by Sarah Morgan
Breathless, stunned, she lay there listening to his harsh breathing, feeling the tension in his slick shoulders. And then he gathered her against him and hugged her tightly. ‘Tell me I wasn’t too rough.’
Feeling too weak to speak, all Kelly could manage was a brief shake of her head, and Alekos frowned as he pushed her tangled hair away from her face with a gentle hand.
‘I was too rough?’
‘You were perfect,’ she croaked and he gave a slow, satisfied smile as he rolled onto his back, holding her against him.
‘I was trying to be extra-gentle,’ he murmured, kissing the top of her head. ‘But you’re so much smaller than me.’
Pressed against the hard muscle of his shoulder, Kelly was well aware of that fact. ‘You’re—it was—’
‘Incredible.’ His grip on her tightened. ‘You were incredible. Especially given the amount of light in the room.’
Kelly’s face burned at the memory of his intimate exploration. ‘You didn’t exactly give me a choice.’
‘After your performance in the shower, erota mou, it is a waste of time pretending to me that you are a shrinking virgin.’ A sardonic gleam in his eye, Alekos ran his tongue over the seam of his mouth suggestively, and Kelly wondered how it was that she could still feel completely desperate for him.
‘Maybe you do need a bit more practice.’ She slid her hand slowly down his body, entranced by the differences between them. Her thigh was pale against the bronzed, hair-roughened length of his, soft against hard and strong, feminine against masculine.
‘Keep doing that and we won’t be getting up today.’ Alekos gave a slow smile and closed his hands over her hips, shifting her so that she straddled him.
Feeling him pressed hard against her, Kelly gave a soft gasp. ‘What are you doing?’
‘I happen to like the view from here,’ he said huskily, his jaw clenching as Kelly took the initiative and slowly slid herself onto his erection.
From this angle she was able to watch his face and she felt a flash of satisfaction as his eyes darkened. Slowly rotating her hips, she took him deeper, and this time she was the one who shackled his hands, pinning them above his head as she rode him.
It gave her a sense of power, holding him there, even though she knew he could free himself in a minute and take control.
Leaning forward, she licked at his mouth, smiling against his lips as she felt his strong fingers biting into her hips.
‘Theé mou, you feel incredible,’ he groaned, meeting each swirl of her hips with his own rhythmic thrusts. Kelly’s hair fell forward, forming a curtain as they kissed, their bodies moving together as everything grew sharper and hotter.
She felt him tense beneath her, felt his grip on her hips tighten, and then his final thrust hurled them both forwards into an explosion of sensation. The intensity of her orgasm shattered her and she pressed her mouth to the sleek skin of his shoulder, sobbing his name as they tumbled over the edge together.
‘Why four children?’ His mobile in his hand, Alekos leaned across and adjusted the angle of Kelly’s hat, making sure that her skin was protected from the burning heat of the sun.
‘It just seems like a nice number. I was an only child. I always thought childhood was probably easier if there were more of you. A sister would have been great, someone to laugh, cry and paint your toenails with. How about you?’
‘I’ve never felt much of a need for someone to paint my toenails with.’
Kelly grinned and emptied another blob of sunscreen onto her leg. ‘I’m quite relieved about that, actually.’
‘Do you want me to rub that in for you?’
‘No.’ Blushing, she smoothed the cream over her leg. ‘Last time you did that, we ended up back in bed.’
A slight smile touched the corner of his mouth and he watched her with lazy amusement. ‘And that’s a problem?’
‘No.’ Not a problem at all. He made her feel beautiful. ‘But I’m enjoying talking to you.’
‘I can talk and perform at the same time,’ he said silkily, and Kelly shot him a warning look, trying to ignore the immediate response of her heart.
‘Try and last six seconds without thinking about sex. Try really hard.’
‘If you’re going to flaunt yourself in a miniscule bikini, then you are asking the impossible.’
‘You bought me the bikini.’ But she loved the fact that he couldn’t get enough of her. ‘I don’t suppose I’ll be fitting into this for much longer anyway.’ From under the brim of her hat, Kelly sneaked a glance at him, testing the temperature of his mood, wondering if the reference to her pregnancy would upset the balance of the atmosphere.
