by Abby Green
He took her over to the bed and laid her down with a gentleness Lucy would have bet he hadn’t been feeling just moments ago. The fact that she was so aware of him, aware of what was going on inside his head, made her reel anew. His body covered hers with a delicious weight and Lucy brought a shaky hand to his face. When he turned to press a kiss to her inner palm she felt another flutter of fear—but this time it was because she knew for certain that she’d fallen in love with this complex, proud man who presented one face to the world and another here with her.
When Lucy woke the next morning she wasn’t surprised to see Ari up and dressed and sitting on the balcony. Dark glasses shielded those amazing eyes. There was a stillness to his body and a sternness to his features that told her the sensual cocoon they’d inhabited last night was gone. The revelation of admitting she’d fallen for him made her feel intensely vulnerable in the harsh light of day. She pulled the sheet up over her body and Ari’s head turned. Her skin prickled when she imagined the slow appraisal he was giving her from behind those shades.
She came up on one arm and pushed her heavy mass of hair back, feeling very rumpled and lethargic. Ari had been ruthless in his pursuit of pleasure last night, hers and his, surprising her with the depth of passion he’d incited within her. It had seemed as if their lovemaking had gone to another place, and Lucy cringed inwardly now to remember that she’d been moved to tears after one shattering climax after another.
Now Ari just uncoiled that long lean body from the chair and said coolly, ‘We need to get back to Athens. We’ve got work to do and a heavy week coming up.’
Lucy felt as if he’d slapped her. Her body went cold. Boss/assistant. Back to work. Back in her place. The intense vulnerability made her feel slightly sick.
‘Of course,’ she said through numb lips, when she felt like saying something like, I never asked for this, you know, and I certainly never expected to be brought here to this idyllic little hideaway where you couldn’t contain your emotions.
When Lucy stood under the shower a short time later her belly clenched painfully. She could see exactly why he’d brought her here now: no possibility of paparazzi catching them out, no one who knew him apart from the locals he’d known as a child…no chance for her to be getting any ideas.
There was a knock on the door that made her jump, and Lucy heard a curt, ‘The helicopter is on stand-by. As soon as you’re ready we’re leaving.’
‘Fine,’ Lucy called casually, belying the unsteady beating of her heart and the sick feeling gripping her gut. His words and cool manner were an all too mocking confirmation of her fears and her own stupidity. He was hustling them out of here as if there had just been some kind of dire weather warning, making it patently obvious how much he regretted bringing her there in the first place.
As she switched off the shower and stepped out, she knew that she would have to start distancing herself. She couldn’t go on like this. She was being served a timely reminder of what she could expect out of this relationship—which was nothing but a very bruised heart.
That evening, when they returned to the hotel from Ari’s Athens office and Lucy felt Ari take her arm as they stepped out of the lift, she drew on all her strength to pull away from his touch.
They approached her hotel room door and she prayed silently that he wouldn’t try to come in. She sent him a quick glance, while swiping her door open at the same time, thanking God that her hands were steady.
‘I’m tired. I’m going to go to bed…’
Her door opened and she heard a drawling, ‘Not a bad idea.’
Lucy turned in the door and looked up. ‘Alone. As you said yourself earlier, we have a heavy week. And I—I am tired.’
Ari looked down at Lucy and felt the knot of frustration which had started the minute he’d left their bed earlier this morning intensify. Every moment he spent not touching this woman meant dealing with a level of frustration he hadn’t experienced before. He looked at her properly for the first time. He’d tried to avoid looking directly at her all day—if he was honest since last night, when she’d—His belly flipped over and he ruthlessly quashed the memory of such weakness. He still couldn’t believe it had happened…
But now she did look tired, with faint circles of violet under her eyes. She also looked a little strained, and a dart of guilt struck him when he remembered the urgency he’d felt to get off Paros and back here, bringing them straight to the office and working them both like dogs.
