Читать книгу Modern Romance August 2018 Books 5-8 Collection - Ким Лоренс, Julia James - Страница 16

CHAPTER SIX

SOMETHING IN GIANNIS’S voice sent a shiver of apprehension—if she was honest it was anticipation—across Ava’s skin. She did not fear him. It was her inability to resist his charisma that made her fearful, she admitted. She broke free from him and marched into the suite’s only bedroom, intending to lock herself in. But he was right behind her and his soft laughter followed her as she fled into the en suite bathroom.

Splashing cold water onto her face cooled her heated skin, and she removed the silver clips that were hanging from her tangled hair. But she could not disguise her reddened mouth or the hectic glitter in her eyes. She felt undone, out of control, and it scared the hell out of her. If she was going to survive the next month pretending to be Giannis’s fiancée, she would have to make it clear that she would not allow him to manipulate her.

Taking a deep breath, she returned to the bedroom but the sight of him in bed, leaning against the pillows, made her want to retreat back to the bathroom. His arms were folded behind his head and his chest was bare. Her heart lurched at the thought that he might be naked beneath the sheet that was draped dangerously low over his hips. She was fascinated by the fuzz of black hairs that arrowed over his flat stomach and disappeared beneath the sheet. Her eyes were drawn to the obvious bulge of his arousal beneath the fine cotton.

‘Feel free to stare,’ he drawled.

Blushing hotly, she jerked her eyes back to his face and his expression of arrogant amusement infuriated her. ‘When you said we would discuss the sleeping arrangements, I assumed that you would spend the night on the sofa,’ she snapped.

‘The replica eighteenth-century chaise longue looks beautiful but it is extremely uncomfortable.’ He picked up the big bolster cushions that he’d piled up behind his shoulders and laid them down the centre of the bed. ‘It’s a big bed and I won’t encroach on your half—unless you invite me to.’ He grinned at her outraged expression. ‘I must say that I am encouraged by your choice of nightwear.’

It was only then that she noticed the confection of black silk and lace arranged on the pillow next to Giannis. She remembered the personal shopper had picked out several items of sexy lingerie, but Ava hadn’t explained that her engagement to Giannis was fake and she would not need them. She guessed that the hotel chambermaid who had unpacked her clothes must have laid out the nightgown. Although gown was an exaggeration, she thought darkly as she snatched the tiny garment off the pillow and stalked into the dressing room.

The clothes she had brought with her from London were still in her suitcase. She found her grey flannel pyjamas and changed into them before she hung the velvet evening dress in the wardrobe. That was the last time she would dare to wear a strapless dress, she vowed, wincing as she remembered how her breasts had almost been exposed to the photographers until Giannis had covered her with his jacket.

She had been grateful for his protective gesture. And he’d insisted that he had not expected the paparazzi to be outside the hotel. Ava bit her lip. Perhaps she was a fool but she believed him. After all, he had kept his side of their deal and halted the criminal case against her brother.

She grimaced as she looked at herself in the mirror. Her passion-killer pyjamas had been designed for comfort and when Giannis saw them she was sure he would have no trouble keeping to his side of the bed. Which was what she wanted—wasn’t it?

She pictured him the previous night at the hotel in London, his sleek, honed body poised above her before he’d slowly lowered himself onto her as he’d entered her with one hard thrust. Why not enjoy what he was offering for the next month? whispered a voice of temptation. Sex without strings and no possibility of her getting hurt because—unlike in a normal relationship—she had no expectations that a brief affair with Giannis might lead to something more meaningful. Their engagement was a deception but he had been totally honest with her. Maybe it was time to be honest with herself and admit that she wanted him.

Before she could chicken out, she pulled off her pyjamas and slipped on the black negligee. It was practically see-through, dotted with a few strategically placed lace flowers, and it was the sexiest item of clothing she had ever worn. She walked into the bedroom and the feral sound Giannis made as he stared at her tugged deep in her pelvis.

‘I hope you realise that the likelihood of me remaining on my side of the bolsters is zero. You look incredible, omorfiá mou.’

There was no doubt that his appreciation was genuine. His arousal was unmissable, jutting beneath the sheet, but more surprising was the flush of dark colour on his cheekbones. Ava’s self-confidence rose with every step she took across the room towards him. The light from the bedside lamp sparked off the pink sapphire on her finger as she looked down at the engagement ring, watching its iridescent gleam.

