AllFreeNovel
Share Us
But once Sienna knew, Angela would have to tell Xandros too.
And that was the second problem. Could he ever forgive the fact that she’d stolen his child from him? That she was pregnant and still hadn’t come back, that she’d let another man raise his child? If the tables were turned, she didn’t know if she could forgive.
But he was smiling, unaware. “I am not that twenty-five-year-old boy anymore. I am a man. I run a corporation. And I have learned courage.”
“Before I saw you, I thought I was a woman with courage. Now I’m afraid I’m lacking any at all.”
“I have courage for both of us.”
She was afraid it wouldn’t be enough.
* * *
As if still blaming herselffor the spilled coffee, Eleni wouldn’t bring a bill when he asked so Xandros left a pile of euros on the table.
He looked at Angelika. “May I walk you to your hotel?”
She had come a year after her divorce. She’d changed her life to get here. And even if she claimed she lacked courage, it took courage to return to the place where they’d lost each other.
He had no intention of losing her again.
She looked at her watch. “Don’t you need to get to work?”
He understood it for the stalling tactic it was. “I am my own boss. I make my own hours. And I would very much like to walk with you.”
She stood, brushing nonexistent crumbs off her pants. “I’m with my daughter.”
“I’d like to meet her.”
“I don’t think I’m ready to explain who you are.”
He put a finger beneath her chin and tipped her head, making her look at him. “I’ve been coming here for ten years. I am a very patient man. But now that I’ve found you again, I cannot let you walk away.”
He leaned down to touch his lips to hers. It was barely a kiss, but somehow it made him dizzy in a way he hadn’t felt since the last time he’d held her in his arms. He asked the all-important question. “Do you want me to walk away?”
She put her fingers to her lips, as if she could still feel his warmth. “I don’t think I could bear it if you did.” She paused, looking down, eyelids shuttering her gaze. “I just need to adjust and consider how to deal with this.”
He slid his hand down her arm, laced her fingers in his, and led her from the terrace. Walking the cobbled streets, which were filling with cruise ship tourists, he said, “You came here after thirty years. You and I both know that means something. This town, this date, our kafeneío.”
“It’s the day before,” she said.
God, he wanted to kiss her, deeply, thoroughly. She wasn’t as easy as she’d been all those years ago. He didn’t mean easy in the demeaning American colloquial sense. It was just that she had known almost from the moment he had that they were meant to be together.
But thirty years had taught her wariness.
He compromised. “I promise not to invite myself into your hotel. I will only walk you there and give you my number. And I will wait for your call.”
For her, he didn’t use contractions the way the Americans did. Though in his business dealings with English speakers, he spoke as they did. But for this moment, he wanted her to understand the importance of his words.
“I’m not staying in a hotel. We rented a small villa.”
He smiled then. “Even better.” He stopped, stroked a hand down her cheek, savoring her soft skin. “I will see you again.” There was certainty in the way he emphasized the words. He would see her again, without a doubt.
They stood in the street overrun with tourists from the cable car and the intrepid souls who’d walked the stairs or ridden a donkey.
Her gaze roamed his face, and finally she said, “I’ll see you again. It won’t be like the last time. I promise.”
They had both promised before and look how that turned out.
