by Leslie North
Chapter 18
Eva carried her luggage into her apartment. She didn’t want the one Antonio had picked out for her, but found an apartment for rent closer to campus. Antonio followed her in, asking, “Are you sure you have everything?”
She glanced at him. “Yes, for the millionth time, yes. My phone. My class schedule.” She put down her bag and grinned at him. “I’m a college girl now!”
He wrapped her in a hug. “You’re not my little bug, zouzouni mou.”
She punched his chest. “I’ll always be that.” They’d spent Christmas in Aspen. Eva had skied like a demon, tackling the hardest triple black diamond runs. That had made her feel better—stronger. But she kept missing Callum.
She’d see something and want to share it with him. She’d started reading books that he’d left behind for her—her school books. Now she poured over ever word and wondered what kinds of questions would he ask her. She missed his laugh. She missed his body. She missed him.
But she wasn’t going to admit that to anyone. He was gone—and that was that. She’d refused Antonio’s offer of another tutor.
“I’m going to open a new office in New York, so I’ll be by to see you.”
She rolled her eyes. “You don’t need to. Now come and take me to campus before you go.”
“Yes, sir.” He grinned at her. She locked her apartment—tiny but she liked the roses out front and the light inside. Claire waited for them in the car downstairs. She’d had some phone calls to make, and she was using the trip to deal with her voice over work and talk to her agent. The weather was still cold and Eva shivered as they stepped outside. She was not sure she’d ever get used to that. But she kept telling herself she liked snow.
Antonio drove her onto the campus and to the library. Claire was still on the phone and it sounded like business with her agent had turned into gossip and talk of a baby shower for Claire while she was in New York. Eva liked the idea. She had time yet before the semester started, so she would be able to help with the shower. However, she wanted to spend a lot of time on campus to get to know the university. She figured the library was a good place to start.
Parking outside the library, Antonio turned to Claire and made a hurry up gesture. Eva climbed out of Antonio’s car. There weren’t as many students on campus as there would be when the new semester stared, but Eva spotted what looked like a familiar pair of shoulders. The tousled blond hair looked like…but, no, it couldn’t be. Then he turned. And Callum smiled at her.
Skin going cold, she told Antonio and Claire, “Wait here.”
Antonio blinked at her. Claire hung up and asked, “What’s going on?”
Eva stalked off, ignoring Antonio calling out to her. Stopping in front of Callum, she put her hands on her hips. His smile faded and vanished. “Uh, hi?”
“Do I skin you alive? What does a jerk who drops a friend deserve?”
Callum took a step back and held up a hand. “Now wait a minute—”
“Why, so you can walk out again?”
“Again?” Antonio stepped up, putting himself on the side between her and Callum. “What do you mean again? Callum, I’m disappointed in you.”
Eva turned on him. “You stay out of this!”
Claire stopped behind Antonio and tugged on his arm. “Sweetie?” He shook her off and told Eva, “No, you stay out. Let me handle this.”
“No!” Eva launched into a torrent of Greek. She called Callum every name she could think of—son of a flea-bitten goat, a soulless air-sucking monster, friend of no one who ever should matter. And then she turned on Antonio, telling him to stay out of her business. She punched a finger into her brother’s chest. “If I want to flay this…this ungrateful, mealy mouthed—”
“Okay, stop right there,” Callum said. He swung a backpack off his shoulder. “I am not mealy mouthed.” He glanced from Eva to Claire to Antonio and back again. He let out a breath. “As to the rest, well, my Greek stops right about at glykia mou…se skeftomai sinehia. Se hriazome.”
Eva jerked upright. Her arms dropped to her sides. “Do you even know what that means?”
“Yeah.” Callum gave a shrug. “It means my darling, I’m constantly thinking of you. I need you.”
She frowned. “Well, technically it is my sweet—”
“Yes, and who are you calling sweet?” Antonio demanded.
“Tonio,” Claire said her tone warning.
“You stay out of this,” Eva told him. She glanced at Callum. “And who are you calling your sweet? Have you met another Greek girl? I’m going to warn her about you.”
