Chapter 4

APOV

I stretched, feeling gloriously languorous as the early morning light spilled through the window. I kept my eyes shut, relishing in those last minutes of sleep before facing the reality of the day, and burrowed my face into the soft pillow below me.

A low chuckle sounded from close to me; too close to be the usual beach goers that normally broke the morning silence. I bolted upright, the unfamiliar sound pulling me out of the sleepy haze I enjoyed most mornings. The cool white sheet pooled around my waist, the air hitting the skin of my chest as I identified the source of the sound. My confusion quickly turned into pleasure at the sight before me. It wasn't often that I let a man stay long enough to see me in the morning, but this was Stav; this was different.

I smiled, suppressing a laugh as his eyes strayed lazily to my chest and a matching smile crossed his face.

"Good morning," he said, leaning across the bed to brush a gentle kiss on my lips.

"Good morning," I responded, reaching out to clasp the front of his shirt, the lust I'd been feeling these past few days rushing to the surface. There was no way one night of scratching would take care of the Greek itch in front of me. In my lust-filled haze I realized something wasn't right, but I didn't particularly care. I had one objective and that was to get Stav naked and back under this sheet. It was only when I began to toy with his buttons that it hit me.

"You're dressed!" I exclaimed, pulling back go survey the white button down shirt and khaki pants he was wearing.

He laughed, pulling me towards him. "Good observation."

"But..." I trailed off, trying to remember if I'd missed something. "You left our clothes at the beach."

"I went and got them this morning," he said, brushing his lips across my temple. "Yours too. Over there." He pointed to my dress strewn haphazardly across a chair.

"Naked?" I gasped. I had no problem with nudity, but the thought of my Stav traipsing down to the beach without a stitch of clothing for all the world to see was more than I could handle. I'd just gotten him back last night, and I didn't want to share just yet. Or ever.

"Yes. Why?" he asked, pulling back to smile down at me. "Sorry you missed the show?"

"Did you have a big audience?" I asked.

"Giant," he responded with a laugh. "Hundreds of eyes were on me."

I didn't say anything, choosing instead to lean back against the headboard and watch him as he readied himself for the day. I felt jealous, insanely jealous that someone else - lots of someone else's apparently - had seen the man I had slept with naked only hours after I had. It was irrational. I knew it was irrational; this was Greece for Pete's sake, not Amish country. We had sex. It didn't mean he belonged to me, it didn't mean that we were anything more than two people that had sex. Two people that have sex do not get to feel jealous about something like this. He was a man with a beautiful body; a beautiful body that I'd tasted again last night. No. No, I couldn't think about it like that. He had been on the beach naked. Big deal. It wasn't as if I hadn't participated in my fair share of public nudity.

"Are you jealous?" he asked with a smirk, pulling me out of my internal pep talk. When I defiantly shook my head no, he smiled ruefully. "Because I'd be jealous of the thought of you out on the beach naked without me."

"You would?" I asked, sitting up a bit straighter. Ha! I wasn't insane to be jealous apparently.

"I would," he replied, his eyes roaming over my naked skin. "You're far too beautiful like this." His hand reached out, his fingertips gently tracing my clavicle, trailing down further until they rested at the slope of my breast.

I felt myself blush under his assessing gaze. Well, that was curious. I couldn't even remember the last time I blushed; that was definitely Sookie's territory. I had always been confident about my body, never even doubted that it would please my lovers. Yet, here I was, insanely pleased that Stav was attracted to me. I couldn't even begin to think what my shrink's explanation of that would be.

"How do you think I feel?" I asked, trying to lighten the mood, to distract myself. "I finally get you naked, after begging for days, and then you go share yourself with hundreds of people?"

"Begging was it?" he chuckled. "Hmm, I rather liked you when you were groveling."

"Stop changing the subject," I said, my tone teasingly serious. "What am I supposed to think when it takes me three days to get you naked, and yet you run out and show all the people on the beach?"

"I never said people," he responded with a smirk.

I shook my head, wondering what he meant by that. Was this some sort of language barrier? We hadn't had any problems before, but then again I'm sure even Han Solo had trouble understanding Chewie all the time. "What?"

"I never said people saw me," he repeated, just as cryptically.

"Okay," I said, nodding. Maybe if I talked slowly, he'd understand. I giggled at the thought of how it would look, me as the uncouth American thinking slowing down and speaking louder would help, but hell, I didn't know what else to do. "But...you said hundreds of eyes saw-"

"Oh sure. Hundreds of eyes did see me. They just didn't belong to people. They belonged to the fish, some birds, the stray cat or two."

My jaw dropped as I realized what he had done to me. The man had wanted me to be jealous, not that he hadn't received the desired result. But I didn't think I was stupid enough to fall for it. I reached beside me, picking up the pillow and throwing it violently at his head. "Oh you! You jerk!"

