Dim the Lights: Islands of DesireLiquid ChocolateHer Wild and Sexy Nights

by Lindsay Evans

  Shudders of satisfaction ravaged her from the inside out.

  Erica held him to her as her heart calmed down. As her blood settled. His hands were flat against her back, holding her tightly to him.

  “Thank you,” he groaned into her throat.

  She lifted her head. Her neck felt almost too fragile to hold it up. A weak chuckle left her. “I think this is your doing.” An after-shudder moved through her, and her core tightened in response. A noise hitched in his throat.

  He leaned his head back to look at her, the familiar smile reasserting itself. “Every time we’re together, I feel like I should thank somebody. You’re not like anyone else I’ve ever met.”

  “Women like me are a dime a dozen in the States.”

  “I doubt that very much.” Nikolas squeezed her waist, kissed her throat. “I’ve been to your America before, and believe me when I say, you’re a rare flower among all the rest.”

  Erica flushed at the compliment, sighed and pressed her mouth to his. He returned the kiss with interest, stroking her tongue with his, their breaths weaving together, lips caressing, mouths devouring. The feeling his kisses evoked were like nothing Erica had ever experienced before. No matter how many times they touched, kissed, made love, she felt utterly transported, her mind taken to another place, her senses stimulated and retuned. She moved in his lap, twisting her hips as new arousal moved through her.

  Nikolas made a low sound. “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is soft,” he murmured against her mouth, laughter in his voice.

  Erica drew back, smiling. “I guess you’re not Superman, then.”

  “In a comfortable bed, I could do a lot more with my hands and my tongue.” He slid a hand between them and stroked her clit, sending a gasp rushing to her lips. “But this place is far from comfortable.”

  With a sigh of regret, she climbed from his lap, shifting her bathing suit and her shirt. She watched him tuck himself away, zip up his shorts, hungrily taking all of him in. The tour was coming to an end. This was one of the last times she would see him again. Sadness tugged at her. She swallowed.

  “Are you okay?” He stood up, raking a hand through his hair.

  “Yes. I’m good. Just thirsty.”

  “Well, I just happen to know a place where you can get a long drink of water and a few other things you might like.” He gave her a wicked smile.

  “Don’t make me beg,” she murmured.

  “There’s plenty of time for that later.”

  He took her hand and led her back to the boat, taking the relatively deserted route back to the dock. At his side, she felt everything. The breeze on her face, the heat of his palm against hers, the feelings he evoked bubbling inside her like lava. She didn’t know what to do with those feelings. She barely knew what to do with him, this man who loved wearing a minimum amount of clothes, who loved sex and had the most wonderful laugh she had ever heard.

  At the boat, only the captain had remained on board to enjoy a cigar on the deck. The weathered-looking woman with her long black hair braided down her back greeted Nikolas with a knowing grin and smiled at Erica. They ducked into her quarters with water, fruit and cheese he snagged from the galley. Then they ate and made love again, talked and made love some more until they were both too exhausted to do more than lie in the bed breathing each other’s air while the boat rocked gently on the water.

  “I wish I didn’t have to go,” Erica said.

  She lay on her back while Nikolas hovered over her, leaning on his elbow as he traced a damp line down between her breasts, to her belly button.

  “Ironic, since you were so hell-bent on leaving the tour early.”

  “That was before I knew what a great lay you are,” she teased, running her fingers through his hair.

  “Women always want me for my sex.” He sighed in mock sadness.

  “Once I’m gone, I’m sure Lani will be glad to have you back.”

  He shook his head. “I never go back, darling. It’s a rule.”

  Erica hid her wince of disappointment, half acknowledging she’d had wild thoughts of coming back to visit Santorini next year, of hooking up with Nikolas again and reigniting their shared passion. But by then he would have moved on to another tourist, some other woman who would be the special one for the week or for the summer. She bit the inside of her cheek, saying nothing.

  “You have the strangest look on your face,” he said softly.

  “Do I?”

  “Yes. And don’t try to deny it.” He sat up in the bed, his hair falling around his shoulders, brown eyes drinking her in. “Enjoy the afterglow,” he said. “Worry about life later.”

  “Is that what you always do?”

  “Not always. But I try.”

  She reached for him, swallowing against the desperation squeezing the air from her lungs. “Help me, then. Help me forget about life one more time.”

  By the time the tour of the island was finished, it was time for Nikolas to get back to work. He had taken a shower in the bathroom near her room and gotten dressed in a new pair of shorts and shirt.

  “Find me before you leave,” he whispered into her throat just before he bit her skin.

  She shivered in reaction. Licked her lips. She rolled her head back, allowing herself the pleasure of her hands under his T-shirt, his warm flesh against her palms. Erica ignored the sadness pulling at her. “Count on it,” she whispered.

  Chapter Eight

  After Nikolas left, she sank down into her bed, trying to ignore the gloom threatening to overcome her. The past few days with him had been more than she’d ever dreamed. Erica had been drawn to him like she hadn’t been to any other man.

