Her head gave another vicious throb. Cradling it in her palm, she closed her eyes. The way he’d vacated her room with the speed of a hotel guest short of funds took the edge off her glow. Killed it dead. Spoiled what should have been perfect.
So she’d been a virgin. What was the big deal? It hadn’t seemed to throw off what had surely been an extremely sensual encounter. Or maybe it had? Maybe it had turned Aristos off completely. Maybe she’d disappointed him with her inexperience. Maybe he’d just done a good job of hiding it.
Perhaps it hadn’t been as spiritual as she’d felt it to be at all.
Ugh. Opening her eyes, she maneuvered herself into a sitting position. She wasn’t going to be that girl. Not when she’d promised herself no regrets.
Untangling herself from the silk sheets, she padded to the bathroom, rooted through her toiletry bag and unearthed some aspirin. Downing them with a swig of water, she told herself Aristos’s running had more to do with him being Aristos. Because he was a commitment-phobe and she had been a virgin. A deadly creature.
She dressed and went for breakfast on the main terrace, thinking perhaps it would help her head, but when the man in question strode into the dining room with Dimitri Smirnov, offered her a curt nod, then ignored her completely, her stomach shriveled up into a ball unsuitable for the consumption of food.
She gave up and left. Her head finally cleared in the cool breeze of the beach and a swim in the heavenly water. She would not backslide. She had vowed to approach her life with less fear. Taking risks sometimes meant making the wrong call. Getting hurt. And Aristos had always been a wild card.
* * *
Aristos’s last guest left on a Cessna just after three. Only David remained beside him, waiting for his helicopter to take him to Athens, then Las Vegas.
“So how was Dimitri?”
“Hedging. He still wouldn’t give me a straight answer at breakfast. Says he needs to look at his portfolio.”
“The offer’s still open. I can work my channels...”
Aristos shook his head. “He’ll come around.”
David raked a hand through his thick graying hair. “You’ll pull this one out of the fire, Aristos. I’ve no doubt about it.”
A faint smile touched his mouth. “It will be my biggest magic act to date. Maintaining funding for an illusionary casino that may never be built.”
“It will.” David sank his hands into his pockets. “I like her, Aristos.”
“Who?”
“You know who I’m talking about.” His mentor shook his head. “I worry sometimes you think you don’t deserve happiness. That you consider it unattainable to you.”
“Maybe it is.”
“And maybe you’re just afraid to reach for it.”
Maybe it wasn’t worth it. He’d watched his family fall apart under the weight of the burdens it carried—financially, emotionally—his mother turning into a shadow of her former self when life had worn away at the very edges of her. Had watched the rosy glow slip from his life as a so-called revolutionary when it became clear the term was only used to perpetuate the violence, the control, those in charge had sought to exercise over them all as foot soldiers.
Happiness, those myths the storytellers liked to weave, they had always turned out to be lies for him. How could you want what you didn’t even believe existed?
Returning to his office after David left, their conversation continued to dominate his head. Content was a state of being he could get on board with. Money went a long way toward providing that. Except he didn’t seem to even have that state of mind in his possession anymore. Being around Alex reflected back at him the image of a man he wasn’t sure he wanted to be any longer, a problem when you thought maybe that was all you had in you.
He’d thrown most, but not all, of his dark past at her and she hadn’t blinked. Didn’t seem to think any less of him for it. He wondered what she’d think if she knew the truth. How he’d walked away from the people who’d needed him most, not once, but twice. How being the man who always put himself first made him a selfish creature who wasn’t about to change his spots.
He put his feet up on his desk and closed his eyes as he waited for Carin to put his call through. Allowed himself to consider the implications of last night after spending all day avoiding them. Alex had claimed her virginity changed nothing between them, that it had been her decision to make and she’d wanted her first time to be with him.
