by Maya Blake
She drew back a touch but her gaze remained unflinching. ‘I know what happened with your father when you were a teenager. The Internet makes information impossible to hide. And your reaction to the tabloid hack’s question yesterday—’
‘There was no reaction.’
‘I was there. I saw how much you hated it.’ Her voice was soft with sympathy.
The idea of being pitied made his fist tighten on the table.
‘And you think this should make me bury my head in the sand about Lowell?’
‘No, I’m just saying that turning his life inside out doesn’t feel right. Since you’ve been in his shoes—’
‘Since I don’t know anything more than what his human resources file says, that’s a lofty conclusion to draw. And, unlike what you think you know about me and my family, what I find out about Captain Lowell won’t find its way to the tabloid press or any social media forum for the world at large to feast over and make caricatures out of. So I say no, there is nothing even remotely similar between the two situations.’
She drew in a slow, steady breath. ‘If you say so.’ Her gaze dropped and she pulled the tablet towards her.
Sakis stayed exactly where he was, the urge to invade her space further an almighty need that stomped through him. In the last twenty-four hours, his PA had acted out of character, challenged him in ways she’d never done before.
The incident with the tent and the sleeping on the sofa bed, he was willing to let go. This latest challenge—breaching the taboo subject of his father—should’ve made him fire her on the spot. But, as much as he hated to admit it, she was right. The journalist’s question had shaken him and unearthed volcanic feelings he preferred masked.
In silence, he watched her compose a succinct email to his security chief, stating his exact wishes.
The electronic ‘whoosh’ of the outgoing email perforated the silence in the conference room. It was as if the very air was holding its breath.
Brianna raised her head after setting the tablet down. ‘Is there anything else?’
His gaze traced over her. A tendril of hair had escaped its tight prison and caressed the wild pulse beating in her neck. His fingers tingled with the need to smooth it away and trace the pulse with his fingers; to keep tracing down the length of her sleek neck to the delicate collarbone hidden beneath her T-shirt.
‘You disagree with what I’m doing?’
Her full pink lips firmed. That dimple winked again. His groin tightened unbearably.
‘Privacy is a right and I detest those who breach it. I know you do too, so I’m struggling with this a little, but I also get why it needs to be done. I also apologise if I stepped out of line but...I trust you when you say you won’t let it fall into unscrupulous hands.’
Her last words drilled down and touched a soft place inside him, soothed the ruffled edge of his nerves a little. ‘You have my word that whatever we discover about Lowell will be held in strictest confidence.’ The knowledge that he was reassuring her, was justifying his behaviour to his assistant, threw him a little, as did the knowledge that he wanted her to approve of what he was doing. He pushed the feeling away as she nodded.
The movement slid the silky hair against her nape. The soft scent of her crushed-lilies shampoo hit his nostrils and his fingers renewed their mad tingling.
‘And, Moneypenny?’
She glanced up. This close, her eyes were even more enthralling. His heart raced and his blood rushed south with a need so forceful, he sucked in a shocked breath.
‘Yes?’ Her lips were parted, the tip of her wet tongue peeking through even teeth.
Sakis struggled to remember what he’d meant to say. ‘I don’t trust easily but that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate people who place their trust in me. In all the time you’ve worked for me, you’ve proved yourself trustworthy and someone I can rely on. Your help especially in the past two days has been priceless. Thank you.’
Her eyed widened. God, she was beautiful. How the hell had he never noticed that?
‘Of...of course, Mr Pantelides.’
Curiously, she paled a little bit more. Sakis frowned then chalked it down to exhaustion. They’d both been driven by dire circumstances to the pinnacle of their endurance. He needed to let her go to her room instead of crouching over her like some dark lord about to demand a virgin sacrifice.
He grimaced and stepped back, slamming down the need to stay where he was. Tension stretched over every of inch of his skin until he felt taut and uncommonly sensitive. ‘I think we find ourselves in a unique enough situation where it’s okay for you to call me Sakis.’
She shook her head. ‘No.’
His brow shot up. ‘Just...no?’
‘I’m sorry, but I can’t.’ Edging away from him, she sprang to her feet. ‘If that’s all you need tonight, I’ll say goodnight.’
‘Goodnight...Brianna.’ Her name sounded like the sweetest temptation on his lips.
She hesitated. ‘I would really prefer it if you kept calling me Moneypenny,’ she said.
Immediate refusal rose to his lips. Until he remembered he was supposed to be her unimpeachable boss, not a demanding lover who was at this moment repeating her given name over and over in his mind. ‘Very well. See you in the morning, Moneypenny.’
He straightened from the table and watched her walk away, her pert bottom tight and deliciously curvy beneath her khaki pants, causing blood to rush hot and fast southward.
He still sported a hard-on that wouldn’t die when his phone rang in his suite an hour later. He stopped pacing his small balcony long enough to snag it from the coffee table where he’d dumped it.
‘Pantelides.’
The short conversation that ensued made him curse long and fluently for several minutes after he hung up.
CHAPTER FIVE
THE FIRM HAMMERING on her door made Brianna’s already racing heart threaten to knock itself into early retirement. Considering the way it’d been racing for the past hour—ever since her wits had deserted her in the conference room—it would’ve been merciful.
