Greek for Beginners. Jackie Braun

      

      Alpha, beta, gamma, delta…

      That’s just about the extent of Darcie Hayes’s Greek before she touches down in Athens, ready to put her troubles behind her and indulge in a little sun, sea, sightseeing and…er…flirtation! But when Nick Costas, modern-day Adonis, saves her from a con man, she begins to think there might be more to Greece than meets the eye….

      Nick is perfectly happy with his single status, but meeting Darcie makes him wonder if falling in love really would be the worst thing in the world. Is Nick actually considering pushing this thing with Darcie past the Beginners’ stage and on to Advanced?

      Greek for Beginners

      “I think you put on your bikini to torture me.”

      Nick stepped back so that he could do a slow inspection of her body. A groan of approval vibrated from his throat.

      “I didn’t know you were going to knock on my door,” she pointed out. “So, torturing you is merely a bonus.”

      Darcie was amazed at her boldness. Not only did she feel comfortable standing nearly naked before him—she felt sexy and confident. She turned slowly before presenting him with her back and glancing flirtatiously over one shoulder. “So, you like my suit, hmm?”

      His gaze skimmed down a second time and he let out a low whistle. “I like the way you look in it, Darcie. You are beautiful.”

      Better yet, she felt that way. Smiling in earnest, she asked, “So, you remembered to pack a pair of trunks, right?”

      “I did.”

      “Good. Put them on.”

      She slipped around him and started for the door, but only managed two steps before his hands clamped on her waist and she was hauled back against his rock-hard chest.

      Dear Reader,

      I had so much fun writing Greek for Beginners. Darcie and Nick are two of my favorite characters to date. She’s the kind of woman I would be friends with—funny, smart and a little off-the-wall. And he’s exactly the sort of man who would capture my attention—handsome, sexy and coolly confident with a soft spot for family.

      Now, I have a confession. I’ve never been to Greece. During a whirlwind European tour many moons ago, I visited Germany, Austria, Italy, France and England, but no matter how hard my friend and I tried, a jaunt to Greece just wouldn’t fit into our jam-packed itinerary. I’ve always regretted that.

      The food, the customs, the culture, the sights, the history…all of it begs to be explored. Alas, for this story I had to settle for doing it via books and the internet. My apologies in advance if I got something wrong.

      Someday, I would love to travel to Greece with my husband. I wonder if we would have as magical a time as Darcie and Nick do.

      Happy reading!

      Jackie Braun

      Greek for Beginners

      Jackie Braun

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      ABOUT JACKIE BRAUN

      Jackie Braun is the author of more than two dozen romance novels and novellas. She is a three-time RITA® Award finalist, a four-time National Readers’ Choice Award finalist, the winner of a Rising Star Award in traditional romantic fiction, and she was nominated for Series Storyteller of the Year by RT Book Reviews in 2008. She makes her home in mid-Michigan with her husband and their two children. She enjoys gardening and gabbing, and can be reached on Facebook or through her website at www.jackiebraun.com.

      To Roma Costanzo

      with thanks for all of her love and support!

      Contents

       Chapter One

       Chapter Two

       Chapter Three

       Chapter Four

       Chapter Five

       Chapter Six

       Chapter Seven

       Chapter Eight

       Chapter Nine

       Chapter Ten

       Chapter Eleven

       Chapter Twelve

       Chapter Thirteen

       Epilogue

       Excerpt

      ONE

      If Darcie Hayes had any lingering doubts about her decision to call off her wedding a week before the “I dos” and end her engagement to her longtime beau, they were eradicated the moment she stepped off the plane in Athens and scanned the crowd.

      A driver was supposed to meet her at the airport. That was part of the nonrefundable, all-inclusive Greek tour package that her spendthrift fiancé had booked for their honeymoon. The honeymoon she had decided to take alone.

      Tad got their Buffalo, New York, condominium and their antisocial cat in the breakup. She’d figured a couple of weeks away from her well-meaning friends and family in sun-drenched Greece was a fair trade since she’d never liked the condo, and the cat had never liked her. Now, she had the sinking feeling that Tad had gotten the better end of the deal.

      She saw no hand-printed sign bearing her name. Nor was anyone smiling in welcome and waving to gain her attention. For a brief moment, a handsome man on a cell phone stopped talking and their gazes met.

      Her best friend Becky’s last text played through Darcie’s head.

      Meet a man. Have a fling. Get ur sexy back.

      Becky had wanted to come on the trip, but she hadn’t been able to get the time off work on such short notice. That wasn’t stopping her from giving Darcie all sorts of advice on how to spend her time, including having a fling. Well, if Darcie were going to cast caution to the wind, this would be exactly the sort of man she would pick to do it with. He was so gorgeous that her mouth threatened to fall open. It settled for watering, and she was forced to swallow or she would have drooled. The crowd of departing passengers surged around him then, obstructing her view. When the travelers cleared, he was gone.

      After that, the only person who made eye contact with Darcie was a portly porter who approached with a trolley as she waited for her bags at the luggage carousel. It was just her luck that only one of the designer knock-offs showed up. It was the smaller of the two—the bag in which she’d packed her “second-string” outfits, the first string being the new clothes she’d bought especially