Alexio’s jaw got even tighter. Sidonie could see it reflected in the lights of the dashboard.
‘She was self-contained. Aloof. And she didn’t need anyone.’
Sidonie held in a gasp at his stark words. ‘Everyone needs someone—even if they don’t want to admit it. You make her sound lonely.’
Eventually Alexio responded, just as the town of Fira came into view. ‘Maybe she was... But I don’t really want to discuss my mother when we have far more exciting things to talk about—like where I’m going to take you clubbing.’
Sidonie felt the door slam in her face with his terse delivery. His personal life was obviously a no-go area. She thought of the darkness in her own past, and how she’d hate for Alexio to know about it, and figured maybe it was for the best that he wasn’t inviting this kind of intimacy.
She turned and faced the front and saw the stunning cavalcade of lights in the town as it seemed to drop precipitously to the gaping black of the sea. Momentarily distracted, Sidonie breathed, ‘This is beautiful.’
Alexio was parking the car outside an upmarket-looking hotel and a young man was rushing out. ‘We have to walk from here; the streets are pedestrianised,’ Alexio explained as he got out.
He threw the keys to the young man, who was all but drooling at the sight of the stunning car, then came around to Sidonie’s door and opened it for her, giving her his hand to help her out. Sidonie felt shaky and insecure at the thought of being seen in public with Alexio.
He kept her hand in his and said a few words in Greek to the man, whose face went pale. Then they walked away.
‘What did you say to him?’ Sidonie asked curiously.
Alexio smiled. ‘I told him that if I came back to find one mark on the car I’d break his legs.’
‘Oh...’ Sidonie held in a giggle when she thought of the man paling so dramatically. ‘Well, that makes things clear for him.’ Her fingers tightened around his hand and she looked up. ‘You wouldn’t, though, would you? Break his legs?’
Alexio stopped and looked down, horrified, ‘Of course not—what do you take me for? I just told him he’d be paying me out of his wages for the rest of his life.’
Sidonie tucked her other arm around Alexio’s and said with mock relief, ‘Okay—that’s so much better than broken legs.’
Alexio looked down. He could see the smile playing around Sidonie’s mouth, and that tantalising glimpse of long and slender leg. He could feel her breast against his arm and had to grit his jaw. It still felt tight after her questions about his mother... ‘You make her sound lonely.’
The truth was that Alexio had always had the impression that his mother had been lonely, and he didn’t like the way Sidonie’s innocent comments had brought him back to a time when it had been all too apparent that he couldn’t protect his mother simply because she would not allow it. Not even when she needed it.
He forced his train of thought away from that unwelcome memory. They were approaching a narrow street with a glittering array of jewellery shops and Sidonie had stopped, enthralled, outside the first one.
She sighed deeply and sent a quick rueful glance to Alexio. ‘I have to admit to a deeply unattractive trait: a love for glittery objects. My father used to say I was like a magpie, obsessed with shiny things. I used to collect the most random objects and put them in a box in my room and then take them out to look at them.’