Without waiting for a response he marched away and into Nikos’s office, which sat to the rear of the reception.
He sat in the visitor’s chair and Nikos sat opposite him, fixing him with a cold-eyed glare. ‘Why’s Georgie upset?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Just now—before she left—she was upset.’
‘Can we talk about the figures?’
Nikos leant back in his chair. ‘Not until you tell me what’s going on between you two.’
‘Nothing’s going on.’
Nikos shrugged and ran his palm over the wooden surface of his desk—the desk that had once been their father’s—as though wiping it clean. ‘Good, because she’s not right for you.’
Loukas stared at Nikos, waiting for him to smile, to admit that he was kidding. But instead Nikos held his gaze, his dark brown eyes steely.
‘What the hell do you mean?’
Nikos didn’t even flinch at his growl. ‘Georgie is too flighty for you. I mean, she’s a lot of fun, but she’s not right for you.’ He shrugged and said dismissively, ‘She has nothing to offer you.’
Loukas shot out of his chair. ‘I thought you were her friend. Do you even know her?’
He turned away from Nikos, almost sick with the amount of adrenaline coursing through his veins. He slammed the office door and twisted back to Nikos.
‘Georgie’s the most empathetic and kind and intelligent woman I have ever met!’
Despite himself, he couldn’t keep his voice to a normal volume. Instead his words came out in an incredulous roar.
‘And she has backbone—real backbone. She embraces life, she’s independent, she challenges me. She’s fun, and she gets this crazy family. She gets me.’
He knew he should stop. But he couldn’t. The words were spilling out of him and his heart was close to exploding in his chest.
He marched over and stood glaring down at Nikos, his heartbeat pounding in his ears, all rational thought long-departed. ‘Georgie is everything I want.’
Nikos studied him carefully for a moment, his expression unimpressed. ‘Have you told her any of this?’
Loukas stepped back and let out an angry breath. ‘You’ve just played me, haven’t you?’
Nikos gave a noncommittal shrug.
Loukas dropped to his chair. Lowering his head, he silently cursed Nikos as he swiped a hand over his brow. Thee mou! Had he really admitted what Georgie meant to him? To Nikos? To himself? These were feelings he didn’t want to admit to. Because he hadn’t a clue what to do with them.
He worked his jaw and jabbed a finger towards Nikos’s computer screen. ‘Show me the figures for the weekend.’
Nikos didn’t move in his seat. ‘Sounds to me like you’re in love with her.’
‘We’re not having this conversation.’
Nikos scowled at him. ‘This is just like when mum died.’
Once again Loukas shot out of his chair. ‘What are you talking about?’
Nikos followed suit and stood, propping his hands on his hips defiantly, anger firing in his eyes. ‘It was impossible to talk to you. All you were interested in was the business.’
‘It was you and Marios who refused to talk to me!’
Nikos stabbed a finger in his direction. ‘Conversation is a two-way street, Loukas, and it’s hard to open up to someone who gives nothing away, who refuses to share. You wanted us to talk to you about how we felt!’ Nikos stopped and banged the tip of his brown brogue against the base of the desk. ‘But this desk would have been more responsive, more empathetic.’
Really? Did they really have to talk about this? Now?
‘I had to be strong for you.’
Nikos snarled at him. ‘It felt like you didn’t care!’
But then his shoulders slumped. He looked away. His fingers touched against the edge of his desk.
He drew in a deep breath before he looked up again, his eyes full of pain. ‘Not once did you admit that you were hurting too, that you missed them.’
Loukas flinched at the bewilderment and anger and pain in Nikos’s voice.
He twisted away to stare out of the window to one side of Nikos’s office, his breath catching when he spotted Georgie, changed into jeans and a T-shirt, pedalling her bike away up the avenue. He wanted her to stay here on Talos. He wanted her to stay with him.
He turned back to Nikos. ‘I saw how much you were all hurting and I didn’t know how to deal with it. I was terrified of making things worse for you. I thought the thing you needed most was an adult in charge, someone who was in control, who was taking care of the business. I did care. I did hurt. I missed Mum and Dad... But what hurt most was seeing how devastated you were.’
Nikos dropped back to his seat. ‘I wish you had told me how you were feeling back then—it would have made it a lot easier to share what I was going through.’
Nikos’s brown eyes held his in the first true meaningful personal contact they had shared in years.
‘Don’t make the same mistake with Georgie. If you love her, tell her about your feelings for her. Don’t shut her out.’
If only it was that straightforward. ‘She’s not into relationships.’
Nikos nodded. ‘She’s said that to me too. But, out in Reception, it looked to me as though you share something pretty special.’
Loukas ran a hand against the back of his neck, confusion weighing heavily in his chest. ‘Maybe.’
When they’d made love, in those many small moments when she had smiled at him, he could have sworn that he saw love for him in her eyes.
He needed to find out what she felt for him. Unease twisted in his stomach. How would he cope if she said she felt nothing for him? How would he cope if she said she did? Was he really ready for the emotional rollercoaster that was love? Was he really ready to open himself up to all the vulnerability and insecurity that entailed?
