The Greek's Long-Lost Son (11 page)

With tears threatening, she hurried into her room with the intention of showering, but all of a sudden Theo burst in through the adjoining door. Ari ran in behind him and disappeared into the bathroom.

“How come you didn’t wait for us?” was the first question out of his mouth.

Stella was surprised he’d even noticed. “You two were having such a great time, I didn’t know how long you’d be.”

She heard him curse before he said, “You and I need to talk.” He sounded angry.

“What’s wrong?”

“How would you have felt if you’d turned around and discovered I was missing.”

“It’s not the same thing, Theo. You were talking to that woman. I didn’t know if it was about business or not so I decided not to disturb you.”

“That woman was a total stranger to me. When she invited me to a party, I told her I was married and my wife was right over there. Except that you weren’t anywhere in sight.”

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what else to say.”

“It upset Ari, too.”

By now her heart was thundering unmercifully. “I had no idea.”

“Next time give me a thought before you bolt.” In the next breath he was gone.

“Mom?”

She swung around to see Ari with a towel wrapped around him. “Yes?”

“I thought you liked daddy.”

Stella reeled. “You
know
I do. I’ve already told you that.”

“But you don’t love him like you used to, huh?”

His question trapped her. No matter how she answered it, Ari would internalize it and eventually tell Theo. “For now, why don’t we concentrate on you and your father.”

“I wish we could stay here forever.”

Unable to resist, she kissed his cheek. “I’ve never seen you have so much fun before.”

His dark eyes shone. “I love him.”

“He loves you.”

“I know. He’s going to take us sailing tomorrow. We’re going to stay out overnight and the next day we’re going to fish.”

“That’ll be exciting for you.”

“But you’ll be with us.”

“I don’t think so, honey. Your father wants some private time with you. Think of all the years you’ve both missed.”

His cute face crumpled. “Daddy says we won’t go if you don’t come.”

Was Theo worried that Ari might get frightened without her there? If he could have heard his son just now, he’d know the bond between them was so strong,
he had nothing to fear in that regard. After they came back from class she would ask Theo about it and reassure him if necessary.

“I’ll talk to him later.”

“We’re going to eat dinner in his room. Come on. You can talk to him right now.”

“Not yet. I have to shower first.”

A few minutes later Stella rushed back into the bedroom and dressed in a pair of tan slacks and a print top in various shades of earth tones. She’d picked up a darker tan over the past few days. The new lipstick she’d purchased accentuated it. For the first time in years she felt as if she was on a real vacation with nothing to do but eat, sleep and play. She never wanted it to end.

In the past they’d always had to hide from everyone. Yet even after he’d disappeared, she’d never felt free. There was a gloom Nikos brought with him that had always darkened her world, but with Theo she felt free to be herself and Ari was a totally different child.

The more she thought about it, the more she was determined that as soon as they returned to Athens, she would start looking for another place to live. Stasio and his family preferred living on Andros. That left Nikos who could take over the family villa where he’d grown up. It would make him feel in charge. Maybe that’s what he needed.

When she walked into Theo’s suite, he captured her gaze. They both studied each other. “You look beautiful.”

“Thank you.”

“In truth you’re the most beautiful woman at this resort. I can’t believe how lucky I am.”

She tried to stifle her gasp of surprise, but she couldn’t suppress the surge of pleasure that curled
through her body. Since it was Theo, he’d already noticed the signs, like the fact that right now her breathing had grown shallow just being this close to him.

He could read all the little clues that meant she was so aware of him, she was jittery. Of course she wasn’t fooling anyone, especially not him, but it was a game she had to play for self-preservation.

“I’m lucky to be with two such handsome men.”

“Am I handsome?” Ari wanted to know.

“Yes, just like your father,” she blurted before realizing what she’d just said. Theo simply smiled at her.

Stella looked away. “Um, this looks good.” She sat down next to Ari where Theo served them a light dinner from the cart sent up from the kitchen. So far they’d been eating all their meals in his room. She loved the intimacy, like they were a real family.

