Kairo’s brow furrowed and he wanted to look over at Isidore, but the road had become very steep and winding through this part of the mountain descent. He didn’t want to risk tearing his eyes from the road. “For what?”
“For rescuing us. For protecting us. For your patience and understanding despite being kidnapped. Part of me is sure you could have escaped long before now and left us behind, but you didn’t. You’ve risked your life for a pair of strangers.”
With a chuckle, Kairo shook his head. This man was too sweet. “We might not have met under the best circumstances, but there’s no way in hell I was leaving you and Athena in that house. I’m just worried that you’re skeptical of my skills now since I didn’t arrange for the escape. That was all Athena and Joey.”
Athena’s giggle managed to somehow be sweet and evil at the same time. “I swear I did not plan for that to happen!” she cried out. “But I’m not stupid. It was a great distraction.” She snorted and muttered under her breath. “If they were going to be dumb enough to bring Joey along for the kidnapping, they should have been prepared for ferret antics.”
“I’ve never owned a ferret, so I am fully unprepared for ferret antics. Please, have pity on me,” Kairo replied.
“Maybe. We’ll see,” Athena said.
“Athena! He’s already risked so much for us. Be nice,” Isidore chastised.
Kairo smiled to himself, listening to the Panopoulos siblings bicker. Every once in a while, Isidore would provide directions out of Kalambaka, putting them on a southerly course. Athens was a good destination, but it was also the place where Isidore and his sister were most likely to run into people who knew them and might want to hurt them. Kairo wasn’t willing to step one toe into that city until he had backup. If they had proved anything to him, it was that he could not handle both Isidore and Athena on his own.
After an hour of driving, Isidore directed them off the highway into a medium-sized town with a nice, large shopping plaza. He hated it, but he was stuck in the car with Joey thanks to his blood-splashed shirt and slightly swollen face. Isidore and Athena would easily blend in. He would not. They quickly divided up the money. Athena was going to the grocery for some food supplies while Isidore went into another store that would carry cell phones and other random items. He gave them fifteen minutes to make their purchases and return.
It was the longest fifteen minutes of his life.
Kairo sunk in the driver’s seat, Joey snoozing in his lap, and watched the various people walking to and from their cars as they ran their errands. They all looked like locals to him. No one appeared to glance in his direction. Their attention was on their phones or on the store in front of them. Some people even tilted their faces toward the sky and sighed at the heat of the sun beating down on them. He’d turned off the car to conserve battery power. They should have plenty of juice to get them pretty much anywhere in Greece, but he was being cautious. They would need to ditch the car very soon. For now, he was relying on the breeze to keep him cool and praying Joey remained asleep. There was no way in hell he was chasing the ferret through a busy parking lot.
Athena returned first with three reusable bags filled with groceries. Her smile was wide and her head was held high with pride. She slid into the car and Joey immediately clawed his way up Kairo’s chest and over the seat to get to his beloved owner.
“How did you get so much? And so fast! Isidore gave you only seventy euros.” Kairo turned in his seat to gaze at the bags she placed beside her on the rear bench.
“I know how to bargain shop!” She laughed and cuddled her ferret. “When I went to college in the States, I made friends with a lot of people who had to watch their budgets. They taught me how to hunt for bargains and how to hit the thrift stores. It’s so much fun getting a good deal.” She leaned toward him and smirked. “I might be rich, but I can appreciate thriftiness.”
Kairo snorted. “I wish you luck in finding a romantic partner who also likes thriftiness as much as you do and doesn’t just see you as an heiress to fund their lifestyle.”
Athena made a scoffing noise and rolled her eyes. “Tell me about it. But I have no interest in marriage or romance like that. It’s nice to read about in books and watch on television, but I don’t want that for my life.”
He could only blink at her for a second. That was not what he’d expected, and he should have known better. She might look like an elegant Greek princess, but she certainly didn’t need a prince or a princess to complete her. “Oh. My bad.”
She shrugged and smiled at him. “No big deal. What I really want is to buy a huge house somewhere and live in it with three or four of my best friends. A place where we hang out, have all our various pets, and drink mojitos on lazy Sunday afternoons.”
“That sounds like heaven.” Kairo sighed. He wasn’t much for sitting still and he would probably get bored with that in a month or so, but right now, he could use a lazy Sunday mojito. But that idea was suddenly replaced with a different thought. Isidore. “What about your brother? Is he like you?”
“Asexual?” She tossed her head back and laughed so loud it drew the attention of people as they walked past the car. “Good grief, no.” She narrowed her gaze on him and frowned. “How can you be so smart and so blind? Isidore is gay. You missed that?”
Kairo cleared his throat, his eyes darting away for a second. “Well, no. I thought…maybe, but I guessed wrong with you, so I thought maybe I shouldn’t assume anything at all.”
She sighed dramatically. “He’s gay, but he’s not one of those carefree,I’m going to screw everyone and just be the windgay men. He’s the type to give his heart to one person and settle down to build a family of gay men. You ever read one of those mpreg romance novels?”
“What?”
“Mpreg. It’s a gay romance, but one of the guys in the couple can actually have a baby.”
“What?” Kairo’s brain had officially locked up. He’d never heard of such a thing.
“That’s Isidore.”
Now he was sure Athena was crazy. “You’re saying Isidore is a man who thinks he can have a baby.”
Athena rolled her eyes at him as though he were the densest person she’d ever met. “No! I’m saying Isidore is the family type. He wants to fall in love, get married, and have kids. If he could carry the baby himself, he freaking would.”
“Oh,” Kairo whispered. He didn’t know what to say to all of that. Was he surprised? Not really. Except for maybe that mpreg part that completely blew his mind. Apparently he wasn’t reading enough or the right genres. He occasionally snapped up a romantic comedy when he was in the mood, but he definitely hadn’t known about mpreg.
But aside from that, it wasn’t all that surprising that Isidore wasn’t a player. That he wanted a forever kind of love that naturally led to building a home and a family with someone.