He could convince himself she had been right, it was that simple, that the damage was done and the only way was forward. The question was what was the way forward? Either he shut this down, likely the path he should take, or he made the conscious choice to do exactly what Alex had proposed—see where this thing between them went in a time-limited, short-term affair.
Expelling a breath, he hit the intercom and asked for an espresso to go with his call. His brain didn’t seem to be in working order, because the only thing that did seem to be computing about this whole mess he’d predicted so accurately was that, in his lust, he’d recklessly claimed something that hadn’t been his to own—the innocence of a royal. There would be consequences; he just didn’t know what they were yet.
* * *
Alex was debating whether to go down to dinner alone or have it in her room when Aristos showed up at her door. Propped up against the jamb, all earthly male in khaki shorts and another of those T-shirts that showed off his muscles, it was all she could do to look completely unaffected.
“Everyone gone?”
He nodded. “Up for dinner?”
She eyed him. “Are you still angry with me?”
His mouth curved. “My feelings toward you are a whole lot of things, but anger isn’t one of them.”
“You walked out last night...”
“Because I needed to think.”
Right. Where was that anger that had fueled her all day? The aloofness she so desperately needed? She looked down at the sundress she wore. “I’m not dressed for dinner.”
His gaze slid over her. “You could wear a garbage bag and still look utterly edible, Princess. Grab your shoes. Sneakers, actually. We’re going sailing.”
“Sailing?”
“Thought you might like to see the sunset from the water. Chef made us dinner.”
Her disobedient pulse fluttered. A sunset cruise would be intimate... But perhaps exactly what they needed at the moment to resolve last night. Slipping on sneakers and sunglasses, she walked with him to the beach. His gaze rested on her as they walked along the sand toward the dinghy waiting for them. “You look pale.”
“Headache. It’s going now.”
“The champagne?”
“I didn’t drink enough for that.” Fire filled her cheeks. He’d consumed her before that had gone very far.
For once he made no smart comeback. Guided her instead to the motorized dinghy that took them out to the forty-five-foot sailboat waiting for them.
Once they were on the water, she found herself immersed in the rush of the wind. While anything but an accomplished sailor, she knew which sail was which and made a decent team member for Aristos, who was an extremely competent sailor, athletic and commanding as he guided them in a loop of the surrounding islands.
When they finally dropped anchor in a perfect little cove, the sun beginning to sink into the horizon in yet another of those spectacular blood-orange sunsets, another set of muscles she hadn’t used in a while was making itself known. Wincing, she sank to the deck.
“Sore?” Aristos asked.
“Yes. And thirsty.”
He unearthed a cooler from below deck, handed her a bottle and took a beer for himself. She eyed the vodka-based cranberry drink with amusement. “A girl drink for me?”
He moved his gaze over her in one of those totally inappropriate looks that made her breath catch in her throat. “Yes,” he drawled, “definitely a girl.”
Pinpricks of heat unfurled beneath her skin. She took a sip of the surprisingly tasty drin
k to cover her fluster. When Aristos stripped off his T-shirt to enjoy the dying rays of the sun, she followed suit. As far as bikinis went, hers was modest, far from attention-seeking. Aristos, on the other hand, sprawled out beside her, beer in hand, was the definition of the term in dark blue swim trunks, his long, bronzed limbs all tight, corded muscle. A couple of days’ worth of stubble lining his cheeks and jaw added to his dangerous appeal.
“We should talk about last night.”
She pulled in a breath. “Yes.”
“First of all,” he said, training that deadly dark gaze on her, “I wanted to say that you were amazing last night. Last night was amazing.”
Her stomach clenched. “I thought what happened might have ruined it for you.”
“It caught me off guard. I did not expect it.”
“I was going to tell you but it didn’t seem like the right time once we—”
“—consumed each other,” he offered drily.
“Yes.”
“Are you worried you disappointed me?”
She nodded.
“No chance of that, angel. It was off the charts.”
A warmth engulfed her, radiating through her chest. “So why walk out?”
