He pressed his lips to mine again immediately, spreading heat through my entire body.
“Lead the way,” he said. I took a chance and threaded my fingers through his. He let me, and even squeezed my hand.
As we weaved between the whitewashed buildings, I savored the way his hand felt in mine. I didn’t care that we hadn’t really decided anything, or that we only had one more day. Soon we’d have to face reality—and our friends. I didn't know what this meant or what we were, but this moment felt too right to worry about any of it.
“So,” I said as I stopped at the nearest gift shop. “What happened to the rest of the guys?”
Exhaustion tightened his features.
“I dropped them off at an emergency clinic, like, twenty minutes from here.”
I turned to him, raising a brow.
“Okay, now you’re going to need to tell me the whole story.”
TWENTY-FOUR
Lila
“DidI ever tell you that you looked good in that bathing suit?” I sent a splash of water in Harrison’s direction. Instead of retaliating like I expected him to, he took a quick step forward and grabbed me around the waist before I had time to protest. I screeched with laughter as he thrust us both down, threatening to dunk my head underwater, but stopping just when he reached my neck.
He kissed my nose and smiled. “Not half as good as you look in that bikini, I’m sure.”
Sunset had already enveloped the island when we finally got off the ferry back in Santorini. When I had suggested we go for a little evening swim, I had fully expected Harrison to offer some sort of resistance. But there was none. In fact, it was getting harder to remember what Harrison had been like when he was challenging my every suggestion.
He cradled me in his arms so that I was floating in the pool. I traced one of the larger tattoos on his arm. A dragon, circling a flame.
“You know, I asked you about your tattoos once. You were pretty snarky about it,” I said.
He winced. “Sorry about that. You can ask me anything you want now.”
I smirked up at him. “Trying to make it up to me or something?”
He leaned down to kiss the top of my head. “Always.”
I pressed my cheek against his chest. Despite the absolutely surreal feeling of being together like this, I couldn’t deny that I felt more content than I had in a long time.
“Do they all have meaning?” I asked, tracing another one, this one of water lapping against a cliff.
“Some,” he said, craning his neck to look down at the one under my hand. “That one I got for my dad. I have a few for my mom—her favorite bird and her favorite flower. Both of their names are on my other arm.”
“They must really mean a lot to you.”
“They do. They’ve sacrificed a lot for me. I just wish they’d let me do more for them.”
“Stubborn?” I asked.
“Proud,” he said.
I continued tracing the dark lines. “Are any of these for a girl?”
“No,” he said. I could hear the smile in his voice. “I do have one for Oliver, though.”
I dipped my head back and laughed at that. “No way. Which one?”
“It’s a wolf on my back. We were supposed to get matching ones, but he chickened out after I got mine.”
I snorted. “That sounds like Oliver. At least you were already covered in tattoos, or that could have been bad.”
