don’t know yet if you fainted because you were dehydrated, or if it was something more serious. Travel could make it worse.”
I lifted one eyebrow, though I was smiling at him. “That old line again? Because by my count, it’s a week old, and during that week I’ve been completely healthy. Healthy enough to snorkel, ride a quad, go on tours of your island in a golf cart going faster than the speed of light… How many times are you going to try to tell me that you need to keep watching me and making sure I’m healthy enough to travel?”
He shrugged and gave me a bashful smile. “As many times as I need to. And you should listen to me. I am a doctor, after all.”
“So what do you suggest I do instead?” I asked, still smiling. “Because I can’t stay here. I don’t want another run-in with Bryan. I might actually shove him down the stairs myself this time.”
Nikos took my hand, raised it to his lips, and brushed a soft kiss over my knuckles. “I think you should come stay on my island again,” he said softly. “Where I can keep a very close eye on you. Make sure you’re adequately recovered before you travel. I’ll make sure you’re safe, and I’ll take you anywhere you want to go in the meantime.”
Anywhere I wanted to go, huh? Little did he know that if I was at his house, on that island, I would consider the entire world to be at my feet.
And this time, I wasn’t going to let him run from my questions. He’d come after me when I left, and now he was insisting on me returning the island.
I might have been ready and willing to go before. But now that he was offering to play host again, I was starting to think that he might have changed his tune.
He might actually be in it for the long haul. In which case, he was going to have to finally tell me the truth.
So I smiled, tipped my head, and agreed—even though he was using the same old line to get me to stay with him.
Luckily for him, that sounded like such a good idea that I was willing to let the lack of originality slide.
Chapter 26
Trish
We left my replacement sailboat on the mainland, having mutually concluded that I wasn’t going to have any use for it anytime soon. Besides, I didn’t really think I needed it anymore. When I’d made arrangements to rent it, it had signified a number of things, chiefly freedom and solitude.
And I didn’t want either of those things anymore. I also didn’t want to have to deal with having a way off the island that didn’t include Nikos.
And, let’s be honest. I was still so surprised that the boat rental company hadn’t fined me for crashing the first boat that it felt like a good idea to just get out of the contract before anything else could go wrong.
So later that morning, after having turned in the sailboat, packed up everything I had in that little hotel room, and returning the keys, I found myself sitting in the copilot’s seat of Nikos’ speedboat, laughing with joy and abandon as we sped back toward his island.
Back toward the place that had started to feel like home.
And yes, I know what you’re thinking. Nikos and I hadn’t talked yet, and I didn’t know for sure that he was going to tell me the truth about what had happened. I didn’t know whether he was truly ready to have me back there—or to commit to me the way I wanted him to.
But he had woken up, found me missing, and moved heaven and earth just to figure out where I was, so that he could come find me.
And that, to me, seemed like a pretty freaking good indication of where his head was at. And I was willing to believe that until and unless he showed me otherwise.
Having left the speedboat down at Nikos’ marina, the next thing we did—not surprisingly—was eat lunch. We hadn’t really stopped since breakfast, what with all the excitement over my decision to come to the island rather than head back home, and by the time we got back to his house, I thought I might actually starve to death.
“Olives?” Nikos asked, one brow arched, when I told him I needed food.
I made a face at him. “Not that I don’t love your olives, but I was hoping for