Lotus Blossom (28 page)

“No tricks, my love.” Dash leaned across the tiny round table and kissed her, oblivious of the people passing by on the street that ran in front of the taverna. “That is the local wine. I like it, but I have heard people say that it tastes like turpentine. Let me get you something else.”

“No. I want to try the local things. Let me taste your ouzo.”

Dash looked skeptical, but he lifted his glass to her mouth, and watched her swallow.

“Good Lord,” she wheezed.

“A unique flavor,” Dash assured her.

“Yes. That must be what nitroglycerin tastes like.” Lotus coughed, then sipped her retsina and grimaced. “This is getting better.”

Dash put back his head and laughed, not noticing the admiring glances of a woman who passed.

“I wish you wouldn’t do that,” Lotus said crossly.

Dash looked puzzled. “Do what, love?”

“Women are looking at you,” Lotus informed him.

“Huh?” Dash looked around him, then back at Lotus, his smile building slowly. “Jealous?”

“Yes. So watch yourself.”

“I will,” Dash answered, not able to stem his contented smile.

“And you needn’t look so pleased with yourself. I’m sure there are other gorgeous, sexy men in Athens.”

“But none of them for you . . . except this one.”

“Thumping your chest?”

“Yes,” Dash growled back. Then he looked over her shoulder and smiled. “Dmitri.'

“Yes, my friend. I knew that was you Athos has told us you were married and that you would be coming to Greece.”

A bear of a man lifted Dash out of his chair and hugged him, pounding him on the back. Then he turned to Lotus. “So you are the beauty taken the beast, eh?”

“I’m Lotus Colby.” She held out her
hand.
It stunned her when the man
ignored her hand.
Instead, he lifted her out of
her chair and
embraced her also.

“Dmitri Amopoulos would never accept just the hand of Colby’s wife, eh?” His booming laugh brought heads around, smiling and chortling as they watched Lotus being bear-hugged. “Why is not the big Dasher Colby laughing, eh? You, who used to wrestle Graeco-Roman-style with me and a few times win. Just what is it that makes you frown, my friend? You like no man to touch this very special woman, is that it?”

“That’s it.” Dash fired the words through tight lips.

Dmitri’s booming laugh filled the air once more. “Is good. You have been well and truly taken, my friend.” Dmitri looked down at Lotus whom he'd barely released. “Yet you are so small to have such power, my little flower. You are much like your name. My friend Athos told me of it. Lotus, eh?” “Yes.” Dash managed to free Lotus and pull her back against him.

“Umph . . . mumph . . .
Dash . . .” Lotus gasped, moving back from him a fraction. “You’re smothering me in your chest.”

“Oh. Sorry, darling.” Dash glared at the Greek who was laughing again. “I think it’s time you and I had another go round on the mat.”

Dmitri’s eyes had a zealot’s glitter. “Where? When?”

“Never.” Lotus clutched Dash’s waist and looked at the Greek. “I prefer him in one piece.”

Dash kissed her head as Dimitri grimaced. “These women, they do not want us to play.”

“Breaking Dash’s ribs wouldn’t be play to me,” Lotus said tartly, making both men smile at her.

“You are a lucky one, Colby, I will say that. I wish that I had seen her first. You would not have had a chance.”

Dash grinned, but his arm tightened. “It would have been war, my friend.”

“So it would.” Dmitri read the challenge. Then he shrugged. “But for now we will watch the dancing and maybe do it ourself, heh?”

Lotus looked at the reckless gleam in Dash’s eyes and felt her heart thump. “Can you do it?” Dash nodded.

Darkness came quickly. One moment the sky was colorful orange, purple, and blue and the next it was deepest night.

Inside the taverna was cool, but as the music began and the dancing started, the coolness was replaced by a moist heat.

Lotus became so caught up in the slow fever of the rhythms that she wasn’t even aware of the light sheen of perspiration on her own skin. When Dash rose to his feet to clasp arms with the other men in the dance, she felt such a rush of excitement she had a hard time breathing. She sipped the tall glass of iced lime juice Dash had gotten for her. Lotus had laughed at him when he had made a small fuss about assuring himself that the ice cubes in the glass were made from bottled water.

