From upcoming romantic suspense novel DEEP BLUE EYES ON THE GREEK ISLES


They were sitting on their beach house veranda the following evening and Paul answered his cell phone.

“Welcome to Athens Alain, you never told me you were coming over,” Paul said.

“Well, I’m here on Estée Lauder business, I’m staying at the Grande Bretagne hotel and I’m leaving next week. Let’s get together,” Alain suggested.

“Fine,” Paul replied “Let me call you back in ten minutes,”

“What was that all about?” Sophie asked.

“It was Alain de Cresson, a French section-mate of mine from Harvard Business School. He was nice, although I think he spent most of his time womanizing rather than studying. Anyway, he now works for your company Estée Lauder at their European head quarters in Paris,” Paul replied.

“Wow, I know him, he was my superior when I had the summer job with Estée Lauder in London. We only exchanged one e-mail, but his reply was quite rude. He insisted in a very suggestive way that we go out on a date if I ever visited Paris on business. But, who cares now, we’re almost married at last,” Sophie remarked.

“Should I invite him out to dinner Saturday night, do you mind at all?” Paul asked.

“Sure,” Sophie replied “He might be good for my career at Estée Lauder, who knows,” Sophie shot back.

Paul called Alain.

“I would suggest that you stay at the main hotel of the Astir Palace complex, that you enjoy the beaches and we are inviting you to be our guest at the top-of-the-line Maxim’s restaurant at the main hotel, you’ll also get to meet my fiancée Sophie. How does eight o’ clock Saturday evening sound to you?”

“Great, thank you very much, meet at eight Saturday, bye now,” Alain concluded the conversation.

It was by now Saturday and all three of them were seated at the hotel’s main dining room enjoying drinks. However, Paul felt uncomfortable as Alain had not stopped starring at Sophie ever since the moment they had been seated. Sophie didn’t either know what to do. As the polite conversation and the memories of the business school days unfolded she was looking at Paul’s eyes, as if asking for help, asking what to do. Paul thought to himself.

“I made it very clear to this Frenchman that Sophie is my fiancée, what on earth is this man up to?”

It was a very bizarre situation as both of them were exchanging a conversation with Alain but neither of them was looking at him. This situation continued forever and they were waiting for the second course to arrive until suddenly, Alain forcefully jumped up from his seat, up into the air without stopping to loudly yell from pain. The maître d’ instantly arrived asking if he could be of help in any way.

“Please, fetch me a double shot of Johnnie Walker Black Label, it’s my usual ulcer pain,” Alain asked. He was pale white and sweating at the same time as he sat down again. As Paul and Sophie resumed their continuous eye contact, they could read each other’s minds.

“People with ulcer don’t drink alcohol,”

The very bizarre dinner went on until desert was served, when Paul excused himself to go to the men’s room. As he was heading there he stopped, as his father called from Palm Beach and that held him up for about five minutes. When he returned to their table some time later he noticed that Sophie was not at the table. As he sat down, he noticed Sophie’s napkin was lying on the floor and her two wine glasses lay broken on her plate.

Paul anxiously turned to Alain.

“Where is Sophie?” Paul asked.

“She went to the ladies’ room,” Alain answered.

“And what are these broken glasses?” Paula asked as he looked fiercely into Alain’s eyes.

“I haven’t got a clue,” Alain answered. Paul waited for ten minutes without exchanging a phrase with Alain. Without saying a word, he then got up and headed straight to the ladies’ room. Although he was a man, he had no hesitation to enter and desperately cry for Sophie. But there was no answer, no one was there anyway. He rushed back to the dining room, passed their table without saying a word to Alain and headed quickly for the beach house. As he entered, he saw Sophie on an armchair, her hands tightly wrapping her knees around her chest, she was visibly shaken.

“What on earth happened, can I bring you something to calm you down?” Paul asked.

“I’d like a warm cup of tea,” Sophie whispered.

As Paul brought her the tea, Sophie said

“Thank you for the tea, and I feel so much better now that you’re close to me, you make me feel so much safer, hug me tighter please,” Paul held her tight and whispered into her ear.

“Do you feel comfortable talking about this now or shall we wait?”