Theo eyed her for a long moment, seeming to assess her until she felt exposed. Her heart did a little kick she couldn’t control. “Did Ari tell you my plans for the next few days?”

“Yes. We were just talking about it.” If they all went sailing overnight, they’d be away from her brother’s long reach a little longer. Without hesitation she said, “I can’t think of anything I’d rather do.”

“Hooray!” Ari cried.

There was a look in Theo’s dark eyes that told her he was pleasantly surprised. “In that case I’d like to leave early in the morning.”

“We’ll be ready. While you’re at class, I’ll pack.”

“I’ll see the galley is stocked with food. That was a luxury I couldn’t provide when we used to go rowing. Remember?”

“I didn’t know you went rowing with Daddy.”

Stella almost choked on the lamb she was eating. “Sometimes we did.” Ari had been conceived on one of those outings.

“Was it fun?”

Theo’s jet-black gaze shot to hers. “How would
you
describe it?” he asked her in his deep voice.

She couldn’t meet his eyes. “As I recall, it was a lot of hard work.”

“But the end justified the means every time.”

Theo…

Unable to sit there any longer, she got up from the table. “I think I’ll get started on that packing. Enjoy your class and come back safely.”

Stella couldn’t get out of his room fast enough.

Two nights later Stella stood at the bow of the sailboat, gazing at the view.

“That’s a sunset you don’t see very often.” Theo had come up behind her.

“It’s glorious.” She’d been marveling over a golden orange sky slowly fading into pink. He ran his hands up her arms, kissing the side of her neck. “Wh-where’s Ari?” When Theo came up on her like that, she couldn’t even talk clearly.

“In the galley finishing his ice cream. Why do you think I stole up here for a moment?” His hands caressed her shoulders.

“No, Theo,” she cried, “this isn’t the time—” But he wasn’t listening to her.

“You’re wrong. It’s the perfect time. Before I went away, you were my whole life.” He turned her around to face him. “Since I’ve been back, I’ve discovered you still are.
Agape mou,”
he whispered, finding her mouth,
avidly kissing her lips apart. “I need to taste your sweetness again.”

His hunger for her made her forget everything else. All she knew was that his mouth set her on fire and she couldn’t stop what was happening. As his passion grew, she was engulfed in his arms, craving his touch. There was no one in the world who could make her feel the way Theo did. Her need to merge with him was overpowering.

He finally lifted his head enough to look into her eyes. “I can’t believe that when I flew to New York, you were there, too, having our baby. I should have been there for you.” She heard tears in his voice. “We were robbed of our lives for a long time. Now that we’re back together, I need this more than ever. Tell me you feel the same way….”

For a dizzying moment she felt their bodies meld. The chemistry between them had always been volatile. Right now it was as if they’d never been apart. “Obviously I’m not immune to you, Theo,” she confessed on a little moan of surrender, “but having told you that, it changes nothing. We’re not young kids anymore.”

“No. We’re a man and woman who’ve never been able to stay away from each other.”

She searched his eyes. “There are things we have to talk about.”

“I agree, but let’s enjoy the rest of our trip first. This is heaven for me. I want to make it last as long as possible. Don’t you?”

“Of course,” she admitted, “but—”

“Do you trust me?”

She felt him probing deep into her soul. “Yes. Otherwise I wouldn’t be here.”

“That’s all I needed to hear.”

Once again his mouth fused with hers. This was ecstasy. His lips roved over her face, capturing each feature. As she sought his mouth helplessly, she heard a sound behind them.

“What kind of fish do you think we’ll catch tomorrow?”

While she tore her lips away and eased out of Theo’s arms, he turned to Ari. “Probably some sea bass. It’s very tasty. If they’re not biting, then we’ll do some snorkeling.”

“Will we see a lot of things?”

“I’ll take us to a spot where the water’s so clean and pure, you won’t believe what’s swimming underneath.”

“Will it be scary?”

“Not where we’re going. Besides, your mom and I will be right there with you.”

“Yeah.”

“Now that we’ve dropped anchor for the night, come on and help me put the boat to bed.”

“A boat doesn’t go to bed, Papa.”