“I hope you will. You’d better warn her I fell in love with this impossibly spoilt rich girl. I mean she’s a party girl, really, but…but the side of her I know is the side where she’s the smartest, most original, and…well, and everything I could ever want. But you see, I couldn’t exactly tell her any of that—not when her brother,” he paused and shot a stare at Antonio, “was paying me to teach her. So I had to quit. Hey, did you know I got a teaching job here—not in your department, thank god for that. There’s no need to get into the ethics of you trying to trade sex for a grade.”
“Callum!” The word came out in a low growl from Antonio. Claire gave up tugging on his arm and just rolled her eyes.
Eva turned on him. “Antonio, I said I would handle this. Now I’ve asked you several times to stay out of this. You are my brother. I love you. But Callum is the man I love and if you can’t deal with that we are going to have problems.”
Leaning close, Claire said, “Sweetie, I think she means it. Meaning, will you be a love and walk me to the car before I have to drag your unconscious body there. I think these two need to talk.”
Antonio looked from Eva to Callum. He waved a finger at Callum. “If you hurt her—”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. You won’t just break every bone in my body, you’ll see I never teach again, probably destroy my credit, and uh, get me shipped off to someplace really, really bad.” He looked at Eva. “But she can do worse. She can break my heart and stomp on it if she wants to, so you probably should just leave this to her. You don’t ever want to underestimate this girl.”
Eva smiled. Then she looked at Antonio and Claire. “Well?” She shooed them with her hands.
Claire dragged Antonio away with him muttering about women, and Eva turned to Callum. “Why drop me like that?”
He ran a hand through his hair. “I…I really thought at the time it was the right thing to do. You know…your world, mine…they’re a long way apart.”
“And?” Her chin came up.
“And then I couldn’t stop thinking about you. I’d read something and want to ask you what you thought. I’d see something in a store and know you’d be trying to buy it if you saw it. Something would make me laugh and I’d look up, thinking about your smile. Se skeftomai sinehia! Do you know how long I’ve been practicing that phrase?”
She stepped closer. “Now what? I’m supposed to forgive you for being such a barbarian as to try and walk out on me?”
“Well, if you’re really pissed off, you could walk out on me?” He stepped closer. “Or you could just demand that I make it up to you with hours and hours of love making.”
She tipped her head to the side. “I’ll think about that.”
“Think about this, glykia mou.” He took her in his arms and kissed her until her head spun.
When he let her go, she smiled and put her arms around his neck. “We’re going to have to work on your accent. It’s terrible.”
He nodded. “Teach me anything you want.”
Chapter 19
It took Eva nine months to talk Antonio into letting her move in with Callum. The baby helped. Antonio had his hands full with a demanding son, Damon.
“We’re here!” Alexandra shouted as she and Dareios entered the house that Eva and Callum had managed to find -- that had taken another two months.
Eva rushed into the living room and grabbed her sister in a hug. “I’m
so glad you made it.” Eva gave Dareios a hug as well. “Callum and I have been cooking.”
Alexandra raised an eyebrow. “Why don’t you let us take you out?”
“No, no, come in. It’s not as bad as you think. I had Gaia send me her recipes and I made an easy watermelon and feta salad and Callum is grilling—he says that’s man’s work in the States. And it’s hamburgers.”
Eva glanced out the back window. Flame leapt out of the grill and Callum jumped back. She shook her head. “Okay, maybe I’ll call out for pizza, just in case.”
Dareios pulled out his cell phone. “Allow me. I know a restaurant nearby and the chef owes me a favor.” He turned away to make the call and Alexandra wrapped her arms around Eva’s waist. “Do you think dad would approve of how we’re living our lives?”
Eva pulled a face. “I think he would have had Dareios run out of the country and you locked away in a convent for you two spending all that time on Dareios’ yacht. And me…I’d be in that convent with you, and poor Antonio would…well, he’d probably still be married to Claire, so he’d be happy.”
Alexandra laughed. She heard Dareios’ voice lift in rapid Greek. “I’d better see what he’s ordering or we’ll have the whole restaurant delivered.”
She went to stand in front of Dareios, and Callum came in with a platter of something charred and smoking. He put the plate down on the kitchen counter. “I don’t think that instructional video on You Tube was very good.”
Eva came over and kissed his cheek. “Never mind. Dareios is ordering from a restaurant he knows. We’ll eat salad in the meantime.”
Turning, he put an arm around her waist. “Still happy.”