  Usually she preferred her lovers more solemn. Responsible. But it had been a pleasure to share laughter with Nikolas, to tease and be teased, relax in a way she hadn’t done since she was a child. And then there was the sex. Her eyes fluttered closed as she remembered the incredible moments they had shared, their flesh pressed together, their breaths fierce in the air.

  The Agape shifted beneath her. It was moving away from the dock and heading back out to sea. Above her, Erica could hear the faint sounds of footsteps on the deck, the clink of glass, feminine giggles. It was all happening too soon, this last day.

  With a heavy sigh, she packed up her things into her duffel bag. Combed her hair, washed her face, slid on her sneakers to get ready for her last hours on board. Then she went up on deck.

  “Hey, there! We wondered where you’d gone off to.” Grace, wearing a demure sundress and sandals, waved at her from across the boat. Erica waved back and made her way toward the girl.

  “We didn’t see you on Kos,” Grace said.

  Erica felt heat move under her cheeks, grateful that her deep brown skin hid the blush. “I met up with someone for a while, then came back to the boat.”

  “Met up, huh?” The girl pursed her lips, giggled.

  “Yeah.”

  “Were you two messing around?”

  “A little bit of that, too,” Erica admitted. She leaned back against the railing next to Grace and braced her feet wide as the boat rocked to the rhythm of the waves.

  For a moment, Grace looked at her with an odd expression, her gray eyes a little too intent. “You should have brought him along with you this afternoon. It would have been nice.”

  “Thanks.” Erica didn’t even know what else to say to that. “That is sweet of you guys to offer, but like I said to Aidan, I don’t do that kind of thing anymore.”

  “Not even on a once-in-a-lifetime vacation like this?”

  “Sorry,” she said, although she wasn’t. “You, Michael and Aidan are all wonderful. But I don’t know you well enough to sleep with you.” Even as she said the words, she thought about Nikolas, the stranger, who she’d had sex with mor
e than once. The stranger who was never far from her mind.

  Grace narrowed her eyes. “But you just met that guy. Don’t tell me you knew him before you got on this boat.”

  Erica’s face grew hot again, but she refused to drop her gaze. “You’re right. I didn’t.” She shrugged. “But I like him.”

  “Even though he’s got a girlfriend?”

  “Who told you that?”

  “The girlfriend did.” Grace looked away briefly before she defiantly met Erica’s eyes again. “After you said no, we asked her. She said yes.”

  “Oh.” Erica lifted her eyes, automatically looking for Nikolas, wondering if he would feel better or worse to know that his ex had ended up in a four-way with a group of strangers.

  Then she came to her senses.

  It didn’t matter what Lani did. It didn’t matter what Nikolas thought or felt about his ex. None of it was her concern. They were all strangers to her who would disappear from her life as soon as she left the boat. None of it mattered.

  But she couldn’t stop her gaze from moving swiftly across the ship, looking for him. She thought she saw him, a flash of his curly hair, the stretch of his brown arm, but when she focused her gaze, it was someone else.

  Erica shoved her hands into her shorts pockets and deliberately looked away from the mirage. Grace was apparently waiting for her reaction to the news that Lani had spent the afternoon in bed with her and her boyfriends.

  “I’m glad you still managed to have a good time without me there,” Erica said finally.

  They shared a tight smile. Just as Erica was searching for something meaningless to say, she noticed Kyoko and Ren taking photos of the approaching port of Thira. She gratefully excused herself from Grace after exchanging email addresses and meaningless promises to keep in touch.

  She hadn’t seen the couple very much since the beginning of the trip; they’d been absolutely absorbed in one another.

  Erica greeted them with a smile. “It’s good to see you. It’s been a while.”

  Kyoko blushed prettily. “Ren has been very bad, I’m afraid. On the last excursion, we didn’t even get out of our cabin.”

  Her husband looked completely unrepentant, smiling warmly at Erica. “The sights below deck were much more to my taste,” he said with a soft laugh.

  “I’m sure.”

  The young woman blushed again. Then she stepped from the protective circle of her husband’s arms. “Where is that man you met at the beginning of the trip? The one with the...” Her voice tapered off as she lifted her hands around her face to mime Nikolas’s long curls. “He is very beautiful.”

  Ren excused himself, mumbling something about going to get them something to drink from the bar.

  Now it was Erica’s turn to look bashful. “He is beautiful,” she said. “But I won’t see him again after this.” She shrugged.

  “That is unfortunate. I see a spark of something very strong between the two of you.”

  “It was just our hormones going crazy,” Erica said. “We get along very well when we’re not talking.”

  “And when you are talking?” Kyoko’s narrow brows rose as she smiled.

  “Then, too.” She remembered the good times they had shared, his way of making her laugh when she didn’t even feel like it.

  “Maybe the gods will let you keep him.”

  “I doubt that,” she said with a grimace. “I go back home in a few days. He lives here.”

  “You know, we do live in an age of telephones and Skype.”

  “I know. But...” Erica shook her head, not believing for a moment that Nikolas would want to see her beyond their beautiful weekend fling. He didn’t believe in relationships. If he was reluctant to start something long-term with an available girl who lived here in Greece, then he certainly wouldn’t want anything to do with Erica and her American life.

