Facing Demitri's past is not an easy task for his lover, Mike. On a trip to Greece to visit relatives and celebrate Easter, secrets are revealed that were long dead and buried.
Mike has always known that Demitri was married to a woman prior to their relationship, but when he travels to his lover's childhood home and meets with a cousin, he is surprised to learn that Demitri had another lover he didn't know about. Haunted by his memories and the stigma surrounding his youthful relationship with a young man named Nicolas, Demitri must face what he has left behind and tried to forget. But it is Mike who is most affected by the voice that asks for forgiveness and a second chance from beyond the grave.
"Mike can only watch helplessly as powerful emotions run across his lover's face. This trip home to Greece is suddenly looking a lot less like a vacation, and more like a death sentence.
The closer he gets to home, the harder it is for Demitri to hide his pain. So many memories and so much heartache surround his tiny home village, but he needs to bury his past if he is to ever move forward.
Fissions of fear and trepidation creep up Mike's spine the closer they get to Demitri's home. Something has happened here that Demitri is hiding, and Mike cannot help but feel their relationship could be in serious jeopardy. Staying in his grandmother's home finally forces the issue for Demitri when Mike experiences much more than tingling suspicions. The pain, the guilt, and the fear all come to a head, but will Mike and Demitri survive the fallout, or will Demitri's past reclaim his heart?
The opening paragraph sets the scene for this emotionally heart-wrenching love story. The relationship between Mike and Demitri feels like you are treading on thin ice, and at any moment someone is going to crash right through. I could not help but want to know more about Mike's past as well, given his relentless insecurities. This is not a lighthearted feel good story, but one that will hopefully open your eyes and hearts to the pain these men face on a daily basis when they have to hide their love due to society's prejudices."
Lototy
Reviewer for Coffee Time Romance & More
Clean again, and spent from a long day of driving and remembering, we went to bed naked and he fell asleep in my arms. I lay there awake, thinking about our future again. I don't know why I kept feeling so insecure about what was to come, but I did.
When I finally dozed off, my mind envisioned the two of us out in the woods with Lukia watching from some high vantage to be sure none of the villagers discovered our tryst. Naked and entangled, we made love to each other in the shadow of a great church. What it meant, I didn't know, maybe just the stress of having to be in the village, of learning about my lover's past, and facing his coming to terms with the religion and secrets he had left behind. But it wasn't a good dream. It was a nightmare of fear, hatred, and secrets.
Sometime in the night, I rolled away from the safety of my lover's arms and the covers. Cold embraced me. I shivered and dreamed of being alone and abandoned in a dark place where no one knew me, and no one wanted to help me escape. Men wearing black clothing turned their backs on me. I tried to get out, but the horrible feeling that it was too late to escape overwhelmed me. There was no way out, no way out alive at least. I wandered corridors and halls until my feet ached with blisters. Exhausted and hopeless, I collapsed in one of many empty rooms and raised my head to a ray of light streaming from a high window. Rainbow colors met my eyes. I squinted at the unbearable brightness, and yet all I wanted to do was look into it and find the truth.
"Mike! Wake up. You're having a bad dream." Hot palms held my shoulders. Demitri's unique scent filled my nostrils. "It's just a dream."
"A dream," I repeated.
"Are you all right? You were screaming."
I blinked. Twilight lightened the room in shades of gray. "I dreamed I was alone. That's all." The shadows played across my lover's face. But I had dreamed of a different kind of alone, a place I didn't belong in or care to ever be.
"You're not alone, Mike." He held me against his body and pulled the covers over our nakedness. "I won't leave you alone."
The unmistakable sensation that someone was watching us unsettled me. I raised my head and stared at the doorway. The silhouette of a young man dressed in dark clothing, all shadow and black, spied on us from that vantage. Goose bumps prickled my skin. The image reminded me of what I imagined Demitri's father would have looked like, staring down at his son with disapproval.
The shape vanished as the sun rose higher and lit the shadows, exiling them from the room. The world returned to the present, but I knew we had been visited by something from the past. What I didn't know was if I should share this strange secret with Demitri. Would he laugh at me? Would he think I was losing my mind? I tried to forget the shape of the ghost in the doorway, but the longer I lay there and stared at the empty space where it had been, the more I realized something had been there moments before, a silent something that had a message to share with me or maybe both of us.