‘I’ve got to go. We’ll talk through the figures tomorrow.’
Nikos plucked up a pencil from the desk and tapped it against the wood, his expression cool and defiant. ‘No, I’ll send you a management report at the end of the week, just like all of the other hotel managers in the group.’
‘Fine.’ Loukas knew he should just walk away, but the confusion and frustration within him was determined to let him have the last word. ‘But the figures had better be good.’
* * *
Georgie ran her paintbrush along the wooden rail that sat on the garden wall and sang along with the song coming from the portable radio she had brought outside to distract her.
Her relationship with Loukas was nothing more than a fling. She needed to stop overthinking it and start putting things right by bringing it to a close. It was the right thing to do. Loukas deserved a partner—not for the crazy reason that he had to buy a hotel, but to marry someone who would support and care for him. Someone ambitious. Someone like Sofia Zisimos.
It wasn’t fair either to raise Angeliki’s hopes or expectations that there might be something more than a brief encounter between her and Loukas. And she needed to start protecting herself better.
‘You’re leaving brush marks.’
Georgie almost leapt out of her skin before twisting around and waving her paintbrush frantically at Loukas. ‘Why did you creep up on me like that?’
Loukas raised his hands in the air as though it was a gun she was pointing at him. ‘I called out but you couldn’t hear me with that song blaring out.’
He looked so gorgeous, standing there in faded denim jeans and a tight-fitting black T-shirt, the contours of his tanned biceps bulging as he held his arms up in surrender, a cute smile on his mouth.
She had to bring this to an end.
She gripped the paintbrush tighter. ‘What are you doing here?’
That cute smile faded. ‘We need to talk.’
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Georgie turned away. Closed her eyes for a moment before she started to attack the railing with short furious brushstrokes. When he came and stood beside her she swallowed against the fear pounding through her veins.
He was clearly way ahead of her in ending their relationship. She wasn’t sure if she could endure an It was good while it lasted conversation with him. She knew they needed to end their fling, but now that it was a reality it was a whole lot more painful than she’d expected.
She gave him a quick glance, tried to keep her voice nonchalant. ‘Talk away.’
‘I... I’ve grown fond of you, Georgie.’
She swung her head towards him. Oh, for crying out loud. She couldn’t even stop trying to help him when he was trying to break things off with her. He was right. She really did have an unhealthy need to make life easier for other people.
She gave him a quick smile, wanting to get this over and done with. ‘It’s okay, Loukas, I know that it’s over between you and me. Can I just ask that we leave it at that?’ She turned back to her painting. ‘Now, if you don’t mind, I’m busy.’
Next thing she knew, Loukas was taking the paintbrush from her and looking at her curiously. ‘I didn’t come here to break it off. I came to ask if you’d consider moving in with me.’
She stared at him, slack-mouthed. His expression gave nothing away. Was he kidding her? Was this some sort of sick joke?
‘Why?’
‘I...’ Loukas paused and looked down at the paintbrush he was now twisting in his palm. ‘I think...’ He looked up and for a moment she saw vulnerability in his gaze before he shrugged and said, with little enthusiasm, ‘I guess we’re good together.’
She took the paintbrush from him, plunged it into the paint pot. ‘Next thing you’ll be suggesting that we get married.’
‘That’s a possibility.’
She turned on him and jerked the loaded paintbrush towards him. ‘This morning you didn’t even want your family knowing about us and now you’re talking about marriage. Are you serious?’
Her head was spinning. Why was he doing this to her?
Anger and confusion and pain merged and she pointed the paintbrush at him and demanded, ‘All to buy a stupid hotel?’
His eyes narrowed. ‘There’s nothing stupid about me wanting to honour my father’s promise to my mother. If he hadn’t worked so hard for us all he’d still be here to buy it himself.’
‘So let me get this right: you propose to honour the love between your mum and dad by having a loveless marriage yourself? Isn’t that a little ironic? If not twisted?’
His hand shot forward and just in time he caught a drip of paint from her brush. Then those brown eyes of his met hers and for the longest time he stared at her.
Her heart beat crazily against her chest. This was the man she had made love with only this morning. Who had held her gently and whispered sweet words into her ear. And now she had no idea what was going on in his head.
She forced herself to hold his gaze, even though she felt sad and lonely and exposed at having been so intimate with this man and yet now feeling so detached from him.
Eventually he asked, ‘Would it be a loveless marriage for you?’
She shook her head, trying to make sense of this conversation. ‘Of course it would be a loveless marriage—a loving marriage can only exist when both people are in love.’
* * *
Loukas gritted his teeth, fighting the temptation to walk away. He was getting this all wrong.
His gut tightened. Talking about his emotions was alien to him. He had been brought up to be tough and resilient. And that toughness had swelled within him after his parents had died, shutting his emotions off.
His chest felt weighed down, as if a tangled mess of rope was pulling tighter and tighter... Could he really open himself up to Georgie? Risk the pain that might follow? But he couldn’t let her go...not without at least trying to get her to stay.
