Page 92 of Dagger in the Sea

An eyebrow twitched. “Yes, many times.”

I liked her immediate, non-dramatic reply. Not a giggle, not a blush.

“Yet here you are with me,” I continued. “There he is in Mykonos. And my tongue is enjoying itself immensely. And I’ll bet his is too.”

“I’m sure it is, I hope so.” Her fingertips rubbed at my scalp. “Alessio and I are not in a relationship. Not a typical one.”

“Then what is it?”

“Are you jealous?”

“I need to know if I should be expecting an assassin fromNapolito come for me in the night.”

“He’s not jealous,” she said. “He may be—em—territorial?”

“Right.”

“But not jealous.”

“Why not?” I pushed up, taking her body with me. “If you’re lovers, why isn’t he jealous? And what are we doing here?”

“This bothers you?”

“Adri, if you were my lover, I’d never let you go off with another man. Never let you touch another man the way we were together in front of him. The way I’m touching you now.”

She brushed a hand against my jawline, right by the scab from the night she’d got shot at.

My fingertips dug into her flesh. “Answer me.”

“Alessio and I are good friends who have sex. Nothing more.”

My muscles relaxed just a little. “Does Luca know that?”

“No.”

“How long has this been going on?”

She raised her sunglasses over her head. “I met him inMilanoalmost two years ago when I went with friends to Fashion Week. We went out, had a good time, we slept together one night, and stayed in touch. That summer he came to Greece with a girlfriend, but they had a terrible falling out, she left, and we had sex again. Since then, he comes to Greece when he can or I go to Italy. The press likes us as a couple, and we realized that us together keeps the hangers-on and the questions away. There are many hangers-on for Alessio. He detests it and trusts no one.”

“Because of his own notoriety and his father’s?”

“Yes, exactly. But if he does find a woman he wants, I fade into the background, then re-emerge once it’s over if he likes. Same goes for me.”

“Is that what was going on the night we met in Athens?’

“Yes.”

“Has he had other relationships?”

“Two or three.”

“And you?”

“No, none.”

“Why not? What’s in it for you then, Adri?”

“With every man they have seen me with, the press hounds me with the same questions—‘Is he the one, Adriana? When are you getting married, Adriana? How many babies will you have, Adriana?’Since Alessio they’ve gotten bored with me. Now they only remark‘Adriana Lavrentiou and her long-time boyfriend, Alessio Aliberti…’It’s worked out well for me.” Her gaze leveled on mine as her thumb brushed the edge of my lip. “So far.”

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