Page 73 of Love on the Rocks
“He says it’s about time you came to see him. He’s been waiting for weeks,” Nikos translated.
“I would have come earlier if I hadn’t nearly broken my ankle.”
Stamatis was only too happy to show us around his vineyards, which had been in his family for generations. He explained his winemaking process: the grapes were crushed in a stone winepress, then juice was buried in clay vessels, called amphouras, to age. I’m no wine expert, so I was a little lost when talk turned to wild yeast and fermentation, but when I learned the wine was made from indigenous varieties of grapes that theancient Greeks had been cultivating for thousands of years, I once again got this feeling of being enmeshed in history and myth.
I had already tried Stamatis’s sparkling white wine, which was crisp and danced on the tongue. But I had no idea that he managed to make so many varieties on so few acres and with only two varietals: a dark, full-bodied red, a sparking red, a rosé, and a dry and semi-sweet white.
Jake and Olivia, like true professionals, didn’t swallow their wine, just swirled it in their mouths before spitting it out, but I was here for the full experience. By the end of the tasting, my head was buzzing pleasantly and my limbs felt soft and malleable.
Nikos didn’t drink anything. “I know the wine well. And I’m driving, so I’ll let you enjoy it,” he’d assured us.
After the tasting, Jake and Olivia went inside to place an order while I sat on the bench, enjoying my last glass and watching the sun lower over the horizon, turning the rocky hills a soft peach color. The wine was having its effect because when Nikos sat down next to me, I scooted nearer. His dark eyes widened in surprise, and a small smile played on his lips.
“I’m glad you’re enjoying the wine,” he said.
“Surely, another one of your devious plans. Ply me with sweet wine at sunset so I’d let you kiss me again?” I asked—or slurred, rather.
“Oh, that’s on the table? A kiss?” His warm gaze moved to my mouth. “I wouldn’t mind a taste of that wine.” He leaned closer, and his hand cupped my face, tracing my jaw as his lips brushed over mine. His lips were warm and firm, and when his tongue touched mine I moaned, ran my hands over the soft hair at the nape of his neck. I leaned into him longing to feel his strong arms around me. Every kiss we’d shared up until that point hadbeen hungry, angry, full of frustrated passion and lust. This one was like the wine—sweet, heady.
“Se thelo,asteri mou,” he whispered in my ear when he finally pulled away.
A sound from the terrace made me stiffen. “Please tell me it wasn’t Liv.”
He glanced over my shoulder and smiled. “Whoever it was went away.”
I straightened and adjusted the strap of my sundress, which had fallen down my arm. “Can I ask you to forget that happened?”
He shook his head. “Impossible. You’re unforgettable.”
The voices behind us grew louder and reluctantly he moved away as Stamatis approached. The older man said something to him and he excused himself. “Looks like I need to translate some more. You’ll be all right if I leave you here? You won’t go falling down any more rocks?”
“I’ll be fine,” I said quietly, trying to sound unbothered. My body was still strumming like a plucked guitar string, vibrating to the sound of his voice. Damn him for being so . . . so . . . irresistible.
After he’d walked off in the direction of the vines, I wandered back to the old wood table and poured myself another glass of the sparkly stuff. “You can come out now, Liv. I know it was you.”
Olivia tiptoed out from behind the stone shed. “I didn’t want to interrupt. You looked so cozy.”
“Mm-hmm,” I hummed as I took a sip, staring at Nikos’s back as he threw back his head and laughed at something Jake said.
“I wonder when he’ll realize he has some of your lipstick on the corner of his mouth,” Liv said as she sidled up to me.
I hid my head in my hands. “Oh God, what am I doing?”
“Maybe you should just stop fighting it. Have a good time, enjoy each other’s company. Who knows what could happen?” She nudged me with her knee.
“No.” I tried to sound emphatic, but I already doubted my resolve.
“But, Cal,” Liv whispered earnestly, “what if he’s your guy?”
I thought of the moments we’d shared together—and not just the sexy ones—the day on the boat, in the water the waves holding us up, his warm eyes on mine. I could so easily let myself fall. But that was the problem. I wasn’t sure I could count on him to catch me.
“Even if he is, I’m only going to be here a year or two. He’s never leaving. Would the universe be so cruel as to give me my very own person and then make it impossible for us to be together?”Stupid question, Cal. Of course it would.
“I think you should give it a shot. You deserve to be with someone who knows how amazing you are.” She wrapped an arm around me and squeezed. Tears inexplicably stung my eyes.
“Oh, I don’t want you to leave tomorrow.” I pouted. “Can’t you just move out here? If you’re such a fan of Nikos, why don’t you let him deliver your baby?”
“I don’t think I want to know him that intimately.” She laughed. “I would stay longer but I have meetings in London. I’ll come back.”
