Page 58 of Love on the Rocks
“But you like it when I make you come with my mouth.” Why did I say that? I just couldn’t help myself. It’s not what I meant to say. What I should have said was—thank you. Thank you for letting me touch you, for sharing your body with me, for giving me a taste, however brief, of something I’d been longing for but didn’t know how to name. I should have admitted that I was confused by what had happened and how I was beginning to feel about her.
Teasing her was easier, less dangerous, less complicated. Because, fuck, what I was feeling now was a mass of complications.
“It was the last time. I mean it. Now go home and stop thinking about me.”
“As you wish,asteri mou.” She shut the door in my face.
* * *
The next morning, I was helping Vassilis unload his boat when someone punched me hard on the arm. I turned around to find Teresa glaring at me.
“What are you doing?” she demanded.
“Untying this net,” I replied as if I didn’t know what she was referring to.
“Don’t play innocent, Mr. Ivy League Doctor. You know what I mean. What are you doing with Calista?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
She jabbed me in the shoulder again. “You’ve already played around with her enough, no? You shouldn’t play with her feelings to get back at Greystone and get even with Florakis.”
I set down the plastic crate filled with squid at her feet. “Not that it’s any of your business, but that’s not what I’m doing. I admit, when she first got here, I did some things I’m not proud of, but I would never play with her feelings.”
She was really pissing me off. I knew I wasn’t her favorite person, but to be accused of emotionally manipulating people was just too much.
“You certainly don’t have a problem with manipulating Yiannis. He would never have tricked Calista on his own. He feels very guilty about it. So does Panos.” She followed me over to the tables where the fishermen were setting up. She was like a very persistent wasp buzzing in my ear.
“Are you done now? Don’t you have a ferry to catch?” I nodded my head toward the waiting boat.
“As a matter of fact, I do. And I’m taking my new friend with me, so she doesn’t have to be the object of island gossip all day.” She glanced at her watch.
Knowing that Callie was coming made my pulse race. I hadn’t stopped thinking all night about her or about what we’d done. Like an alcoholic too long without a drink, I was practically shaky with longing to touch her again. Could you get delirium tremens from dependance on a woman?
When I nearly dropped another load of fish back in the water, Teresa laughed. “I’m glad at last to have found someone who can get under your skin. It’s going to be fun helping her.”
“Is this a declaration of war?”
She threw her head back and bit her thumb at me. I shooed her off with my hand. “I have work to do, so can you . . .”
I turned my attention back to unloading the boat but couldn’t help glancing toward the hill. I wanted to prove I was in complete control, that I wasn’t holding my breath for another glimpse of her. But when I heard her heels clicking on the stonestairs, any pretense of not caring completely disappeared. I set the last box down and watched her descend.
I don’t know how she did it, but her every entrance was worthy of a Hollywood movie, and I wondered if I’d ever get tired of looking at her. Today she’d put on heels again and a dress that hugged all her curves. Her hair hung in styled waves over her shoulder and her lips were full and red. I squinted at her to see if she showed any signs of having had a sleepless night like I had. But her eyes were clear and skin luminous.
She hesitated when she saw me. A small victory for my unusually fragile self-esteem. I crossed my arms and leaned back against the light pole and watched her. She just ignored me, however, and went into the kafenio to join Teresa.
I pretended to get back to work, though I thought about getting a coffee as well. When Yiannis went rushing toward the kafenio, I called out to him, “Going somewhere?”
He looked sheepishly at me and then back at Teresa, like a child trying to choose between his parents. Finally, he grimaced and headed into the kafenio. So that’s where his allegiance lay.
I was suddenly looking like the bad guy on the island, and I didn’t like it at all.
When they finally came back out and headed toward the ferry, I couldn’t help myself. I stared at Callie’s feet as she passed. “Do you have something against sneakers? You’re going to turn your ankle again, and your doctor will not be pleased.”
“Really?” She paused. “Good thing you’re not my doctor then.”
I stared at her swiveling hips as she mounted the gangway, remembering how I’d gripped them as I pounded into her last night. She turned, caught me staring, and with a crooked smile, teased, “I’m not leaving for good, so don’t get your hopes up.”
That hit home, because it had been a long time since I’d last wished she’d go away. In fact, it was the last thing I wanted.
