Unfortunately Ari in a brief black swimming costume reduced her comfort zone to nil. His almost naked perfectly proportioned male body brought memories of their previous intimacy flooding back. She’d loved being with him in bed; loved touching him, feeling him, looking at him, loved the intense pleasure he’d given her in so many ways. It had been the best time of her life. It hurt, even now, that it had only been
a charming episode
for him. It hurt even more that she couldn’t control the treacherous desire to have him again.
She could if she married him. She probably could anyhow. He’d lusted after her before without marriage in mind. But having sex with him again wouldn’t feel the same. She wouldn’t be able to give herself to him whole-heartedly, knowing she wasn’t the love of his life. There would be too many shadows in any bed they shared.
It was easier to push the memories aside when they were back on the boat and properly dressed again. Ari in clothes was not quite so mesmerising. He and Theo took over the wheel, playing at being captain together, steering the boat towards the village of Oia on the far point of Santorini while Jason was busy in the galley.
They had a delicious lunch of freshly cooked fish and salad. After all the activity and with his stomach full, Theo curled up on the bench seat, his head on Tina’s lap and went to sleep. Jason was instructed to keep the boat cruising around until the boy woke. If there was still time to visit Oia, he could then take them into the small port.
‘We don’t want him too tired to enjoy his birthday party tonight,’ Ari remarked to Tina.
‘No. I think we should head home when he wakes. We’ve done all you promised him, Ari. He should have some quiet time, building the Lego train station before more excitement tonight,’ Tina said, needing some quiet time for herself, as well. It was stressful being constantly in the company of the man who was intent on breaking into her life again.
‘Okay.’ He gave her an admiring look. ‘You’ve done a good job with him, Christina. He’s a delightful child.’
She gritted her teeth, determined not to be seduced by his compliments, deliberately moving her gaze to the black cliffs ahead of them. ‘I think it’s important to instill good principles in a child as early as possible,’ she said, a sudden wave of resentment towards him making her add, ‘I don’t want him to grow up like you.’
His silence tore at her nerves but she refused to look at him.
Eventually he asked, ‘What particular fault of mine are you referring to?’
‘Thinking women are your toys to be picked up and played with as you please,’ she answered, wishing he could be honest about himself and honest to her. ‘I want Theo to give consideration to how he touches others’ lives. I hope when he connects with people he will always leave them feeling good.’
Another long silence.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Ari lean forward, resting his forearms on his thighs. ‘If you had not fallen pregnant, Christina,’ he said softly, ‘wouldn’t I have left you with good memories of our relationship?’
‘You left me shattered, Ari,’ she answered bluntly. ‘My parents had brought me up to be a good girl believing that sex should only be part of a loving relationship. I truly believed that with you and it wasn’t so. Then when I realised I was pregnant, it made everything so much worse. I had to bear their disappointment in me, as well as knowing I’d simply been your sex toy for a while.’
In some ways it was a relief to blurt out the truth to him, though whether it meant anything to him or not was unknowable. Maybe it might make him treat her with more respect. She was not a pawn to be moved around at his will. She was a person who had to be dealt with as a person who had the right to determine her own life and this time she would do it according to her principles.
Ari shook his head. He was in a hard place here. He wasn’t used to feeling guilty about his actions or the decisions he’d made. It was not a feeling he liked. Christina had just given a perspective on their previous relationship that he’d never considered and quite clearly it had to be considered if he was to turn this situation around.
She was staring into space—a space that only she occupied, shutting him out. Yet her hand was idly stroking the hair of their sleeping son. He was the connection between them—the only connection Ari could count on right now. He was no longer sure he could reach her sexually, though he would still give it a damned good try. In the meantime he had to start redeeming himself in her eyes or she would never allow herself to be vulnerable to the physical attraction which he knew was not completely dead.
He’d felt her gaze on him at the hot springs, saw it quickly flick away whenever he looked at her. She kept shoring up defences against him by reliving how he’d wronged her in the past. Would she ever let that go or would he be paying for his sins against her far into the future?
