AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Shotguns and all that.
* * *
A strange noisepulls me from sleep, but it’s not enough to completely wake me. Warm, comfortable, and with Evie’s scent all around me, I chalk it up to the usual dorm antics and snuggle back down for another hour or so.
The next loud bang annoys me enough to pry my eyes open. They feel like sandpaper. It takes a few moments of blinking for the room around me to come into focus.
And when it does, sheer panic seizes my chest.
This is not my dorm room. This is not my bed.
But Evie is definitely sleeping on top of me on her family’s couch in the living room of the Papageorgiou house.
I’m dead meat.
There’s no way to escape without waking her, so I shake her a bit until she moans and squirms around, which is not doing anything to counteract my morning wood. Just one more infraction I could be crucified for.
“Evie,” I whisper, hoping not to alert anyone else I’m awake. “Evie, wake up.”
“Ten more minutes, Rob,” she mumbles.
“Baby, you gotta wake up. I have to go. Now.”
She sits up with a start, wedged between my body and the back of the couch. Casting a confused glance around the room—probably the same as I did when I woke up—she focuses her gaze on me. “What’s wrong?”
My eyes must be popping out of my skull at her relaxed tone of voice. “What do you mean what’s wrong? I fell asleep! Here!”
“So? You’ve slept on the couch before.”
“Not with you. I heard a noise, and it’s probably YiaYia loading the shotgun. You gotta let me up, so I can sneak out. Maybe no one’s noticed us here yet.”
Evie casts an annoyed expression my way. “I’m pretty sure you’re not about to be murdered, and I’m also pretty sure that at least someone knows we slept here. This blanket wasn’t over us last night.”
Sure enough, there’s an old, knit blanket covering our legs. The same one that’s usually draped over the back of the couch.
They wanted to make me comfortable before killing me? Weird, but maybe that’s a Greek thing.
As groggy as I felt mere minutes ago, my mind kicks into overdrive, formulating a way out of this. “Maybe Tini covered us up. So, here’s the game plan. I’m gonna sneak out the front door, and you go up to your room. I’ll come back later for my duffel bag, and it’ll be like nothing ever happened.”
“You’re being ridiculous. Did you get a concussion at the game that I didn’t see?”
“I’m being ridiculous? Your grandmother doesn’t even want Tini accepting expensive gifts from her boyfriend because it’s ‘not fitting.’ This would not make her list of things that are fitting, and I didn’t even give you your gift yet, so she probably thinks I’m a loser on top of taking advantage of you under her roof!”
“I’m pretty sure you driving all night in a rental just to make it home for Christmas is one of the best gifts of all time and is proof of how much you’re not a loser.” Evie shakes her head, but it’s obvious she’s fighting a smile. “Although, YiaYia probably wouldn’t be too happy about what almost happened in the kitchen last night.”
My heartbeat picks up as sweat breaks out on my forehead. “Fuck, does she have those nanny cam things set up around the house? I’m a dead man. She’s going to kill me, you’re going to live a long life without me and find someone else to marry, and holy shit, this is the worst Christmas ever.”
The first laugh Evie’s been fighting breaks free, furthering my panic. Someone will definitely have heard that.
She bends down and places the sweetest kiss on my lips, morning breath and all. “This was the best Christmas ever. You were the best present ever. And no one is going to die this morning.”
“Oh, good. You are awake. Robert, you can help me make the breakfast since we postponed it until your return.”
I crane my gaze over the couch to see Papou’s head sticking out of the doorway from the kitchen. He offers a tired smile and a little wave.
Obviously to lure me into his trap.
Because there’s no way he missed me sprawled out on his couch under his roof with his granddaughter practically straddling me. My only saving grace is the blanket that’s covering my boner. Kind of.
