The Letter

Chapter 15

It felt like hours, but in reality, it must have been a few minutes before he burst back out of the door looking totally casual and cheerful. He even stopped to greet a man happily.

"Dimitri. Kalimera."

"Kalimera" the other man waved at him.

He climbed back into the car, and without saying a single word, started driving again as if everything was completely normal. Which it was not! He gave me a quick sideways glance and then flashed me a small, satisfied smile.

"What happened? Did you... you know?" Had he seriously just walked into the bar and beat the guy up? I wasn't sure whether I should be completely flattered by this knight in shining armor gesture, or whether I should be a bit scared of him. Maybe he was one of those guys who suddenly snapped?

"No, of course not. But he did say that's he's extremely sorry."

"Did he?"

"He realizes that he acted like a bastard and you didn't deserve to be treated like that."

"Really?"

"Yes... he said that when he saw you, you were so beautiful that he couldn't help himself."

"He said I was beautiful?" I couldn't keep the sarcastic skepticism out of my voice.

"Yes. He says you have the most beautiful eyes and smile that he's ever seen."

I rolled my eyes. "Really?"

"Yes, he also says you should wear your hair down more often." Dimitri turned and smiled at me playfully.

"No he didn't." I said sharply.

His playful smile grew bigger, "Just because he didn't say it, doesn't mean it's not true."

A strange silence filled the car. What was this man playing at? His actions confused me beyond measure. He had this way of making me feel so much better about myself, and it felt wonderful, but how much of it was an act? He was the consummate Greek playboy after all. He had probably just honed his skills to such an extent that he knew exactly what to say and do to make a woman feel special. But to what end?

The car finally stopped outside a small quaint, white cave house with a blue gate and white wall. I climbed out of the car too enthusiastically, which I shouldn't have done. It felt like all the alcohol had settled while I was driving, but upon jumping I seemed to have shaken it all up again.

My head felt woozy once more and my eyes started to blur the shapes around me. It was so bad that I needed to hold onto the car door to steady myself for moment or two.

I carefully followed Dimitri into a small well-appointed courtyard. In the middle stood a blue table and two chairs, flanked by two small olives trees and some Bougainvillea – which I have come to understand is an absolute requisite in these parts – hung from the wall. He took a key out of his pocket and slipped it into the lock.

"Where are we?"

"My house." He turned and smiled again as he started leading me inside. I stopped dead on the threshold.

"This isn't my hotel." I was stating the obvious and took a step back as if the entrance to his house were the gates of hell. Dramatic, I know. I took another step back but miscalculated the slope. I wobbled for a second or two and was just about to fall backwards when an arm shot out, grabbed me around the waist and pulled me up. With a thud, my body slammed into his, our chests pressing up against each other.

His arm tightened around me and I could feel the heat of his hand on my lower back. Our faces were close now. Our noses were almost touching and our lips were mere centimeters away. The sensations running through my body were enough to make me shiver. I hoped he hadn't felt that. My eyes were focused on his collarbones, deliberately, I didn't think I had the guts to lift them and look into his eyes. If I was a confident, flirty girl I might have just leaned in and kissed him, but I wasn't. I had the self-esteem of a tree stump. I was vaguely aware of his hand lifting to the side of my head and I wondered if he was going to pull another twig out of my hair. Instead, he softly pushed my hair back out of my face. My legs felt like they were going to collapse under me, and I wasn't sure if it was from the alcohol or my intoxication with Dimitri. I suddenly became very self-conscious and the sudden proximity to his face, was just way, way too much for me to bear. I quickly wiggled my way out of his grasp.