Adonis in Athens - Page 42

“Where is her little boy?”

“Mihalis is with his other grandparents for today—we thought it better not to have him running around while we talked.”

They moved towards the table.

“How do you like Greece?” Maria asked as she motioned for Paige to sit.

“I love it!” Paige smiled. “Especially the food.”

“Be careful or you will be fat,” Giorgios drawled, his eyes meeting hers.

“I keep busy,” Paige replied lightly. She could feel Apollo stiffen beside her so she simply kept smiling. “With all the walking I’ve been doing, I think I’ll be okay.”

Giorgios appeared as though he was going to say something else but the sliding glass doors opened and a tiny woman in black appeared with a broad smile on her face. She had short, curly gray hair, a time-weathered face and a fantastic tan. She wore a shabby black dress that fell below her knees, covering most of her skin, and it was her eyes that captivated Paige; emerald green like her son, grandson and younger granddaughter. Sophia, she’d noticed, had dark eyes like Maria.

“This is my grandmother,” Apollo said, getting up and hugging the older woman, laughing as she pinched both his cheeks and then slapped one of them lightly. Whatever she said to him made him laugh harder and he took her arm as he presented her to Paige. “This is Thespina Lakkas, my father’s mother and the world’s greatest grandmother.”

“Yes, I am special!” she laughed, reaching out to hug Paige and kiss both cheeks. Then she went off in Greek and Paige looked at Apollo helplessly.

“She said you’re gorgeous and that we’re going to have beautiful babies.”

Paige turned red but laughed too. “Efharisto!” she said, nodding at the older woman.

“Oh, please tell me you’re not really trying to impress anyone with your Greek!” Sophia rolled her eyes, setting a huge bowl filled with Greek salad on the table with a thump.

“You don’t have to be nice to her,” Apollo stage-whispered to Paige.

Paige simply turned, fixing a look on Sophia. “Two wrongs don’t make a right, and anyway, I totally understand how she feels. If my sister married some guy and then brought him home three years later, I’d be a little put out too.”

Apollo gave her a small smile as they sat back down. His grandmother sat across from him and Paige, smiling and asking questions that Apollo had to translate. He didn’t mind. He adored his grandmother and they were close. He didn’t see her a lot these days, but she’d helped raise him and his sisters while his mother did everything she could to help Dimitri get the shipping company off the ground. They’d been young, just 18 when they married, 19 when Sophia was born, 21 when Melina came along and only 23 when Apollo was born. Three kids under the age of five had been a handful for Maria, so Thespina had stepped in and taken over, allowing Maria and Dimitri to work.

As he explained what it had been like growing up with his grandmother, Paige and his yaya exchanged smiles and looks that seemed to have more meaning than words and Apollo mentally thanked his grandmother for stepping in when he needed her. She always had, of course, but as the kids had gotten older, Maria had become more and more jealous, and when Apollo was 13 Thespina had left and gone to live with another one of her children, who lived a few hours north of Athens. She’d gotten sick while Apollo was away at Yale and Dimitri had put his foot down, bringing his mother back. She and Maria seemed to have made their peace, but it was obvious that Yaya still liked to make mischief, from the way she was happily accepting of Paige.

Maria and Sophia took turns asking Paige questions about her parents, her job and her life in Las Vegas. Yaya asked questions about what she’d seen while she’d been here in Greece. Giorgios essentially shoveled food in his mouth, his eyes drifting to Paige’s chest every so often until Sophia would snap at him. Dimitri was mostly silent, watching his family alternately bicker and laugh, but refraining from joining in. Only Melina seemed relaxed, talking with Paige and Apollo as if they’d always been a couple and ignoring her mother, sister and brother-in-law completely. The meal was strained but polite until they were just about finished eating.

“Look, I don’t know why we’re dancing around the subject,” Sophia said, putting down her fork and looking around the table. “That’s the whole reason she’s here, right? To find out what’s going on?” She was speaking in English and looked right at Apollo. “So, tell us, little brother—what are you doing with her? She came here with divorce papers so she obviously has another man back in the U.S. Are you truly going to allow her to make you her final fling, or whatever she’s doing, until she goes back to some other guy?”

“Sophia!” Apollo slapped his hand down on the table so hard the dishes rattled and Melina jumped, her hand flying to her heart.

“Don’t raise your voice to my wife!” Giorgios growled in Greek.

Apollo cut him a look. “Really? Because you never do?” He turned back to Sophia. “If I have to be nice to your asshole of a husband, you sure as hell will at least be respectful to my wife.”

“My husband and I are actually married!” she spat. “Living together, building a future! You and Paige didn’t even bother to stay in touch and she came here to get a divorce! Do you not see what she’s doing?!”

“We were two scared kids who did something impulsive and then didn’t know what to do about it!” he snapped. “She came here to see me in person before we signed those papers—otherwise she could have sent them by FedEx and been done with it.”

“So are you moving to Greece?” Sophia turned to Paige, switching back to English. “I mean, seriously, are you going to give up your life and move here to be with him?”

“Maybe.” Paige lifted her chin and knitted her brows together. “We’re still sorting through the details, but it’s definitely on the table.”

“Oh please!” Sophia rolled her eyes. “Girls like you don’t pick up and move to another country! You’re going to jerk my brother around so you can enjoy a little Greek cock, and then go on your merry way!”

“Sophia!” Maria felt snapped to attention, her dark eyes blazing. “Skase!”

“Am I the only one worried about Apollo?!” Sophia protested, glaring at her mother. “Women don’t just leave their whole lives behind and move halfway across the world for a guy they’ve known a week! And it’s obvious he’s crazy about her so he’ll do anything she wants!”

“Just because you chose the guy who was comfortable instead of a guy you were in love with,” Melina interjected softly, “doesn’t mean all women would.”