Page 1 of The Nicolaides Baby

1

“I thinkthey’re looking at us.”

Rowan Stallings lifted the floppy-brimmed hat shading her face and squinted over at Sierra who sat just within her reach on a matching white beach lounger. Her twin sister had her arms wrapped around her bent knees while casting covert glances over Rowan’s head.

“What?” Rowan sat up and held her hat against her chest with one hand to keep it from blowing away while brushing at stands of long red hair whipping across her face and into her eyes with the other. Being a Saturday,theycould’ve been anyone among the teeming mass of people on the beach of Kamari. She followed her sister’s gaze across the sea of loungers and grass-topped, standing umbrellas but didn’t notice anyone in particular paying attention to them. “Who—”

“No. Don’t look.”

Rowan shifted on her towel-covered lounger to find her sister’s excited, wide-eyed emerald green gaze on her.

“They’re over there.” Sierra gave a slight nod of her head in an indeterminate direction. “Oh, and they’re looking this way again. Don’t let them know we know.”

“Know what?”

Rowan’s shoulders tensed at Sierra’s cagy expression and her toothy smile wide enough she could just make out her molars. Rowan had learned growing up this look only led to some kind of mischief. “You’re about to get us into trouble. Aren’t you?”

“Of course not. Why would you say that?” Her sister didn’t do innocent worth a darn.

“Uh-huh. Right.” Rowan relaxed, settled back onto her lounger, and then covered her face with her hat again. “But,” she said loudly enough to be heard over the crashing waves and voices coming at them from every direction, “as soon as you’re sure they don’t know we know whatever it is they’re not supposed to know we know, be sure to let me know.”

“Ha-ha. You’re funny. You… Oh, God, they’re headed this way. Act like you don’t see them.”

“Umm.” Rowan pointed to the hat she had pushed down over her face. “Idon’tsee them.”

“Oh, you know what I mean.”

“Yes, somehow I always do,” Rowan said under her breath with a short, snorting laugh. She cleared her throat and then said louder, “You know whoevertheyare, they’re probably more of those guys working the beach who want to rub tanning lotion all over ourbeautiful, fair skin.” She said the last with her own version of a Greek accent—one that wasn’t too convincing with her North Carolinian drawl. They’d already been approached a couple of times that morning by somehelpfulmen, but they needn’t have asked. Rowan hadn’t dared even look at the beach—much less lay on it—without slathering herself with enough SPF 100 to keep everyone within a ten-foot radius free from sunburn under the hot Santorini sun. She blamed her fair and freckled Irish ancestors for her tendency to burn, just like she did her flaming red hair—although she kind of liked the latter.

“Oh, I don’t think these are the same kind of guys at all. These two areallman.”

Rowan pulled the hat from her face and sat up again. Then she sighed as she scanned the crowd spread out across the black pebbled beach. “There’s got to be hundreds of men on this beach,” she said, letting her perusal travel to her right, “and you didn’t point them out to me.” Her gaze glanced off several people sitting atop a grouping of boulders who were more interested in the clear blue sea than them and then down the shoreline. “So, how am I—”

Holy crap.

She sat up a little straighter as two men made a beeline for them. And Sierra was right.Theyweredefinitelymen, and local if their olive skin and dark brown hair bordering on black was anything to go by. And the two of themwerelooking at them. Well, actually one of them was looking, and if Rowan wasn’t mistaken his interest was more on Sierra than her. She peeked over her shoulder and chuckled as her sister adjusted her boobs in the top of her red and purple striped bikini.

Rowan shook her head and turned her attention back to the pair. Their long-legged strides were eating up the distance between them, only veering off their path to bypass sunbathers or stopping short at the occasional child darting in front of them. One of the men’s steps seemed to be more reluctant. It was actually kind of funny watching as the taller of the two basically dragged his feet while the other kept motioning for him to hurry before yanking his arm.

Rowan let her gaze travel up and down their toned bodies—especially the striking one whose expression said he wanted to be anyplace else other than approaching them. And while they could’ve more than pulled it off, she was glad to see they’d opted out of the overly tight speedos most of the men on the beach seemed to favor. She’d already been scarred several times that day. And honestly, there were just some things a girl would rather have left to the imagination. Anyhow, she had to give these two extra points for going with board shorts.

She let out a low whistle under her breath as the shirtless pair got closer. They kind of reminded her of the men in those cologne ads—the ones where the bronzed Adonis walks out of the ocean with his broad shoulders filling the screen while his well-defined muscles bulged and his tight abdomen rippled as water beaded down his oiled skin.

I love those commercials.

Rowan’s lingering stare had obviously encouraged the one doing the dragging because he picked up his pace while giving her a bright white smile. She hazarded another look at his guarded companion. Now that they were closer, she could make out the man’s lips pressed into a tight straight line and his clenching jaw. Then, of course, was the scowl he kept directed at the man hauling him across the beach—one that soon turned on her, with his brows drawing down even further.

What didIdo?

“I think they know we know.” Rowan turned back to her sister who hurriedly picked up the book she’d been reading off and on all morning while repositioning herself into a relaxed pose. “Subtle,” Rowan said while reaching over and turning the book right-side up. “Here, this might help.”

Sierra laughed as she twisted her long black hair behind her head. Ever the consummate actress, she visibly pulled herself together as she put her sunglasses on before focusing back on her book like it held the world’s truths. Very convincing. It was why she had finished in the top ten of her class at the University of North Carolina’s School of Performing Arts.

Rowan smiled at her sister and then looked past her to the empty lounger where their grandmother should have been. The three of them had been planning this college graduation dream trip to Greece for years, and she could just imagine their grandmother basking in the sun alongside them.

And right now, she would have been laughing her ass off.

Her smile faltered. She missed her Gran.

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