The greek secret she carries

 Summer called herself all the different kinds of fool she could think of. How had she let this happen? She pressed her hand against her lips, as if somehow she could superimpose the kiss Theo placed on the back of her hand to her mouth. But it only left an aching emptiness inside that hurt even more now she knew what it was like to feel filled with need and desire. Her breath sobbed against her hand and she tried to hold in the tears that wanted to be let free.
      She drew to a halt, staring out at the inky black sea merging with the night, wishing for something she couldn’t put words to. Fingers wrapped gently around her wrist and pulled her round and when she refused to look up into the dark expressive eyes she knew would be there, a finger hooked her chin and tilted her face to his. Eyes flickered back and forth over her face, as if trying to read thoughts that were incoherent even to her. She felt as if he were turning the pages of her mind, reading the words of her heart: desire, need, desperation, sadness, fear, yearning, permission, consent. It was there, all of it, and she just wanted him to—
      He moved so slowly she thought she’d imagined it at first. She’d expected him to crush her to him, like the romances her sister Star was always swooning over. But he didn’t. And somehow it was so much more.
       She was sick with want and it took her a moment to realise it wasn’t just her that felt that way. He reached up to brush a lock of hair back behind her ear, his fingers shaking ever so slightly. The moment he noticed it he clenched his fist and looked at her accusingly, as if demanding to know what she was doing to him.
       Before he could take it back or change his mind, Summer closed the imperceptible distance between their lips—a space that felt like a heartbeat between before and after and…
       Oh…
       That was what it was like.
       She’d expected his lips to feel firm and a little cool perhaps, but they were soft and so warm and sent fireworks shooting through her entire body. It was such a shock that her mouth opened on a gasp just as he began to kiss her back and the feel of his tongue gently pressing against the curve of her top lip made her breath hitch and her hands curl and, before she knew it, she had risen up onto her toes and pressed herself against the length of him and leaned into everything she was feeling.
       But it was nothing compared to what she felt when he took over the kiss.
       He’d given her a chance to explore, to feel, to touch, slide and press her way through it. And then he moved. His hand cradled her neck as his fingers threaded through her hair, sending the band holding it in place flying and the tendrils of her long hair falling down her back.
        His other hand cupped her jaw, angling her head and her mouth in the most perfect way. Her chest rose to meet his, wanting to feel him against her, skin to skin—needing to. She reached up to clutch the lapels of his jacket, pulling them closer together. His hand slipped from her neck to her back, his fingers stretching between her shoulder blades, and she felt him sigh.
        He pulled back from the kiss and pressed his forehead to hers, their rushed breathing buffeting the air between them.
       This was it. This was the moment he would leave. Summer’s fingers clenched reflexively. She swallowed the hurt she felt already.
       ‘I should take you back to your hotel.’
       ‘Should you?’
       ‘Summer—’
       Unwelcome nausea swelled in her stomach, her inner voice already howling at what he was taking away from her.
       ‘Is this the bit where you tell me that I’m too innocent to know what I want?’ she demanded. He pulled back, searching her face, and she raged at him for underestimating her. For denying her something she could see that he wanted too. ‘The bit where you tell me that you’re not good enough for me?’
       His eyes darkened, whether in defiance or defence, she couldn’t tell. And then he let her go, turned back onto the walkway and began to disappear into the night. Summer clenched her jaw, all the feelings within her bubbling up to the surface, hot, angry and aching.
       ‘You’re not that much older than me, you know,’ she called after him. ‘And…and…’ He paused, as if wanting to hear what she was going to say. ‘And you were a virgin once too!’ she yelled, shocked by her own audacity.
       He spun round and ducked slightly, as if to avoid the words, and closed the distance between them in seconds. ‘Éleos, will you keep your voice down?’ he growled, casting wary glares left and right. He looked like an angry schoolboy, a dark curl having fallen onto his forehead and a ruddy streak on either cheek. It was comical, the laugh rising up in her chest cutting through the darker emotions from just moments before.
       ‘Are you blushing? Was it the word virgin?’ she demanded, incredulous.
       ‘Oh, for the love of—’
        He kissed her then, the way she’d thought he might but could never have expected. The crush of his lips, his body dominating hers, overpowering her and it was incredible. It was all she could do to hold onto him and not be swept away into the sea.
        ‘You’re going to ruin me, aren’t you?’ he asked between kisses.
        ‘Isn’t it supposed to be the other way round?’ she asked, the breathlessness of her voice causing his pupils to flare. She loved being able to see the reaction in him, to know that she was the cause.
        ‘Come with me?’ he asked.