What the hell had she been thinking?
Hard knuckles gave the wooden door another impatient workout.
Consciously loosening her tense shoulders, she blew out a reassuring breath and forced composure back into her body. The hastily pulled together bland look was in place when she answered the door.
Sakis stood on the threshold, frowning down at his phone.
‘What’s wrong?’ she asked before she could stop herself. The feeling that passed through her, she recognised as worry, a curiously recurring feeling over the past two days. Not cool, Brianna. In fact, a wincingly large percentage of her reactions today had been...off. From the moment he’d stared down at her and told her in that mesmerising voice, ‘I don’t know what I’d do without you,’ her judgement had been skewed.
Watching him pace with mounting frustration all day, wishing there was something she could do, had rammed home the fact that her professional equanimity was still very much in jeopardy.
Now...now he looked as if he’d clawed frustrated fingers through his hair several times. And the lines bracketing his mouth had deepened. She cleared her throat.
‘I mean, is there something you need, Mr Pantelides?’
His gaze flicked over her then returned to her face. ‘You haven’t changed for bed yet. Good. The pilot is readying the chopper for take-off in fifteen minutes.’
‘Take-off?’
His hand tightened around the phone as it signalled another incoming message. ‘We’re leaving for the airport. I’ve called an emergency meeting first thing in the morning back in London.’
‘We’re returning to London? But...why?’
His lips firmed. ‘It seems more vultures are circling over our disaster
.’
Stunned, she stared at him. The thought that anyone would want to challenge Sakis Pantelides at any time, let alone when he was at his most edgy and dangerous, made her doubt his opponent’s sanity. ‘Media or corporate?’
His smile was deadly. ‘Corporate. I’m guessing the usual suspects who chest-thump every now and then will be feeling bolder in light of the slumping share price as a result of the tanker accident.’
She retrieved the bag she’d left at the foot of her bed. ‘But the shares have started to recover again after the initial nosedive. Your statement and the very public admission of liability made it stabilise very quickly. Why would they...?’
‘News of a takeover bid would make it plunge again and that’s what they’re counting on.’ His phone pinged again and he growled. ‘Especially if two of those companies are announcing their intended merger in the morning.’
He cursed in Greek, using a particular word that made heat rise to her cheeks as she dove into the bathroom for her toiletries bag.
‘Which two companies?’ she called out as she zipped up her bag and checked the room to make sure she hadn’t left anything important.
Exiting, she saw the lines of fatigue etched into his face and her heart lurched.
‘Moorecroft Oil and Landers Petroleum.’
It was only because he’d turned away, his attention once more on this phone, that Sakis didn’t see she’d stopped dead in her tracks; that the blood had drained from her face with a swiftness that made her dizzy for a moment.
It couldn’t be. No. It had to be pure coincidence that the petroleum company shared the same name with Greg, her ex-boyfriend. Landers was a fairly common name...wasn’t it? Besides, Greg’s company when she’d been a part of it before he’d struck the deal that had doomed her, had been a gas-brokering company; a company that had since declared bankruptcy. And certainly not one large enough to take on the juggernaut that was Pantelides Shipping.
‘I’d like to get out of here this side of— Brianna? What’s wrong?’
For goodness’ sake, pull yourself together!
Dry-mouthed and heart thumping, Brianna forced herself to breathe. ‘Nothing; it’s the heat, I think.’
Keen eyes scoured her face and gentled a fraction as he pocketed his phone. ‘Not to mention the lack of sleep. My apologies for dragging you off like this. You can sleep on the plane.’
Stepping forward, he held out his hand for her bag. Their fingers touched, lingered. Heat shot through her and she hastily pulled back from the scorching contact. Swallowing, she followed him out and shut the door behind her. ‘I’ll be fine. And you’ll need me to find out everything we can about the two companies.’ Not to mention she needed to know whether Greg had anything to do with Landers Petroleum.
The thought that he might have started another company, might be cultivating another patsy the same way he’d cultivated her, made her stomach lurch sickeningly.
Could she alert Sakis without drawing attention to herself? Out herself as the needy woman, so desperate for love she hadn’t seen the trap set for her until it’d been too late?
Her belly churned with fear and anxiety as they left the hotel and rode the short helicopter journey to the private hangar at Agostinho Neto airport.
Dear God. She could lose everything.
The thought sent a shudder so strong, she stumbled over her own feet a few steps from the airplane.
Sakis caught her arm and steadied her. Then his fingers dropped to encircle her wrist, keeping a firm hold on her as he mounted the steps into the plane.
She swallowed down the wholly different trepidation that stemmed from having Sakis’s hand on her. She tried to pull away, but he held on until they stood before the guest-cabin bedroom opposite the plane’s master suite. He opened the door and set her bag down just inside it, then led her back to the seating area.
At Sakis’s signal, the pilot shut the door.
‘Buckle up. Right after we take off, we’re going to bed.’
Her mouth dropped open as her pulse shot sky-high. ‘I beg your pardon?’ she squeaked. Her whole body throbbed and she couldn’t glance away from his disturbingly direct gaze.