He turned away and went to the outside tap to wash his hands, buying time before he had to tell her exactly how he felt. The water was warm at first, but then it grew ice-cold.
A sickening feeling of fear and panic continued to twist through him. He had lost his mother and father...he didn’t want to lose Georgie too.
The echo of his mum’s last gasp had him flinching as he turned off the tap. How alone he’d felt as he had failed to control his own brutal sobs in that silent hospital room. And then there had been the journey home to his siblings. They had been sitting eating breakfast when he had reached the family villa, Angeliki and Marios fighting over who would eat the last of the sugar flakes. Nikos had silently watched him, and had refused to stay when he’d said they all needed to speak.
Loukas knew he had turned to work rather than having to face the feeling of failing his siblings every time he tried to get them to talk and they had looked at him blankly, angrily.
Maybe Nikos was right. If he had shown them by example that it was okay to express their emotions...if he had been honest about how much he missed their parents...then maybe they would have been more forthcoming in their feelings.
Georgie was attacking the railing with gusto, running her paintbrush in long strokes along the wood.
His mouth was dry, and despite the dropping temperature he felt unnaturally hot.
He went and stood beside her. ‘I don’t want you to leave Talos.’
She turned on him, those hazel eyes glittering with anger. ‘I’m not taking part in a sham marriage.’
‘I’m not asking you to. All I’m asking is that you stay here on Talos with me.’
She rubbed her hand against her forehead, leaving a trail of blue paint behind. ‘Why?’
Her tone was incredulous. Was she really that blind to his feelings for her? Had he got it so wrong in reading her feelings for him?
He should turn away now. This was never going to work. Georgie had always said she was a nomad, and not interested in relationships.
But what if there was a chance that she’d change her mind once she knew how he felt? Could he spend the rest of his life wondering what would have happened if he had had the courage to tell her the truth of his feelings for her?
He inhaled a deep breath. ‘Don’t you see it, Georgie?’
‘See what?’
‘I’ve fallen in love with you.’
She lifted her hand and held it over her mouth, her long fingers touching against her lips, horror etched in her eyes.
He felt as though he had been cut in half by a high-velocity weapon.
He gritted his teeth against the acute pain lacerating his heart and from somewhere deep inside him found a nonchalant voice. ‘You’re supposed to say something back to me now.’
She blinked. Made several attempts to talk before she finally managed to. ‘This isn’t what we agreed to.’
* * *
He had fallen in love with her. Had he really said those words to her? Was he telling the truth? Or was this just a ploy to get her to agree to marry him?
This wasn’t what she wanted.
She drew back. Winced at the bewilderment in Loukas’s expression that was fast turning to anger.
He crossed his arms. ‘You don’t believe me, do you?’
She tried to talk but no words came. She shrugged. Then shook her head. Not even sure herself what she was silently trying to say to him.
He couldn’t love her. And even if he thought he did now, some day he would realise that he didn’t. And then he’d walk away from her.
She gestured towards the house. ‘I need to get a jumper.’
She ran towards the house and into her bedroom. There, she stared blindly into her wardrobe, overwhelmed and confused.
Eventually she remembered why she was standing there and grabbed the first jumper she could find.
Outside sh
e tried to pass Loukas, needing the distraction of painting—anything to avoid looking him squarely in the eye—but he reached out and stopped her, his expression a mixture of bewilderment and hurt.
‘Have you anything to say to me?’
I don’t know! I just... I just... I’m scared, Loukas. And confused. And overwhelmed. I want you to be able to see the fear inside me and hold me and tell me everything will be okay. But who am I to expect that from you? And look what I’ve done to you...look at the pain and anger in your eyes. You don’t deserve this.
She closed her eyes for a moment before saying, ‘I’ve decided to stay here tonight.’
He drew back. His eyes were shuttered. ‘By yourself?’ His tone was cold and detached.
Was she doing the right thing? Was she really prepared to let this man go? She felt numb, unable to think.
She wavered, winced at the icy fury forming in his eyes, then said, ‘Yes, by myself.’
He inhaled a long slow breath. ‘Will you be back at work tomorrow?’
Why had she slept with him? Everything had changed after that. The intensity of the connection between them, her feelings for him, had all muddled up ever since. She had blown it. Now they could never even be friends. It was she who knew she could never be in a relationship...she shouldn’t have done this to him.
In a low voice she eventually answered, ‘Maybe it’s for the best if I don’t.’
He stared at her as though he hated her. ‘That’s your decision to make.’
She blinked. ‘No...no, I won’t be at work tomorrow.’
He nodded and walked away.
As he opened the garden door she called out, ‘I’m not what you need, Loukas, don’t you see that?’
He stopped and gave a bitter laugh. ‘You seem determined to make me believe that, whether I want to or not.’
With that he walked out into the fading light of the day.
Chapter Ten
GEORGIE RAPPED HER glass against those of the four men standing out on her terrace. In unison they all said, ‘Yamas!’
Georgie took a deep gulp of ouzo. The fiery liquid exploded in her mouth, the anise flavour burning a trail down her throat.
Tempted by Her Greek Tycoon Page 15