“Sure it does. It’s tired after working hard all day.” Ari giggled. No one was more exciting to be with than Theo. “We have to clean up any messes, fasten down anything loose, turn out lights. There’s a lot of stuff.”

“Will we be able to fish as soon as we wake up?”

“Yes, but it’ll be foggy so we’ll throw out our lines and see what we can catch until the sun burns it off.”

“How did you learn to fish?”

“My father taught me and my brothers. We had to go out very early to catch enough for my mother to cook.”

“You mean for breakfast?”

“No. She used fish to make the food we sold at the taverna.”

“But what if you didn’t catch any?”

“That happened a lot.”

“Then what did you do?”

“We had to go to the meat shops and wait for them to sell us the meat parts for a cheap price nobody wanted.”

“You mean like brains and liver and stuff?”

“That’s right.”

“Did we eat brains at the taverna the other day?”

Theo roared with laughter. “No. For you she prepared the very best food.”

“It was yummy.”

Stella’s heart swelled with emotion as she gathered Ari’s damp towels and sandals and listened to them talk. For one six-year-old boy, he left a lot of items around, but she didn’t care. Theo was telling her son things she hadn’t known, not during all the time she’d spent with him.

“Papa? I’d like to live on this sailboat.”

She chuckled along with Theo. Ari loved everything they did because he was with his father.

“Shall we do it? Shall we just sail off to wherever we want?”

“Could we?”

“Yes, but I think you’d start to miss your friends and school.”

“Did you like school?”

“For the most part.”

“I like recess the best.”

“So did I. You must be my son.”

“I am!” At that remark, Theo threw back his head and laughed that deep, rich laugh Stella loved to hear. “I wish Mom and I could live with you.”

“I’d love it,” Theo answered without hesitation. His narrowed gaze captured hers. “How about
you
, Stella?”

Her heart thudded in her chest. He didn’t play fair
asking her a loaded question like that in front of their son. “Are you being serious?” She’d decided it was his turn to be put on the spot.

There was a strange tension between them. He finally said, “So serious that I’d like to discuss it further after we turn in.”

Staggered by his response, Stella left the deck and hurried below. She needed to gather her wits and headed straight to the galley to finish cleaning up. The two of them followed a few minutes later.

There were two bedrooms, one with a double bed and another with two bunk beds. She would have slept with Ari, but Theo insisted she have the big bed because the men were on an adventure.

After kissing Ari good-night, Stella brushed her teeth and changed into a pair of navy-blue tailored pajamas. Turning on the reading lamp, she sat up in bed and pulled out the book she’d tried to read at the pool. It was a spy novel written by an author she liked.

To her dismay she couldn’t get into it tonight, either. When Theo entered the room dressed in a pair of sweats and a T-shirt, her heart thumped so hard, it hurt. In the semidarkness his striking masculine features stood out. Disturbed at the appealing sight of him, she pretended to keep reading.

In the next instant he came to sit down beside her and plucked it out of her hands. Then he got on the bed and stretched out next to her with one elbow propped. She felt his eyes study her with toe-curling intimacy. “You could have no comprehension of how gorgeous you look tonight.”

She could hardly swallow. “Thank you.”

“After I went to New York, there were nights when
I thought I’d die if I couldn’t have you. I couldn’t fathom that you’d stopped loving me.”

Stella averted her eyes. “Then you have some comprehension of how I felt. It took raising Ari to help me deal with the pain.”

He took a shuddering breath. “I threw myself into work. I had three jobs, one with a well-to-do Greek café owner who was a boyhood friend of my grandfather’s. He told me that if I wanted to make real money, I should study the real estate listings. There were properties I could buy without a down payment. The trick was to fix one up and then sell it for as much as I could.

“I thought he was crazy, but I took his advice. You wouldn’t believe how fast I started making money. He told me where to put it. Some of it went to high-risk investments that paid off. I sent money home and started planning my return. One of my goals was to find you and make you tell me face-to-face what happened.”

She stirred restlessly on the bed before flicking him a glance. “I was the opposite. It was such a nightmare, I hoped I’d never see you again.”