Arrogant Arrival: A Hero Club Novel

by Gail Haris

  “That’s it, koritsi mou, that’s it.” Him calling me that has me coming undone. “Yes,” he growls into my ear as his fingers work faster. He applies the perfect amount of pressure with his thumb as he inserts two fingers. I’m about to scream out when his lips take mine. His mouth covers my moans as I ride out my orgasm on his hand. The song comes to an end and Jimmy eases his hand out from under my dress. The spotlight shines back on the stage, illuminating Jimmy’s face with his messed-up black hair falling in his eyes as he brings his fingers to his mouth, sucking off my pleasure.

  Hot as fuck.

  I’m in so much trouble. He smirks at me and leans in to whisper, “So sweet. Told you I could have you singing in under three minutes. Just so you know, I’m going to need more. When the lights go out again, it’s time for dessert.”

  He takes my hand and leads me back to our table. I take a much-needed drink of wine, but I think I need water to cool me off after all that. The next singer takes the stage, and I try to focus on her but I feel Jimmy watching me. Finally, I turn to look at him and he’s smiling his most mischievous smile.

  “Do you feel proud of yourself?”

  “Actually, yeah. You know why? Because now when you hear Kostas, you won’t think about how hot he is, but how hot I make you.”

  I roll my eyes and throw my hands up as I laugh. “You’re such an arrogant ass! Is that the only reason why you did that?”

  “No. That was just a perk.” He shrugs and then leans forward on his elbows. “I did it because I got so fucking hard watching you dance. Once I got my hands on you, I had to be inside of you. I didn’t have enough time to whip my dick out so…I went with,” he wiggles his fingers at me like he’s casting a magic spell. I don’t know whether I want to laugh or throw a basket at his head.

  The music changes again, but this time it’s very upbeat. It’s a mix of belly dancing, but with a pop beat. I give him a naughty smile and stand. I deliberately perk out my ass and breasts as I make my way to the steps of the stage. Other women have already come up here to dance, so I ease my way into the group but remain easily visible to Jimmy’s hungry eyes. If my last little dance did something for him, wait until he sees what I have in store for him this time. Let’s see how far I can push his limits.

  As I close my eyes and feel the music, though, I forget about trying to drive Jimmy wild. I get lost in the hypnotic melody and the freeing feeling of just letting my body flow to the rhythm. I feel the velvety soft texture of flower petals slide down my skin. I hear the sound of hands clapping close to me and feel the warmth of his body before I see him. I know before I open my eyes that it’s Jimmy behind me. I smile up at him, and in a sultry voice, speak with a Greek accent, “Dimitri.”

  “Koritsi mou.” His Greek accent, combined with that husky voice, sends a shiver down my spine. “You put on quite a show.”

  “Glad you decided to join me.”

  “And miss out on dancing with the most beautiful woman here? I’d never forgive myself. And I don’t believe in living with regrets, koritsi.”

  The music changes as a male singer walks out on the stage. The clarinet and bouzouki are in full swing for this one. I notice more men come to the stage as some people form circles. I remember this from that night at the house, so I begin clapping and kneel in front of Jimmy. I reach over and tap the person next to me. I point to Jimmy and make a show of kneeling and clapping. They get my drift and join me in kneeling and clapping. Jimmy bites his bottom lip as he shakes his head at me. The person next to me yells something in Greek, but I assume it’s for him to come on and dance. Jimmy nods and begins dancing. Other people join our little group and cheer him on. I can’t help but notice women undressing him with their eyes. He’s like a feast for them. What they see is a gorgeous man who’s confident enough to dance in front of everyone—and his confidence is sexy as hell. What they don’t see is his good heart, passion, sense of humor, and … that I’m falling completely in love with him. No, no, no. This is for fun. I shake my head and clap to the beat. Jimmy smiles at me, and it’s so infectious that my smiles spreads wider.