‘You can keep the ring after our engagement ends,’ Giannis told her.

‘No!’ She shook her head. ‘I am giving you a month of my life but you haven’t bought me. I will wear your ring and pretend to be your fiancée in public. But when we are alone—’ she pulled off the ring and put it down on the bedside table ‘—whatever I do, however I behave, is my choice.’

His eyes narrowed as she untied the ribbon at the front of her negligée so that the two sides fell open, exposing her firm breasts and betrayingly hard nipples. ‘And what do you choose to do?’ he said thickly.

‘This.’ She whipped the sheet away to reveal his naked, aroused body and climbed on top of him so that she was straddling his hips. ‘And this,’ she murmured as she leaned forwards and covered his mouth with hers.

For a heart-stopping second he did not respond and she wondered if she had misunderstood, that he didn’t want her. But then his arms came around her like iron bands and held her so tightly that she could not escape. He opened his mouth to the fierce demands of her kiss and kissed her back with a barely leashed hunger that made her heart race.

‘So you want to take charge, do you?’ he murmured as she traced her lips over the prickly black stubble on his jaw. His indulgent tone set an alarm bell off in her head. Clearly, Giannis believed that he was the one in control, and he was simply allowing her to take the dominant role while it suited him.

‘You had better believe it,’ she told him sweetly. Still astride him, she sat upright and ran her hands over his chest. Her smile was pure innocence as she bent her head and closed her mouth around one male nipple, scraping her teeth over the hard nub.

‘Theos...’ His body jerked beneath her and he swore when she moved her mouth across to his other nipple and bit him, hard. ‘You little vixen.’ He tried to grab her hair but she shook it back over her shoulders and moved down his body, pressing hot kisses over his stomach and following the line of dark hairs down lower. Very lightly, she ran her fingertips up and down his shaft and he tensed.

‘Not this time, angel,’ he muttered. ‘I want you too badly.’

She flicked her tongue along the swollen length of him and gave a husky laugh of feminine triumph when he groaned. ‘I’m in charge and don’t you forget it,’ Ava told him. ‘I’m not your puppet, so don’t think you can control me.’

‘You are so fierce.’ He laughed but there was something in his voice that sounded like respect. And when he moved suddenly and rolled her beneath him he stared into her eyes for what seemed like eternity, as if he wanted to read her mind. ‘You fascinate me. No other woman has done that before,’ he admitted.

He slipped his hand between her legs and discovered that she was as turned-on as he was. Keeping his eyes locked with hers, he eased his fingers inside her until she moaned. ‘Who is in charge now, angel?’ he teased softly. But Ava no longer cared if she won or lost the power struggle. She reached down between their bodies and curled her hand around him, making him groan. Maybe they were both winners, she thought. ‘You are ready for me, Ava mou.’ He swiftly donned a condom before he moved over her and entered her with a slow, deep thrust that delighted her body and touched her soul. With a flash of insight that shook her, she acknowledged that she would always be ready for him. She guessed that Giannis had made a slip of his tongue when he’d called her my Ava.

* * *

They flew to Greece the next day, and in the evening attended a party held at reputedly Athens’ most chic rooftop bar where the cosmopolitan clientele included several international celebrities. The paparazzi swarmed in the street outside the venue and there was a flurry of flashlights as Giannis Gekas and his English fiancée posed for the cameras.

From the rooftop bar the views of the sunset over the city were amazing. But Giannis only had eyes for Ava. She looked stunning in a scarlet cocktail dress that showed off her gorgeous curves, and he was impatient for the party to finish so that he could take her back to his penthouse apartment and reacquaint himself with her delectable body. Their sexual chemistry was hotter than anything he’d experienced with his previous mistresses.

He smiled to himself as he imagined Ava’s reaction if he was ever foolish enough to refer to her as his mistress. No doubt she would reply with a scathing comment designed to put him in his place. He enjoyed her fiery nature, and never more so than when they had sex and she became a wildcat with sharp claws. He bore the marks from where she had raked her fingernails down his back when they’d reached a climax together last night. Afterwards, she had reminded him of a contented kitten, warm and soft as she snuggled up to him and flicked her tongue over her lips like a satisfied cat after drinking a bowl of cream.