The throbbing beat took the dancers around the floor in slow, measured steps first, then they broke apart in leaps as the music quickened. Lotus was on her feet, clapping as were the other patrons as the men gyrated and spun. Then with a rousing flourish it was over and Lotus was cheering with the rest. “Darling . . .” She threw herself at Dash when he came from the center of the floor, feeling the wetness of his body. “It was so beautiful. Here, take my juice.”

She watched him swallow the liquid.
“Whew.”
Dash grinned at her, then made a face. “Warm work.” He exhaled a deep breath.

Lotus embraced him. “You were so graceful.” She looked up at him. “I love you,” she whispered, satisfied when she saw his eyes darken. He would make love to her when they returned to the house! She frowned for a moment, looking up at him. “You might get chilled and catch cold."

Dmitri laughed as he wiped the sleeve of his cotton shirt across his forehead. “He will not catch cold, little flower. Sit down. We will have chilled retsina and ouzo.”

Lotus drank fruit juice and watched the men. Though Dash drank his share of the Greek liquor and so did Dmitri, neither man seemed to be much affected by the alcohol.

“Come, little flower, it is time for you to dance.” “Ohh.” Lotus felt herself lifted out onto the

floor as the music was beginning again. She sensed rather than saw that Dash was right at her heels. At first she stumbled and felt very gauche, but gradually, with the smiling encouragement of Dmitri and Dash and the other Greek dancers, she was able to overcome her shy awkwardness and begin to take part. The music entered her soul and took over her nerve ends. The throb of the bouzouki became her own pulse rate, and her legs bent and swayed to the ageless chords.

Finally Dash decided it was time to go.

Lotus felt like a wet noodle. “It was wonderful,” she told Dmitri, “I do hope we meet again.”

“We will, my little flower. Each time you come to Athens you will see me. And sometime when I come to your Atlantic City, you will see me then. I will teach you to speak Greek,
kyria."
He swept her up in another hug, then shook hands with Dash and was gone.

“Isn’t he interesting?” Lotus quizzed her husband.

Dash shrugged. If Dmitri had kissed Lotus one more time, he would have torn his head off! He could fee! his jaw grinding at the thought.

“Hey, Silent One, I think we’ve arrived.”

“Huh?” Dash looked at her, then at the taxi driver who’s head was cocked quizzically. “Oh, sure.”

Lotus watched her husband as he led her into the house, his arm around her. “I don’t know about you, but I’m anxious to make love to my husband.”

Dash’s head shot around to her. His smile was slow in coming. “Good idea.”

They hurried through a shower to rid their bodies of the sticky feeling after dancing.

“Darling . . .” Dash breathed as they made their way, arms locked around each other, to the bed, their bodies still damp from the shower. “I love you.”

“And I love you.”

That night their love was an explosion of gentleness and delight. To Dash’s joy, Lotus took the initiative and began an aggression of her own that turned his bones to jelly and made him feel as though his heart was fibrillating.

“That’s it. No more.” He growled, turning her on her back, both their bodies having a love sheen. He entered her with a gentle thrust that had her gasping.

Then there was only oneness with no single Dash or Lotus, just the oneness that only love could bring them, the marriage of the spirit that made their blood boil, their skin freeze on that very special journey into physical love.

They fell asleep with their arms around each other.

The next day they woke and made love again, showered and dressed with their eyes meeting constantly.

They breakfasted, feeding each other wedges of orange, bits of egg, pieces of toast, sips of coffee.

As they packed their things, both of them kept looking at the bed.

Lotus laughed. “We had better run, or we’ll never catch the ferry.”

“just wait until I get you on that island. The beach is so private that we’ll make love there.”

“Sounds good,” Lotus croaked, feeling her hands tremor as she carried the overnight bags and Dash managed the heavier luggage they took down to the cab waiting outside the house.

The ferry was a delight. It was old, but the very clean and the plain food that was served as the craft wended its way through the lustrous water was a delight to Lotus.

“I can’t believe you’re eating again after the breakfast you had.” Dash cuddled her, laughing as he munched a very sweet orange, licking the juice from her lips himself.
“Umm,
I do like doing that.”

“I think the Greeks are suspicious of your mental stability. You show too much interest in your wife and not enough in their beautiful scenery,” Lotus told him, hazily, feeling once more the need to love her husband. She put her free hand to his cheek. “Have I told you that I love you?”

