~Chapter 1, as told by Stav~
There she was. The only woman I had ever been in love with, well as much as a seventeen year old boy knew about love. That seventeen year old boy believed in a lot of things, and had been disappointed when fate had been less than kind. I hadn't seen her in ten years, which made her just about the last woman I expected to see at the remote bar in Mykonos.
I closed my eyes, wondering if the two shots my friend Sakis had forced me to drink had done more of a number than I had expected; maybe I was seeing things.
Nope. She was still there. Amelia Carmichael. The girl I'd been comparing every other woman to unfavorably for most of my adult life.
The name sounded innocuous, and hardly like a name that would inspire feelings of lust, but Amelia Carmichael wasn't like other women and hadn't been since the day I'd met her a decade ago.
I shook my head to myself. Had it been that long? I remembered it like it was yesterday, seeing her on the beach in front of my uncle's house wearing the tiniest excuse of a bikini I'd seen in my seventeen years. And let me tell you, growing up on Mykonos, I'd seen my share of tiny bikinis, if women even bothered to wear them that is. I wasn't from a puritanical society, we relished and savored the human form, and I hadn't seen a human form quite as appealing as the one that belonged to Amelia Carmichael. Things hadn't changed on that front; if anything, she was even more appealing.
"What's wrong with you?" my friend Sakis asked, poking my side. "You look like you saw a ghost."
He wasn't that far off. Amelia Carmichael was a ghost of my past, someone who I thought I'd never see again, yet there she was sitting at a barstool in my favorite bar, holding court for her legions of admirers. I couldn't blame the poor suckers. She was undoubtedly beautiful, but there was something else, a sort of energy she gave off that lured everyone to her.
His eyes followed my line of vision, bulging when he saw the tiny brunette I was watching. "Who is that?" he asked.
I shrugged, not particularly wanting to share the history I had with her. It was in the past, so far removed that no one would even care to hear it. I was a man known for having a string of females at my beck and call; no one knew that I secretly carried a torch for the petite brunette who'd taken my seventeen year old heart and never given it back. No one would ever need to know.
I laughed to myself as I watched the hoard of men circling her, all eager to garner her attention, to be her chosen prey. And she was a predator, no doubt about it. I could tell even from this distance that the sweet and innocent sixteen year old I had known was gone, replaced by a woman who knew what she wanted and exactly how to get it.
"Well whoever she is, I want to get to know her better." He puffed out his chest in male pride, primping like a peacock at the thought of catching her eye.
"You and every other man here," I said, nodding to her entourage. Little did they know that I'd already had my shot with her, when she was still innocent and untouched. Not that she'd been untouched by the time our summer fling was over.
I laughed as an overly ardent man dropped to his knees in front of her and kissed her outstretched hand like she was the Queen of England. Her eyes sparkled with amusement at the gesture, but I knew that it wouldn't go farther than that. It never did with women like her, women who could have their pick of men. There was a way to get their attention, and swooning over them like fourteen year old girls wasn't it.
I made my way over to the bar, taking my eyes off of Amelia only long enough to greet the people in my path. She was more beautiful than I remembered, the ten years giving her a maturity and confidence that the beautiful sixteen year old hadn't possessed. She wore a long, flowing white dress, which was in stark contrast to her sun kissed skin. Her dark hair fell in waves against her shoulders; untamed by anything, begging to have some lucky mans hands run though the strands.
She smiled at something one of her admirers said, throwing her head back and revealing an expanse of skin at her throat, and that's when it happened. As she lowered her head, her eyes locked with mine; her shock was quickly masked, replaced by a knowing glint as she gave me a seductive smile and turned to say something to the man on her left.
I felt like I had been punched in the stomach. She had seen me, recognized me and dismissed me. I shouldn't care. I was Stavros Kostopolous; I had women tripping over themselves to meet me, I did not need one tiny slip of an American's attention. It had been ten years, things changed. The Amelia Carmichael I remembered probably didn't live up to the reality anyway.
I ordered my drink and waited as the pretty bartender mixed my drink. She flirted outrageously, propositioning me as she set the full glass down in front of me. She was beautiful in her own right, much more my speed. I wasn't looking for anything beyond a fling here or there. I was 27 years old, much too young to be thinking of anything serious. I had plenty of time to find someone and settle down. Tonight was a night for living, and I had been doing a darned good job of it up until five minutes ago.
"Stav?" a familiar voice asked from behind me. It was a bit deeper; a bit huskier; and a hell of a lot sexier than I remembered, but it was still familiar. "Is that you?"
I waited a second before I turned around and came face to face with the girl I'd kept in the back of my mind for the past ten years. She looked even better up close, the spatter of freckles on her nose reminding me of the girl she had once been.
"Amelia Carmichael," I said, offering her a crooked smile that I had become famous for.
