“I didn’t see, but I was looking up.”

“It was beautiful, like a sweep of jewels, just glittering in the sunlight.”

He laid a hand on her shoulder. “The stars?”

“No, no, it was sinuous, and alive. The movement. Some sort of fish?”

“A dolphin maybe.” He took his hand, fisted it lightly around the hair she’d tied back, skimmed it down. “Looking for true love.”

“A dolphin.” And the idea of a dolphin swimming the canal hoping for love made her smile. “It must’ve been. It was only a second, but it was gorgeous.” With a sigh, she walked again, with the sea air flowing around her.

CHAPTER FIVE

She finally unpacked, and felt she’d restored some order to her world. Then she walked out on the terrace to marvel at the view that would be hers for . . . as long as it was. She hoped to see the dolphin again—it must’ve been a dolphin, and the sunlight and water that had given it the illusion of shimmering blues and greens.

While she’d thought she’d sit out with her sketch pad on the terrace, she realized she didn’t want solitude. Instead, she took her pad and pencils and went out to look for . . . her team.

Sawyer had called them that—a team. And she’d never been a part of one before. It felt good, even oddly comforting. Remembering, as part of that team, she was likely in charge of dinner, she went to the kitchen first to consider her options.

She wished she knew how to make some traditional Greek meal, but failing that, she could do a pasta dish she often made herself at home, as it was quick and easy, and it appeared she had everything she needed at hand.

Logically she’d quadruple what she normally did, but that didn’t take into account two of the four were men, and Riley ate like a starving wolf.

“So just make a lot,” Sasha told herself. And it if didn’t work, well, someone else could be in charge of the kitchen.

She stepped outside, just breathed in, wondered if she’d be allowed to cut some flowers for her room, for the house. She recognized lemon trees as the yellow fruit basked in the sun, and the dusky leaves of the olive, the orange trees. But others were beyond her, including the cactus with large flat leaves and gorgeous blooms.

She took a moment to sketch one, then wandered on, past the vegetable garden, the coop where chickens clucked and pecked in their little fenced yard. Past shrubs of rosemary, toward the pool where she saw Riley and Sawyer in what appeared to be an animated conversation as they sat facing each other on white padded chaise lounges.

The big white dog sprawled under the shade of Riley’s chair and slept.

Sawyer wore cutoffs and a golden tan, and Riley a red tank-style bathing suit. Still talking, Riley waved at her, gestured to come on out.