Greek for Beginners

“I would like to invite you to dinner tonight.”

“Dinner?” She blinked.

Maybe she’d heard him wrong. Darcie wasn’t disappointed, but she was somewhat surprised. Sharing another meal seemed, well, a little mundane given his dramatic lead-in. Maybe proposition had a different meaning in Greece than it did back in the United States. Or maybe she’d imagined the speculative gleam in his eyes. Or maybe she was just too long out of practice with members of the opposite sex to be able to figure out their intentions beyond mere flirting.

“Dinner. Yes.” He hesitated then before adding. “With my family.”

Her mouth fell open at that. She knew she was gaping, yet it was a full thirty seconds before she could force her lips to close. She’d dated Tad for more than a year before he’d taken her home to meet his mother. Little had she known then that he’d been doing her a favor. Still...

“Are you going to say anything?” Nick asked at last. A grin lurked around the corners of his mouth.

“Sorry,” she mumbled. “I’m just a little surprised by the invitation.”

“I have no doubt of that. We have only just met, after all. And it is a big favor to ask.”

The server returned with their bottle of water, a couple of glasses and two demitasse cups of coffee, forestalling her reply. Darcie took a sip of the coffee. It was stronger than she was used to, very sweet and hot enough that it burned her tongue. She barely noticed the pain. She was too preoccupied with the gorgeous man sitting across from her. Things like this didn’t happen to her. There had to be a catch. Or a camera crew lurking nearby, waiting to jump out and tell her she’d been punked.

She glanced around, ruled out a hoax and asked, “Why do you want me to meet your parents?”

“Not only my parents. My grandmother will be there as well.”

“Why not?” She lifted her shoulders. “The more the merrier.”

“Yes.” But there was nothing merry about his expression. He looked downright grim.

“So, um, why? Not that I’m not flattered by the invitation,” she hastened to assure him. “But I’m curious.”

“I told you that I was in Athens because my brother is to be married.”

She nodded. “In two weeks.”

“My mother and grandmother have had their heads together for months trying to find a date for me.”

“You can’t find one on your own?” Darcie winced as soon as the words were out. “What I mean is, so you are single.” She winced again and picked up her coffee, braving a second burn on her tongue if it would keep her from blurting out any more embarrassing remarks.

“I’m not in a relationship at the moment.” A pair of dark brows rose. “And you? I should have thought to ask if you are involved with anyone.”

“Nope. No one.”

And she had to admit, her emancipation—that was how she was coming to view it—felt pretty darned good right now. She was free. Free of Tad’s lukewarm affection and his mother’s passive-aggressive jabs. Free of her own mother’s well-meaning interference and her married sisters’ well-meaning advice. Free of self-doubt. Well, mostly free. Yes, Darcie was happily free to flirt, to enjoy the company of a handsome man and to accept, if she so chose, his invitation to dinner.

And she so chose.

His dark eyes warmed. “That is good. Very good.”

“Oh?”

“It would not do for me to be propositioning a woman who is already spoken for.”

“No worries there.” Feeling emboldened, she added, “I speak for myself these days.”

“Another reason to like you. Now, back to my predicament. My mother and grandmother mean well. They think I am pining.”

“Pining?” She didn’t like the sound of that. It implied another woman was in the picture.

He shook his head. “Perhaps lonely is a better word.”

Better, but improbable. “I don’t think so. You don’t look lonely to me.”

More to the point, men who looked like Nick Costas didn’t tend to get lonely. They tended to have smartphones filled with the names and numbers of women who were eager to share meals and mattress space.

Nick took a sip of his coffee. “Lacking for companionship,” he said at last.

Laughter bubbled out before she could stop it. “Sorry. I find that even harder to believe.”

“Unfortunately, my mother and grandmother are less inclined to see the truth. So, they have been...matchmaking. I told them I have no need for their help.”

“Because you can get your own dates.”

“Yes, as our lunch proves. But...” The corners of his mouth turned down and he shrugged.

“How do I figure into this?”

Darcie thought she knew, and she was already flattered, but since jumping to conclusions was her specialty, she decided a little clarification wouldn’t hurt. Besides, it would be really embarrassing if she was wrong.

“There is a woman who recently returned to Greece after living in London for a few years. My mother knows her mother, and has invited both of them to my brother’s wedding. Now I am expected to be her escort. I told her and my grandmother that I already have a date. You.”

The smile he sent Darcie could have melted a glacier. She shivered anyway and gooseflesh pricked her arms.

“Oh.” Her mouth threatened to fall open again. She kept it closed by putting her elbow on the tabletop and propping her chin on her fist.

“What is this look?” he asked, his eyes narrowing as he studied her face.

She dropped the hand from her chin and busied herself lining up the cutlery next to her plate. “I was going for nonchalant, but I suppose you could call it gobsmacked.”

“Gobsmacked? I am not familiar with this term.”

“Um, it means shocked.”

“Because we barely know one another,” he guessed.

“Sure.” She moved the knife one-sixteenth of an inch to the right. “That reason will do.”

“It is a lot to ask, but I was hoping you would agree.” When she continued to fuss with her utensils, he reached across the table and settled his hand over hers. “I would be most grateful.”

Darcie glanced up and moistened her lips. It was all Nick could do not to moan. That sexy mouth of hers was going to be his undoing. The table was narrow enough that it would take little effort to lean across it and kiss her. It was tempting. She was tempting.

“I don’t speak Greek,” Darcie said, interrupting his fantasy.