  She stayed for a few more minutes to talk with Kyoko, then she went belowdecks to be alone with her own thoughts. The past few days had been indescribably good. The sex, conversation, the islands, the sex. She was completely whipped. Dicklashed, as her friend Camille was fond of saying.

  In the cabin that was hers for only a few more minutes, she repacked her bag and paced the small space, deciding and undeciding to find Nikolas one last time. Share a goodbye kiss and risk making a complete fool of herself in front of near strangers. Idiot that she was, she’d probably cry her eyes out.

  In the end, she stayed in her cabin until the boat docked; then she slipped away without seeing Nikolas. The bus ride back to her hotel was a misery with her skin already yearning for his touch, her fingers longing to trace the muscles of his back, sink into his solid flesh. To cling and never let go.

  For the first time since being on her Greek journey, Erica actually felt alone. Lonely. On the bus ride, she stared out the window as the lumbering vehicle made its way up from the pier, the engine laboring as it took the sharp and winding path up the hill. She was so caught up in her loneliness that she did not notice the beautiful landscape that had taken her breath away only a few days before.

  That evening, she had dinner by herself at the outdoor restaurant across the narrow street from her hotel. Grilled, fresh-caught fish on a bed of seasoned rice with a glass of white wine. A small band played traditional Greek music against a backdrop of purple bougainvillea and thick green vines while, all around the restaurant, patrons laughed, ate and enjoyed themselves. The sun slowly set around them, the sky turning to gold.

  Nearby, a table of four women sipped from their glasses of red wine and shared dessert from two plates. They were Americans. Two of the women sat close together like lovers, one with her arm slung across the back of the other’s chair. Her gaze would occasionally flicker to the other woman’s face before going back to her companions. The strong Greek sun had darkened their skin. They looked happy.

  Erica looked away from their table, fighting against the feeling of loneliness that sat like a heavy weight on her chest.

  The waitress appeared at her side, elegant and solicitous, her black hair twisted at the back of her head in a tight bun. “Can I get you anything else?”

  “Just the check, please.”

  As the waitress walked away, Erica noticed a man standing in the restaurant’s arched entranceway. He had his back turned to her and was speaking in Greek to someone she couldn’t see. The man wore an expensive-looking gray suit that fit well across his broad shoulders.

  His hair was short, cut in a sleek style that showed off a strong, brown neck. There was something familiar about the way he stood, wide-legged, a hand in his pants pockets and his body absolutely at ease.

  “Here you are, miss.” The waitress returned to Erica’s table. “Pay it whenever you are ready—no rush.”

  Erica pulled her gaze away from the man. “I’ll pay now.” She glanced at the total, quickly pulled out her cash and put the money, along with the old-fashioned handwritten receipt, into the waitress’s hand. “Thank you.”

  The waitress smiled and walked away to get her change. When Erica looked back at the entrance, the man was gone. In the meantime, the sun had set. One by one, the lanterns hanging from the iron trellises overhead winked on, giving the restaurant a romantic glow.

  “I’m glad you weren’t hard to find.”

  Erica froze. Then slowly turned around and lifted her head. It was the man from the front of the restaurant. Her mouth dropped open as her heart did cartwheels in her chest. Nikolas.

  He had transformed himself. A suit and tie instead of cutoff shorts and bare chest. His hair was nearly unrecognizable, clipped close to his head with only a hint of its curl. But his devouring brown eyes were the same.

  “Nikolas?”

  “Of course,” he said, slipping into the chair opposite her. “Unless you were expecting another man for dinner
tonight.” He signaled the waitress with an imperious wave of his hand.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “You didn’t say goodbye to me on the boat today.” A corner of his mouth tilted up.

  Erica stared at him in confusion. “I—”

  Just then the waitress appeared. Nikolas ordered a glass of ouzo. He cleared his throat as the woman walked away.

  “I— You’re right, I didn’t wait to say goodbye.” She bit the corner of her lips, watched him tap long fingers on the table. “I didn’t see the point.” Even looking at him now, knowing he would get up and leave her life forever, felt like a pain, sharp and deep, she could do without.

  “So now instead you’ve forced me to come hunting for you.”

  “But why?” She meant to be matter-of-fact, but the words emerged with a sob, the pain inside her pouring out through her voice.

  Nikolas’s face looked stricken. He jerked a hand across the table toward her. “Erica...”

  She drew away from him. “Why?” she asked again. “Tell me.”

  “Because I can’t let you go.” He sighed harshly, the breath whistling between his teeth. “It would be crazy for me to.”

  “Crazy?”

  “Yes. I—”

  The waitress returned with his glass of ouzo. Nikolas thanked her, quickly drank it down, peeled off twenty euros from his wallet and put the money on the table.

  Was his hand shaking?

  “I’m here to ask you out on a date,” he said.

  “What?” She felt like she had just been thrown onto a roller coaster. Her head spun. “Nikolas, what are you saying?”

  “There’s a movie showing tonight at the outdoor theater in Kamari.” He named the film that she’d wanted to see, the one that had stopped playing the night before. “Would you like to accompany me to see it?”

  She shook her head. “But—but it’s not playing anymore. Last night was the last night.”