Azure (Drowning In You) by Chrystalla Thoma Read Free Book Online

thought, and her neck heated.
    Old magic . It was this place, the colors, the textures, the rich light that brought everything out in relief and carved lines in the people’s faces. She was falling into a fairy tale, arms spread wide like the wings of a sea gull.
    God, she needed an extra strong coffee.
    The tables around them were empty, apart from two which had been seized by blond, sun-burned tourists.
    A tiny woman, her grey hair tied in a bun, came to take their order. Olivia asked for Greek coffee, which, her guide said, was similar to Arab coffee. Kai asked for something in Greek and the woman nodded, made a moue and left.
    “What did you tell her?”
    “I asked for a fruit preserve.” He worked his jaw and looked out at the sea.
    “Something wrong with the order?”
    “It’s not that. I’m uncomfortable speaking Greek. I have an accent, I make mistakes. I’m afraid everyone will laugh at me. And usually they do, or look unhappy. Like her.”
    “I understand,” she said. “It’s like my glasses.”
    He quirked a brow. “My Greek is like your glasses?”
    She laughed and was treated to another of his faint half-smiles. It was a sexy smile and she wished her coffee was there already to distract her.
    He was staring at her, obviously waiting for an explanation. Oh crap . She never talked about these things to anyone. Why was it she couldn’t keep her mouth shut around this guy?
    Well, she’d started it. “As you know, I’m blind as a bat without my lenses. As a kid I used to wear glasses. The other kids teased me a lot. I hated it.” God, this was like pulling teeth. Where was that coffee? “Why do you have an accent, anyway? Didn’t your father talk to you in Greek?”
    Kai didn’t speak for a moment, and she thought he might be angry she knew so much about him — that he might have guessed she’d asked Panos. But he only sighed. “He tried. I was stubborn and didn’t want to answer in Greek. We were in the States. People spoke English.”
    It made sense. Fit in with stories of immigrants’ children she’d heard over the years. They wanted to blend in, not stand apart and be bullied for it.
    “Your turn,” he said as their orders arrived, his sweet in a tiny metal plate, and her coffee in a Lilliputian cup, together with a large jar of water and two glasses. “The story of the ring tossed into the sea.”
    She sipped the coffee and looked around for sugar. “This is bitter.”
    “The ring story?”
    “The coffee, actually.” Was it a bitter story, too? Her heart was bruised, not broken, she told herself again, and it was true. “Why did you want to hear about it, anyway? Maybe I just like tossing gold into the sea. It’s an old tradition. Offerings to the gods so they don’t get mad at you, or to be granted a favor.”
    He stared at his sweet, but made no move to eat it. “You looked sad.”
    Bummer. Talk about turning the tables. Not to mention she’d promised Panos to make this guy laugh, when all the while Kai was concerned about her gloomy mood. Terrific .
    But it warmed her inside. So sweet of him that he’d noticed. If only she’d noticed with Andria ...
    Don’t think about that.
    “Tit for tat,” she said, gulping the bitter, scalding liquid to find her courage. “If I tell you the story, I want you to tell me one of yours.”
    He stilled, his mouth tightening. “Like what?”
    “Anything.” She reached for the water and he beat her to it, pouring them both a glass. “Or else, if you prefer, I can ask you three questions and you give me truthful answers.”
    He put the pitcher down, his jaw working. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
    “It will be fun.”
    “No, it won’t.”
    “One question.”
    He chewed on that, his dark eyes flicking to the sea and back at her. “You don’t really want to tell me the story of the ring,” he said.
    Touché . She didn’t, it was true. But it wouldn’t kill her. Answering a question from her seemed to be killing