"It is you!" she shrieked before launching herself at me bodily. I barely had time to brace myself before she was in my arms, pressed intimately against my too eager body. "I wondered if I'd see you," she continued, apparently not at all affected by our close quarters. Meanwhile, it was taking every ounce of self control I had to stop a certain part of my body from responding as she moved her hips against mine casually. She leaned up and brushed her lips across my cheek, her hot breath mingling with mine as she backed away.
"What are you doing here?" I asked, unable to come up with something better to say.
"What do you think I'm doing?" she asked with a laugh. "I'm here for a few drinks."
"Not the bar," I said. "On Mykonos. What are you doing on Mykonos?"
"Oh." She shrugged her shoulders, unwrapping herself from around my neck. "I needed a vacation. Daddy has something going in Athens, so I thought I'd catch a ride over and stay on the island. It's been ages since we've used the house, though Calandra has kept it up beautifully of course."
I smiled as I recalled their housekeeper, always so stern and watchful of Amelia. She had been more like a governess than a housekeeper, making sure that the daughter of the household didn't do anything inappropriate. It was a good thing that Amelia had been a good liar, for we never would have been able to get away with anything under Calandra's nose.
"My goodness," she said, her eyes scouring my face. "You're even better looking than I remember, and that's saying something! You don't tend to downplay your first, do you?"
I laughed at her forthrightness and shook my head. "No, I don't suppose you do."
"It is so good to see you!" she said, smiling brightly. "I was hoping I would run into you, but with the way everyone seems to be leaving the island, I wasn't so sure."
She reached out and took the glass from my hand, putting her lips where mine had been and taking a sip. She closed her eyes and smiled. "I see your tastes haven't changed," she said, looking up at me. "Still drinking vodka tonics."
"If it isn't broken," I said with a shrug.
"Tell me all about you," she said, hopping up on the empty stool next to me.
"What's there to tell?" I asked.
"It's been ten years!" she exclaimed. "I'm sure there's a lot to tell. What do you do? Where do you live? Are you married? No," she shook her head. "Don't tell me that. I don't think I want to know if you're married. I don't think I could take it."
I chuckled and shook my head, taking a swig of the vodka tonic before answering her. "I'm working for Dad's company, living mostly in Athens, and no, not married."
Her eyes gleamed with triumph at my last statement, though she ignored it. "Athens?" she asked. "Then what are you doing in Mykonos?"
"I'm visiting for my sister's wedding."
"Elena is getting married?" she asked, her eyes widening with shock. "But she's so young!"
"She's twenty-two," I replied, signaling to the bartender for another drink.
"Make that two," Amelia commanded, turning back to me. "No way is she twenty-two! She was playing with Barbies last time I saw her."
"And you were dreaming of Nick Lachey," I joked, remembering the way she'd fussed when the boy bander had been on the island.
She groaned and shook her head. "Thankfully that was short lived. Thanks to you." She smirked and wet her lips with the tip of her tongue. "You did a fine job of ruining other men for me," she admonished.
"I'm sure you found a way to get over it."
"Not easily!" she defended. "There was a whole period in college where I swore off men entirely."
The images that statement evoked were enough to make my calming libido speed up. There was no way that little Amelia Carmichael had gone through an experimentation phase in college, was there?
"There were a couple more, but after Pam," she continued, "well, I just realized that as fun as it was, I am pretty much a strictly dickly kind of gal."
I took a long drink of the vodka, trying to distract myself of thoughts of Amelia entwined with whoever this Pam person was. I had thought of Amelia many ways, but had never imagined that she would be with another woman. Yes, this Amelia was different, but darned if she wasn't just as appealing as her predecessor.
Maybe a short fling with my past wasn't such a bad idea.
"There you are!" a man's voice said from behind me. I turned my head to see the owner of the voice and frowned when he came to a stop and wrapped his arm around Amelia's waist. "I wondered where you had run off to," he said, nuzzling his nose into her hair.
She looked up at me and silently apologized. "Adrian!" she said, loosening his grip on her. "I was only gone for a minute."
"One minute is too long to be away from you, darling," he said. I nearly choked on my drink. I hadn't considered the possibility that Amelia was here with a man, not just with the line of admirers she'd left behind when she'd found me.
"I'm sure it is," she said. I thought I heard an edge of sarcasm, but maybe I was imagining things. She wasn't doing much to push him away.
"Hello Adrian," I said with a smirk. I'd known Adrian since I was ten years old and I could easily say that he hadn't changed much. He'd always been a flashy type, throwing around his family name and fortune to get what he wanted. Apparently he wanted the same thing I did.
"Stavros," he responded with a nod. His eyes darted between Amelia and me. "Do you two know each other?"