‘I’m sorry,’ he said quietly. ‘It was wrong of me to take you. I think it was your innocence that made you so entrancing, so different, so special, and the way you looked at me then … I found it irresistible, Christina. If it means anything to you, there hasn’t been a woman since whose company has given me more pleasure.’
As he spoke the words which were designed to be persuasive, there was a slight kick in Ari’s mind—a jolting realization that he was actually stating the truth. When he’d moved on, he’d mentally set her aside—too young, not the right time for a serious relationship—but the moment he’d recognised her in Dubai, he’d wanted to experience the sweetness of her all over again, especially when he’d just been suffering the sour taste of Felicity Fullbright.
Christina shook her head. She didn’t believe him.
‘It’s true,’ he insisted.
She turned to look at him, dark intense eyes scouring his for insincerity. He held her testing gaze, everything within him tuned to convincing her they could make another start, forge a new understanding between them.
‘You didn’t come back to me, Ari,’ she stated simply. ‘You forgot me.’
‘No. I put you away from me for reasons that I thought were valid at the time but I didn’t forget you, Christina. The moment I recognised you in Dubai, the urge to pick up with you again was instant. And that was before you told me about Theo.’
She frowned, hopefully realising the impulse had been there before she had spoken of their son. ‘You were with another woman,’ she muttered as though that urge was tarnished, too.
‘I was already wishing that I wasn’t before I saw you. Please … at least believe this of me. It’s true.’
For the first time he saw a hint of uncertainty in her eyes. She lowered her long thick lashes, hiding her thoughts. ‘Tell me what your valid reasons were.’
‘To my mind, we both still had a lot to achieve on our own without ties holding us back from making choices we would have made by ourselves. You’d barely started your modelling career, Christina, and it was obvious you had the promise of making it big on the international scene. As your sister has done.’
Her mouth twisted into a wry grimace as she looked down at their sleeping son. ‘If you didn’t forget me, Ari, did you ever wonder why I never broke into the international scene?’
‘I did expect you to. I thought you had chosen to stay in Australia. Some people don’t like leaving everything that is familiar to them.’
‘I wasn’t worth coming back to,’ she murmured, heaving a sigh that made him feel she had just shed whatever progress he had made with her.
‘I was caught up dealing with family business these past six years, Christina,’ he swiftly argued. ‘It’s only now … meeting you again and being faced with my own son that my priorities are undergoing an abrupt change.’
‘Give it time, Ari,’ she said dryly. ‘They might change again.’
‘No. I won’t be taking my marriage proposal off the table. I want you to consider it very seriously.’
She slid him a measuring look that promised nothing. ‘I’ll think about it. Don’t ask any more of me now.’ She nodded down at Theo. ‘I’m tired, too. Please ask Jason to head back to Fira.’
‘As you wish,’ he said, rising from the bench seat to do her bidding.
Trying to push her further would not accomplish any more than he had already accomplished today. She didn’t trust him yet but at least she was listening to him. Tonight would give him the chance to show her the family environment he wanted to move her and Theo into. He had to make it as attractive as he could.
CHAPTER SEVEN
W
HILE
Theo was occupied fitting the pieces of the Lego train station together, Tina tried to imagine what her life might have been like if she hadn’t fallen pregnant. Would she have picked herself up from the deeply wounding disillusionment of her love for Ari and channelled all her energy into forging a successful modelling career?
Almost certainly.
She had been very young—only eighteen at the time—and having been rejected by him she would have wanted to
show
him she really was special—so special he would regret not holding onto her.
Cassandra would have helped her to get a foot in on the international scene. Given the chance, she would have tried to make it to the top, delivering whatever was required to keep herself in demand and in the public eye; fashion shows, magazine covers, celebrity turnouts that would give her even more publicity. Ambition would have been all fired up to make Ari have second thoughts about his decision, make him want to meet her again.
