AllFreeNovel
Share Us
But she hadn’t asked for it. And they were in an open space. A public space. It wouldn’t be appropriate to touch her here, even if she did want it. The thought sparked an idea.
“If you feel like going for another swim, we can go back to my place,” he suggested.
“You have a pool?” She turned her head, her dark eyes catching his. His question had been designed to feel her out, to see if she would react to the sparks between them. And the hungry expression in her eyes told him she most definitely had. “I would love that.”
“Let’s finish our lunch and then we can head back,” he said.
You’re inviting trouble into your home. She’s still lying to you.
But right then, with her lips pulling up into a seductive smile and her eyes sparkling, he didn’t feel a single part of his intuition stirring. Perhaps she was simply a woman looking for an escape. A one-time vacation fling.
And if that’s that she wanted, then he was the guy to give it to her.
Chapter Four
As the sun hung low on the horizon, Marianna followed Nico back to his place. She carried the towels and her bag, and he had the picnic basket with their leftovers. It was impossible not to feel like this was some kind of fantasy she’d fallen into, as their bare, sand-covered feet fell in time with each step.
Her phone buzzed as Nico held the gate for her. A text from her brother.
DANIEL: Hey, meeting is going well. I’ll be another couple of hours. I’ll call as soon as I’m on my way back.
Perfect. She could barely contain her grin.
“Good news?” Nico asked.
“My brother ditched me for dinner.”
“And that’s cause for a smile?”
“It is if you feel like hanging out with me some more.”
Nico had made her comfortable. Their lazy afternoon mixed with the pleasant sensation of a belly full of fruit and bread had lulled her into a sense of security. Maybe she was meant to have waited for this moment. How many women got to lose their virginity on a Greek island with a man like Nico?
His yard stretched out like the grounds of a palace, perfectly manicured and lush. Trees dotted the yard, and the pool was huge and blue. Intricate mosaic tiles seemed to shimmer beneath the water’s surface, beckoning her.
Romantic and private location, check!
Only, he hadn’t responded to her cheeky comment implying that she wanted to stay a while. She placed the towels on a banana lounge beside the pool. “You’re not sick of me yet, are you?”
Nico’s eyes roamed over her, hungry and inviting. “I really wish I was.”
Was he holding himself back? “Why?”
“Because I have a feeling that we’re aren’t going to stop at swimming.”
“Fine by me.”
They’d been dancing around it all afternoon, her nudging them in that direction and him pushing them away. The way he’d touched her when she asked for help with her sunscreen had practically set her on fire. He was attracted to her, she could feel it in her bones. And it was so foreign to her—like nothing she’d ever experienced before. In his eyes, she might be a woman deserving of love. Of sex.
She might not be in the “too hard” basket for once.
She made her way down the steps, letting the lap of the water wash the sand from her feet. She wasn’t sure what else to say. She’d left her comfort zone in the dust the second she’d gotten into his car. All she could do now was pray to God that he followed her lead.
Marianna had always been “well-behaved” by doing what she was told and studying hard and taking the advice of others. But where had it gotten her? She was twenty-four, had never known the touch of man, and spent most of her time in the alternate reality of academia. Goddammit, she was lonely. And unsatisfied.
And she was sick of missing out.
“You’re playing with fire, little koala,” he said.
The nickname made her smile. It was a hint of familiarity between them—no matter how false—that made her feel like maybe this wasn’t some sleazy one-time hookup. It allowed her to pretend for a moment that they really were lovers, that they were two people who’d stolen away for a naughty afternoon of mutual pleasure and fantasy.
“Good,” she whispered. “I’m ready to get burned.”
…
Nico had a decision to make…well, with his head, anyway. His dick was already on board. Bianca/Marianna’s motives appeared to be innocent. She’d asked nothing of him yet. Not for information about his work or personal life, nor about his home, security, or anything else of value.
And he’d be lying if he said this afternoon hadn’t been immensely enjoyable. There was something captivating about her, something that called to a part of him so charred and so ruined he thought it would never stir again.
But she summoned his desire like nobody else.
His body pulsed with the need to have her. She swam close to the edge, her long, dark hair floating in the water around her. As she bobbed in front of him, her bikini clinging to every delectable curve.
“Why are you so ready to get burned?” he asked.
She looked him dead in the eye. “I’m trying to turn over a new leaf. This holiday is supposed to be about…expanding my horizons. I’ve spent all my life devoted to my studies, and I recently realized that I’ve missed out on so many things. I don’t go out, I don’t party or take risks or chase the things I want. And while I very much enjoy learning, I want to learn about more than syntax and morphology and phonetics and phonology and—”