“Yes,” Dash answered hoarsely, his body bent over hers. “But feel free to repeat yourself . . . every hour.”

“Silly.” Lotus wiped her hands on the damp towel an attendant handed her then let herself lean against her husband as he pointed out the many small islands they passed. “I can’t believe your knowledge of this wonderful country. How many times have you visited Greece?”

“I don’t know the actual count, but the First time I visited here was the summer between my freshman and sophomore years in college. I was working on a steamer for the Amopoulos family for the summer.”

“Oh. Were you an officer?”

“No.” Dash chuckled. “I shoveled coal into the furnace that heated the boiler. Hot work.”

Lotus grinned at him. “Poor baby.”

They talked and bantered back and forth, until the moment that Dash pointed past her cheek. “There. That’s the island. We’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”

The island was a chunk of rock in the sea with a hilly, grassy plateau. A tiny white village huddled near the harbor and a twist of road rose up from the sea into the high meadow.

Dash pointed to the house as they debarked from the ferry. A battered car and grizzled driver, who glared at Dash and called him a name, were there to meet them.

“What did he call you?”

“
Filos
, meaning ‘friend.’ He told me he remembers the friend of Athos.” Dash grimaced. “Don’t laugh. He’s liable to order me out onto the fishing boats for a day or two, just to make sure that I’m not out of condition.”

Lotus laughed, making the grizzled driver grunt in her direction, his face not changing but his eyes twinkling.

When they arrived at the villa, Lotus was too awed to move, much less hear what was said to her. The view of the sea and the other islands was magnificent. The breeze had the fragrance of blossoms she couldn’t identify, with a touch of the saltiness of the water.

“Yannis said good-bye to you . . .” Dash said in her ear. ". . . But you didn’t hear him.” He chuckled, his insides melting at the happy look on her face. “I take it you approve of our view. Now come in and see the inside, then we’ll go to the beach.”

“Yes,” Lotus breathed, turning to look at him, then blinking. “Oh, dear, I’m sorry I didn’t say good-bye to Yannis. I hope he won’t think me rude.”

“No, he was very pleased with your reactions to his island.”

They walked arm and arm through the six-bedroom villa. Lotus admired the terraced gardens she could see from the windows and the master suite of bedroom, sitting room and two baths that they would be occupying.

“There are two custodians, a man and wife, Stavros and Maria, who care for the property,” Dash told her as they donned their swim suits and took towels and a blanket with them. “The beach is quite a climb, down a path, then a stairway, but the beach is worth the effort.” Dash led her out to the kitchen where he filled a bag with bottled lime juice and several oranges. “Sustenance for the lady with the big appetite.”

And wait until you find out why,
Lotus thought as she followed him out of the house and down the circuitous path to the stairway, then to the beach. “It is worth it.” Lotus inhaled the sweet air, then she dropped her towel. “Race you to the beach.”

Dash was open-mouthed as he watched his nude wife run to the water.
Little witch! I thought she had her bikini!
He felt his body harden as he watched that tiny but well-formed body hit the water in a clean surface dive. Then he was off and running right behind her into the waves, his long sure strokes carrying him to her. He dived under the surface and caught hold of her lissome form. “Where do you think you’re going?” He held her easily in the deep water.

“Did you like my suit?” She smiled impishly at him.

“No wonder you came out of the bathroom with your robe on. Shame on you, Mrs. Colby. I think you’re a wanton.”

“Right you are, Mr. Colby.” She swam closer to him and pressed her mouth to his, letting her tongue touch his teeth, then enter his mouth.

“Stop that. I’ll drown,” Dash gasped, feeling his muscle tone disappear as she continued to caress him.

“I’ll save you,” Lotus murmured, feeling in that moment that she could have saved him from anything, that she could have prevented the Empire State Building from falling on him.

They played in the water for a long time, but Dash seemed to sense before she did that she was tired and insisted that she get out of the water.

“Are you my keeper too?” Lotus asked him as he kept his arm around her as they walked across the sandy beach, then dried her with a towel.

“Yes. I’ll always be that. Besides, didn’t we say that maybe you could be pregnant very soon after we married?” He inhaled. “You do think I’m able to impregnate you, don’t you, darling?”