He laughed, ducking the pillow and leaning back on his arms. "I'd say I'm sorry, but I'm not."

"You're going to be!" I retorted. "See what being a big, fat jerk gets you!"

"Amelia," he said soothingly. "I thought it was funny. I like seeing you all jealous. Makes me feel important."

"You're still a jerk," I huffed, looking away.

"Do you have a thing for jerks?" he asked. I didn't respond. "Because, it appears that I have a thing for stubborn brunettes who like to go around topless."

I looked down, belatedly covering my breasts with the sheet. He groaned, reaching out and tugging it back down. "Don't ever do that on my account," he said, closing the distance between us and leaving me breathless with a kiss. "As far as I'm concerned, you should always be naked."

The anger I felt melted away, replaced by a stronger emotion, one that I needed to take care of right away. I gasped, pulling him towards me and tugging at his shirt.

"Good idea," I mumbled against his mouth. "God why are you wearing so many clothes?" My fingers continued to tug at the buttons that secured the dreaded fabric across his chest.

"Shit," he said, jumping away from me and sitting at the edge of the bed, facing away from me.

"What?" I asked, stunned at the loss of his body heat. "What's wrong?" Had I done something wrong? He hadn't complained last night. What changed this morning?

He turned his head, smiling ruefully over his shoulder. "I have to go."

I frowned, unable to come up with an appropriate response.

"What? You're leaving? You have something better to do than stay in bed with me?" I asked indignantly.

He shook his head, his eyes sparkling with laughter. "Amelia, there is nothing I want more in this world than to stay in bed with you all day. But, I cannot."

"Why?" I asked with a pout. "What could possibly be so important that you have to rush off like this?"

"My sister's wedding," he said.

"What about it?"

He shook his head and smiled, his eyes darting quickly down to my exposed chest and back up to my face. "Amelia, there are few things that could make me leave you like this knowing that only a thin sheet separates me from all of you, but Elena's wedding is one of them. It's tonight."

He turned away, reaching down to pull his shoes onto his feet. I smiled, feeling the power I held as I watched him. I silently moved from my position against the headboard and crawled across the bed, wrapping my arms around him and pressing my chest into his back.

He gasped, turning his head to meet my eyes. "Tonight? But it's only nine-thirty. You've got loads of time. Are you sure I can't convince you to stay for a little bit?" I asked, nibbling on his ear.

"Amelia," he groaned, leaning back into my body. "I've got to go. My mom will kill me if I'm not there to help set up."

"Oh," I said, ignoring his protests and running my hands over his shoulders and down the front of his shirt. "I wouldn't want her to kill you."

"Not when you can do it instead?" he asked with a groan.

"Me?" I asked innocently. "Why in the world would you think I'd want to kill you?" My hands trailed lower, stopping at the waistband of his pants.

He groaned, turning around and flipping me onto my back in one swift move. My startled laughter filled the air, and I looked up to meet his dark brown eyes boring into my green ones. He leaned down, capturing my mouth with his, his hands roaming across my body and eliciting a primal response.

"I thought you had to go," I said breathlessly, between kisses.

"I did," he replied, pulling his shirt over his head and revealing his sun kissed skin.

"And now you don't?"

"No. I still do."

"But?"

"But you need to be taught a lesson about temptation."

"Oh really?"

"Mmm," he murmured, nipping at my neck. "Really. And since I'm older and wiser, it's the least I can do to teach it to you."

.

Thirty minutes, and many lessons later, I watched as Stav dressed.

"Are you sure you have to go right now?" I asked, sitting up, despite feeling like a giant puddle of rubber bones. The man knew what he was doing in the bedroom department, I could give him that. I had never had a lover that could elicit the kinds of responses that Stav could, even that Italian guy I'd dated briefly in college, and he knew all kinds of tricks.

"Yes," he said, looking over his shoulder and laughing at my pout. "It is not every day that your baby sister gets married."

"I suppose not," I said. "But what am I supposed to do all by myself tonight?" I sounded whiny, I knew it, but I was genuinely at a loss. Before I'd run into Stav, I had found plenty to do on the island. Now the thought of spending an evening by myself – or worse, with someone other than Stav – was just depressing.

"You'll come to the wedding," he said, walking around the bed and placing a kiss on my forehead.

"What?" I screeched. "I cannot go to your sister's wedding. I haven't seen her in ten years! You can't just show up at a wedding." I shook my head.

"You won't just be showing up," he said with a chuckle. "You'll be my date."

"And unaccounted for! It's not like they planned for me to come."

"Amelia," he said, shaking his head. "This is Mykonos, not the Ritz. The world does not end if an extra person shows up at the wedding. Besides, I already told Elena I would be bringing you."