  When the song ends, everyone claps and pats Jimmy on the back. Before we make our way off stage, I wrap my arms around him and kiss him. He may not be mine forever, but he sure as hell is tonight. As we pull away, flower petals rain down on us. I laugh and look over to see Kostas. He grins and begins singing to us. He bends down and picks up more petals off the stage and tosses them on us. He stands between me and Jimmy as he continues to sing. Then, I hear a second male voice, and Kostas stops singing to cheer. “OPA!”

  Kostas steps back and hands Jimmy the microphone. Jimmy takes it and keeps his eyes glued on mine as he sings with the band. Who knew he could sing? This arrogant, sexy Greek bastard can do everything.

  I wish I knew what words he was singing, but the way he smiles at me and his eyes burn, I have an idea. He pours so much passion into the words as he takes my hand and places it on his chest above his heart. He holds it there as his hips gently sway to the beat. When the chorus ends, he hands the microphone back to Kostas to finish the song.

  When we get to our table, I pull Jimmy in for a hug. “That was so amazing. I’ve never been serenaded before.”

  “Me neither.” Jimmy smirks.

  “Shut up. I mean it. That was so romantic, even if you were probably doing it just to be a ham and show off yet another amazing talent you have.”

  “Another amazing talent? How about I show you the one talent I’m most proud of?”

  “What’s that?”

  “I said let me show you…” Jimmy raises his eyebrows and leads me to a dark corner. He sits me on a stone ledge.

  “How’d you know this was here? Have you done this before?” I look around making sure that we’re completely hidden. I can still hear the loud music and cheering.

  “I’ve been scoping the place out.” He slides my panties down and then shoves them in his pants pocket. “Sshhh. You don’t want us to get caught…” He spreads my legs and then smirks at me, “…or do you.” Before I can answer, my words get stuck in my throat.

  And he’s taking me to heaven all over again.

  Jimmy

  It’s four in the morning by the time we make it back to our room. Despite having no sleep, I have to have Jolene. I’ve teased and tasted her all through the night, and now I plan to feel every inch of her body with mine. As soon as the door shuts to our hotel room, I grab her face and crash my lips to her. I lead us to the bed without breaking contact with her lips. We pull and tug on our clothing to quickly get them removed. There’s no foreplay because that’s been happening the entire night. I pound into her, and she loves it, and I don’t stop until I’ve given her every last drop of me. Then, we both crash.

  I don’t even remember falling asleep. I wake up to the sound of my alarm. I’m also naked and half on top of an equally naked Jolene.

  “Did we pass out after having sex?” I grumble as I try to shut off my phone alarm.

  “I guess I was just that good.” She responds with her eyes still shut. “You’re welcome,” she yawns.

  Jolene rubs her eyes and groans. “Fuck. We’ve got to get going. We have to be at the port in an hour.” She turns on her side and throws her leg and arm over me. “I don’t want to leave.”

  “I don’t want to, either.” What I don’t say to her is… I don’t want this to end.

  Jolene

  Jimmy and I stand at the front of the ferry as we pull away from the island. I feel like a part of my heart has been left there. The ferry boat cuts through the sparkling clear blue water as the island becomes smaller, almost like it was just a fantasy. I already long to have back my mornings of sleeping in naked and wrapped between sheets and Jimmy, eating delicious food from fresh ingredients from a grandmother’s recipes, and watching the sunset on the beach before dancing the night away into the early morning. The unanswered question hangs heavy between us. We only have two days left, and then the vacation is offici
ally over—this between us is over. We go back to our separate lives in America.

  The wind whips my hair around. Jimmy nudges me. “You’re being quiet.”

  “It’s windy. You wouldn’t be able to hear me, anyway, between the wind, waves, and ship’s engines.”

  “Let’s go inside then.”

  “No. I want to look at the island for as long as I can.”

  “Why?”

  “To make sure it was real.” That this between us was all real.

  We each carry our luggage to the front of the condo. Before Jimmy opens the door, he turns to me and says, “You’re almost free. Think you can keep putting up with me for two more days.”

  I have no idea how to take that. Is he joking because he’s happy this is almost over, or is he trying to hide his disappoint as much as me? “Two-and-a-half days, actually. This day is almost over.”

  “Don’t resort to counting down the minutes or anything,” he mumbles as he opens the door.