Giannis had intended to ease his arm from beneath her and move her across to the other side of the bed. But he’d felt reluctant to disturb her and he must have fallen asleep because when he’d next opened his eyes his head had been pillowed on Ava’s breasts, and he’d been so aroused that he ached. He had kissed her awake and ignored her protests that had quickly become moans of pleasure when he’d nudged her legs apart with his shoulders and pressed his mouth against her feminine core to feast on her sweetness.

With an effort Giannis dragged his mind from his erotic memories when he realised that he had not been listening to the conversation going on around him. The group of guests he was standing with were looking at him, clearly waiting for him to say something. He glanced at Ava for help.

‘I was just explaining that we haven’t set a date for our wedding yet,’ she said drily. ‘We are not in a rush.’

‘On the contrary, agápi mou, I am impatient to make you my wife as soon as possible.’ He slipped his arm around her waist and smiled with his customary effortless charm at the other guests. ‘I hope you will forgive me for selfishly wanting to have my beautiful bride-to-be to myself,’ he murmured before he led Ava away.

‘Why did you say that we will get married soon?’ she demanded while he escorted her out of the crowded bar. Once they were outside and walking to where he had parked the car, she pulled away from him. ‘There was no need to overdo the devoted fiancé act. All that staring into my eyes as if I was the only woman in the world was unnecessary.’

He grinned at her uptight expression. ‘I need to convince Stefanos Markou that our engagement is genuine and I am serious about settling down. The woman in the blue dress who we were talking to is a journalist with a popular gossip magazine. No doubt the next edition will include several pages devoted to discussing our imminent wedding.’

Ava bit her lip. ‘More deception,’ she muttered. ‘One lie always leads to another. I realise it’s just a game to you, but when our fake engagement ends I will face public humiliation as the woman who nearly married Giannis Gekas.’

‘It will cost my company in the region of one hundred million pounds to buy Markou’s fleet of ships. An investment of that size is hardly a game,’ Giannis told her curtly. ‘Once I’ve secured the deal with Stefanos I will give a press statement explaining that you broke off our engagement because you fell out of love with me.’

It wouldn’t be the first time it had happened, he brooded. His jaw clenched as he thought of Caroline. At least he’d discovered before he’d made an utter fool of himself that Caroline had been more in love with his money than with him.

Giannis sensed that Ava sent him a few curious glances during the journey back to his apartment block. He parked in the underground car park and when they rode the lift up to the top floor he could not take his eyes off her. She was a temptress in her scarlet dress and vertiginous heels and he had been in a state of semi-arousal all evening as he’d imagined her slender legs wrapped around his back.

His desire for her showed no sign of lessening—yet. But he had no doubt that it would fade and he’d grow bored of her. His mistresses never held his interest for long. Perhaps if he sought some sort of counselling, a psychologist would suggest that his guilt over his father’s death was the reason he avoided close relationships. But Giannis had no intention of allowing anyone access to his soul.

After ushering Ava into the penthouse, he crossed the huge open-plan living room and opened the doors leading to his private roof garden. ‘Would you like a drink?’ he asked her.

‘Just fruit juice, please.’

He headed for the kitchen, and returned to find her out on the terrace, standing by the pool. The water appeared black beneath the night sky and reflected the silver stars. ‘Is that how you keep in such great physical shape?’ she murmured, indicating the pool.

His heart lurched at her compliment. Theos, she made him feel like a teenager with all the uncertainty and confusion brought on by surging hormones, he acknowledged with savage self-derision. ‘I complete fifty lengths every morning. But I prefer to swim in the sea when I am at my house on Spetses.’

Ava sipped her fruit juice and glanced at the bottle of beer in his hand. ‘You don’t need to keep a clear head tonight?’ She obviously remembered the reason he had given her for why he hadn’t drunk champagne at the fashion show in Paris.

‘It’s non-alcoholic beer,’ he admitted.

‘Why are you afraid of not being in control?’

Rattled by her perception, his eyes narrowed. ‘I’ll ask you the same question.’

‘Touché.’ She smiled ruefully. ‘I don’t like surprises.’

‘Not even nice ones?’

‘I’ve never had a nice surprise.’ She looked at the city skyline. ‘The Acropolis looks wonderful lit up at night. Have you always lived in Athens?’