"You what? When? Did you even think about consulting me? What if I'd said no?"

He raised his eyebrow sardonically, looking down at me from his stance. "You've been throwing yourself at me quite effectively for the last three nights; I thought I might be able to twist your arm."

"Ineffectively," I said, with a huff.

"What?"

"I said, ineffectively." He looked confused. "It didn't work, my throwing myself at you."

He laughed, raking a hand through his dark, thick hair. "I'd say it was pretty effective last night."

"Yes, well," I said, squirming beneath his assessing gaze. Those two endless pools reminded me exactly how I'd felt last night, and just a few minutes ago, when I'd been writhing beneath him, begging him to touch me.

"I don't have anything to wear," I said, crossing my arms. I didn't; I hadn't planned on anything formal when I'd packed for my three week vacation on Mykonos, and somehow I didn't think my flip flops would be appropriate.

"Wear a dress," he said. "Something simple. You'll be beautiful, no matter what you wear."

"Says you," I said, frowning. Didn't he know that women couldn't just show up to meet their lover's families wearing the same dress you'd wear to the beach?

He smiled, leaning down and brushing a kiss on my forehead. "I'll be by at four to get you."

.

I flung the door open dramatically, waving Stav in wordlessly as I returned to the bedroom. Clothes were strewn everywhere, nothing good enough to wear to the wedding of my lover's sister, especially considering this would be the first time in ten years that I would be seeing most of these people. I had spent almost every day at his house when I was sixteen, could remember everything in vivid detail. The last thing I wanted to do was waltz in unannounced, looking like some gaudy American come back to screw their prized son, which was the message that some of my clothes were giving off. Tight and short may be a good look for a date, but miles of exposed thigh sent the wrong message to someone's mother.

"You know," Stav said, leaning against the door jam as he surveyed the room, "if I didn't know better, I'd say you had another lover with the way the bed is rumpled."

I rolled my eyes and turned my attention to the pile of clothes on the end of my bed.

"As if I'd have time for another lover."

"It's been six hours," he said, coming up behind me and wrapping his arms around my waist. "There's a lot that you can do in six hours."

I turned around in his arms, looking up into his dark eyes and shook my head. "I think I had my fill last night and this morning."

He frowned, tightening his arms around me. "That's too bad."

"Why's that?"

"I was hoping we could get one more in." He closed the gap between us, his lips demanding my response. I felt my legs buckle beneath me, swept away by the sensations that were coursing through my veins. My hands took on a mind of their own, entwining in his hair, the smooth strands falling between my fingers. I heard myself moan as I thought of mussing him up and forced myself to push away.

"What?" he asked, reaching out to clasp thin air as I jumped away from him.

"Oh no you don't!" I shook my head, continuing to back away. "I just spent the last two hours scrubbing, brushing and primping so that I'd be presentable for your sister's wedding. No way am I going to let you mess me up. I don't have time to start over."

He frowned, sitting back on the bed behind him. "We don't have to be there for fifteen minutes."

"Charming," I said sarcastically. "What girl doesn't want to sign up for a quick tumble? I don't even know what I'm going to wear. I look like a mess..."

"Melie," he said, reaching out to clasp my hand and pull me towards him. He hadn't called me Melie since that day I had left on the ferry. I had thought that girl was long forgotten, but that one word brought me back to that day, the turmoil I'd felt at leaving him, and the ridiculous way I had believed that fate and destiny would bring us back together. Well, I guess I wasn't wrong for believing since here I was with him again.

"Melie," he repeated, looking up into my eyes. "You look beautiful. You'll look beautiful in whatever you choose, though I have to say I'm quite fond if what you've got on now."

I looked down at the blush bra and half slip I'd put on before he knocked on the door. "I'll bet you do." I smiled down at him, stepping forward and wrapping my arms around his shoulders loosely. "I just don't want to make a bad impression."

"Not possible," he said. "Mama still talks about you as the one who got away. Says you ruined me for all other girls, which I might have to agree with."

"Ruined you, did I?"

"Absolutely," he said with a nod.

He looked so charming, sitting on my bed, saying exactly the words I wanted to hear. It was like we were back on that dock, promising to wait for each other. Silly teenage declarations that had meant the world to me then, and surprisingly meant a lot now. Fate had pushed us back together, even if only for a short time. Who was I to question the workings of the gods when I was in this magical place?

"Pick something out for me," I commanded, taking a step back and sweeping my arm widely at the clothes strewn around me. "I have had everything on and off a thousand times. It's all blurring together."

"You want me to dress you?" he asked, quirking his eyebrow. I nodded. "You? Amelia Carmichael, want me to make a decision or you?"

"Yes," I said, flopping down on the bed next to him. "And fast. We don't have a lot of time thanks to your shenanigans."