Oh. Fucking. No.
I cannot, under any circumstances, catch feelings for this man.
Not him, not him, please not him.
I know pleading is futile, because somehow, slowly, gradually, one second at a time, I’ve started to fall for this man in all the ways that matter. Sure, he’s good looking, but there’s so much more to him than that.
And he just spoke Greek like a fucking pro, and that might be the most attractive thing I’ve ever seen.
“What?” he asks innocently, the brim of his baseball cap shielding me from the intensity of his eyes.
“N-Nothing.”
“Lies.” He unleashes that carefree grin on me, and my stomach does the weird flippy thing again. Not cool feelings, stop this right now! “I know you well enough now that I can sense when you’re hiding something.”
“Just grateful to be in such a beautiful country,” I lie.
He doesn’t buy it one bit, but lets it drop when our order is ready. He says something in Greek that I assume is the equivalent of thank you, and then we sit down at one of the tables.
He passes me the glass with cold coffee and some kind of foam. “Try one.” He points to one of the two matching pastries on the plate.
I do as he says, surprised at how yummy it is. It’s savory but somehow sweet at the same time. I’ve never tasted anything like it. “That’s incredible.”
“Now the coffee,” he coaxes, enjoying this based on the upturned tilt of his lips.
I take a sip, my eyes widening. “Wow, this is so much better than back home.”
“See, I know what you like.”
For some reason his words make me blush. Ducking my head, I study the depths of coffee like it’s the most fascinating thing in the world.
My skin prickles all over when he touches his index finger beneath my chin, forcing me to raise my head. “It’s okay, you know?”
“What’s okay?” I rack my brain, trying to figure out what he’s talking about.
I nearly cower away from the intensity of his green eyes, but somehow I manage to hold his gaze.
“That you want me.”
“I don’t—”
Thumb on my chin, he holds me in place. “Don’t lie. Not to me.”
My breath catches in my throat.
I am so fucked.
After exploring the city for several hours, and sticking my toes in the ocean, we go back to the yacht to relax a little before enduring dinner with his dad. Easy going, carefree Teddy grows tenser with each passing hour that brings us closer to the meal.
I hate that one single person, his own parent at that, can fill such an otherwise happy person with so much dread. It’s not right, and he deserves more.
“You wanna go to the pool?” He hooks his thumbs into the back of his tee and yanks it over his head.
“The … pool? You mean the ocean?”
He rifles through the dresser drawer where he unpacked his things—unlike me who hasn’t bothered and is living out of my suitcase.
Holding up a pair of swim shorts, he shakes his head. “There’s a pool on the yacht.”
“Is there a shopping mall too? Perhaps a bowling alley?”
“A bowling alley would’ve been a good idea, but no.”
“It must be nice to be rich.”
He freezes, looking at the bright green shorts with white stripes clasped in his hands. “I’d take being poor and surrounded by people who care about me any day.”
“Teddy—”
“But money, or lack of, guarantees nothing in life. I mean, you grew up differently than I did and look at how your sister has treated you. If there’s any knowledge I wish I could impart on the world, it’s that people, the ones we love, matter more than any of this shit.” He waves his hand, indicating all of the luxury encasing us.
I don’t know what makes me do it, maybe I’m feeling weak, or maybe this attraction to him is just too big to ignore, but I stand on my tiptoes and press my mouth to his. It’s barely a kiss, more of a glide of my lips, but he growls low in his throat, and his hand goes to the back of my neck holding me there as he deepens it.
Kissing Teddy is like standing in the pouring rain—exhilarating, raw, and somehow melancholic at the same time because I know at the end of the semester, I’ll be saying goodbye to this, to him.
Then why don’t you enjoy everything he has to offer while you can? My mind taunts me.
My body sinks into his and he holds me steady. Teddy is my pillar in so many ways. I didn’t even realize until now how I’ve come to rely on him. He seems like someone you shouldn’t be able to count on, but it’s the complete opposite. He’s the person that would drop anything to be there for the ones he cares about.
Standing on my tiptoes I deepen the kiss, moaning when his tongue tangles with mine. I gasp when he grabs me under the ass and lifts me easily until my legs twine around his hips. I want to scream that I’m too heavy and to put me down, but clearly, he’s not having any trouble holding me, so I keep my mouth shut.
“God, I could kiss you forever,” he murmurs, peppering small kisses on and around my mouth. He dives back in, giving me a long, deep kiss. My pussy clenches in response to his words and the feel of his growing erection pressing into me.
I want to blame my hormones for this lapse in judgment. It’s been too long since I’ve had sex, and I’d be attracted to anyone. But it’s not true. I don’t want to admit it to myself, but I want Teddy.
My back is pressed into the wall, and he uses his hips to hold me in place, taking both my hands in his and pinning them above my head. He kisses my neck, sucking on the skin hard enough to leave behind a mark.
“Been dying to kiss you again.” He skims his lips over my collarbone.
“Why haven’t you?” I sound breathless and moany, and I would cringe at myself if I wasn’t so turned on right now.
“Waiting.” Kiss to my jaw. “For you.” He kisses the corner of my mouth. “To make the.” Another kiss to the other corner of my mouth. “First move.” He punctuates that statement by kissing me fully on the lips, his tongue seeking the seam of mine.
I open willingly for him. I don’t think I’ve ever been kissed this passionately, like I’m his entire world and he’s trying his hardest to prove it to me with every touch of our lips. His erection pushes into me, and I moan at the feel of it.
“I want to fuck you,” he confesses, a tad breathless which is the biggest turn on ever. “Fast. Slow. Hard. All of it. Then I want to do it all over again, every day for the rest of my life. I want to make love to you slowly until you beg me to let you come. I want to take you fast and hard because we both can’t fucking stand waiting. I want you in so many ways, Vanessa, and not just sex.”
His confession should freak me out. It should send me running off this boat and straight into the ocean. But I hear his sincerity, I feel it in the way he holds me.
“You weren’t supposed to fall for me.”
Brilliant green eyes hold me captive. “Too fucking bad. You’re mine.”
Possessive terms like you’re mine used to be one hell of a turn off for me, but coming from Teddy, I’ve changed my mind. I know he isn’t trying to control me.