  Martha, who must’ve heard the door, or better yet, was probably watching the window, rushes into the living room to greet us. “Did you have a nice time?”

  “It was so beautiful. I got to use some of my dance moves I learned from here the other night.”

  “Oh, you went dancing! How wonderful. I hope you did better there than you did here.” Ouch. I thought I was an amazing dancer that night. She smiles and then turns to Jimmy. “You got some color to your cheeks. If you get any more, people will think you’re a gypsy.”

  His grandmother comes in and scoffs. Jimmy laughs at what she says in Greek and turns to me. “Yia-Yia says I already am a nomad. I can’t stand to stay in one place too long.”

  “That’s true. A pilot with his wings. You’re like a bird flying around, landing where the urge strikes you.”

  Jimmy turns to his grandmother and I assume he translates what I said because she looks to me and nods. She says something back to him and his mother. Whatever it is, they both look at me with wide eyes full of alarm. Then, with a smug smile, the little old lady shuffles to the other room.

  Martha mumbles something about preparing dinner and leaves the room. I tilt my head and ask, “What did your yia-yia say?”

  “Um, she said eventually birds make nests and something about plucking off wings. I don’t even want to think about what she meant by that.”

  “Worried something—or someone—is going to pluck your wing?”

  “You better watch it before I pluck you.”

  “Hey, guys!”

  I about jump out of my skin when I hear Bianca behind us. I turn around and smile. “Hey! Did we miss anything?”

  She smiles as Georgina tugs on her hair. “Not much. We spent most of the days on the beach drinking coffee and eating.”

  I think about it and then smile. “Same here.”

  “Well, I guess we’re getting the full Greek culture then,” Bianca laughs. “If you’re tired of spending all your time with that knucklehead, want to join me and Georgina on the beach? Dex has a phone conference, so he is going to be holed up in the room for a minute.”

  “I’d love to! Let me go put my bag in my room and put on a swimsuit.” I join Bianca and little Georgina on the beach. We swim and play with pebbles. After a while, I insist Bianca allow me to hold Georgina so she can stretch and relax.

  “Jolene?”

  “Yes?”

  “I think it’s real for him.”

  My heart stops. “What is?”

  Bianca scoffs and I can practically hear her rolling her eyes. “Don’t even. I don’t think Jimmy is completely faking this. Maybe at first…but I don’t think he wanted to let you go earlier. The way he’s looking at you. Something has shifted.”

  “I don’t know about that.”

  “He’s a decent guy. He can be a little bit of a pain, but deep down, he’s a really good guy. Please don’t hurt him.”

  “Bianca, I–”

  “I know it’s not my place.”

  “It’s just that it’s easy to get lost here. Reality doesn’t exist anymore it seems. Especially when you’re in paradise. Everything is so beautiful and vibrant. When we get back home and to our real jobs…I think then we’ll see what was real and what was fantasy.”

  Bianca goes quiet, so I focus back on playing with Georgina. She tries to stick a pebble in her mouth and I try to distract her by tossing the pebbles at the waves as they come to the shore. Bianca surprises me when she whispers just loud enough for me to barely hear.

  “What if the fantasy was never a fantasy to begin with…but instead it was all reality?”

  I ignore her comment and close my eyes, letting the sun warm my skin. Something hard hits my knee and I’m startled awake. A gorgeous man stands before me. The sun is shining bright behind him, making him literally glow, and having me wonder if this is a dream.

  “Sorry, miss. Are you hurt?” Whew. That accent.

  I blink a couple of times to clear my vision. He’s tall, muscular, with a little dark hair on his chest, black wavy damp hair, and a face beautiful enough to make angels weep. He picks up a volleyball and then extends a hand to me. That must’ve been what hit my knee. I stand up and then accept his hand.

  “I’m Marco.”

  I smile and continue shaking his hand. “I’m Jolene.”

  “Ay! You are American?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’m from Italy. I’m here with my brother and cousin on vacation.”

  “Same.” Then I shake my head. “Not with my brother or cousin, but I’m here on vacation.”

