Tanya went in. She heard the door to her right open.
His shadow loomed at the doorway, his eyes dark and foreboding. Light and shadow played on his naked upper body from shredded sunshine coming from the slatted windows. She remembered how once she trembled at the beginnings of desire when she was young. And now, he looked like a god descended from the gates of heaven. She reluctantly dismissed these thoughts.
I can handle this. It’s not like I’m still twelve. I’m not a virgin anymore. Haha. That’s a funny thought. I will not let him think that I have thought about him and that kiss. My first. His first.
“Tanya.” Julio’s voice was more a statement than a question, his tone having an intense deep shade which made something inside her quiver. His voice was low with a slight growl.
He knew her. He knew her and his voice did not deny it. Did she sense a longing, a craving? Oh she wished in her heart her imagination was not running away with her in tow. She saw how his eyes swept over her. His demeanor did not change with what he saw but his green-brown eyes grew wider with desire.
She had an absurd need to escape at the moment his huge frame blocked the door.
One look at his rugged face one can see so much experience. Tall- maybe six feet- and more- his sunbleached brown hair was blown by the sea breeze. His eyes were dark and long lashed because of the Mediterranean blood, she remembered. These eyes looked older beyond his thirty four years.
He knew her. Questions teased in her mind. He knew her before, somewhere between obsession and awakened desire. And how?
But now, did he even let his imagination run riot at the ripeness and readiness of her body?
Tanya felt memories spin in and around her, she felt like sea glass lost in the sea.
“Are you the one I’m looking for?” She asked. She wanted to keep her voice on an even tone but somehow she felt it tremble. Casting her eyes on the water she saw the speedboat anchored at the side of the rocks.
“Well, depends on what you want.” His voice was a drawl. It was hard to read his mind. He looked cool and collected. Unlike her whose mind was wretched. But of course she kept an air of defiance. She’s not going to buckle just because he looked like Achilles.
He didn’t take his eyes off her. She met his gaze head on. From out of the blue he smiled.
“What’s so funny?” she asked.
He cocked his head on the side, still with a playful grin on his face. “You look like you’re preparing to be eaten,” he said.
She blushed to her hair roots. She wondered if he can read her mind. Was she really that transparent? He obviously thought that he can intimidate her. She tried erasing the image that that declaration conjured for her. She kept her stern look and tried to sound professional.
“A real estate agent told me there’s a property for sale here. But this is Cutty’s Cliff. I’m looking for Ari’s Point.”
“You’re in the right place. Sit?” he pointed to a white wicker chair. She shook her head. She didn’t want to be too relaxed around him.
“So you own this place now?”
“Yes,” he said. He sat at a high stool near the bar. She got a glimpse of his muscled thighs.
“Why are you selling it?”
“My wife died. She was the one who liked keeping it. I would have sold it a long time ago.”
She felt a pinprick inside her chest. She gazed quickly at the sea, trying to distract herself. “So you got married.”
“Yes. Two years ago,” he said. He rose and walked to the bar. “How about a drink? Coffee? “ He poured himself a brandy. She noticed he was drinking early.
“I just had coffee,” she said. She sat down across from him. The light from the window was misty because of the clouds that gathered at the horizon. It landed on one side of his face, lighting that side, showing a square jaw that clenched every now and then. Aside from the scars at the back of his thighs, there was no visible mark on his person. But somehow she felt the inner turmoil on his face.
She couldn’t help but drink in the sight of him. His brown skin covering the sinewy muscles that she suddenly had the urge to touch.
“I am not selling this to a person who doesn’t know anything about the history of this place.”
“How can you say that? Have you forgotten? I grew up here. This is my home.”
“But you gave it all up.” Tanya became afraid at the severity in his voice. “You should have never come back. There’s nothing for you in this place.
Tanya went to the open window. “I wanted to come back…” she stopped.
“I’m talking about somebody who can love this place. I’m sorry, I’m afraid you’ve just wasted your time.”
“Oh, so that’s it. You wanna up the price. Name your price.”
“You don’t get it do you? You don’t belong here. You don’t understand how it works. And you don’t have the kind of money I’m asking.”
Confused, Tanya instinctively backed away. “Why are we fighting? How hard can it be? Anyway there are people I can pay who can do that for me. I’m a business woman. I know how it works.”
“Yes. You do. You know how to make money. You people think that that’s what we need here. Well this place is not the stock exchange.”
“If you sell to me it’s a win-win situation. You get your money I get what I want”
“It’s always about what you want.”
He covered the meager space between them with a stride and grabbed her waist, encircling his long substantial arms around her tiny waist. He coaxed her lips but they parted without too much effort. The taste of his lips made her think of wild honey.
When he released her she felt ashamed for having succumbed easily to his seduction. She wiped her mouth as if to show displeasure. “Is that what it takes to get this place?”
His face was ashen. He went to another room and stayed for a minute. Tanya felt uncomfortable. She was totally unnerved with his taking liberties. But she couldn’t resist him.
When he came back, he said, “You can have this place if you are willing to be my partner. If not, save your breath because you can’t have it.”
“Me, your partner? Your imagination is surely way among the clouds. This isn’t some game, a telenovela where you can manipulate people.”
“What’s so bad about that? You think you’re so high and mighty? I think you just made it clear just a moment ago how you despise me,” he said the word despise with smugness. She couldn’t answer. Her response to his kiss was too much of a giveaway. She melted at the mere thought of his arms around her.
He took the glass of brandy and drank all of the contents. “If you hadn’t noticed, I also get what I want.“
Ami Granada 