took the washed shirt off the line and put it on. Sea air and bright sun had suffused the material with a fragrance unlike any other. The fabric was rough on my skin, and I grinned as I buttoned it.

I left the veranda but turned to grab another look at her. A greedy man, a thief. On a garden bed lay my ravaged sleeping beauty. My satisfied siren. I took her house keys and left.

* * *

The croissants werewarm and steamy in the bag, and I inhaled their yeasty, buttery sweetness as I left the bakery. I stopped in at Hermes and placed an order for two freshly squeezed orange juices. I’d make the Greek coffee myself this morning. I paid for the juices and headed back up the cobbled main street to the house. The bells of the clocktower in the main square bonged. Ten a.m. Shop owners were unlocking their doors, taking out their display stands, getting their coffees and small cheese pies,tirópites—the national breakfast on the go—delivered.

I passed the shop where Adri had stopped one afternoon and tried on a pair of flat leather sandals. It was a high end jewelry and accessory boutique, and the owner was just opening the display window’s deep blue shutters.

“Kallí méra,” she greeted me as I stopped and took in her well designed display.

“Good morning,” I replied.

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