His grim smile held a wealth of masculine arrogance as he shoved a frustrated hand through his hair. Taking his seat opposite her, he set his phone—which had thankfully stopped pinging—on a nearby table. ‘A...poor choice of words, Moneypenny. What I mean is, it’s the middle of the night in London. Not much we can do from here.’
‘I can still pull up as much information as I can on the companies...’
He shook his head. ‘I already have people working on that. You need to get some sleep. I need you sharp and—’
‘You need to stop treating me like some fragile flower and let me do my job!’
Moss-green eyes narrowed. ‘Excuse me?’
Anger lent her voice desperation and she leaned forward, hands planted on the table separating them. The fact that this close she could almost touch the stubble layering his hard, chiselled jaw and see the darker, mesmerising flecks in his irises sparked another tingle of awareness through her. But the remotest possibility that Greg could be lurking in the periphery of her life, ready to expose her, made her stand her ground.
She’d gone through too much, sacrificing everything she had to prevent her debilitating weakness from being exposed. She no longer needed love. She’d learned that she could live without it. What she couldn’t live with was having her previous sins exposed to Sakis Pantelides.
‘You seem to think I need a full night’s sleep or a warm bed to function properly, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth.’ Warning bells rang in her head, telling her seriously to apply brakes on her runaway mouth. But she couldn’t help herself. ‘I’ve slept in places where I had to keep one eye open or risk losing more than just the clothes on my back. So please don’t treat me like some pampered princess who needs her beauty sleep or she’ll go to pieces.’
His eyes narrowed, followed almost instantly by a keen speculation that screamed what was coming next. ‘When did you sleep rough?’ His voice was low, husky, full of unabashed curiosity.
Alarm bells shrieked harder, in tandem with the jet engines powering for take-off. Sharp memories rose, images of drug dens and foul-smelling narcotics bringing nausea she fought to keep down. ‘It doesn’t matter.’
He leaned forward on his elbows and stared her down. ‘Yes, it does. Answer me.’
‘It was a very long time ago, Mr Pantelides.’
‘Sakis,’ he commanded in that low, deep tone that sent a shiver through her.
Again she shook her head. ‘Let’s just say my childhood wasn’t as rosy as the average child’s, but I pulled through.’
‘You were an orphan?’ he probed.
‘No, I wasn’t, but I might as well have been.’ Because her junkie mother had been no use to herself, never mind the child she’d given birth to. The remembered pain bruised her insides and unshed tears burned the backs of her eyes. She blinked rapidly to stop them falling but a furtive glance showed Sakis had noticed the crack in her composure.
The plane lifted off the ground and shot into the starlit sky.
Sakis’s gaze remained on her for long minutes. ‘Do you want to talk about it?’ he asked gently.
Brianna’s heart hammered harder. ‘No.’ She’d already said too much, revealed far more than was wise. Deliberately unclenching her fists, she prayed he would let the matter rest.
The jet started to level out. Snatching his phone from the table, Sakis nodded and unbuckled his seatbelt. ‘Regardless of your protests, you need to sleep.’ He held out his hand to her. The look on his face told her nothing but her acquiescence would please him.
Immensely relieved that he wasn’t probing into her past any longer, she thought it wise to stifle f
urther protest. Unbuckling her seatbelt, she placed her hand in his and stood. ‘If I do, then so do you.’
His smile was unexpected. And breath-stealing. Heat churned within her belly, sending an arrow of need straight between her thighs.
‘We’ve dovetailed right back to the very point I was trying to make. I have every intention of getting some sleep. Even super-humans like me deserve some down time.’
A smile tugged at her lips. ‘That’s a relief. You were beginning to show us mere mortals up.’
His smile turned into an outright laugh, his face transforming into such a spectacular vision of gorgeousness that her breath caught. Then her whole body threatened to spontaneously combust when his hand settled at her waist. With a firm nudge, he guided her back down the aisle.
‘No one in their right mind would call you a mere mortal, Moneypenny. You’ve proved beyond any doubt that you’re the real thing—an exceptionally gifted individual with a core of integrity that most ambitious people lose by the time they reach your age.’
At the door to her cabin, she turned to face him, her heart hammering hard enough to make her head hurt a little. ‘I think what you’ve done since the tanker crashed shows you’re willing to go above and beyond what most people would do in the same circumstances. That is integrity.’
His gaze dropped to her lips, lingered there in a way that turned her body furnace hot. ‘Hmm, is this the start of an exclusive mutual admiration society?’
The breath she’d never quite managed to recapture fractured even further. When his eyes dropped lower, her nipples tightened, stung into life by green fire that lurked in those depths. Reaching behind her, she grasped the doorknob, desperate for something to cling to.
‘I’m just trying to point out that I’m nothing special, Mr Pantelides. I just try to be very good at my job.’
His gaze recaptured hers. ‘I beg to differ. I think you’re very special.’ He stepped closer and his scent filled her nostrils. ‘It’s also obvious no one has told you that enough.’ The hand that still rested at her waist slid away to cover the hand she’d gripped on the door. Using the pressure of hers, he turned the knob. ‘When this is all over, I’ll make a point to show you just how special you are.’
