AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He led her onto the beach. “It’s off the beaten track. And the cliff path can be treacherous. We locals never talk about it.”
“It’s as beautiful and peaceful as I remember.”
The sun sparkled on the Aegean, the sky above them the deepest blue, one cloud daring to scud across. The white cliffs rising high above kept the wind from passing through. It was calm and serene down here, no one else venturing out today. Still holding her hand, he led the way to a rock outcropping, helping her to sit on the ledge.
They had come here their last night. He’d lit a fire for the glow rather than the heat and laid a blanket on the sand where they’d watched the sunset.
They’d made love for the last time.
He asked her again, “Do you remember?”
* * *
She nodded,remembering every moment of that night, their last, though she hadn’t known it then. She hadn’t known Sienna was already growing inside her. She’d known only that she loved him. When he asked her to come back, she’d pledged that she would.
She had been so sure of everything that night.
Seated beside her on the rocks, Xandros raised her fingers to his lips. “I’m glad.”
He didn’t press for how she felt in this moment, or even her feelings about that long-ago night. They simply sat in the quiet cove, the memories beautiful rather than wrenching.
Until finally she jumped down, holding her hand out to him. “Let’s put our feet in the water. I haven’t had the chance to swim in the sea yet.”
He hopped off the ledge. “Sacrilege.” He smiled down at her. “But you don’t have any water shoes. The rocks will be tough on your feet.”
She grinned, walking backwards, pulling him along. “I’m willing to brave it.”
And brave it she did, stuffing her socks in her shoes and walking out into the waves. Closing her eyes, she let the water lap at her calves, over her knees, soaking the legs of her capris. It wasn’t the warm waters of Hawaii, but cooler, refreshing.
Angela felt him beside her, creating little waves around her. She smelled his earthy male scent, and her skin tingled, her body came alive, and she opened her eyes to meet his hot, dark gaze.
Xandros wrapped his big hand across her nape, reeling her in like she was a puppet destined to do whatever he commanded.
“You came back.” His voice was hoarse with emotion.
She answered softly, sadly. “Thirty years too late.”
He shook his head, blinked, his eyes opening and closing slowly, as if he were looking at the image of her against his closed lids. “It doesn’t matter. You’re here now.”
The water swirled gently around her knees, Xandros’s warm hand on her. “But we both married other people,” she whispered. “Had children by different spouses.” And she bore him a child he didn’t know about.
“Maybe that wasn’t our time.” He tucked her hair behind one ear, pushed another errant lock behind the other. Her hair was already short, and now she felt as if he’d bared her soul.
“I want to believe that,” she said.
He smiled gently, nothing more than a twitch of his lips. “I hear a ‘but’ coming.”
“But there’s been so much time lost. We don’t even know each other anymore.”
“Then we must talk, tell each other everything, fill in those gaps. It’s not too late, Angelika.” His voice was so soft on her name, a caress, as if he’d trailed fingers across her skin.
His hand at her nape again, he pulled her in, his lips taking hers.
At first, she didn’t open to him. It wasn’t shock, but something more akin to fear. If she let him in, she would lose herself. The way she’d lost herself all those years ago.
But after only a second, as his mustache tickled and his tongue traced the seam of her lips, everything shifted. Fear became desire and desire became need. She went up on her toes, closing her arms around his neck, opening her mouth fully to him, taking his tongue inside as if she was taking his body.
His arms wrapped around her waist, he pulled her tight against him, tight enough to feel his desire against her belly. He angled his head and delved into her very depths.
