by Lucy Leroux
Alex led her out of the shower stall and grabbed a towel for each of them. He threw one around him before wrapping the other around Elynn. Tired, but satisfied, he ran the towel over her smooth skin, drying her as if he were a devoted servant. He was about to start on himself when he felt her stiffen, then shudder slightly.
“Baby what’s wrong?”
Elynn didn’t answer him. She was staring at herself in the mirror. Her reflections showed signs of his ravishment. Her lips were swollen and there were red marks on her throat and breast from his stubble and little bites. “I’m sorry. Your skin is sensitive. I’ll be more careful next time,” he said apologetically.
Her eyes closed. Dropping the towel, he put his hands on her shoulders and was stunned when she pushed him away. Breathing loudly, Elynn walked blindly away from him, accidentally hitting the counter hard with her hip. Crying out, she crumpled to the floor.
“Elynn!” he bent down, trying to hold her, but she waved him away. Alarmed, he grabbed her flailing hand. “Elynn, baby, it’s just me. It’s Alex,” he said reassuringly.
“I’m okay. It’s okay,” she mumbled, shaking all over.
Scared out of his mind, Alex hovered over her. He didn’t know what to do. Elynn was sitting on the floor rocking back and forth, but she was finally making eye contact, and she kept repeating that everything was okay—when things couldn’t have been worse.
“Baby, stay right here. I’m going to call the doctor,” he said, starting to get up so he could go get his phone. Elynn grabbed him, holding onto his leg.
“No, no doctors. I’m sorry,” she said, her amazing green-gray eyes filling with tears.
Alex shook his head. “You need to talk to someone. This is all my fault. I pushed you too far too fast,” he said reproachfully as he crouched back over her.
“No, it wasn’t too far. I’m being stupid. I don’t know why I freaked out like that. I’m so happy with you,” she said, throwing her arms around his neck and clinging to him tightly.
Alex didn’t say a word to contradict her, but he knew he’d done something unforgivable. Elynn looked so lost and afraid. He’d pushed her into a sexual relationship before she was ready.
You even bit her, you piece of shit. Stiffening, he remembered that picture of Elynn in the hospital Costas had shown him so long ago, the one that showed a bite mark on her shoulder. He’d just meant it playfully, and the mark he’d made was almost gone already, but the fact he’d even had the impulse proved what a fucking idiot he was.
Picking Elynn up off the floor, he wrapped the towel around her more securely before kicking open the door to the bedroom. His heart ached at the way she was holding on to him, as though trying to absolve him of any guilt. He moved to the bed, wrapping himself around her and pulling the covers over her shivering body.
“It’s not your fault. Don’t ever say that again,” she whispered hoarsely.
“It was too soon.”
“No, it wasn’t. I just had a stupid panic attack. I used to get them all the time.”
Yeah, used to. But she hadn’t had one in years. Even though Alex knew he should get his fucking hands off her, he squeezed Elynn tighter. She turned her face into his neck and tried to cover him with her slim body, slipping one smooth leg between both of his.
“No doctor,” she whispered.
“Okay. For now…” he said quietly, holding her until she fell asleep.
****
It was afternoon when Elynn awoke. Groggily, she turned in bed, surprised to see Alex sitting in a chair by the bed, fully dressed in a silver-grey suit.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
He wasn’t dressed for a day at home.
“I’m moving up the trip to my office in Greece,” he said before hesitating. “And I think you should stay here.”
Elynn sat up, hurt radiating through her. “What the hell?”
He flinched but continued gently. “I think you should stay and see Dr. Greene today.”
Dr. Greene. She hadn’t seen her former London therapist since she started at Oxford. She’d found someone local to talk to. She’d visited Dr. Andre regularly until last year when she’d been too busy to keep regular appointments.
With a pang, she realized she hadn’t even known that Alex knew her therapist’s name. Which meant he knew exactly why she was seeing a therapist.
Well, you knew that was the case already… But she’d been hoping they wouldn’t ever have to talk about it.
Suck it up, she told herself. He has a right, he needs to understand.
“You know everything, don’t you?” she asked, looking at him miserably.
“I know how brave you are. I know how proud I am of you,” he said evasively.
She shook her head and smiled resignedly. “I know Costas told you…about Stephen.”
It was the first time she’d said his name aloud in years. Her counseling sessions had long since gone past the attack to focus on her life and schoolwork. But her continuing issues with men were tied to Stephen, so she was still dealing with him, albeit indirectly.
“I forced it out of him,” Alex admitted eventually. “I’m sorry if you aren’t comfortable with that. But I wouldn’t let Dad keep anything about you from me,” he said before running a hand over his face. “Hell, I don’t know why I just admitted that. I’m just digging the hole deeper. Look, I called Dr. Greene while you were asleep, and I got an emergency appointment for today. If you don’t want to see her I can get your Oxford therapist up here tonight or tomorrow on the helicopter.”
He bent down to kiss her forehead, and when she didn’t say anything, he continued. “I’m going to wrap things up in the Greek office as soon as I can instead of making it an extended trip like we planned. I’ll be back in three days. I rehired Andrea, by the way. I know she was your favorite bodyguard. She’ll go with you to the doctors and anywhere else you want to go. Okay?”