Before I could respond, Amelia piped in. "Oh sure! We've known each other forever, haven't we Stavie?"
Stavie? I hadn't heard that one in awhile. Ten years to be exact. I looked at her for a moment, before turning my attention to the impatient man standing next to her.
"It's true," I said with a shrug. Granted, I probably knew less about her than he did, but it didn't hurt my cause to pretend. "Forever."
"We were just catching up," Amelia said. "I didn't expect him to be here."
"I didn't either," Adrian said unhappily. The line of fops hadn't put him off apparently, but attention from another eligible man clearly wasn't welcome.
"Would you run and get me another drink?" Amelia asked him sweetly. I looked at the bored bartender behind her, only the shake of her head stopping me from raising my hand for her attention. "From the man at the front," she instructed. "You know how particular I am about my drinks."
She hadn't had a problem drinking out of mine, or with the one she'd just finished. Adrian looked at her for a moment before forcing a smile. "Of course, dearest." He leaned down to kiss her, to mark his territory. I couldn't help but laugh when she abruptly turned her head and his lips made contact with her left cheekbone.
"Be a dear and hurry," she said. "I'm quite parched."
Adrian eyed me warily before turning around to run her fool's errand. Yes, she had grown into her role well. She knew exactly what to say and do to make a man jump; or at least she thought she had. She probably had never run into any man who questioned her, any man that offered the least bit of resistance. She was spoiled and pampered, and she thoroughly enjoyed it. Or so she thought. I would have to show her otherwise.
"Do you always do that?" I asked, inclining my head towards the crowd that had swallowed Adrian.
"What do you mean?" she asked, picking up my drink and finishing it.
"Order your boyfriends around?"
"Adrian is not my boyfriend," she said with a shrug.
"Good to know," I said. "But you didn't answer my question. Do you always order men around?"
"Not always," she said defiantly. "Not Daddy."
"But other than your father?"
"How else am I supposed to get what I want?" she asked. "If I don't say exactly what I want, how will I ever be satisfied? That's something you taught me," she added with a smirk.
"Glad I left a lasting impression." I reached out and took the glass from her hand, placing my lips on the rim where hers had touched. The sticky texture of her lip gloss clung to the glass, leaving the faintest hint of cherry flavoring. I wanted nothing more than to taste it for myself first hand, to lick every ounce of it off of her smirking lips, but that wasn't going to get me anywhere with her. I didn't want to be like her string of admirers, and giving in too easily would make me another notch on her bedpost. No. If I was going to pursue Amelia Carmichael – and every minute I spent with her made my resistance that much weaker – I would have to win at her game.
"You have no idea," she said, watching my lips as I licked off a stray drop of my cocktail. "Meet me tomorrow," she commanded.
"What?"
"Tomorrow. Meet me. I want to see you again."
"Aren't you afraid that Adrian might not like that?"
She rolled her eyes and waved her hand dismissively. "I could care less what Adrian thinks. Besides, I could tell him I needed to leave to have sex with the Olympic team and he'd be sitting there waiting for me."
"And you like that?" I asked, knowing the answer.
She shrugged. "I'm used to getting what I want. Meet me. Ten o'clock."
I chuckled and shook my head. "I don't think so."
"Why not?" she asked, pouting prettily. I was sure this tactic had worked on any number of the men that had come after me.
"I don't take too well to orders."
"Fine," she groaned. "What if I ask you? Would you like to have coffee with me tomorrow at ten? I'm sure Calandra won't mind."
I looked at her for a minute in silence. I wanted to go more than anything I remembered wanting in a long time. I knew that if I went to see her tomorrow, we'd end up in a tangled mess of naked limbs. It sounded like a good idea, a fucking brilliant idea, but it wouldn't be enough. I didn't want to be Vacation Fling #8. Not with Amelia.
I leaned forward until our faces were mere inches apart, reaching up to play with a lock of her hair that had fallen over her bare shoulder. I heard her breath catch and smiled to myself. She may have the polished veneer, but underneath was still the girl whose heart fluttered at my touch. Yes, this was going to be something more than a fling, of that I was sure.
"As good as that sounds," I said, low enough so only she would hear, "I'm not one of your playthings Amelia. I'm not like Adrian. If you want me, if you want this, I won't do your biding and I won't be a passing fancy."
She gasped, her mouth hanging open at my forwardness. Good. She probably hadn't been told no in her entire life. God knows I hadn't said no all those years ago.
I leaned further forward, shifting until my mouth was at her ear, reveling in the delightful shiver that went down her body. "You go home tonight and stew on that. I can play nice Amelia, real nice. I'm hoping you can too. If you want me, it's not for right now; it's for good. And if that's the decision you make, you know where to find me."
And with that, I mustered every ounce of willpower inside me and pushed off the barstool, turning on my heel before she could say anything else.