Lust was a force within him, crying out for satisfaction…but he would not admit to that. She wanted to go to bed alone? Well, he was damned if he was going to let her see that the notion of that went against every clamouring instinct to throw her over his shoulder and carry her to his own bed.
So he backed away, and did not like the visible look of relief that crossed her face. He almost stopped and gave in to his primal urges—had to clench his fists not to.
‘We leave for Parnassus’ villa at nine a.m. I’ll see you in the lobby.’
She nodded and then disappeared into her room, shutting the door between them with a firm click that seemed to resonate all the way through Ari’s body right to his feet.
On Thursday evening Lucy thought back to the gentle exhaustion she’d felt the previous Sunday and could have laughed. Since then it had been like the first week—a frenetic blur of work, whizzing from Parnassus’ villa, back to Ari’s office, and back to the hotel. Ari had been out late nearly every evening, having private meetings with Parnassus and their legal teams, and much to Lucy’s relief hadn’t thought it necessary for her to be there too.
She’d carefully locked the interconnecting door on her side each night, even though all she’d fantasised about was slipping naked between Ari’s sheets and awaiting his return.
Instead, as she’d thumped her pillow, she’d told herself that this was the best way. Nip it in the bud now, and when they got back to the UK she’d calmly inform him that this brief moment of madness was over. Her mind froze at the thought of calling women for him, arranging dates, seeing him come in in the morning with that satisfied look on his face, slight shadows under those amazing eyes from not sleeping—
‘Lucy, what are you doing hiding over here? Has Ari told you to stay out of sight in case people realise he’s sleeping with his PA?’
It took a moment for Lucy’s focus to return to the room and realise that Anatolios was standing in front of her, with a smarmy look on his face. She could almost feel sorry for him now that she knew he’d been rejected in the end, despite his mother’s vast efforts to secure him number one place in his father’s affections.
‘I’m not hiding.’ She felt defensive. She had been guilty of hiding, hoping to get a glimpse of Ari and compose herself before going over to him. ‘I’ve just arrived and I was looking for Ari.’
They’d come separately to this, another charity ball which was being held in their hotel in honour of Parnassus’ contribution to helping the homeless in Athens. It was going to be the precursor of the announcement of the merger, which would be made the following morning, with the papers being signed at a press conference.
Lucy felt a prickle of unease skate up her spine when she saw how Anatolios’s eyes were all but devouring her breasts, and she realised she was hemmed in between him and a wall. She moved to try and edge past him, but he moved too, surprising her with his agility.
He came and stood close, effectively blocking her from the room, and Lucy was very aware of how intimate it might look. She was plastered against the wall behind her now, could feel Anatolios’s breath, smell the alcohol. Her belly spasmed.
‘Anatolios, I have to go and find Ari. Would you excuse me, please?’
He laughed, and it was nasty. He didn’t move. ‘You English, you’re always so polite—please and thank you. You’re not going anywhere until you tell me what Ari is cooking up with Parnassus.’
Lucy flushed, and her eyes were immediately caught by Anatolios’s. He couldn’t hide his l
ook of triumph.
‘I knew it. I knew there was something big going on.’ He grabbed Lucy’s arm then, making her wince.
‘Tell me what it is right now, I have a right to know what my brother is—’
Abruptly Anatolios was moved out of the way bodily, and then Ari was standing there. Lucy felt weak with relief.
He gestured with a hand for her to come with him, and she went gratefully, her legs feeling like jelly. She didn’t look back, and when Ari said to her, ‘What was going on there?’ she avoided his eye and shook her head, saying, ‘Nothing. He just…we were just chatting, that’s all.’
The whole scene, with its air of menace, was making her feel sick, but she didn’t see the point in rising Ari’s ire now, when the deal was all but done.
Lucy made sure to stick close to him after that, figuring the devil she knew was better than dealing with Anatolios or Helen, who she’d also seen in the distance.