Alekos was frowning down at his mobile. ‘Excuse me. I need to make a call.’ He sprang to his feet and paced to the far end of the terrace, his shorts riding low on his lean hips, his feet bare.
Unable to decide whether his sudden need to make a phone call was the result of her mentioning the baby, Kelly felt a flash of anxiety. Even after ten days of almost continuous love-making she still couldn’t completely relax. Electrifying sex and generous gifts hadn’t been enough to delete the dull ache of worry that gnawed away at the pit of her stomach. And her anxiety was not without foundation, was it? Alekos had made no secret of the fact he hadn’t wanted children. Even if she now understood and was sympathetic to the reason, it didn’t change the fact that this wasn’t what he would have chosen.
A person didn’t change overnight, did they?
She’d grown up watching her mother try to convert her father from wild boy to family man. It hadn’t worked.
Watching Alekos, Kelly felt a flicker of unease, unable to dismiss the fact that he’d made the call after she’d brought up the subject of the baby. Was he using it as an escape from a subject he found hard to discuss? Did it mean he was still having trouble accepting the situation?
She watched him as he paced the terrace and talked, gesturing with his hands, making an instantaneous shift from Mediterranean lover to ruthless businessman while she reasoned with herself.
He was here, wasn’t he? That had to count for something—a lot, actually. Of course he wasn’t going to get used to the idea overnight, but he was obviously trying.
Attempting to push away the dark mist that was pressing at the edges of her happiness, Kelly glanced round the beautiful gardens that tumbled from the sunlit terrace down to the beach. The rioting, colourful Mediterranean plants attracted birds and bees, and the only sound in the air was the cheerful chirrup of the cicadas and the occasional faint splash as a swallow swooped to steal water from the swimming pool.
It was paradise.
Paradise with a cloud on the horizon.
Ending the phone call, Alekos strode back to her, simmering with frustration. ‘What do you do when two of the children in your class constantly scrap?’
‘I separate them,’ Kelly said instantly and he looked at her, eyes narrowed.
‘You separate them?’
‘Yes. I don’t let them sit together. If they sit together then they focus on their interaction rather than their work. They put all their energies into being in conflict with the person next to them, rather than listening to me.’
‘Genius,’ Alekos breathed, dialling another number and lifting the phone to his ear. He spoke in Greek, his tone clipped and businesslike as he delivered what sounded like a volley of instructions.
Kelly waited patiently until he’d finished talking. ‘What was that all about?’
‘Two of my very senior executives seem unable to interact without generating major conflict.’ Alekos strolled to the small table and poured some lemonade for her. ‘They’re both too good to lose, and I’ve been trying to find a way of making them work together. It hadn’t occurred to me to separate them. It’s a brilliant idea.’
Kelly flushed with pleasure, ridiculously pleased by his praise, and incredibly relieved that it obviously was a really pressing crisis that had driven him to take that call, nothing to do with
the baby. ‘So that’s what you’ve done?’
‘Yes.’ Ice cubes clinked as they tumbled into the glass. ‘I’ve moved one of them to Investor Relations. Perfect. I think you should come and work for my company. You can sort out all the people problems that drive me demented. You’re very clever.’ He handed her the drink and she took it gratefully, touched again by his praise.
‘I’m just a schoolteacher,’ she muttered. ‘I teach eight-year-olds.’
‘Which makes you extremely well qualified to deal with my board,’ Alekos drawled, glancing at his watch. ‘Go and get dressed into something slightly less provocative. I want to take you out.’
‘Out?’
‘Yes. If you want to talk and not have sex then we’d better go somewhere extremely public.’
He took her to Corfu town and they wandered hand in hand around the old fortress, mingling with the tourists. ‘Did you always want to be a teacher?’
‘Yes.’ Kelly was rummaging in her bag. ‘When I was small I used to line my toys up in a row and give them lessons. Alekos, I’ve lost my sunglasses and my new iPod. I know I put them in my bag. I think.’
