Mistakenly Yours

The Aegean Sea glittered like crushed sapphires beneath the cliffside terrace, but Lily Rodriguez barely noticed. She was too busy adjusting her camera settings, trying to capture the exact moment the sunset turned the white-washed buildings of Santorini into something that looked Photoshopped but wasn't.

"Lily! Put the camera down and drink with us!" Her best friend Mara waved a glass of champagne from across the terrace, her white rehearsal dinner dress billowing in the evening breeze.

Lily grinned and held up one finger. "One more shot!"

"That's what you said twenty minutes ago," called a male voice, deep and amused.

She glanced up to find a man leaning against the stone balustrade, watching her with dark eyes that seemed to catalog everything. Tall, probably six-two, with the kind of sharp jawline that belonged on a cologne ad. His crisp white shirt was rolled to the elbows, and he held a glass of whiskey with the casual confidence of someone who never questioned whether he belonged somewhere.

Jasper Sterling. The groom's older brother. Mara had mentioned him-hotel empire, workaholic, "emotionally unavailable but devastatingly hot," in her exact words.

"If you're going to lurk, at least be useful," Lily said, surprising herself with her boldness. Maybe it was the Greek sunset. Maybe it was the three glasses of wine she'd already consumed. "Stand over there by that bougainvillea."

One dark eyebrow lifted. "I don't take direction well."

"Shocking." She lowered her camera. "Let me guess-CEO? Hedge fund manager? Professional brood-er?"

His mouth quirked. "Hotel developer. And I don't brood."

"You're literally standing in shadows right now."

"The sun is setting. Everything's in shadow."

"Semantics." She took the shot anyway, without him in it, then finally set her camera down. The terrace was filling with wedding guests-Mara's family, Josh's college friends, various glamorous people who probably summered in places Lily only visited for blog content.

Jasper moved closer, and she caught the scent of expensive cologne mixed with sea air. "You're the travel blogger."

"Lily Rodriguez, professional wanderer." She offered her hand. His grip was firm, warm, and lasted a half-second longer than necessary.

"Jasper Sterling, professional... what did you call it? Brood-er?"

Despite herself, she laughed. "I thought you didn't brood."

"I'm making an exception for destination weddings." He took a sip of his whiskey. "Too much forced joy. Too many speeches about soulmates."

"Cynical."

"Realistic." His gaze held hers. "You don't believe in soulmates?"

Lily thought of her father-the man who'd promised her mother forever, then disappeared two months before Lily was born. She thought of her mother's double shifts, her tired eyes, her warnings: *Never depend on a man, mija. They leave.*

"I believe in spectacular sunsets and good wine," she said lightly. "Everything else is temporary."

Something flickered in Jasper's expression-recognition, maybe. Understanding.

"Now that," he said, raising his glass, "I can drink to."

---

Four hours later, Lily was pleasantly drunk and dancing barefoot on the terrace. The DJ was playing something with a hypnotic beat, and the stars had emerged like diamonds scattered across black velvet.

She'd lost track of Jasper after dinner, but suddenly he was there again, not dancing, just watching her with those dark, unreadable eyes.

"You really don't know how to have fun, do you?" she called over the music.

He moved closer, his voice low near her ear. "I'm having fun."

"You're standing completely still."

"I'm appreciating the view."

Heat that had nothing to do with the warm night flooded through her. This was dangerous. She didn't do dangerous. She did casual, uncomplicated, gone-by-morning.

"Want to see the real view?" The words escaped before she could stop them.

His eyes darkened. "Show me."

They slipped away from the party, climbing the narrow stone steps that led higher up the cliff. Lily's heart hammered as they reached a small overlook, completely private, where the sea stretched endlessly below and the lights of the cruise ships looked like floating stars.

"There," she breathed. "That's my favorite-"

Jasper kissed her.

It wasn't gentle or tentative. It was consuming, demanding, the kiss of a man who always got what he wanted. And God help her, she wanted it too. She wound her fingers through his hair and kissed him back with equal hunger, with the recklessness of someone who would be gone in three days, back to her nomadic life, her carefully constructed independence.

"This is a terrible idea," she gasped when they broke apart.

"The worst," he agreed, his hands on her waist, pulling her closer.

"I'm leaving Sunday."

"Perfect."

"I don't do relationships."

"Neither do I." His mouth found her neck, and she shivered. "One night. No complications."

It was exactly what she needed to hear. Permission to be reckless, just this once, with someone who understood the rules.

"My room or yours?" she whispered.

"Yours is closer."

They barely made it through the door.

---

Later-much later-Lily lay in the tangled sheets, listening to Jasper's steady breathing beside her. The room was dark except for the moonlight streaming through the gauzy curtains. Her body felt pleasantly sore, satisfied in a way she hadn't experienced in... ever, maybe.

This was fine. This was perfect, actually. In forty-eight hours, she'd be on a plane to her next destination-she was thinking Croatia, or maybe Iceland. Jasper would go back to building his hotel empire. They'd never see each other again.

No complications. No risk. No one getting hurt.

She turned her head to study his profile in the moonlight-the sharp nose, the surprisingly soft mouth, the vulnerability that sleep brought to his features.

For just a moment, she let herself imagine something different. Something impossible.

Then she closed her eyes and reminded herself: temporary was safer.

Temporary was all she'd ever allow.

She had no way of knowing that in eight weeks, temporary would become permanent in the most terrifying, miraculous way possible.

---