When and if he did she would have played it very cool. No melting on the spot. She would have made him chase her, earn her, and she wouldn’t have given in to him until he’d declared himself helplessly in love with her and couldn’t live without her. He would have had to propose marriage.
Which he’d done today.
Except the circumstances were very different to what might have been if Theo had never been conceived. That completely changed the plot, making the marriage proposal worth nothing to her.
Though Ari’s face had lit up with pleasure at seeing her in Dubai.
But that was only a
fond memory
rekindled.
She wasn’t the same naive, stars-in-her-eyes girl and never would be again, so it was impossible for him to recapture the pleasure he’d had in her company in the past. Surely he had to realise that. Empty words, meaning nothing.
She shouldn’t let herself be affected by anything he said. Or by his mega sex appeal which was an unsettling distraction, pulling her into wanting to believe he was sincere when he was probably intent on conducting a softening-up process so she would bend to his will. It was important to keep her head straight tonight. He had rights where Theo was concerned. He had none over her.
It was still very hot outside their room when it came time to dress for the birthday party. Her mother, of course, was wearing black—a smart tunic and skirt with an array of gold jewellery to make it look festive. Tina chose a red and white sundress for herself, teaming it with white sandals and dangly earrings made of little white shells.
She put Theo in navy shorts, navy sandals, and a navy and white top with red stripes across the chest. He insisted on having the big red birthday badge with the smiley face and the number 5 pinned onto it. Ari had bought it for him this morning on their stroll around the shops and Theo wore it proudly.
‘See!’ he cried, pointing to his badge when Ari came to pick them up.
Ari laughed, lifted him up high, whirled him around, then held him against his shoulder, grinning at him as he said, ‘It’s a grand thing to be five, Theo.’
There was little doubt in Tina’s mind that Theo would love to have Ari as his Papa. Her heart sank at the thought of how much would have to change when the truth had to be admitted. Ari’s parents already knew. She could only hope they would handle this meeting with care and discretion.
To her immense relief, Ari seated her mother beside him on the drive to his home on the other end of the island. It was near the Santo winery, he said. Which reminded Tina that he had come to Australia on a tour of the wine industry there. As they passed terraces of grapevines, it was fascinating to see the vines spread across the ground instead of trained to stand in upright rows. To protect the grapes from the strong winds, Ari explained to her mother who happily chatted to him the whole way.
Eventually they arrived at the Zavros home. The semicircular driveway was dominated by a fountain with three mermaids as its centrepiece, which instantly fascinated Theo. The home itself appeared to be three Mediterranean-style villas linked by colonnades. Naturally it was white, like most of the buildings on Santorini. Ari led them to the central building which was larger than the other two. It all shrieked of great wealth. Intimidating wealth to Tina.
‘We’re dining on the terrace,’ he informed them, shepherding them along a high spacious hallway that clearly bisected this villa.
The floor was magnificently tiled in a pattern of waves and seashells. They emerged onto a huge terrace overlooking the sea. In front of them was a sparkling blue swimming pool. To the left was a long vine-covered pergola and Tina’s heart instantly kicked into a faster beat as she saw what had to be Ari’s parents, seated at a table underneath it.
They rose from their chairs to extend a welcome to their guests. Tension whipped along Tina’s nerves as both of them looked at Theo first. However their attention on him didn’t last too long. They greeted her mother very graciously and waited for her to introduce her daughter and grandson.
Maximus Zavros was an older version of Ari in looks. His wife, Sophie, was still quite a striking woman with a lovely head of soft wavy hair, warm brown eyes and a slightly plump, very curvaceous figure. Although they smiled at her as she was introduced, Tina was acutely conscious of their scrutiny—sizing her up as the mother of their grandson. It was a relief when they finally turned their gaze to Theo again.
‘And this is the birthday boy,’ Sophie Zavros said indulgently.
‘Five!’ Theo said proudly, pointing to his badge. Then he gave Ari’s father a curious look. ‘Your name is Maximus?’
‘Yes, it is. If it is easier for you, tonight you can call me Max,’ he invited, smiling benevolently.