“I see you’ve been here before.”
She smiled. “Many times. And leave your phone in the car. This is our time.”
Lila led him up the few steps to a terrace at the base of the lighthouse. She took the blanket and hung it over a low wall edging the terrace. They sat dangling their feet off the wall, quietly holding hands and staring out to sea.
The winds had not yet picked up, leaving the sea all one deep blue. No white puffs of waves, or any of the silver-gold sheen that comes to the water at sunset. The only splashes of different color were the reds, whites, and yellows of toy-like passing ships, the distant ones more distinguished by their wakes than their forms. At this height the Aegean seemed a canvas, not real, with muted brown islands drawn on in perfect symmetry: Delos, Rhenia, Syros, Tinos and the faint shadows of far off others.
“I thought you could use a transition.” She put her arm around his neck.
“From murder to marriage?” Andreas smiled and kissed her cheek. “Tinos looks so different.”
“In what way?”
“Every way. From up here it’s just a timeless, distant shape. No good, no bad, no people. Nothing of any concern.”
“Good, let’s keep it that way for the next forty-eight hours.”
Andreas smiled.
Lila swung her feet back onto the terrace and opened the picnic basket. “Croissant?”
“What else do you have?” Andreas swung around.
“All sorts of things. Orange juice, coffee-”
“Uhh, uhh, that’s not what I want.” He put his right arm around her back and pulled her close. He kissed her ear, her cheek, her lips, and moved his left hand to her breast.
Lila pushed back. “Are you crazy? Someone will see us. There are houses all around here. Most of them with telescopes hoping to catch tourists getting carried away with just what you have in mind.”
Andreas smiled. “We’re not tourists.” He dropped his hand to just below the bottom of her dress and began lightly stroking her thigh with his fingers. “Besides, this is a sunset place and all anyone in those houses can see is our backs.”
She didn’t move and he moved his hand higher. “And this is the last alone time we’re going to have until way after midnight. Unless, of course, you want to announce to your family when we walk into their house that their future son-in-law would like some private playtime with their daughter before becoming sociable with a wider audience.”
Lila leaned in and kissed him. “Okay, sweet talker. But not here.” She stood up. “Come.”
She picked up the blanket and led him around the building to its far northeast corner, where the angle of the lighthouse cut off the view from everywhere but the sea.
“Dare I ask how you know about this spot?” said Andreas.
Lila stuck out her tongue. “I was married once, remember.” She spread out the blanket. “If anyone comes by here walking their dog I will kill you.”
“Don’t worry, I have a gun in the jeep. They’ll never live to tell a soul.”
Lila was standing in the middle of the blanket. She kicked off her sandals and motioned for Andreas to come to her. He pulled off his shoes as she pulled her sundress up over her head. She wore no bra and her panties were barely visible. Andreas started to fumble with his pants but she took his hand and pulled him toward her. He kissed her cheeks, her neck, her shoulders. He reached again to undo his pants, but Lila stopped him to do it for him. He yanked his shirt off over his head.
Lila ran her fingernails along his bare chest and down his belly to the insides of his thighs. Instinctively, Andreas spread his legs wider. Lila smiled and dropped down to bring her lips onto him. He ran his fingers through her hair. As Lila moved she groaned but ultimately it was Andreas who had to pull away. She struggled to get her mouth back around him, Andreas held her away and moved to press her onto her back, but she had him lie on his instead.
Andreas watched from below as Lila lifted and dropped her hips above him. Slowly and deliberately she moved, never taking her eyes off of his and refusing to let him do anything but lie there and stroke her body. He ran his thumbs and forefingers around her nipples as her thighs drew up and off of him, then back down again. He pressed his hand against her belly when he sensed her coming. He felt his own rush of heat and knew he could hold off no longer. He thrust up with his hips as she pressed down, but she moved at a pace he could not match. He relaxed and let her ride him into orgasm. She wouldn’t stop moving and he wouldn’t stop coming as she muffled his mouth with her hand smiling, “Shhhh, my love.”
She leaned down to kiss him and Andreas held her. They did not move until Lila rolled off to lay beside him on the blanket.
“You’re amazing,” said Andreas.
Lila said. “You owe me for that.”
“What are you talking about?”
“If you have to ask why…”
“I was more than willing to be on top.”
“The concrete is too hard.”
Andreas leaned up on his elbows. “Are you telling me that in the midst of…all that passion you were actually thinking about concrete?”
She looked at him. “You better believe it. You get carried away. On a mattress it’s terrific. On concrete it’s black and blue marks.” She rolled over on her side and stroked his belly. She smiled. “Don’t worry, I’ll give you plenty of chances to make this up to me.” She was running her hand down his belly when a tan Labrador came bounding onto their blanket.
Lila screamed. Andreas jumped up and shooed the dog away. Lila grabbed for her dress and pulled it in front of her as a man in a Panama hat and white linen coat came around the corner.
“Excuse me,” he said. “I was looking for my dog.”
“Not here,” said a naked Andreas blocking the man’s view of Lila.
“So sorry,” said the man tipping his hat and flashing a smile. “May the rest of your life be as lovely as your morning.”
Andrew watched the man walk away before turning back to Lila. He expected she’d murder him any second. Lila was sitting up on the blanket holding the dress up to her face. She seemed to be shaking in a fit of tears.
“I’m sorry, it was all my fault. I never should have made you do this.” He wasn’t sure what else to say. He sat next to her, reached up, and pulled the dress down from her face.
Lila was laughing uncontrollably. “‘May the rest of your life be as lovely as your morning.’ The man’s a prophet!”
Andreas smiled. Lila kissed him as she laughed and Andreas started to laugh. Then it was all laughter, on and off the blanket and each other. Concrete be damned, this was going to be their lovely morning.
Andreas heard his phone before they reached the jeep but by the time he got to it the ringing had stopped.
He looked at the number. “It’s Tassos. I better call him before we start driving. Reception’s spotty out here.”
Lila smiled as she opened the jeep’s door. “You don’t have to make excuses. I’ve things to do, too. I’m getting married tomorrow.” She reached inside for her phone, blew Andreas a kiss, and walked back toward the lighthouse.
Tassos picked up on the first ring. “Where the hell have you been?”
“It’s a long story.”
“Well, it better be a damn good one,” said Tassos.
“So much so that it’s going to take the best you’ve got to put me in a bad mood.”
“The Pakistani is dead. Throat cut and dropped at the front gate of the Tinos dump. Perfectly placed so no one could miss him.”
Andreas throat tightened. “When did it happen?”
“The body was discovered about two hours ago by a municipal worker who opened the place. Not sure yet when he was killed but the best guess is sometime last night after we got back to the hotel.”
“Motherfuckers.”
“They found your card on him.”
“Yeah, I gave it to him.”
Andreas heard Tassos clear his throat. “It was jammed into his mouth. With ‘revenge or death’ written across your name.”