Nodding, she touched a hand to his cheek. “Very…and, well, thank you for believing in me. I never said that before, but I…I don’t think I’d be as strong if you hadn’t walked away. It let me know I really could do things on my own.”
“Never doubted that,” he said. “Well, maybe I did a little when we first met. Do you miss Greece?”
She nodded. “But we can vacation there. I have to see my new nephew after all.”
Callum grinned. “I like thinking about a future with you in it.”
“Do you like what you see?” She snuggled into his embrace.
Callum kissed the top of her head. “Maybe a wedding once you graduate?”
Eva grinned. “Maybe—if you’re a good boy. But we have to get married in Greece.”
Callum groaned. “That means your entire tribe of family.”
She poked him. “Yes, and your parents too, and that nice police captain. And…and you’ll learn to drink ouzo and dance the Kalamatianos!” She pulled him from the counter and started to dance with him in a circle, humming.
Callum let her pull him along. “Looks like it’s going to be my big fat Greek—”
“Ah, ah! No, your big, wonderful Greek wedding. If you’re a good boy.”
He glanced into the living room and pulled her close. “Oh, with you I plan to be very, very bad.”
She gave a soft hum. She wouldn’t have it any other way. And all the ideas of lots of boyfriends in college—well, it was better to have one perfect one than dozens of duds. Grinning, she eased into Callum’s arms.
End of The Rosso Family Series
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“I believe this is yours,” a deep, masculine voice projected towards Rene as she was stepping out of the swimming pool.
Looking up, she caught her breath as she gazed into the dark recesses of the most enchanting brown eyes she had ever seen. Dark eyebrows, jet-black hair and a rugged two-day old beard made the Adonis-like man standing there all the more attractive. In fact, it took a few seconds for her to realize his comment was referring to the bikini top dangling from his hand. Familiar purple roses on a white background taunted her.
What?!? Wait a minute…
“Oh!” she sucked in a big gulp of air. “My!” she managed to say, as she looked down at her naked breasts. “God!” she exclaimed as she instinctively covered her chest with her hands. “Uh, oh, thank you,” she squeaked out embarrassingly, grabbing her top quickly and turning away from him. Once secured, she turned to face what she hoped was not an enticing mirage.
“It is unbecoming for a woman to wear so little in public. You should be covered up more,” he stated flatly, although his brow was furrowed and his jaw set.
Already embarrassed, Rene was only more defensive by his demeaning comment. “Well, it certainly was not my intention to take it off; it must have slipped off when I dived in.”
“Why are you here?” he asked her bluntly.
“Excuse me?” While his bluntness was offensive, she found his magnetism driving her desire to engage with him.
“Here… in Saudi Arabia. Are you here on business or pleasure?”
Rene paused, playing idly with the strings of her bikini bottoms.
Why does he care…but on second thought with those looks, who cares!
“I’m escaping,” she replied.
The man stared at her with no expression; his mesmerizing eyes were still fixed on her. She scuffed her feet, feeling even more naked under his stare than she did a few “topless” moments ago.
“I'm Rene, what's your name?” she asked holding out her hand. She had to say something; the awkward silence was making her anxious.
“Joshua,” he replied, briefly, as he shook her hand.
Fortunately, none of the other guests had noticed Rene’s wardrobe malfunction and continued with their business. “Oh! Say, Josh…would you be so kind as to get me another drink?” Rene asked. He was a bit old to be working as a resort server, yet his beige-coloured pants and white Polo shirt were consistent with the hotel’s uniform. “Another drink?” he repeated her words with a frown on his face.
“I said please,” Rene said sweetly as she smiled at him. Perhaps there was some sort of language barrier that she was not seeing.
“You think that I work here?” He laughed before turning on his heels and walking away.
“Well…don't you?” Rene shouted after him. He was definitely handsome enough with those piercing eyes, thick hair and powerful physique. Too bad, it could not make up for his arrogant personality.
Could he actually be a guest?
Oh well, Rene thought as she shrugged her shoulders. It would not be the first time that she thought a man was something he was not. Grabbing her robe, she heade
d to her room. Upon entering, reality caught her off guard as she shut the door and sagged against the wall.
What on earth had possessed her to fly half way around the world?
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Copyright © 2015 by Leslie North
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