Book excerpt: She’s had a perfect life, now it's time for Sandy Patterson to have a real one. The widowed southern beauty needs time away from her well-meaning but overly protective family. A carefree summer in Greece pursuing her passion for painting sounds good to her - once she gets a quick visit with her husband’s old college roommate out of the way. Expat businessman Alex Stoner turns out to be more than she’d bargained for. Irresistible Alex sets the summer temps to sizzling. He invites her to stay at his Greek isle villa where he manages to keep a respectful distance from upper class Sandy...most of the time. She soon wants him closer all of the time. Sexual tension crackles in the exotic, sensual world they inhabit. But why won’t he take her to his bed? What is behind the pain she sometimes sees in his soulful eyes?