Adonis in Athens - Page 62

Paige hugged her, gathered her things and headed out to find Apollo. Luckily, he was just stepping off the elevator and she walked right into his arms. Burying her face in his chest she whispered, “I’m sorry.”

“For?”

“Leaving like that. It was a shitty thing to do but I was so worried about Raegan and then I heard you…”

“That’s my cue!” Mick leaned over to kiss Paige’s cheek. “I’m glad we got to meet but I’m going to get some sleep. I assume you two have a lot to discuss and, to be honest, I’ve been on too many planes, in too many time zones, in too short of a time!” He slapped Apollo on the back, got in the elevator and disappeared.

“He seems like a good guy,” she said when they were alone.

“The best.” He looked down into her eyes. “You look exhausted.”

“You too.” She slid her arms up and around his neck.

“I’m actually hungrier than I am tired,” he admitted. “Can we go eat?”

“Sure. What do you feel like?”

His eyes crinkled into a deep smile. “A burger. A thick, juicy American burger with cheddar and bacon and BBQ sauce.”

She raised her eyebrows. “No cheddar, bacon or BBQ sauce in Greece, huh?”

“Not even close.”

“Let’s go.” She moved against him as they stepped into the elevator.

There was a local restaurant nearby that had great burgers so she drove them there, hands linked between them on the center console of her car. They didn’t talk, somehow content to just be together. They got out of the car, clasping hands again immediately, and sat on the same side of the table when the hostess led them to a booth. Finally, after they’d ordered and had drinks, Apollo shifted next to her and used his hand to cup her cheek.

“I don’t know what you heard or how much of a mess I made of things, but let me tell you this before anything else: I love you. I’m in love with you. My chest was so tight when Melina told me you’d left, I thought I might get sick. The thought of losing you again…it was more than I could stand.”

“It’ll take a lot more than a muffled conversation that I overheard by accident for you to lose me this time,” she said softly. “I heard you talking about sort of lying to me about moving to the U.S. and I couldn’t deal with it right that second. I was scared for Raegan and trying to get on that next flight… I knew if I stopped to find out what you were talking about I’d probably miss the flight and I couldn’t. And maybe…” She bit her lip.

“Maybe what?” His green eyes bore into hers.

“Maybe I wanted you to chase me.” She couldn’t break their gaze. “You walked away last time and never even gave me your number—just a business card. This time, I think subconsciously I didn’t want to make it that easy…you needed to want this as much as I do.”

“I do.” He pressed his cheek to hers and pulled her against him. “God, I do. If you want me to come to the U.S., like we talked about, I will. I can do everything we talked about—put out feelers, get a job, work in the shipping industry a few years. I just don’t know if I could live here forever.”

“I love the States and I was starting to really love Greece too.” She moved her head so her lips were just millimeters from his. “But I love you more than both. I love you more than anything. I’d follow you to the ends of the earth. I’m scared to move to another country, but the idea of being without you is a hell of a lot scarier.”

He crushed his mouth to hers, kissing her with three years’ worth of pent-up frustration, longing and passion. Yes, they’d had a lot of sex in Greece, but hearing her say she would follow him anywhere brought sex to a whole other level.

“If my stomach wasn’t literally growling and making me a bit nauseous,” he rumbled against her lips, “I would skip the burger and take you home.”

She chuckled. “I’m kind of hungry too—food at the hospital has been less than satisfying. Especially after the food in Greece.”

“Now that we’ve settled our feelings, let me explain what Mick and I were talking about.” He paused, though he kept her close to his side. “When I was in college I loved living here. By the time I got to my senior year, I didn’t want to leave. I was trying to convince my father that I needed my MBA too, and I’d applied for a job as a teaching assistant to offset the cost. That’s when you and I met—spring break of my senior year and my father still hadn’t agreed to let me stay. I was in a hurry to get back to school so I could make sure I got that TA position to use as leverage. My parents were coming for graduation and then…” He paused. “Look, there’s a whole lot of family drama in this part of the story, but let’s skip that for now and just focus on us.”

“Okay.”

“At graduation, my father was still on the fence about letting me stay because Sophia had had a baby during the school year and she and Giorgios were getting married.”

“Wait—what?” Paige looked confused.

He nodded. “I know, that’s the family drama I mentioned, but right now, I just want to talk about us.”

“She was still here in the U.S.? But she’s…like four years older than you, isn’t she? Wouldn’t she have been done with college by the time you were a senior?”

“My parents didn’t want her coming to the U.S. alone, so she did some classes online while she waited for Melina to graduate high school. They came together, got an apartment, all that.” He gave her a brief history. “Anyway, I was being pulled in a bunch of directions at that point… Sophia’s wedding, a new nephew, Lena suddenly keeping her distance. I didn’t know what to do, but it felt like my family needed me. So we compromised. I stayed through the summer and took a full course load, worked as a TA and got my master’s in just over a year. I had two classes left at the end of the next school year and purposely left the ones I could take online so I could take them from Greece.