A long moment passed. “I’m insanely attracted to you,” he said finally. “I care about you, Alex. I think that’s clear. But anything beyond that, I can’t offer. My longest relationship was three months—shorter than many of my contract negotiations.”
Her jaw tightened. “To use your words, we’ve been through this. I’ve already told you I’m not looking for a relationship. I have a whole new life ahead of me I need to focus on. And second, as I said last night, me being a virgin doesn’t change anything about our agreement. I was waiting for the right time. The right experience.”
“Yes, but it creates...expectations.”
“What expectations?”
“You gave me something special, Alex.”
“Frightening, you mean.”
“That’s not what I said.”
“It’s what you meant. If you’d left my room any faster, you would have been running.”
He sighed. “I’m not frightened. I’m concerned I’m going to hurt you. Relationships are messy, complicated entanglements I prefer to avoid.”
“And now that we’ve reinforced the fact that I’m not looking for a relationship, where does that leave us?”
His dark gaze glittered. “I think that’s up to you, Princess. As long as you’re clear on who and what I am.”
The antagonism that had been simmering just below the surface roared back to life. “I think that would be a difficult thing for me to swear allegiance to when you hide yourself behind your walls, Aristos. When you run at the first sign of intimacy. I wonder if you know who you are.”
The glitter in his eyes intensified. “Oh, I know who I am, angel. An unashamedly, unapologetically solitary man. Overtly ambitious and perhaps a bit spiritually corrupt. There is no redemption for me.”
She blinked. Took a sip of her drink. “Actually,” she said, “I think you forgot an inspirational success story for those who’ve walked your path, a person who gives back to others in need, a man who has a big heart he refuses to acknowledge.”
A cynical twist curved his mouth. “I should make you my PR person. You’d have me on the most admired CEO list in no time, something even my own PR team can’t seem to do.”
She shook her head as he deflected again. “Nice try, Aristos. But I have your number now.”
“Do you?” He downed a long swallow of beer, swiped his palm across his mouth, set the bottle aside and leaned back on his elbows. “Give it to me. I’m fascinated to hear what you think.”
She took a deep breath. “I think David Tennyson might have picked you up off that street in Athens and helped build you a new life, an immensely successful life, but somewhere along the way, likely far before that, you closed yourself off from the broken relationships and promises that defined your life. You told yourself that love and relationships weren’t to be trusted, were messy, complicated entanglements. To you they only meant hurt.
“You deflect people with sarcasm,” she continued, “when they try to get close. You carry on your ‘transactional’ relationships because they are of no threat to you. You are a lone wolf, and you like to keep it that way.”
She held his gaze. Found it full of an emotion she couldn’t read. “How am I doing?”
* * *
Deadly accurate. Aristos waved a hand at her. “Keep going. I’ll give my analysis at the end.”
“Last night you ran because of the connection we share as much as from taking my virginity. Because you’ve let me in and you don’t like it. Because it breaks all your rules.”
She sat back on her elbows and took a sip of her drink, apparently finished with her excellent summation of him. Her rosy cheeks, the nervous half glance she threw him, suggested she worried she might have gone too far. He thought that if it had been any other person on the planet, it might have been. But not her.
“Very perceptive,” he drawled. “I like the lone-wolf analogy. But don’t be fooled by our connection, Princess. It will only take you so far.”
“I don’t doubt it. But since we are only having an affair, if you’ve decided that’s still going to happen between us, it’s irrelevant, isn’t it?”
He eyed her. Took another swig of his beer. “I feel like I’ve created a monster.”
She gave him a self-satisfied smile. “Take the plunge, Aristos. Make the call.”
Every muscle in his body coiled at the challenge. He was not unaware that indulging in what was in front of him meant taking his fledgling ability to be intimate with another person to the next level, but he couldn’t have stopped himself if he’d tried.
“Get over here,” he murmured.
Her lashes lowered. “I don’t take orders from you.”
“Yes, you do. Now get over here.”
