Page 69

‘OK. My turn. What’s your star sign?’

‘Capricorn.’

‘Interesting! I’m a Gemini.’

‘Split personality. I’ll never know where I am with you.’

‘Enough!’ She kicked a little sand at him, and he grabbed her toe playfully. For a moment they held each other’s gaze and electricity fizzed between them.

‘We should be getting back,’ she said.

‘Why? We have only ourselves to please. Besides,’ he added, ‘it is lucky to swim under a full moon.’

Grace wasn’t ready to go back yet either. She was enjoying getting to know Christian – he was honest and open, he knew his own mind and what he wanted from life. She would have loved to confide in him about what had brought her to Ithos, but she had kept it to herself for so long now that she didn’t know where to start.

‘Let’s have another swim,’ he whispered. ‘It would be a shame to waste this night.’ With that he leapt up and executed a smooth dive into the water, the sleek lines of his body lit by the moonlight.

‘What are you waiting for?’ he called as he popped up out of the water, his hair slicked back, reminding Grace of a seal or a merman.

She followed him in and the cool water lapped around her, heightening the sensations in her body. She pushed her long hair over her shoulder, enjoying the feel of the wet sand underneath her feet. The moon threw a stream of light through the water. They could have been castaways on a deserted island.

Christian swam towards her. ‘You look like a moonlit nymph.’

‘I feel like one.’ And it was true. He was right, there was something magical about this place; with the moon above them they could almost have been characters from Greek mythology themselves.

He moved towards her through the water and until he was a hair’s breadth away. ‘Grace, you’re so …’ His hands slid into her hair on either side of her head, cradling her face and staring into her eyes before he dropped a kiss on her lips. His fingers stroked her face and down to her cleavage. He kissed her again and she responded, her body suddenly aching with a desire that had risen inside her, but after a moment she pulled away.

He smiled at her and they stood like that until she spoke.

‘I … I’m not ready for anything else. Not yet.’

He nodded, seemingly unruffled by her restraint. ‘You will know when you are, and I will still be here.’

He took her hand and together they walked back to the shoreline. He wrapped her in a towel and put his arm around her as they strolled to the boathouse to collect their things.

Grace helped him to cast off, jumping into the boat as he turned The Selene towards the harbour. She was sad to say goodbye to Fengari Bay, but glad that Christian hadn’t noticed she had not answered his question. Her heart’s desire would have to wait a bit longer.

‘Come on, Ari, you know you want to …’

Ariana pushed the young man away as he fumbled at her breasts with one hand, his other moving up her thigh as he tried to pull her underwear aside with his fingers.

‘Stop it, Georgiou.’ She pulled her body away. ‘Just keep your hands to yourself, will you!’

‘What are you playing at?’ The boy pulled back, annoyed with her now. ‘You didn’t seem to mind last week. As I remember, you were pretty hot for it.’ He leaned in again, biting her ear and making another lunge for her breast through her low-cut top.

‘That was different.’ She pulled her head away, scowling at him.

‘My cousin’s holiday flat is still empty, we can go there and …’ He stroked his hand up her thigh under her dress.

‘No, not tonight.’

‘You’re driving me crazy here, you know that, don’t you?’

‘That’s too bad. Look, I’m not in the mood tonight.’ She opened the passenger door of his BMW convertible and stepped out. They had parked up in the darkness behind the warehouse on the harbour. The previous week she had gone to a party at a friend’s place and Georgiou had made a play for her. She had drunk a few vodkas, he was good looking and horny for her, so why not? Ariana had lost her virginity at sixteen, during a summer festival. She and Maddy had bought tickets with fake IDs and her first sexual experience had been with a guy whose name she couldn’t remember but who had plenty of drugs to share with them. The sex had been something of an afterthought to the rest of the excess. There had been plenty more lovers since, but she hadn’t been in love with any of them. Not like Christian. None of them made her feel like he did.

‘Ariana!’ he called out after her as she walked away.

‘I’ll call you sometime.’