I’d seen pictures of Greece online, the tall white buildings with the dark blue domes as the roof. I’d seen pictures of the Mediterranean, manipulated to look brighter and bluer. But none of those images did justice to reality.

It was breathtaking.

Sailboats were along the edge of the island, floating across the Mediterranean looking for seafood. The white color of their hulls was bright under the unforgiving sun. The city stretched backward up the hill, growing taller as the buildings reached the center of the island.

I stood on the back patio of his villa, a beautiful white building that had its own access to the harbor where his yacht was parked. Luxurious and big, it was designed in the same style as the rest of Santorini. There was a large pool that overlooked the blue sea and a nice balcony that could take in the stunning views.

I stood on the porch with my arms crossed over my chest, unable to absorb what I was looking at.

Conway put our bags away inside the house, used to the sight because he’d seen it so many times.

But for someone like me, this was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. “Oh. My. God.”

Conway came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. “What do you think?”

“What do I think?” I asked incredulously. “It’s gorgeous. I don’t even understand what I’m looking at right now. How can the world be this beautiful?”

He smothered my neck with kisses, his warm breaths falling across my skin. “I’ve seen something else more beautiful…”

I tilted my neck to give him more access as my lips rose in a smile. I gripped his forearms and enjoyed his kisses while I looked out into the beauty of the Greek island right before me. Pictures didn’t do this place justice. “What do we do first?”

“What would you like to do?”

“I don’t know… I want to swim in the pool, but I also want to stick my feet in the ocean. But then I’m also hungry. And I want to explore the town…and sail on your yacht. I can’t decide.”

He chuckled against my ear. “I’ll have dinner delivered, and we’ll sit in the pool as the sun goes down. How about that?”

“Perfect.”

We sat in the pool together with our wineglasses on the deck. The sun was gone, but the lights from the curvature of the island could be seen. The warmth had dissipated, but there was still humidity in the air.

I sat beside him in the water, looking out into a view I couldn’t describe.

Conway moved me onto his lap, adjusting me easily because I was buoyant in the water. “Did you enjoy your dinner?”

“It was the best lobster I’ve ever had…and one of the few I’ve ever had.”

He grinned slightly, his hard chest reflecting the blue light from the pool. His arm scooped under my legs behind my knees, and he rubbed his nose against mine. “You can eat lobster every day if you want.”

“No, I’m eating light tomorrow. I ate way too much today.”

His hand moved over my stomach. “Really? Because I think you’re perfect.”

My arms surrounded his neck. “You’re a lingerie designer. I need to be a hundred pounds or less.”

“For the runway. But you aren’t a model. You’re just mine now.” He rubbed his nose against my cheek. “And I like you well fed and happy. You’re sexy no matter what your size.”

I chuckled. “You know every woman in the world wants to hear that.”

“And it looks like you get to listen to it.”

“Because I’m insanely lucky,” I said with a laugh. After the words jumped out of my throat, I realized what I’d said and how stupid it was to say it. But I brushed it off and looked into the water, pretending it never happened.

He rested his face against the side of my cheek, his fingers grazing across my thigh under the water.

I sat still, letting the ocean breeze move over the dry skin of my shoulders. “Have you brought other women here?”

“Is that really a conversation you want to have?”

I stared at our bodies under the water, feeling his warm breath graze across my skin. “I guess I’m just curious.”

“I’ve never brought a woman here before, no. But I’ve met women while I’ve been here.”

So, I was the only company that he took on his vacations. That still made me feel special—in a way. “What are we going to do tomorrow?”

“We can take the yacht, or we can walk around in Oia.”

“Is Oia the town?”

“Yes. It’s just a walkway where there are no cars. It’s quaint and cute.”

“That does sound nice.”

“So, would you like to do that?”

“I’ve never had a choice before. And now I get to decide things. It’s interesting.”

“You’ve always had a choice, Muse. It just took you a while to figure it out.” His hand moved up my back, and he pulled the string of my bikini, making my top come loose and then slip into the pool. His hands moved for my bottoms next, sliding them over my hips and down my thighs under the water.

Once I was naked under the water, he pulled on his drawstring and loosened his trunks. He slipped them off and set them on the deck. Despite the coolness of the water, his dick was long and hard.

I thought he wanted me on his lap, so I straddled his hips and felt his hard cock rub against my aching clit. I was turned on without even realizing it. Or perhaps my body was ready to go at any time when it came to Conway Barsetti.

He carried me into deeper water and then pressed my back against the wall. He gathered my legs around his waist and then slipped his dick into my slit, finding more resistance than usual in the beginning before he was completely inside me.

I locked my arms around his neck and pressed my face close to his, moaning at his large size. No matter how many times he took me, it always felt like a new experience. My thighs squeezed his hips, and I panted against his lips. He hadn’t even started to move yet and I was shaking.

He didn’t kiss me. Instead, he watched my face as he rocked into me and pressed me against the wall.

I stared back at him, watching him watch me. “Conway…”

He released a quiet moan under his breath. “Muse.”

I held on to him as we moved slowly, his dick sliding through my slickness at a slow pace. The water didn’t shift around us with his movements because everything was so slow. It was about the combining of our bodies, not the speed of our movements. “I like it when you make love to me like this…”

He slid his entire length inside me and then paused, letting his fat dick stretch me wide apart. He paused for emphasis, to remind me that he had all of me, every single inch that he could claim. “I do too.”