Giannis could not understand why he felt frustrated by her determination to turn the conversation away from herself. In his experience women were only too happy to talk about themselves, but Ava, he was beginning to realise, was not like any other woman.

He shrugged. ‘I grew up just along the coast at Faliron and I am proud to call myself an Athenian.’

‘Perhaps I could do some sightseeing while you are at work? I know you have arranged for us to attend various social functions in the evenings so that we are seen together, but you have a business to run during the day.’

‘I’ll show you around the city. One of the perks of owning my own company is that I can delegate.’ As Giannis spoke he wondered what the hell had got into him. He’d never delegated in his life and his work schedule was by his own admittance brutal. Driven by his need to succeed, he regularly worked fourteen-hour days and he couldn’t remember the last time he’d spent more than a couple of hours away from his computer or phone.

The more time he spent with Ava, the quicker his inexplicable fascination with her would lead to familiarity and, by definition, boredom, he assured himself. He put down his drink and walked towards her, noting with satisfaction how her eyes widened and her tongue flicked over her lips, issuing an unconscious invitation that he had every intention of accepting.

‘There is an even better view of the Acropolis from the bedroom,’ he said softly.

She hesitated for a few seconds and when she put her hand in his and let him lead her through the apartment to the master suite he was aware of the hard thud of his heart beneath his ribs. He stood behind her and turned her to face the floor-to-ceiling windows which overlooked Greece’s most iconic citadel, situated atop a vast outcrop of rock. ‘There.’

‘It’s so beautiful,’ she said in an awed voice. ‘What an incredible view. You can just lie in bed and stare at a piece of ancient history.’

‘Mmm...’ He nuzzled her neck and slid his arms around her to test the weight of her breasts in his hands. ‘I can think of rather more energetic things I’d like to do in bed, agápi mou.’

She pulled the pink sapphire ring from her finger and dropped it onto the bedside table. ‘I’m not your love now that we are alone,’ she reminded him.

‘But you are my lover.’ He unzipped her dress and when it fell to the floor she stepped out of it before she turned and wound her arms around his neck.

‘Yes,’ she whispered against his mouth. ‘For one month I will be your lover.’

As he scooped her up and laid her down on the bed, Giannis knew he should be relieved that Ava understood the rules. But perversely he felt irritated. Perhaps it was because her words had sounded like a challenge that provoked him to murmur, ‘You might want our affair to last longer than a month.’

‘I won’t.’ She watched him undress and reached behind her shoulders to unclip her bra, letting it fall away from her breasts. ‘But you might fall in love with me.’

‘Impossible,’ he promised her. ‘I already told you I don’t have a heart.’ He pushed her back against the mattress and covered her body with his, watching her eyes widen when he pushed between her thighs.

‘However, I do have this, glykiá mou,’ he murmured before he possessed her with one fierce thrust followed by another and another, taking them higher until they arrived at the pinnacle and tumbled over the edge together.

Afterwards, he shifted across the bed and tucked his hands behind his head, determined to emphasise to Ava that sex was all he was prepared to offer. Too many people mistook lust for love, Giannis brooded. He’d made that mistake himself once, when he had fallen for Caroline. But he had learned his lesson and moved on.

* * *

After busy, bustling Athens, Ava discovered that life on the beautiful island of Spetses moved at a much slower pace. Thankfully.

She frowned as the thought slipped into her mind. She should be glad that she was halfway through her fake engagement to Giannis. So why did she wish that time would slow down?

She hadn’t expected to like him, she thought ruefully. They had stayed at his apartment in the city for two weeks, ostensibly so that they could be seen together at high society events. The shock news that Greece’s most eligible bachelor had chosen a bride had sparked fevered media interest, leading Ava to remark drily that Stefanos Markou could not have missed reports about their romance, unless he had been visiting remote indigenous tribes in the Amazon rainforest.

But for the most part they’d managed to evade the paparazzi when Giannis had kept his word and showed her Athens. Not just the tourist attractions, although of course they did visit the Acropolis and the nearby Acropolis Museum, as well as the Byzantine Museum.

