He nodded. “I think you’re right.”
“About?”
“It certainly does sound irritating.”
I breathed whimsically. “But so worth it.”
His eyes heated at my breathy sigh and I took a sip of my red wine as I glanced down into my empty dish. I’d finished my entire bowl of pasta - which told how hungry I really had been.
Calix spoke and his voice was thick. “If it’s something you really want to see, then we’ll go.”
I felt butterflies swirl in my stomach and I wondered if it was from the wine, or the way Calix’s eyes were settled on me. Again, I felt my skin heat and my heart raced.
Gaining my bearings, I nodded. “I do. Um, it is - I’d really like to see the Parthenon Temple.” Needing to keep the conversation flowing between us, I asked. “We should go early in the morning - when we do visit.”
Catching on to my need to keep conversation, Calix humored me. “Why?”
“It’s uncomfortably crowded and hot by mid morning. By noon, it’s just - it’s almost not worth it.”
His lips curled and I tried to measure my breaths - we were finished dinner - that meant we would be soon retiring for he night. Oh God, which hotel would we be staying in? Oh my Gods, yes Gods, I was in Greece, I could talk to them all here. And that meant I could pray to them all as well - holy shit! What would we do in the room tonight?
“Then we’ll go early in the morning when we go to see this Temple.” Calix interrupted my internal panic and I stared, stunned at him. I couldn’t even muster a squeak much less an actual word. As though sensing this, Calix leaned into the table. “You alright, love?”
“Hmm?” I smiled forcedly and Calix frowned. His brows pulled together as he stared down into his lap before I saw his phone appear.
Placing the phone against his ear, I vaguely heard him rattle off the name of the restaurant before he hung up. “We’ll be heading in for the night soon, love. I can see you’re exhausted.”
I nodded - because it was true. I was exhausted. Very exhausted. Too exhausted, in fact, to experience any sort of funny business. Oh hell, even the thought of funny business had my belly aching in anticipated excitement and fear. I was conflicted. There was no doubt, I was sitting on the middle of the fence and I just didn’t know which way I was supposed to lean toward. Did every woman, when faced with the first night of her honeymoon, face the fear I was feeling inside at the thought of losing the part of me I had held so dear for so long?
I suspected they did. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t care, and they would never have held on so long.
For me, I waited for a prince. What I had was more of a dark knight, yet in spite of all his imperfections I wanted him. I wanted him with every fiber of my being - I wanted to know him in every way, and I wanted to give myself to him - a gift I prayed he forever cherished. Calix wasn’t a prince of light, but in my mind he was still a prince - he was still everything I held out for.
He was a dark prince and like so many other wounded men, his armor was black. When he swept me off my feet, he didn’t woo, but rather forced me to accept his suffocating strength. The man I loved, the man I knew I would give my everything to, was not a man of light and noble action. He was a man who had allowed a darkness to seep inside his soul, a need for revenge festered and brewed until that very darkness became the man himself - and now he owned me. But I was light. My soul hadn’t been tainted by the damaging need for revenge and my quest was no other than love. Even the most tainted of waters could be filtered by something pure. I prayed, with all my heart and soul that I could be the filter that purified Calix’s dark soul. I prayed I could fight the demons of his shadows with the grace of my light - that I could heal his scars with a gentle touch. I wanted to be this for him. I wanted to be everything for him. I knew my reasons for this were dangerous, but when the heart wants - it wants. My heart wants Calix - prince of light or not - he’s mine.
Lifting my eyes to meet the curious light of his blue irises, I confirmed. “I am exhausted.”
Calix had paid and tipped the waitress generously before leading me from the restaurant with a firm hand on the small of my back where the material opened from the crisscross over my back.
Now, we were in the back of a small black sedan with tinted windows and a man I didn’t recognize was driving. It was clear he knew Calix, although I didn’t think Calix had been to Greece before. He also didn’t introduce me to the man, so I didn’t ask. Instead, I pressed my face to the glass and watched as the sights passed me by. We were driving toward the water and I wondered which grand hotel Calix had booked us a room in. I knew, that whichever one he booked, it would be grand. And I mean - grand. The man had a freaking private plane for goodness sakes!