  He chuckles and looks down at our still-joined hands. “Would you like to play ball with us? I could use a partner.”

  I turn to Bianca who’s biting back a smile. She nods her head and shoos me with her hand. I turn to Marco with a shrug. “Sure.”

  I walk a few feet away from Bianca and wave to the brother and cousin. Wow. What a family. All three men are gorgeous and fit. I’ve only gotten a few spikes in when two strong arms wrap around me from behind, causing me to yelp.

  Marco frowns at me and those playful brown eyes turn hard. I can hear the smile in Jimmy’s voice as he says, “There’s the love of my life.”

  “The love of your life? Really, Jimmy.”

  He chuckles in my ear. “Just letting these Italian bitches know they’re playing with what’s mine.”

  “What’s yours?”

  “This trip isn’t over yet, koritsi mou. You’re all mine, still.”

  Deciding to mess with him, I pull from his arms so I can face him. I smirk and side-eye the Italian men. “Those Italians, though. Whew. Maybe I want to play with them?”

  Jimmy frowns and pulls me to his side. He starts stomping through the sand with me firmly against him as he grumbles, “Yeah, well, you’re stuck playing with a second-rate Greek.”

  Jimmy

  “She doesn’t want a relationship with me. She’ll want to go back to having nothing to do with me once we leave here. We leave Greece, we leave the fantasy,” I tell Dex. We met up in the kitchen, both hungry after he finished a business call and I finished some calls for flights booked next week.

  “So? Bianca was skeptical about me at first too. She called me Mr. Moneybags. You didn’t lie to her about what you do, did you? Because I can tell you from firsthand experience that that does not end well. It did end well, actually, for me, but I wouldn’t recommend it.”

  “No. I did at first—well, I didn’t lie. I just didn’t tell her, but then she found out and that turned into her storming away. But fate has brought us back together. I know it. I can feel it. I just don’t know if she can see it.”

  Dex pops a grape in his mouth and chews. After he swallows, he says, “Be honest. You have to be honest with her and yourself. Just tell her how you feel. Tell her you want a relationship with her and see where it goes from there.”

  I pull a few grapes from the bowl and pop them in my mouth. Between chews I say, “Yeah, okay. But she didn’t even want a fake re
lationship with me, so I seriously doubt her wanting a real one with a pilot, no less.”

  “Exactly. No woman wants a fake relationship. Show her that you’re offering her something real, pilot or not.”

  And with those words of wisdom, he walks out the door.

  Jolene

  Dear Journal,

  Tomorrow we leave. Tomorrow this all ends. Will Jimmy and I keep in touch? Could we possibly even have a relationship? I get upset over people letting me down, but I’ve let myself down. I promised myself I wouldn’t fall for another cocky pilot—yet here I am. Maybe it’s just being in Greece. Maybe when I leave paradise, the magic surrounding us will clear and so will these silly ideas in my head. That’s it. It’s just because we’re in Greece and pretending to be in love. We can’t possibly be in love. I barely know him. This isn’t a love story, or one of those silly love songs. This is real life. Our whole relationship started with a lie, and it will end with a lie. I’ve fallen in love with a lie.

  I go into the kitchen and find his mother and his grandmother working on preparing dinner.

  “Can I help?” I hate how small my voice sounds, but I already know I’m not their favorite. I just really need something to do.

  They both look at each other, and then Patty gives me a curt nod. Wordlessly, she hands me a long, thick cucumber and mumbles something in Greek. I look between the two ladies, and Martha says, “She’s not speaking about you in Greek to be sneaky. She doesn’t know English. But yes, she is talking about you. She said you probably know how to handle something like that.” Martha goes back to stirring whatever she has in the pot. Then, she looks back to me. “And she didn’t mean cooking.”

  “Thanks. I got that.” Inhaling a deep breath, I pick up the cucumber. I smile at Patty and shake the cucumber while nodding. “Yes. Me know.” Then I take a knife and chop the tip off. I smile back at her with my maimed cucumber. Yia-Yia bursts out laughing and pats me on the back. Just like that, we go to work on supper in comfortable silence.