They climbed the steep winding path to the top of Lycabettus Hill and sat at the top to watch the sunset over the city. He took her to the pretty neighbourhood of Plaka and they strolled hand in hand along the narrow streets lined with pastel-coloured houses where cerise-pink bougainvillea tumbled from window boxes. And he took her to dinner at little tavernas tucked away in side streets off the tourist track, where they ate authentic Greek food and Giannis entertained her with stories of the places he had visited around the world and the people he had met. He was an interesting and amusing companion and Ava found herself falling ever deeper under his spell.

Spetses was a twenty-minute helicopter flight from Athens, although most people did not have a helipad in their garden like Giannis, and visitors to the island made use of the red and white water taxis. The island was picturesque, with whitewashed houses and cobbled streets around the harbour. Cars were banned in the town centre and the sight of horse-drawn carriages rattling along gave the impression that Spetses belonged to a bygone era. That feeling was reflected in Villa Delphine, Giannis’s stunning neo-classical mansion, with its exquisite arches and gracious colonnades. The exterior walls were painted pale yellow, and green shutters at the windows gave the house an elegant yet homely charm.

Ava was relieved that Villa Delphine looked nothing like the extravagant but tasteless house in Cyprus where she had lived for part of her childhood, until her father had been arrested and she had discovered the truth about him. Every happy memory from the first seventeen years of her life now seemed grubby, contaminated by her father’s criminality. But at least Sam had been given another chance, and she was hopeful that he would keep out of trouble from now on.

She returned her phone to her bag and watched Giannis walk up the beach towards her. He had been swimming in the sea and water droplets glistened on his olive-gold skin and black chest hairs. His swim-shorts sat low on his hips and Ava’s mouth ran dry as she studied his impressive six-pack. Heat flared inside her when he hunkered down in front of her and dropped a tantalisingly brief kiss on her mouth.

‘Did you get hold of your brother?’

‘I’ve just finished speaking to him. He is helping out on my aunt and uncle’s farm in Cumbria and he says it hasn’t stopped raining since he arrived. I didn’t tell him that it’s twenty-five degrees in Greece. I’m just relieved he’s away from the East End and its association with—’ She broke off abruptly.

‘Association with what?’

‘Oh...historically the area of London around Whitechapel was well-known for being a rough place,’ she prevaricated. Desperate to avoid the questions that she sensed Giannis wanted to ask, she placed her hands on either side of his face and pulled his mouth down to hers. He allowed her to control the kiss and, as always, passion swiftly flared. But when Ava tried to tug him down beside her, he lifted his lips from hers with an ease that caused her heart to give a twinge.

‘Unfortunately there is not time for you to distract me with sex,’ he said in a dry tone that made her blush guiltily. ‘My mother is joining us for lunch.’

She packed her sun cream and the novel she had been reading into her bag and stood up. ‘I thought your mother was in New York?’ Giannis had told her that his mother, Filia, and his younger sister, Irini, shared the house next door to Villa Delphine. Irini was an art historian, currently working at a museum in Florence.

‘Mitera has flown back from the US early to meet you,’ he said as he followed her along the path which led from the private beach up to the house.

Ava halted and swung round to look at him. ‘You have explained to your mother that I am not really your fiancée—haven’t you? We can’t lie to her,’ she muttered when he remained silent. ‘It’s not fair. She might be excited that you are going to get married and perhaps give her grandchildren.’

‘My mother is an inveterate gossip,’ he said curtly. ‘If I told her the truth about us, she would be on the phone within minutes to tell a friend, who would tell another friend, and the story that you are my fake fiancée would be leaked to the press within hours.’

He lifted his hand and traced his finger over her lips. ‘Don’t pout, glykiá mou, or it will look as though we have had a lover’s tiff,’ he teased. His earlier curtness had been replaced by his potent charm and he pulled her into his arms and kissed her until she melted against him. But had his kiss been to distract her? Ava asked herself as she ran upstairs to shower and change out of her bikini before his mother arrived.

When she walked into the salon some half an hour later, wearing an elegant pale blue shift dress from a Paris design house, she heard voices from the terrace speaking in Greek. The woman dressed entirely in black was evidently Giannis’s mother. Ava took a deep breath and was about to step outside and introduce herself, but she hesitated as Filia Gekas’s voice drifted through the open French doors.

‘Have you been honest with this woman who you have decided to marry, Giannis? Have you told Ava everything about you?’