A flare of excitement lit those beautiful blue eyes. Setting her drink down, she pressed her palms to the deck and shimmied toward him. He snagged an arm around her waist and lifted her atop him so her legs were wrapped around him. His gaze rested on her quivering full lower lip, lust tightening his insides.
“I’m feeling a bit spiritually bankrupt,” he drawled, lifting his gaze to hers. “You’d better send in the reinforcements.”
Her mouth curved. “I thought you were a lone wolf.”
“Don’t you ever hear them howl at night?”
Her breathtakingly beautiful smile blinded him as he bent his head and took her mouth in a hot, searing kiss. Her hands clasped his jaw, anchored herself as he devoured her with a hunger he’d kept in check last night. She was with him all the way, arching into his hands when he stripped off her bikini top, moaning when he rolled her nipples between his fingers.
Then it wasn’t enough, not nearly enough, because he needed to own her as much as she owned him in that moment as he pushed himself into uncharted territory.
Sliding his palm down her flat, quivering stomach, he moved his fingers beneath the waistband of her bikini bottoms and cupped the warmth at the heart of her.
Her breathing fractured, those long, silky dark lashes lifting to reveal a brilliant blue. “Aristos,” she whispered, “we can’t— We’re—”
“—in the middle of the Aegean.”
“Yes, but—”
He squeezed her soft flesh. Stroked her silky skin. A stifled gasp filled his ear.
“Like that, angel?”
“Y-yes.”
His thumb found her core, rocking against her in a gentle rhythm that had her moving against his hand. Eyes closed, mouth parted, cheeks flushed, she was the hottest thing he’d ever seen, turning him hard as a stone.
She must have known he was watching her. Her lashes fluttered open, gaze meeting the heat in his. He increased the pressure of his thumb, moving in tight, deliberate circles now, his eyes seducing her as surely as his fingers.
&nbs
p; A frown of concentration crossed her brow, her nails digging into his biceps as her orgasm built. Slipping his fingers inside her, he stroked her to the edge. “Ei sai poly omora,” he whispered, cupping her nape and bringing his mouth down on hers as he increased the rhythm of his fingers. You’re beautiful.
A fractured moan left her lips, her hips pushing against his hand. Sinking his fingers deeper inside her, he whispered, “Come for me, angel.”
Closing her eyes, she melted into him. Rocked harder until she came apart on a low cry he swallowed with a conqueror’s satisfaction.
Fumbling in his pocket, he found a condom. He set her away from him long enough to roll it on, then lifted her with one arm and brought her down on him, his fingers pushing aside the thin strip of her bikini bottoms and guiding his shaft to her slick, hot flesh.
Her eyes widened, nails biting into his flesh as he penetrated her snug channel.
“Aristos. You’re so big... I—”
“Slow,” he muttered thickly. “We take it slow, glykeia mou.”
She closed her eyes. Trusted him with her body. Gradually, her body accepted his, melted around him until he was buried deep inside her. She opened her eyes then, an expression of wonder in those blue orbs that rocked him to his core.
Slowly, gently, he gripped her hips, moving her up and down on him, claiming her with every gasp-inducing thrust of his body. His eyes on hers, he reached between them and rubbed his thumb over the pleasure point at the center of her. Stroked her into another release.
When she came in a shudder, he claimed his own pleasure. A few quick thrusts was all it took, her pulsing, tight flesh shaking his body in a violent release that stole his breath.
She is mine. This time there was no going back.
CHAPTER TWELVE
ARISTOS TRACED THE perfect sloping line of Alex’s voluptuous hip with a light touch designed to deify rather than wake. He’d had her in his bed for three days and still he couldn’t get enough of her. It was like going to the well to drink and discovering you had a never-ending thirst that was impossible to slake. Like discovering something that might finally make you feel whole if you consumed enough of it.
Claiming the Royal Innocent (Kingdoms & Crowns) Page 13