Just before everyone started to disperse Ari pulled her aside and took a sheaf of folded documents out of his inside jacket pocket. He handed them to her and they were still warm from his body heat. Even that made her tremble.
‘Put these up in the safe in my room, would you, please? They’re the official merger documents for tomorrow.’
She just nodded, avoiding his eye, and hurried out of the ballroom, glad of the respite and a chance to get herself back under control.
Ari watched Lucy leave the room, his eyes drawn helplessly to her glorious body in the figure-hugging strapless dress. His hunger for her was like a wild thing within him—a beast clawing to get out.
He rationalised it: it had to be because she’d been holding him at arm’s length all week, her door firmly closed by the time he’d come back each evening. His mind had been helplessly distracted, despite the fact that he’d told her not to come to those late-night meetings, but now—His body tightened unbearably. The thought of her right now, in his room…He glanced around and knew he wouldn’t be missed for a few moments. His blood surged at the thought of tumbling her onto his bed and sating this demon desire inside him.
Lucy was walking over to where the safe was hidden in the wardrobe of Ari’s bedroom when she heard something at the door. She turned and went back, thinking it might be the turn down staff. When she saw Anatolios slipping into the room she froze.
‘What are you doing here? How did you get in?’
He smiled nastily, and she saw his eyes take in the documents in her hand. She hurriedly put them behind her back.
He kept coming towards her, and she started to back away into the bedroom.
‘Oh, let’s just say I’m in Athens a lot more than Ari these days, so I have my contacts. Now, why don’t you show me what you have hidden behind your pretty back?’
He was coming straight at her and Lucy froze for a second, fear gripping her like a cold, clammy hand. He was almost on her before she turned and stumbled, making for the safe before he could get the documents from her.
She felt her arm grabbed in a merciless grip and cried out, tipping off balance. Anatolios jerked her back painfully.
‘Let me go.’
He was reaching around her, trying to get the papers, his face red and flushed. In a bid to get away, though his arms were wrapped tight around her now, Lucy dropped the papers behind her and used her hands to try and push him off. He saw the papers and lunged, knocking them both to the ground. He fell as a heavy weight on top of her, reaching underneath her for the papers.
Lucy was struggling in earnest now. She could feel her dress riding up her leg, her chest being squashed by his heavy weight. ‘You…Get off me. I can’t…breathe…’
‘What the hell is going on here?’
Chapter Nine
BEFORE Lucy knew which way was up, the heavy weight of Anatolios was being plucked off her by Ari, as if he weighed no more than a bag of sugar. He literally held Anatolios by the scruff of his neck. The man was spluttering now, clearly terrified of his much stronger older brother.
‘She told me to come up here. She told me she had something for me. There!’
He pointed to the papers, now strewn on the ground.
‘Is this true?’ Icy green eyes and an even icier voice were directed down at Lucy, who realised that she was still on the floor, dress hitched up, breasts heaving with her breath. She scrambled up, but then had to subside onto the side of the bed when her legs wouldn’t hold her. Reaction was starting to set in.
She shook her head. She couldn’t look at Ari—or him. ‘No, of course it’s not true. He followed me up here. He must have seen you give me the papers.’
Anatolios spluttered even more. ‘Come on. Why on earth would I want to see some stupid papers? It’s not as if there’s anything going on—is there?’
Ari stilled. Right until that moment his vision had been blurred because he was so angry. When he’d seen Anatolios on top of Lucy he’d felt an awful weakness pervade his limbs before he’d kicked into action. And then, when he’d seen the papers…His heart was telling him one thing, but his brain was refusing to listen.
He dragged Anatolios to the door of the suite and said blisteringly, ‘If I find out that you were the instigator of this incident you can kiss goodbye to working for Levakis Enterprises once and for all.’
And with that he threw his brother out of the suite and faced back to the bedroom, thinking to himself, If, on the other hand, I find out it was Lucy… His brain seized.
