Surrender: The Greek Affair Series Book One (16 page)

“What?”

On that “what”, and in unison, they drop their pants together with the swimsuit and there are three delicious males stark naked in front of her. She starts to laugh,

“Wow! How lucky am I!” she says out loud.

They laugh too and they make a mad dash to the sea. And Hope watches their behinds, while she is trying to figure out whose arse the sexiest.

The boys frolic for a while, and she lies around sunning herself. They eventually come out of the water, wipe themselves and lie around naked. Jason is lying on his back.

He looks at Hope and signals her not to go near him and she starts to laugh, and this has the opposite effect. So he covers his cock with her hat, and all of them are now laughing at Jason, and with him, as he is laughing too.

“Dear god,” she thinks. She only has to laugh and look at him from a distance and he gets a hard on. What is she going to do with this man?

They hang around this idyllic place until they are dry but they are beginning to feel the heat, the hunger and the need for very cold water, as theirs had warmed up. Hope knows she has had enough sun for the day.

“Can we look for a village with that central plane tree and a
tavérna
underneath please?”

The men all agree. They pack up and are off in search of their respite. Hope, who knows the island well, has some information of a village which is on their way home, and which also has what they are looking for.

It’s a
tavérna
under a huge plane tree and a frugal menu, (only à la carte, which could mean fried eggs with chips). In Hope’s mind, once one has fresh fried potatoes in Greece, all other chips are obsolete. They would have a beautiful fresh salad with juicy summer tomatoes, or they could end up with fish caught on the day, along with the salad and the potato chips, and sometimes fritters made from zucchini, or a vegetable dish (like
gemist
á, stuffed vegetables with rice and pine nuts and lots of herbs). If they hit a fresh fish, or
gemistá
day, they are lucky, but then if none of these happens, the eggs are from home-bred chickens, and they do taste rather special. Even the wine, or the
tsípouro
(a spirit much like ouzo), could be a homemade brew and once again, special!

They find the village and the small square, with the plane tree. The tavern is there, but no human beings. The time is three, the heat is vicious and they are tired, thirsty and starving. All four sit under the shade of the tree. Given the fact that it is likely a few hundred years old, it feels like a grandparent is hugging them, protecting and soothing and consoling them. They are lost for words, are so overwhelmed by the heat, hunger and thirst and in need of icy water that they don’t notice a village woman creep up silently.

“Giá sas pédia.”
(Greetings people), and they are startled and relieved at the same time. The woman is jolly with a friendly smile, and typical of a village woman. She is very simply dressed and is likely younger than her appearance might otherwise indicate.

They are in luck! There is fresh fish, little red mullet, (which are delicious fried whole), fresh home grown salad, the mandatory chips, and a small collection of home made dips, (which come out first), along with the fresh home made bread, and the icy cold water.

They drink to their health and eat the starters to curb their roaring hunger. They can smell the food cooking. They relax and take in the beautiful scenery of the small village with the grey stone buildings and the small gardens with the aromatic flowers. The setting is original and real. When Hope is at her lowest, she always wants to escape to one of these villages and hide, but she never does, as she knows she has not been conditioned for this life.

They revel in the food in front of them, eat slowly, and the conversation heats up. But they know they have to keep their voices down as the village is sleeping, being siesta time. The conversation has moved to relationships and Hope finds herself uncomfortable. She knows nothing about relationships, she doesn’t know how to make it work or choose men that are suitable for her.

She says nothing and cowers in her seat. Jason senses her discomfort and even though he continues to have the conversation with Pétro and Alexander he reaches out to hold her hand and squeezes it. Time passes, the village starts to wake and they are on to the Greek coffee with the spoon sweet and soon it will be time to head back, as Jason has to be in barracks by early evening. Hope’s lack of sleep is beginning to catch up with her, and she’s exhausted, whilst her nerves are frayed. She needs a shower and a bed to sleep in. But she also knows that Jason will be all over her once they are indoors.

They begin their journey back, Pétro driving, Alexander next to him and Jason and Hope in the back seat. Jason has his arms around Hope; one around her back the other one wrapped in front of her, in a way, he is trapping her again from getting away. With the front hand he takes her chin turns her face upwards and places his beautiful mouth on hers and she gives in to him. His tongue searches for hers and it turns into an erotic kiss. She catches Pétro looking at them in the rear vision mirror with a smile on his face,

“Ok you two. We’re almost there. Otherwise we’ll drop you off at the nearest hotel so you can get a room”.

Jason breaks away and smiles, “Thought I’d find out what it’s like in the back seat of a car”.

Hope bends back from him, looks him in the face and says,

“What? You’ve never done it in a car?”

“No.”

“What!” all of them in unison

Alexander looks behind and says, “Man that’s the first place you tick off the list of fuck pads”.

Jason laughs, “That’s the reason I like older women. There is always a room.” Hope punches him and he curls over, protecting himself while laughing and she continues to pound him. He wraps his strong hands around her wrists holding her, looks into her face with a very big grin, drops her wrists, grabs her by the shoulders and lands his mouth on hers. He continues to kiss her by running his lips over her face lightly, and he gets to her ear and whispers,

“Don’t fight me, please”.

Hope knows the “please” is not about the playful punching. She buries her face into his shoulder, trying to hide the tears that are welling up, as she tries to control them. He holds her tenderly and allows her to give in to herself and her emotions, in that tender space between his neck and his shoulder.