We spent the morning shopping in the town, getting coffees, and then exploring the Atlantis Book Store. The cobblestone streets showed panoramic views of the rest of Santorini, and every time I looked at my surroundings, I could hardly believe we were there.

It was so beautiful.

Conway kept me close to him everywhere we went, his arm around my waist or in my hair when he kissed me outside the shop. He told me to buy whatever I wanted, and that didn’t just apply to our trip.

We had lunch at a small café before we walked back to his villa near the water. Then we packed for the yacht and set sail in the Mediterranean. Conway didn’t need a captain because he could handle everything on his own. He moved out of the harbor and into the open sea, keeping the sights of Santorini in the background.

I sat in the front and stared at the jagged rocks that stuck up out of the water. A sunhat covered my face and shoulders, but there was no real way to escape the hot sun. I sat in my bikini, enjoying the scorching day.

Conway turned off the engine and let the yacht sit on the waves. We rocked up and down, but the water was fairly calm, protected by the rocky outcroppings that surrounded us in the sea.

He sat beside me in the cushioned seat, his arm moved around my shoulders. Shirtless with sunglasses sitting on the bridge of his nose, he looked like he was made for a vacation like this. Handsome with tanned skin, he blended in with the Greek island perfectly.

“It’s beautiful out here.”

“I know.” His fingertips glided up and down my arm.

“Have you thought about work since we got here?”

His hand paused. “Actually, no.”

“That’s good. This place brings out the best in you.”

“I love Verona. It’s peaceful and beautiful. But I love it here too. My heart is torn in two pieces.”

“Since you work remotely, you should spend more time here.”

He shook his head slightly. “I need all of my supplies. It would be difficult to transfer that here. And there’re a lot of things that just need to be handled in person. I could make it work in Tuscany if I had to, but here, it would be too difficult.”

My face slightly turned his way. “So, you think about moving back?”

He shrugged. “It crosses my mind sometimes.”

His parents would be so happy if he really relocated to Tuscany. They loved him so much, wore their hearts on their sleeves constantly. “Thank you for bringing me here. I’ll never forget it…”

His fingers moved under the fall of my hair and gently played with my strands. “I’ve enjoying having you, Muse. No one else I’d rather be here with.”

Our relationship had changed in the last month. I felt a deeper connection to him, a kind of affection that burned deep inside our hearts. I’d grown attached to him, cared about him so much that I couldn’t function when I thought he might be in danger. But it seemed like I felt the same emotions from him, the same fondness.

He said there was no future for us.

But what if he changed his mind?

What if there was something here?

Time seemed to stand still as we enjoyed our time at his villa. We spent our days sailing, eating, fucking, and doing absolutely nothing. Days had gone by, but it happened so fast it seemed like only minutes had passed.

I loved living in Verona, but Santorini had a special quality to it.

Night had deepened, so we sat on the couch together and watched TV. His arm was around my shoulders, and he was wearing just his sweatpants, his hard chest warm. His fingers played with my hair, and the lights from the harbor could be seen through the window.

I rested my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes, feeling a wave of peace.

I never wanted to leave. “Can we stay here forever?”

He chuckled. “As tempting as that sounds, no.”

“I like it when you don’t work.”

“Me too,” he said. “But it can’t last forever.”

“Do you ever think about retiring? You’re so successful that you could if you wanted to.”

“I don’t believe in retirement,” he said. “Once you stop having a purpose, you lose your mind. I’ll probably work until the day I die.”

“If that’s the case, maybe you shouldn’t work so hard.”

He looked down at me, a smile on his face. “You have a point there.”

“You have the ability to travel the world. So why don’t you do that more?”

“I’ve been to a lot of places.”

“But have you been everywhere?” I questioned.

His smile stretched wider. “Is this your way of getting me to take you around the world? Because if that’s what you want, just ask.”

“Does that mean you would take me?”

He rubbed his nose against mine. “You know I would give you anything you asked for.”

My hand moved up his chest, and I felt my heart soften like melted butter. This man was nothing like he used to be. He had been cold, rude, and insulting. But now he treated me like a goddess, did anything to make me happy.

He loved me.

He never said it, but that didn’t make it untrue. Whether he wanted to admit it out loud or not, it didn’t change reality.

He loved me. “Conway—”

His phone started ringing on the coffee table. He glanced down at the screen. When his eyes narrowed, I knew it was important. “I’m sorry, Muse. I have to take this.” He pressed the phone to his ear and walked into the other room. “It’s Conway.” He stopped in front of the window overlooking the patio and listened to whatever was said over the line.

I stared at his muscular physique, studied the sculpted muscles of his torso and his shoulders. He was a perfect specimen of masculinity, a statue that could be placed in the streets of Greece. He was the kind of man women dreamed of having.

He rubbed the back of his neck and kept listening. “You’re certain? Absolutely?” He listened again. “Thank you, Cynthia.” He hung up and dropped the phone into his pocket. His arms slowly crossed over his chest as he looked into the darkness outside the window.

“What is it?” My bare feet padded against the hardwood floor as I approached him, staring at the tight muscles of his back. Maybe it was none of my business and I shouldn’t pry, but my curiosity couldn’t be controlled.

He didn’t answer, his forearms appearing more corded than usual. “That was the waitress at the Underground.”

I stood at his side, seeing the way his jaw tightened with snapping force. It was impossible to read him at that moment, to understand if that was bad news or really bad news. “And?”

He rubbed his fingers along his jawline, his eyes wide open because he hadn’t blinked once since he got off the phone. “It’s exactly what I feared.”