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Two bright spots of color formed on Mikey’s cheeks. Here she’d been getting all carried away in how Loucas made her pulse race and her knees weak, and he was going to put up with her company simply as a means to an end.
Embarrassed, she turned to Bobby and placed a hand on shoulder. It brought their bodies into almost complete contact, Loucas observed through narrowed eyes. “I think Loucas has a point. Better for Andrew to go slowly over the next few days.” She flashed a smile down at the boy. He wasn’t watching. Probably wasn’t listening. But nonetheless, she silently pleaded with Bobby not to make a fuss. It was just an afternoon at the beach, after all.
“Okay, Cali girl,” Bobby agreed after a beat too long. “But you owe me a private beach excursion another time.”
Mikey’s laugh was innocent enough. Could she really not see that Bobby was falling over himself to flirt with her? Loucas found it hard to believe that she could be so unsophisticated. “Sounds good.”
She turned back to face Loucas, and the warm, natural smile blanched from her face. In its place, there was a tight grimace. “Do you need to get anything?”
He was hardly dressed for the beach, but suddenly, he wanted to be away from the villa. He wanted to be alone with his nephew, and Mikey. He wanted to see what made the little boy tick. His eyes were like Helena’s. Was there anything else he channelled from Loucas’s twin sister?
“No. I’m ready.”
“Good.” Mikey bent down and scooped a duffel bag up from beneath the lounger. “I packed earlier,” she said in answer to his silent question.
He reached out and took the bag from her, sliding it down her shoulder and arm. His fingertips grazed her sun warmed skin, and she almost jumped. She refused to let him see how he affected her, though. It was too embarrassing. Men like Loucas Aleksandros didn’t look twice at women like Mikey Jones, and she’d be a fool to let her mind wander in that direction any further.
So she shook her arm to free the duffel bag the rest of the way and purposefully looked down at Andrew when Loucas took it from her, and slipped it onto his own shoulder. “Come on, Andy. Let’s go see how many shells we can find today.”
She linked hands with him and led him in the direction of the path that led to the beach just down from the villa. It was a steep walk, but a short one, and Andrew made surprisingly good time.
It was only when she reached the ornate wrought iron gate that she realizedd Loucas was not following behind.
“You aren’t coming?”
“Not to that beach. Come. I know a better one.” His face relaxed into a smile at the same time the sun surfaced from behind a wisp of a cloud. A ray of golden light fell on his face, and Mikey bit down on her lip to stop from exclaiming. It wasn’t right that one person should be endowed with so much supreme physical beauty.
“Okay,” she shrugged. “That okay with you, Andy? If we go see Uncle Loucas’s favourite beach instead?”
The small boy squeezed her hand, and Mikey wanted to scream with joy. Instead, she smiled, all of the happiness she felt at the simple communication shown on her face.
“Let’s go, then.”
Away from the pool, on the other side of the villa, was a large lock up garage. As he approached, Loucas waved up at a concealed camera, and the door immediately opened, rolling upwards silently.
“Woah,” Mikey stopped walking and froze to the spot, as she counted the luxury vehicles parked nose to tail in the garage. “These are all yours?”
“Ne. Yes.”
She let go of Andrew’s hand long enough to run her fingers over the bonnet of a vintage MGB. “Woah,” she repeated. “This one’s got to be a sixty four?”
Loucas paused, in the middle of grabbing keys from the wall cabinet.
“You know about cars?”
She shrugged, looking beyond the red MGB to the lime green Mustang. “One of my brothers is a mechanic. He used to get me to clean the parts for him while he pulled the cars apart.” She turned her attention back to the Roadster. “Bet she drives like a dream.”
Her voice was so wistful that Loucas actually laughed. “We’ll take her for a drive another time,” he promised. “I only had Andrew’s seat placed in one of my cars. I’m sorry. It’s just a Range Rover today.”
She arched a brow in silent amusement. “Just a Range Rover? That will do fine.” She took Andrew’s hand in hers and followed Loucas across the bay of parked cars. He paused beside a jet black range rover with heavily tinted windows and opened the rear passenger door.
“Would you like me to put Andrew in?”
“No,” she shook her head, instinctively knowing the little figure beside her needed her familiar presence at that moment. She softened her response with a smile as she lifted Andrew and gave him a cuddle, before placing him in the seat and buckling him in. He was still nervous in cars, and Mikey certainly couldn’t blame him. After what he’d been through, it was a wonder he felt game to travel at all.
She eased out of the car backwards, and bumped straight into Loucas’s chest. He was standing right behind her, holding the passenger door open, only Mikey hadn’t realizedd. She hit his chest hard and had to put her hands out to catch her balance. They connected with his rock hard chest. Her fingers splayed across the fabric of his shirt, and she thought, for a moment, how nice the fabric felt beneath her touch. Warmed by him, and softened by wear. Her mouth was dry as she lifted her eyes to his. The spark she felt was like an electric shock. Quickly, she withdrew her hands, clenching them into small fists by her side.
“Sorry. I didn’t know you were there,” she apologised, embarrassed again. He was going to think she was throwing herself at him, quite literally.