It has been a wonderful day; the sightseeing, the beach, the food, the villages and the people they came across. Pétro and Hope talk about how they will meet in the morning to go to the airport, as it’s a very early flight. He is going to spend the evening with Alexander. Jason and Hope are back home now, alone.

Jason helps Hope take all her beach gear inside so he can pick up his things and now they are left staring at each other.

“Agόri mou
, (my man), don’t touch me please.” She says looking at him with eyes that are a dam, ready to burst and he does not touch her, but keeps looking at her.

“Allow me to look and draw you into my mind’s eye.” He says and keeps looking. “
Se agapó”
. (I love you). And with that, he simply turns around and leaves, and all she can do is yell at him as he slams the door and leaves without looking at her.

“No you don’t!” She yells, but he is gone and she is alone.

Chapter Fourteen

The plane is taking off and Pétro holds Hope’s hand. Not because she’s scared of planes but because she needs to be held. He knows it instinctively, without her having to say anything. She wants to forget about the island, the sunshine, the Aegean and all that transpired with a beautiful and sensitive man.

“So what’s the deal with Alexander?”

“What deal?”

“Ok. I know I have been the most self-absorbed bitch of all time, but please allow me to redeem myself, even for a brief moment. Where does he live? Are you seeing him again? Is he hot in bed?” And he cuts her off.

“That’s a lot of questions all at once, and girlfriend, by asking them you don’t redeem yourself at all. All you are doing is escaping yourself within your own head.”

“Fuck off and tell me about Alex.” They both laugh.

Pétro looks at her, smiling, and still holding her hand,

“Yes, he lives in Athens which makes it easier and yes, I will see him again…and yes, he is hot in and out of bed. Satisfied?”

“So?”

“What do you mean, ‘so’?”

“I mean, do you like him enough to commit to a long term relationship?”

“Hope baby, that’s what your problem is, you jump to the end before you even have a beginning! What is long-term? Let’s see if we get on outside the summer festivities. You know how deceiving a Greek island can be on a summer holiday. Let’s get back to our daily lives, my work schedule that keeps me out of the country, and we’ll see what happens then. One step at a time. There are many steps to get through before we work out if we can get to the end together, and anyway, what is the end and who sets the rules?”

She knows he is looking at her and she has set her sights ahead of her with a vacant stare in her eyes. He tugs at her hand and brings her back to him.

“Hey! Look here! Couldn’t you do the same? Couldn’t you give yourself a chance with Jason? Could you give him the benefit of the doubt? He is so in to you and I suspect that he’s not only in lust, but actually in love.”

“I thought we were talking about you!” She says, despondent that the conversation has come back to her.

“I know what you’re doing. Deflecting! Let’s talk about you. I’m ok. What do you want, Hope? Why are you not embracing what Jason has to offer? Why are you letting this wonderful romance eat you up?”

“Pétro, I have nothing to offer him.”

“Why don’t you let him decide that?”

“He’s very young and I should let him go.”

“Now you’re talking crap, this is your modus operandi. It’s not about you doing him a favour. It’s about you sabotaging something that has the potential of being good and real and making you happy.”

With indignation she looks at her friend. “I’m not sabotaging anything. Why can’t you see how wrong this is? It will never work.”

He is a little frustrated and a tad angry with her now.

“Look at your record. Unhappy marriage to a man you have no idea why you married in the first place, and ok, you were very young and naïve. You fall into a relationship with another man when you’re emotionally distraught. He is younger, cute but horribly immature, and it’s over. Get that experience out of your head, for god’s sake and move on. Oh, and by the way, both your older husband and your younger boyfriend were, and still are, immature. Maturity has nothing to do with age when one is an adult. You have a mature man in Jason. He is a man, not a boy. Let him be the man that he wants to be with you. Stop pushing him away.”

“I will be making the same mistake.”

“Are you serious? Are you comparing Jason to that Peter Pan you were involved with? One was a boy and the other is a man. Didn’t I just say, it has nothing to do with the years, but with the emotional and mental maturity? Years are but a number for the bureaucrats. These numbers should never have any real significance in our lives.”

There is a silence, and she has no idea what to say to this, but Pétro cuts the silence like a knife.

“You need to grow up and stop being scared of your feelings, and afraid that he will turn out like another Peter Pan, or like your husband! He is another person, altogether different from the others. You’re making him pay for other men’s sins.”

He looks at her, takes her hand, squeezes it and looks into her eyes with compassion and love, as only a true friend can.

“If you let this man slip away you will always regret it and I can tell you now, you will never find anyone as mature and level-headed, who cares for you as much as Jason does.”

“Petro there are practical issues too. I want to go back to Melbourne, Jason needs to go and find a career, and we need to have money to live on. If you remember, I also have a grown-up son. I don’t know how to overcome all of this.”

“Hope, look at me.” She turns her head to face him. “Jason is well educated and a sophisticated man. He knows all these things and you need to talk to each other about everything. Don’t make excuses, because that’s all you’re mouthing, excuses. Everything can be overcome.”

Hope looks away and they don’t talk for a while, as she has nothing to say in her defence. She thinks about the fact that she’s scared of that love, and maybe it’s because she simply doesn’t recognise what love is. But is she self-sabotaging? She’s afraid that she will not be enough for Jason, that he will want more, and she knows she is damaged. She doesn’t think she has the strength to give him any kind of stability. He is an amazing human being and a wonderful caring lover, all of which had being lacking from any man she had known prior to him, and she knows that he was trying to be a good friend as well, and she is aware she keeps blocking his way.

The flight is almost over and after a long silence she says.

“Are you coming back to the island after you get things done in Athens?”