‘Your sunglasses are on your head. I have your iPod.’ Visibly amused, Alekos pulled it out of his pocket and handed it to her. ‘You left it in the kitchen. Maria found it.’
‘The kitchen?’ Kelly took it from him gratefully, trying to remember when she’d taken it to the kitchen. ‘How weird.’
‘It was in the fridge,’ he said dryly, and she gave a helpless shrug.
‘Even more weird. I suppose I must have left it there when I was pouring myself a glass of milk.’
‘That sounds completely logical.’ His voice was gently mocking. ‘If I lose any of my possessions, the first place I look is the fridge.’
‘You never lose anything because you’re scarily organised. You ought to loosen up a bit. And it’s mean to tease me. I’m just really tired.’ Her comment wiped the indulgent smile from Alekos’s face.
‘We will go home and I will call the doctor.’
‘I don’t want to go home and I don’t need a doctor,’ Kelly said mildly, pushing her iPod deep into her bag to avoid losing it again. ‘I’m pregnant, not ill.’ Glancing at him, she noticed the sudden tension in his shoulders and sighed. It was like waiting for a bomb to go off. ‘I just need a decent night’s sleep.’ And she needed to stop lying there worrying that he was going to change his mind and walk out any day. ‘It doesn’t help that you’re insatiable.’
‘I seem to recall you were the one who woke me at five this morning.’
Kelly turned scarlet as two women turned their heads to stare. ‘Could you keep your voice down?’
‘They shouldn’t be listening to a private conversation.’
But Kelly knew that the truth was that wherever they went women stared. Alekos attracted female attention. Slightly uneasy about that fact, she changed the subject. ‘I expect you did well at school. You’re very clever.’
‘I was bored stiff.’
Kelly gave a strangled laugh. ‘I pity your poor teachers. I wouldn’t have wanted to teach you.’
Alekos stopped and pulled her into his arms, smoothing her hair away from her face with his hand. ‘You are teaching me,’ he said huskily. ‘All the time. Every day I learn something new from you. How to be patient. How to solve a problem in a non-violent way. How to find an iPod in a fridge.’
‘Ha ha, very funny.’ Her heart was thundering like horses’ hooves in a race, because he was so indecently good-looking and all his attention was focused on her. ‘You’re teaching me stuff, too.’
He gave a slow, dangerous smile. ‘Perhaps you’d better not list exactly what I’m teaching you while we’re in a public place. That’s why we came here, remember?’
‘I didn’t mean that.’ A warm, fluttery feeling settled low in her belly, a feeling that increased as he lowered his mouth to kiss her.
Alekos led her along a narrow back-street and into a tiny restaurant where he was greeted like a hero.
‘My grandmother used to bring me here. It is traditional Corfiot cooking.’ Alekos pulled out a chair for her. ‘You will enjoy it.’
‘You adored your grandmother.’ Kelly twisted the ring on her finger self-consciously. ‘I feel so guilty that I almost sold this. I had no idea it was hers. And I didn’t have a clue that it was that valuable. I almost had a heart attack when I saw that bid.’
‘But not as big a heart attack as when you saw me standing at the school gates and realised that I’d bought it.’
‘That’s true.’ Kelly wanted to ask whether he’d intended to give it to Marianna, but she decided that their fragile relationship didn’t need any more external bombardment. ‘It was a shock.’
‘Why did you choose to teach in that place? You could have taught in a big school in a city.’
Kelly watched in surprise as several waiters arrived carrying a dozen small plates of different Greek specialities. ‘When did we order? Or did they just read your mind?’
‘They give you whatever the kitchen has freshly prepared. If you want authentic Greek cooking, then this is the place to come. You haven’t answered my question.’
‘About why I chose Little Molting? I wanted to keep a low profile.’
In the process of spooning dolmades onto her plate, Alekos paused. ‘A low profile?’
