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‘Quid pro quo.’
‘What does that mean?’
‘Remember when we went over to your aunt’s house for Easter, and you turned the sprinklers on me?’
‘We were thirteen!’
‘Revenge is a dish best served cold!’
Katerina gawped at Leo. ‘So, does that mean you pushed me in on purpose?’
‘Of course not, but you have to take your chances when you can, don’t you think?’
‘Oh, yes, I completely agree, which is why…’
Before Leo knew what was happening, Katerina had seized his hand and yanked him into the fountain, scooping up armfuls of water to toss over him so he was as wet as she was. Laughing as he sat cross-legged in the middle of the pool, he pushed his dripping hair from his eyes before making a lunge for Katerina and dunking her head under the water. In other circumstances, Suzie would have enjoyed watching the two childhood friends reconcile – and maybe finally realising what everyone else but they could see; that they clearly loved each other – but she could see that Heidi was agitated.
‘Are you okay?’
‘I can’t stay here. I’m going after him.’
Without waiting for Suzie’s response, Heidi marched to where Leo had left his Jeep. However, before she could climb behind the wheel, Christos intercepted her, clearly worried about her demeanour.
‘Want me to drive?’
Heidi nodded. ‘Please. I don’t trust myself.’
Christos jumped into the driver’s seat, started the engine, and drove the few metres to the fountain where Katerina and Leo had paused their water-fight mid-splash. Katerina was staring at Leo, his white cotton shirt clinging to his muscular torso like a Greek version of Fitzwilliam Darcy, rivulets of water dripping down his cheeks as he waited to see what Katerina would do next, both of them oblivious to the fact they had attracted an audience of the hotel’s returning residents.
‘Coming?’ Christos asked Suzie.
Suzie nodded and jumped into the back of the Jeep, turning round in her seat to watch out of the rear window as Katerina raised herself onto her tiptoes, slid her hands around Leo’s neck, and pulled him towards her, slowly, leisurely, until their lips finally met, their kiss thrumming with a passion that had been years in the making.
Suzie’s heart ballooned with joy, until reality burst through the romantic image when Christos jammed his foot onto the accelerator and drove like Lewis Hamilton’s Greek cousin towards the road that led from Perissa to Oia, in an attempt to catch up with the man who had treated all of them with such staggering contempt.
Chapter Twenty Six
‘Oh my God, Christos! Slow down!’
Suzie clutched the edge of her seat to stop herself from sliding to the other side of the back seat, but she didn’t think Christos had heard her, and even if he had, Heidi was sitting next to him, urging him to drive faster. Fortunately the traffic was light, and Christos knew the roads well, enabling him to overtake when it was safe to do so, and less than ten minutes later, Heidi sat up straight and pointed through the windscreen.
‘That’s him!’
Christos increased his speed and started to press his horn and flash his headlights before, to Suzie’s consternation, veering onto the other side of the road so that Heidi could shout out of her window for Nathan to pull over. At first, Suzie thought he was going to ignore her, but to her relief, when a roadside taverna appeared up ahead, Nathan turned into the car park and the two cars came to a stop next to each other.
Soft bouzouki music drifted from a small decking area that had been built in an orchard at the back of the rustic taverna, the branches of the trees entwined with strings of fairy lights that gave the area a romantic, almost magical ambiance. A waiter greeted them warmly, ignoring the daggers Heidi was sending in Nathan’s direction, and showed them to a table under the awning of a heavily laden orange tree. After taking their drinks order, he headed back into the taverna, leaving Heidi free to say what she was clearly bursting to say.
‘I thought you liked me!’
‘Idolike you.’
‘When you kissed me goodnight after the Greek dance night, you said you wanted to see me again.’
‘I did… I do…’
‘But it was a lie!’
‘No, it…’