For a second, he hovered, but he didn’t wait for a reply. She watched him leave without saying a word.
The rest of the day passed by in a self-recriminating haze. Why the hell did I lose my shit that way? It had been years since she’d had a panic attack. And now she’d had one in front of Alex at the worst possible time. Their physical relationship was just starting, and she wanted it to keep going.
She couldn’t help being hurt that Alex’s first reaction was to leave the country, but she mostly blamed herself for freaking out in the first place. Irrationally, she wasn’t angry with him for calling her doctor. Though he should have left the decision to her, she didn’t resent his action. Alex had always watched out for her. In fact, that knowledge was the only thing that was comforting her in the face of his sudden abandonment.
Chapter 12
Dr. Greene was a friendly middle-aged woman with a distinctly maternal air. Her appearance was a total deception, however, as the woman had more degrees than anyone else Elynn knew. She also had a tendency to be blunt, but Elynn liked her for it.
The doctor had been very concerned to hear from her again so suddenly for the first time in years. “Tell me what’s bothering you,” she said, a tiny frown puckering her forehead.
Elynn blushed and stared down at her hands before speaking. She cleared her throat. “I’ve started a relationship recently. A sexual one. It’s my first and it’s…a little overwhelming.”
The doctor nodded. “It’s perfectly normal to have those feelings even under the best of circumstances. But with your history, you are bound to have even more conflicted emotions. Is your partner aware of your issues?”
“Yes. He made it his business to know,” she said with a wry smile.
Dr. Greene was puzzled. “What does that mean?”
“The relationship. It’s with my…my stepbrother, Alex. I think he’s known about my history for a long time.”
The usually unflappable doctor betrayed her shock. She froze, her mouth a little open. It wasn’t much, but it was the biggest reaction Elynn had ever gotten f
rom her. She gave the doctor a wry smile and woman snapped her mouth shut, her professionalism returning quickly.
Dr. Greene cleared her throat. “Yes, you told me as much. Can I assume Alex is the one who initiated this relationship?” she asked.
The doctor knew enough about Alex’s reputation from their past sessions to know what a dominant and forceful personality he was. Even Alex’s own father deferred to him in most situations.
“Yes,” Elynn confirmed, smile still on her face.
“Judging from that smile, I’m going to assume you’re happy.”
“You would assume right,” Elynn nodded.
“But this is Alex Hanas you’re talking about. He’s a very powerful man, a bit of a bulldozer, if I can quote you and your impressions of him from our past sessions. Are his aggressive tendencies leading to these feelings of being overwhelmed?”
She struggled to find the right words. “Yes and no. I mean Alex is a force of nature, but over the years, I’ve gotten used to handling him pretty well. We’ve always been on good terms. I consider him my best friend now. But now we’re involved—very involved. There have been some bumps in the road, but my issue, why I’m here, isn’t really because of Alex. It’s because of me with Alex.”
She explained, a little ineptly at first, about the aftermath of their first night together and how she had reacted when she saw herself in the mirror. Understanding the situation quickly, the doctor analyzed her reaction.
“I find it very telling that you weren’t looking at Alexandros, but at yourself when your panic attack hit. In fact, you turned your back on him. You didn’t identify him as a threat. It was the sight of yourself that triggered the panic attack,” the doctor said.
Elynn shrugged. “I trust Alex. I always have.”
“But that doesn’t mean you’re not going to have misgivings about being in a sexual relationship with him. At first anyway,” the doctor added.
They continued to speak about trust and inevitably about how Elynn felt about being involved with an older and extremely powerful man. The conversation about power stuck with her long after the session was over.
She returned to the London house in a pensive mood. Her spirits lifted slightly when she walked into the living room. A huge bouquet of blood-red roses was sitting on the coffee table. Smiling she walked up to admire the flowers.
Alex had always given her white roses because he knew they were her favorite, but red were for passion weren’t they? Maybe the change was commemorating their new state as lovers. Lifting the card tucked into the bouquet, she read his message.
Thinking of you.
A little generic for Alex, but he probably didn’t know what to say. Elynn sighed and sat down on the couch. The doctor had been right about so many things. Alex was still a bulldozer, and unless she took a stand early, he was going to run roughshod over her if they continued their relationship. Like the way he had decided that it was in her best interest to leave her behind and insisted she see her former therapist.
True, the session with Dr. Greene had been helpful. Elynn still felt as if things were unresolved, but that was typical after a therapy session. At least she’d finally been able to confide in someone, and conveniently in this case, it was someone bound by law to keep the conversation confidential. The last thing she needed was for gossip to reach the tabloids, or heaven forbid, their parents.
The session with the doctor had also given her perspective. She was now starting to think beyond the immediate future. Despite the ‘bathroom incident’, as she was now referring to it, Elynn didn’t think Alex was going to back away. Not now. If he tried, she was going to take a bat to his kneecaps. So she had better decide what she wanted out of their relationship.
