Page 56 of Take a Chance on Greece

‘Did you know, that in Greek we do not really say “I miss you?”’ he murmured against my ear.

I had to concentrate hard to reply.

‘No, I didn’t know that.’

He traced his index finger along my collarbone inducing a delicious shiver through my body.

‘We sayMou leipeis,’ he continued. ‘In English, I think that would literally translate asYou are missing from me.’

‘What are you trying to say?’ I asked.

His hand moved up so he was gently massaging the nape of my neck. ‘What I am trying to say, is that I think I missed you before I even knew you. Or rather, that you were missing from me before I knew you.’

His beautiful voice was steady, but his accent had grown stronger, something I noticed happened in moments of great emotion.

‘I wish there was something as lovely that I could say back in English,’ I said. I lowered my gaze and took a deep breath for courage, then looked back up at him. ‘There is only this. I feel the same way too. I’ve fallen for you, Alexis.’

‘And I have fallen for you too, Lydia,’ he replied.

Somewhere in the distance abouzoukiwas being played. We moved closer still and danced on into the night.

Epilogue

Three months later

‘How are you getting on?’ asked Alexis, leaning over and kissing my neck in a place which he knew was particularly sensitive. I shivered with delight, but pretended to wave him away.

‘Don’t distract me when I’m working. I need to finish reading through this final paragraph, and then I can send it off.’

‘This is not what we agreed when I persuaded you to use the back room as your office,’ said Alexis, peering over the top of his glasses at me and pretending to grumble.

‘You, Amazing Alexis, are quite the distraction. I’ll get my own back later when you’re trying to sort through your deliveries.’

‘I shall very much look forward to it.’

I blew a kiss in his direction and then re-read the final sentence of my blog post. It was a piece describing the facilities and food on offer at a new taverna which had opened in the town of Skala on the southern tip of the island. Not only was I being paid to write the post, but Alexis and I had been able to indulge in a very romantic date night there in the guise of research. The initial introduction to Andreas Rouvas and his commercial empire had led to other opportunities, and now I was building up quite the business writing English copy for hotel websites and tourist destinations around the island. So much so, that I’d had to cut my hours at the Helios, which was good, as the commute across town from the apartment I was now sharing with Alexis was less convenient first thing in the morning than it had been heading down the stairs from my staff quarters at the hotel. I was quietly confident that it wouldn’t be long before I could afford to stop the cleaning job altogether. It had been the perfect stopgap, but now I was building my own business, I was excited to be able to concentrate on it full time. Yiota had already assured me that she had my replacement lined up to fill in until Eleni returned from her maternity leave.

I double-checked a final spelling, and then hit Send.

‘Poli kala,’ said Alexis.

‘Yes, very good, indeed,’ I replied. I was now attending classes at the local lyceum which had reopened for the autumn term, but Alexis was helping me by dropping in extra Greek vocabulary whenever possible. My conversational skills were still pretty stilted, but I would get there. And in the meantime, Alexis and I had English, and other, more interesting ways, in which we could communicate very well indeed.

Alexis checked his watch. ‘Are you nearly ready to go? We should be leaving before much longer.’

‘Give me two minutes to change my top and put some perfume on, then I’ll be all yours.’

‘You smell lovely as you are,’ he said solemnly.

‘That’s very sweet of you, Alexis, but I want to make a good impression when I finally meet your brother.’

‘Very sensible. You should keep your options open,’ he replied with a grin, as confident in my love as I was in his.

‘Absolutely. I hear he’s pretty awesome, after all.’ I winked at him.

When I descended the stairs a short while later, Alexis was waiting for me at the bottom.

‘If you carry on looking at me like that, we really are going to be late for the picnic,’ I said, my insides skipping at his expression.

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