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His brows rose. “Am I supposed to be somewhere else?”
“I thought you’d be with your grandfather. You know, to go over things.”
“My grandfather and I are getting together this evening. My grandmother dragged him off to Rome and she wouldn’t take no for an answer.”
“I can definitely see your grandmother doing that. She’s a very determined lady.”
“Looks like you’ve been busy.” He moved to the table. “What are you doing?”
“Working on my five-year plan.”
“Anything I can do to help?”
She shook her head. “Not at this point. I’m finally getting started with the foundation.”
He approached her. “And that’s my fault.”
“Why would that be your fault?”
“Because I kept you busy worrying about my life and my problems.” He gazed into her eyes. “And I haven’t thanked you nearly enough.”
She shook her head. “You don’t have to thank me.”
“I disagree.”
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Stasia ran a hand over her hair. “If I knew I was going to have this much company, I would have gotten dressed up.”
She moved to the door and opened it to find one of the ship’s crew standing there with a cart. What in the world?
“I’m afraid you have the wrong cabin,” she said. “I didn’t order food.”
Roberto rushed to her side. “Actually, you do have the right place.”
Stasia stepped aside while Roberto opened the door wide for the cart. And then he rushed to the table and cleared it so the man could set up what appeared to be two covered plates, a bottle of bubbly on ice and a dozen red roses. What was this man up to?
Once the table was set and the man was gone, Stasia turned to Roberto. “What are you up to?”
“Isn’t it obvious? You need lunch and I need lunch. So I thought we would eat together.” He approached her. “What do you say? Shall we eat?”
“Roberto—” she shook her head “—this isn’t a good idea.”
He held up the diamond ring. “Does it have something to do with this sitting on the table instead of being on your finger?”
Her gaze moved to the ring that twinkled at her, but she made no move to take it. “The cruise is almost over. You need to take it back.”
“And I’ve done a lot of thinking. What would you say if I said I didn’t want this to end?”
“What? But you just got done telling me that this was only temporary—a show for your grandparents.”
He reached out to her. His hands gently gripped her upper arms. “I made a mistake. You and I, we make a great team. If my grandfather offers me the CEO position, which I think was his motive behind this project, it’ll mean moving to Alexandroupoli. We can start a life there.”
Her head was spinning. A life with Roberto? He was saying all the right things except for the L word. And there was no way she would plan a future with someone who couldn’t say he loved her.
Wait. He said that he was moving. Alexandroupoli was quite a way from Athens. And she’d just made a commitment to start her foundation in Athens. It’d taken her a long time to figure out just the right thing to do with her life and this felt right. She couldn’t—she wouldn’t give it up. She had to break the pattern.
And there was the crux of the problem. Everyone wanted something from her. His family wanted her to marry Roberto. He wanted her to give up everything to follow his dreams.
She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t give up on herself again. She needed this foundation. She needed to know that she could do it. She needed to know that she could stand on her own two feet and follow through with her dream.
“Roberto, I said I’d be your fiancée for the length of the cruise. Not any longer than that.”
He stared at her for a moment. “I didn’t mean for you to continue being my fake fiancée. I want you to be there with me, by my side, in a real relationship.”
Her gaze searched his. There was nothing about love. He didn’t feel the same for her.
“I can’t do that. I’m staying in Athens. I’m starting the foundation. It’s something I need to do on my own.”