Sex. Lots of it, she admitted to herself. Something told her Alex wasn’t going to have a problem with that. Getting comfortable with the idea, she mulled it over. This might be her one chance to live out her fantasies. There were lots of things she had secretly always wanted to do once she was finally involved with a man. In her vivid imagination, she had an adventurous relationship with a nameless, faceless lover. Now her lover’s image was very solidly Alex.
A scientist to the core, Elynn decided it was time to do a little research. She looked over the eBook collection on her laptop as well as a number of websites she would never admit to visiting later. By mid-afternoon, she had formulated a plan—a series of experiments she was going to need all of her courage to carry out.
She buzzed Andrea, the female bodyguard she had been so happy to see again, and asked her for a favor.
****
Elynn had never visited the Greek office of Hanas industries in Athens before. It was more utilitarian than their posh London offices, at least on the exterior. Most of the buildings in town were nondescript white boxes that didn’t stand many stories high, but collectively they formed a ring of white that circled the ancient historic site of the Acropolis like sea foam. Individually, Elynn didn’t find them attractive from an architectural standpoint, and the Hanas building was no exception.
The interior of the building, however, was a completely different story. It was an Art Deco dream. She could see Costas’ touch in the clean lines of the reception area. He was nostalgic for the 1920’s and had several important pieces of art and artifacts from the period.
Smiling, Elynn spun around to take it all in. The reception area resembled the outside of the Chrysler building. The green panels on the walls curved in graceful arches that gleamed with gold trim under the overhead lights, and the shining black marble floor was regularly interrupted with a star design made from other geometrical shapes.
Walking through the foyer to the reception desk, she wondered what the other offices of Hanas Industries around the globe looked like. The Indonesian office must be pretty spectacular too.
She approached the blonde receptionist behind a wide curving glass desk. “Hello, I’m here to see Alex Hanas please,” she said.
The receptionist looked her up and down in a disparaging once over. “I’m sorry, but Mr. Hanas is extremely busy. You need to make an appointment months in advance,” she said in a nasal tone with a mild Greek accent.
“Just tell him Elynn is here,” she said.
“I don’t think—” the woman began.
“Just tell him I’m here,” she repeated firmly, standing up straight with as much bravado as she could muster.
It wasn’t the first time she had been given the runaround by Alex’s staff. People not familiar with her usually took one look at her unprepossessing clothes and they tried to send her packing. Elynn had learned long ago that she had to be firm and stand her ground until they gave way. The alternative was for Alex to go off on them. He had chewed out more than one individual for being rude to her.
The receptionist grudgingly put the call through and another attractive woman, a brunette this time, came up to join her behind the desk. She too examined Elynn critically. Uncomfortable, she looked away, pretending to examine the decor some more.
She had hoped that the fine green summer dress and expensive coat she’d chosen from Alex’s closet of gifts would be enough to avoid getting the stink eye. But she wasn’t blonde, she didn’t have big boobs or endless legs, and she was wearing glasses. Not for fashion, but to actually see. Obviously someone like her could be nothing to Alexandros Hanas.
“I’m sorry, but Mr. Hanas is in a meeting and can’t be disturbed,” the receptionist said in a smug tone.
She turned to her colleague, and the two began whispering conspiratorially in Greek, obviously amused with her naiveté.
Elynn sighed and whipped out her smartphone. “Fine. I’ll text him, but you’re ruining my surprise,” she said with a gesture at the high-end shopping bag she held.
She sent her text, and within two minutes, Alex was striding out of the elevator, to the jaw-dropped amazement and distress of the two women behind the desk. He scooped Elynn up in a bear hug before ushering her into the elevator.
“He might hear of it anyway given where your hands are,” Elynn said cheerfully.
She had been afraid that Alex would be worried or reserved given the way he had left. His warm welcome was a huge relief to her.
“Are you going to tell me why you’re here?” he asked and then didn’t bother to wait for an answer as he guided her to his office with a hand on the small of her back.
Various heads turned to watch their progress. A whole crowd of people watched with surprise from the double doors of an imposing conference room on the left. Uh oh. Alex had obviously been in the middle of an important meeting. At least the receptionist hadn’t lied about that.
He closed the door to his office, and she had a quick impression of dark leather furniture and heavy wood accents before she was pressed against the door and passionately kissed. Heat flooded her body as Alex pulled her up against him, suspending her in the air as he guided her legs to wrap around him. His hands were lifting her skirt and tugging at her panties before he froze and turned his head away.
He coughed and after a few deep breaths said, “I’m sorry about that. I shouldn’t have grabbed you. I forgot—I was just so happy to see you.”
He put her down and backed away rubbing his temple with the palm of his hand. Elynn stepped forward to grab his hand. “I’m not sorry. That’s the kind of welcome I was hoping for,” she said with a big smile.
“Why didn’t you wait for me in London? I was going to fly back tomorrow,” he said with a little shake of his head as he leaned on the surface of his desk.
“I didn’t want to wait. I saw Dr. Greene, and we had a good talk.”
“What did she say?” he asked, shifting his weight apprehensively.
