“All right.”

Spiridon smiled, “It’s so good to have you living with us, Samoula. It was far too quiet with only my grandson around. It’s nice to have more family in the house.”

My heart warmed at his words. “Thank you, Spiridon.” The implication that I was family brought tears to my eyes. I’d known him for all of five months and I felt completely at ease around him. Maybe he could adopt me officially. Oh wait, wouldn’t that make me Christos’ sister? No, that would only be if Nikolos adopted me. If Spiridon adopted me, that would make me Christos’ aunt. Not gonna work.

“What’s so funny?” Spiridon asked.

“Nothing,” I smiled. “Just random thoughts. Let me take care of Christos and I’ll join you downstairs.”

“Perfect. I’ll be in the kitchen.”

I hung my blazer in the closet and slipped off my heels. Then I slid Christos’ dress shoes off. He was still in his suit, which was now quite rumpled. He’d been truly dashing in the courtroom. Now his rumpled face looked like it could use a press as badly as his suit. I loosened his tie and opened his collar. He moaned sleepily, but didn’t seem interested in opening his eyes.

“You’re completely at my mercy, Christos. Think of all the things I could do to you. Draw a mustache with a marker?” No, that reminded me of Tiffany’s yacht and her painting. “Shave your head?” Why would I want to get rid of that perfect hair of his? I wouldn’t be able to run my hands through it. “Oh, forget it. How about I give you a striptease then let you have your way with me?”

Yeah, that sounded like what the doctor ordered.

Christos moaned sleepily. He didn’t seem to agree.

“How about I let you sleep?”

Silence.

I wasn’t sure how drunk Christos was, but I didn’t want to risk him choking on his own puke. I grabbed his wrist and pulled him onto his side, just in case. I had to really put my body into it, he was so heavy. I had a good sweat going by the time I finished. Who knew all that muscle could weigh so much?

I blew a wisp of hair out of my face when I was finished. “Sleep tight, agápi mou. I’ll be downstairs.”

As I walked toward the bedroom door, I remembered my parents’ recent phone call. I pulled my phone out of my purse and looked at it. They had left me a voicemail.

The phone that had kept Christos out of jail was now the phone threatening to put me in a different kind of jail.

Screw my mom and dad.

They could wait.

I dropped my phone in my purse with a scowl and left the room.

Screw them.

SAMANTHA

I left Christos to sleep off his drunk.

Spiridon poured me a cup of tea in the kitchen and we made our way into the living room.

As tired as I was, all the stress of the past several days had my thoughts bouncing around inside my skull like a thousand ping pong balls. I needed to unwind.

I stretched out on the couch while Spiridon sat down across from me in his leather easy chair. He told me stories about his art career for hours.

The living room was the perfect location because Spiridon’s glorious landscape paintings hung all around us. They set the perfect mood as he wowed me with tales from his life as a world famous painter. He recalled all the celebrities he had met, the countries he had visited, and the awards he had won in the course of his illustrious career.

Spiridon had lived an amazing life I couldn’t help but envy. Art was in his blood. As was success. Art and success were also in the blood of his son Nikolos and his grandson Christos. The Manos family was truly blessed.

The Smith family hadn’t been nearly so lucky. Oh well. Even if my upbringing had been bland and mediocre by comparison, at least now I got to be around the Manos family. Maybe I could absorb some of their good luck. I was still young. There was still time for my life to turn out awesome too.

Close to midnight, Christos clomped downstairs into the living room and collapsed on the couch next to me. He still wore his shirt and tie and his slacks. Even with his hair a mess, he looked ready for the cover of GQ.

“He’s risen from the dead,” Spiridon chuckled from where he sat in his leather chair.

Christos clutched his hair in both hands. “I feel like someone has driven a spike through my head. I think I’m still buzzed. How much did I drink?”

“You probably need some water,” I suggested. Experience had taught me that water was a hangover’s worst enemy.

Christos groaned, “I think I got dehydrated during court today. I was too stressed about everything else to think about water. Those bourbons at dinner went straight to my brain.”

“I’ll get you some water,” Spiridon said as he stood up.

“I can do it,” I said.

“No, you sit with my grandson.” He smiled as he walked out of the living room.

“Christos, did you puke on the bed?” I asked.

He chuckled and snuggled up against me on the couch. “No. Like I said, I didn’t drink that much. I think it was the dehydration. I was loopy after three drinks. That never happens. I’ll be better after I get some water.”

Spiridon returned with a huge glass.

“Thanks, Pappoús,” Christos said. He gulped down the entire glass in several long swallows. “Let’s see if it stays down,” he winked then set the glass on the coffee table. “Can I use your blouse as a bib if I spit up?”

“Eww!” I giggled. “That’s disgusting, Christos!”

He chuckled as he nuzzled his nose against my neck. “Gack!” he grunted, pretending to puke.

“Stop!” I laughed.

“I think I’ll be heading to bed,” Spiridon smiled, standing up. “It’s been a long day and I think you two need some time alone.”

“Good night, Pappoús,” Christos said.

“Good night, paidí mou,” Spiridon said as he rubbed Christos’ shoulder. “And good night to you to, koritsáki mou,” he said to me as he leaned down and kissed the top of my head.

My parents never did that. I would’ve flinched if they did. But it felt completely normal when Spiridon did it. “Good night,” I smiled.

“See you at breakfast. I think I’ll make French toast in the morning.” He considered thoughtfully. “Yes, I’m in the mood for French toast. Sound good to you two?”

“I have class,” I sighed, “I don’t know if I’ll have time.”

“Tomorrow’s Saturday,” Spiridon said.

“Oh, duh!” I had been so caught up in the stress of the day, more like the stress of the last two weeks, I’d lost track of what day it was.

“See you two in the morning,” Spiridon said as he walked upstairs.

Christos rubbed his nose across my cheek. “Mmmm. I missed you, agápi mou.” His hand slid across my stomach and hooked around my waist. He pulled me into him as his hot tongue slid into my ear.

“Christos! Your grandfather’s like ten feet away!”

“He doesn’t care,” he murmured.

“I do!”

“Then let’s go outside.”

“What?”

“There’s plenty of comfortable lounge chairs out there. I’ll get some blankets.”

“I don’t know, Christos. It’s late. And you’re tired. I’m tired, now that I think of it.”

He lifted his head up and looked me in the eyes with his amazing blues. “You sure?”

Who was I kidding? Christos was the most amazingly handsome man I’d met in my entire life. He was breathtakingly beautiful. My heart accelerated and my body temperature spiked several degrees just looking into his eyes.

“We can go to sleep if you want,” he said.

“Ahhh, maybe we can stay up for a little while?”

His dimpled grin widened over his beautiful white teeth. His lips looked so soft and I really needed to lick them. But his grandfather was upstairs and it was a straight shot from the living room to Spiridon’s bedroom. I didn’t want him to hear us. “Outside is good,” I grinned.

Christos drank another huge glass of water in the kitchen before grabbing blankets from a closet.