She appeared at the bedroom door. She looked unsteady on her feet, one shoe on, one shoe off. Her dark hair was tumbled in glorious profusion around her milky pale bare shoulders, the curve of her breasts outlined by the top of her strapless dress. As if seeing the direction of his gaze, she put her hands there and hitched the dress up. He noticed they were shaking, and yet he couldn’t give in to his overwhelming instinct which was to go to her, to take her into his arms. He couldn’t—because she might very well have just tried to betray him in the most heinous way.
He suddenly thought of the way he’d seen her earlier, backed into a corner talking to Anatolios as intimately as if they’d been lovers. And thought too of all the distant warning bells he’d ignored in his pursuit of her. The fact that work had taken second place, especially at such an important time, was starkly clear now.
Lucy sucked in a sharp breath. Ari clearly wasn’t leaping to see if she was all right as he stood there, all but glowering at her. The fact that he believed she might have led Anatolios up here with a view to giving him or showing him the documents was screamingly obvious. Her hand gripped onto the doorframe as sheer hurt at his fundamental lack of trust nearly floored her.
He moved suddenly, and she flinched, but he just went over to the drinks board and poured a measure of what looked like whisky into a shot glass and brought it over to her.
‘Here—drink this.’
She looked up as she took the glass. ‘Ari, please let me—’
‘I don’t want to hear it. Not right now anyway.’
And he stepped past her and into the room, where she looked back to see him pick up the papers and put them in the safe.
Feeling numb, Lucy bent to take off her one shoe and went into the sitting room to sit down. She took a sip of the liquid, wincing as it burnt its way down her throat.
Ari came back out and stood with arms folded, all but towering over her. She refused to cower back into the chair, and put the glass down jerkily on the table beside her.
‘Ari—’
‘Did he see the papers? Does he know about Parnassus?’
‘Of course not. How can you think that?’
‘Because tonight is the second time I’ve seen you deep in conversation with my brother, and now, the night before the biggest merger in Greek history is announced, he happens to be conveniently in the same room as you when you’re putting the papers in the safe.’ His mouth thinned. ‘Although obviously you both got distracted—’
Lucy stood, quivering from head to toe. ‘Stop that
right now. That’s not how it happened. He followed me up here and got in somehow. He must have got a key from someone on the staff. Before I knew it he was…’ She shuddered convulsively as she remembered the instant panic at feeling him crowding her, all over her.
Lucy stopped talking and looked into those devastating and yet icy green eyes, that harsh face. Her words might as well have been addressed to a marble statue. He was so remote, so untouchable. And something slammed into her consciousness. It was cold and stark reality. Despite his cool behaviour that last morning on Paros, had she really fooled herself for a second into believing that something amazing had happened between them? That against all the odds they’d gained some sort of mutual trust and respect? She was just the secretary and he was her boss…She gasped audibly as it became even more clear, her hand going to her chest as if to stop the lancing pain. But it didn’t.
Even Ari frowned. ‘What is it?’
Lucy figured dimly that all the colour must have drained from her face. She felt icy cold all of a sudden, and tried to formulate words through numb lips. ‘That’s why you appeared—you didn’t even trust me to come up here and do this. You suspected something all along.’
She watched as his face flushed a dark red, and found herself sinking back down onto the chair.
‘All this time you’ve thought that I might do something like this.’ She shook her head and looked up, pain shattering her insides as she had to ask, ‘Is that why you slept with me? Because you thought it might be easier to control me?’
His lack of response and that stony visage was confirmation enough. As if watching a movie in slow motion, Lucy went all the way back to when she’d tried to resign and Ari had told her she couldn’t. It must have been then. He must have decided at that point that she might be a liability and planning some kind of revenge.
She somehow found the strength to stand again. She felt even clammier now. She’d always known what Ari was, the kind of man he was, but somehow in the past few weeks she’d let herself forget it.
