Page 29

With a little muscle, they’d maneuvered the couch and chairs to form a box, then she and the children hauled all their bed covers to the main space to erect the roof. Stavros arranged for extra blankets to be brought up with the food. Once the roof was secured, he brought in a lamp so they could see. Little traces of the setting sun’s rays crept in across the floor and penetrated tiny chinks where blankets didn’t quite overlap.
Adonis bemoaned the lack of a flashlight before digging into his chicken.
The delicious fare couldn’t distract Rose from the touch of Stavros’s leg against hers and the occasional bump of his shoulder while he ate. Rose was hyperaware of Stavros’s proximity. Every accidental brush set little sparklers off in her body. The reflection of the lamplight in his dark eyes drew her in. She wished she knew what secrets he kept hidden, what the rest of his untold story was. She blamed the heat inside the fort, sealing in their carbon dioxide, but she knew her elevated temperature had everything to do with the handsome, caring man beside her.
A sound drew her attention, ending her reminiscence of the previous night.
Adonis was chewing on his headphone cords.
Rose fished gum out of her bag and handed one piece to Adonis and another to Nefeli. She spent the rest of the car ride reminding Adonis to keep his gum in his mouth—he liked to stretch it out in one long piece with his fingers—and failing at not thinking of the attractive-in-more-than-one-way Stavros.
♥ ♥ ♥
Rose stepped from the private villa onto the sand and wiggled her toes. An afternoon on the beach sounded wonderful after the long car ride. She hefted the picnic basket in one arm and shouldered the beach bag on the other.
Nefeli dragged a bucket of toys through the sand, leaving a smooth trail in her wake.
Adonis raced past them both and jumped into the edge of a wave lapping onto shore. He gave a whoop.
“Let me give you a hand,” Stavros said, appearing beside her.
She startled. “Oh.”
He took the picnic basket. “I knocked at the door, but when no one answered, I figured you must already be here.”
“Thank you.” She rubbed at the marks on her arm from the basket handles, relieved to have the burden removed.
They put the items at the lounge chairs set up under a canopy. Rose set the blanket on the sand before spreading the picnic.
“Nefeli, Adonis, food,” she called to them.
From the water’s edge, they raced toward the blanket.
“Slow down, or you’ll get sand in your lunch.” She laughed.
Stavros took her arm and massaged away the basket handle marks.
Rose worked earnestly not to show how much the touch of his hands on her skin affected her. A tingling sensation felt as if icy-hot cream had been applied to her arm.
The children’s arrival broke the moment.
“Thank you,” she murmured to Stavros. Rose turned her head, hoping to hide the blush she felt in her cheeks. She took deep, calming breaths and worked to lower her heart rate.
“You’re welcome,” he replied in a low voice.
Her body seemed to have a mind of its own, and butterflies emerged from their chrysalises in her stomach, fluttering happily around.
Adonis grabbed some olives, and Rose handed him a plate.
He dumped them onto the plate, and one fell off in the sand. He reached to pop it in his mouth, but Rose stopped him.
“That one isn’t safe to eat now. Sand, wonderful as it is, can carry bacteria,” Rose said and then buried the olive. “Rub your hands off on the towel.”
Adonis did as he was told.
Rose poured all of them a generous portion of hand sanitizer. Once clean, they loaded up their plates, without letting any more olives go rogue, and enjoyed their meal.
“How was the car ride?” Stavros asked, wiping fava from the corner of his mouth.