“I’ll tell you right away,” Sophie meekly replied.

 “What did that pig do to you?” Paul asked, he was getting shaken now.

“First he was starring at me constantly in front of my fiancée, this has never happened to me before, I felt threatened like a little rabbit is threatened by a vulture. I did not know what to do, at least I felt safe as you were always by my side. I could see in your eyes support, safety and hope that this nightmare would at last go away. Then, all of a sudden I felt this pig’s filthy hands try to reach up my skirt. I shoved him away repeatedly, but he kept coming back and back. That was it, I pulled myself together and gathering all my strength I kicked him with my high heels where it hurts a man most,”

Paul sprang from his chair and shouted “Now I get it, I see what happened, that really serves him right, the filthy jerk,”

“Then you left for the men’s room,” Sophie continued “That’s when I felt really insecure, alone without your always strong and protective presence by my close side, alone with this creep. And that’s when it got worse,” Sophie continued.

“Worse?” Paul asked “How much worse could it get than all this?” Paul asked.

“You’ll see,” Sophie continued “When you left I continued looking sideways in order to avoid his filthy look, he grabbed my left hand on the table as tight as a vise and then he started talking, he said,”

“I can see you’re craving for me, I can see it in your eyes, you want me so bad,”

“The only thing you see in my eyes is that I adore my Paul and that I hate you, you filthy pig,” Sophie screamed.

“Take my room card-key, you’re coming over tonight to enjoy what you have never imagined before. The real fire, the real warmth as I hold you tightly in my arms, the abyss of real love. Forget that jerk, Paul, Wendy cheated on him all the time,” the filthy man continued.

“That was it he had insulted you, Paul, I gathered all my strength and with my right hand, and you know my right hand from my tennis drive shots, I smacked him hard across the face which turned red,” Sophie continued, but asked Paul to pour her a glass of white wine to feel better.

“I’ll pour myself one too; I’m so shocked,” Paul commented.

Sophie continued.

“After I smacked him, he remained perfectly calm and a had a large grin on his face, then he said,”

”I see you love sadomasochism, I’m into that too, we’re really fit for each other, there will be fireworks tonight” those were Alain’s last comments, Sophie continued. “I smacked him again, this time much harder. I then bit his grabbing hand until there was blood to free myself and rushed to the beach house. I was waiting and waiting for you to come back and offer me the safety, the comfort and care you always offer me, and now I feel so much better,”

“I don’t feel at all well actually,” Paul yelled.

“He has to pay for what he’s done, I’m running over there right now and I’ll beat him into a bloody pulp,”

“No you’re not,” Sophie yelled back.

“Yes I am, I’m going to beat him,” Paul shouted.

“You’re acting out of impulse, we should together and plan ahead on how to punish him,” she replied

“OK, I’ve had enough of you and your suppressive behaviour. Fine, I won’t go to beat him up, but I’m going up to Athens to sleep alone in my apartment. I just can’t be with someone who pushes me around and tells me what to do,” Paul said as he moved to the door.

“Fine, go ahead, good night,” Sophie said.

It was four o’ clock in the morning when Paul was swirling around in his bed at his Athens apartment; there was no way he could sleep. He decided to call Sophie. Sophie answered instantly.

“I can’t go to sleep, I keep thinking of you,” Paul said.

“I can’t either, I think of you too,” she replied.

“I’m really sorry for last night, I was wrong,” Paul stuttered.

“Do you remember the old film, Love Story, they said Love “is never having to say you’re sorry”,” Sophie answered.

“Sophie, you’re a jewel. I’ll come down to the beach house tomorrow at noon, when I wake up,” Paul said.

“Why don’t you come down to Vouliagmeni right now?” Sophie asked.

Paul reached the beach house in thirty minutes, it was now four thirty in the morning and he fell into Sophie’s open and waiting arms. They kissed passionately forever.

Holding hands they were walking towards the beach the next day at noon. She turned to him with her smile, looked into his eyes and said.

“What you promised me in Kyllini, the very first time we became intimately close together is so true, it gets better and better. I prefer Greek fireworks with the man I really love, than fake French fireworks with that buffoon,”

They had taken one more step upwards in their love staircase.