Kelly picked up her fork, wondering how honest to be. ‘The whole press thing was a bit overwhelming after our wedding that didn’t happen. They wouldn’t leave me alone. Only because I was linked to you, of course,’ she said hastily, her hair falling forward as she studied the food on her plate. ‘Not because I’m interesting by myself. And, actually, I wouldn’t really want all that. Can you imagine what they’d print about me in one of those celebrity magazines? “And Kelly has graciously invited us to photograph her in her beautiful home. And here we are in her kitchen where you see that, oh dear, she has forgotten to empty the bins”.’ Realising that Alekos hadn’t said a word, her voice tailed off and she looked up at him. ‘What? I’m talking too much?’
‘The doctor said that the press hounded you on our wedding day.’
Kelly tucked her hair behind her ear. ‘Yes, well, you not turning up at the wedding was quite exciting for them, I suppose. For reasons I’ve never understood, some people thrive on the misery of others. Watching someone coping with trauma appears to be a popular spectator-sport. I don’t get it myself. If I see someone upset I either want to comfort them or give them privacy, not ogle them, but there you are—people are sometimes a bit disappointing, aren’t they?’
‘Theé mou, I am truly sorry for what I put you through.’ His voice was hoarse and he reached across the table and caught her hand. ‘I didn’t think about the press or the attention that would be focused on you.’
‘That’s because you live your life behind high walls and you have security men who make the Incredible Hulk look puny.’ Kelly stared down at the strong, bronzed fingers covering hers. She wondered if he realised that she was still wearing his ring on her right hand. Maybe he’d just forgotten; men were pretty rubbish at noticing things like that, weren’t they? She tapped her fingers on the table, hoping to draw attention to it. ‘Are you right-handed or left-handed?’
Alekos looked astonished by the sudden change of subject. ‘Right-handed. Why?’
Because I’m trying to bring up the subject of hands, Kelly thought wildly, deciding that subtlety wasn’t her strong point. ‘I’m right-handed too.’ She waggled her hand, making sure that the diamond flashed in his face.
‘You’re right-handed.’ He looked at her cautiously. ‘I suppose it’s always useful to know these things. I really am sorry that you were subjected to so much press attention.’
Nowhere near as sorry as she was that he hadn’t said anything about her wearing his ring on her right hand. Kelly put her hand back in her lap, despondent. ‘It’s OK—well, not completely OK, of course. I was very upset. It was jolly humiliating, if
I’m honest. I was pretty angry with you.’
‘Pretty angry? You should have been livid.’
‘All right, I was livid,’ she confessed. ‘I felt like a total idiot ever thinking that someone like you could be interested in someone like me.’ Maybe she was still behaving like an idiot. Maybe it was idiotic to think that this could ever work. ‘Billionaires don’t usually hang around with penniless students. Not in the real world.’
‘Then they ought to,’ Alekos drawled. ‘They might be happier.’
Kelly looked at him, wanting to ask if he was happy—wanting to ask how he was feeling about the baby now that several weeks had passed. But broaching that subject felt like handling a priceless Ming vase: she was too afraid she might smash the whole thing to pieces if she touched it in the first place.
‘If it would help, you can hit me now.’ Alekos studied her across the table, clearly sensing the undercurrents but mistakenly attributing them to the past rather than the present. ‘You might find it cathartic.’
‘I’m non-violent,’ Kelly muttered. ‘I don’t think it would have made me feel any better to bruise your face, then or now.’
‘It might make me feel better.’
She looked up at him, slightly reassured by the fact that he clearly regretted the way he’d treated her. At least he hadn’t tried to hurt her.
‘I understand better now.’ She pushed her fork into piece of spicy local sausage. ‘Things were really intense between us. We barely stopped kissing long enough to have a conversation. Neither of us really thought further than the moment. And I was all over you, saying stuff because I’m useless at holding it all in. I’ve thought about what you said—about waking up that morning and seeing the story in the magazine about me wanting children. It’s no wonder you freaked out.’
Alekos drew in a deep breath. ‘You don’t have to make excuses for me.’
‘I’m not. I’m just saying that I can understand it better now. Maybe if that magazine had come out the day before, or even the day after, we could have talked about it, and who knows?’ Kelly shrugged. ‘The morning of the wedding was just basically very bad timing.’
