Читать книгу Greek Affairs - Кейт Хьюит - Страница 24

IT WAS almost seven in the evening, and Katie was pacing her apartment. Her weekend case was packed, and the professional side of her was ready to go—but emotionally she was reluctant.

In fact when Alexi had rung her at her desk earlier, to confirm flight times and the time for picking her up, she’d tried her best to get out of it.

‘Is this trip really necessary so soon?’ she’d demanded heatedly. ‘Don’t you think it would be better for me to get to grips with the job here and get on top of a lot of this paperwork before sorting out the US side of things?’

‘You can sort some of the paperwork out on the flight. I need to press ahead as fast as possible with this,’ he’d answered without hesitation. ‘So be ready and waiting for me.’

Then the line had just gone dead. He’d hung up on her.

The nerve of the guy! OK, he was her boss—but that didn’t mean he owned her twenty-four-seven. He at least owed her the courtesy of some advance warning!

Her mobile phone zinged with a message now as she tried to pull herself together. She took it out of her pocket and opened it. It was from Alexi. It was strange, seeing his name on the screen after all this time. She’d thought he’d probably deleted her number from his phone weeks ago. She’d certainly meant to delete his, she’d just … Well, she hadn’t got round to it.

Quickly she read the message: I’m outside—don’t be long. Anger twisted inside her. Four weeks of nothing and then a curt summons. Then she bit down on her lip and reminded herself that this was about work, nothing else. She couldn’t let emotions cloud the issue.

She went across to the window and looked out, and sure enough his limousine was sitting next to the kerb. Just the sight of it made her heartbeat start to accelerate. She had a choice—she could either forget this job and tell him to go to hell, or she could put work first and get on with it. When she thought about it like that she didn’t really have a choice, she told herself wryly. Her job and her independence were the most important things to her, and she’d always acted in a professional manner. She snapped up her jacket and her bag and headed for the door. She wasn’t going to allow herself to be preoccupied by something that had happened in the past. She had to put work first.

Alexi had just taken his phone out to ring her when she appeared on the street. He smiled to himself and put the mobile away again. Things were going extremely well. Businesswise, he had Katie exactly where he wanted her, and before they returned to London he would have her back in his bed as well. He watched as his driver got out to help her with her bag and to open the door for her.

‘Hi.’ She acknowledged him with a nod as she slid into the seat opposite. He could smell the familiar scent of her perfume, flowery and light, and yet somehow incredibly sexy. She was wearing black jeans with a white shirt, and she had tied her hair back from her face. She looked good. Possibly too good, considering the fact that he had to get some work done during this journey.

‘You’re late,’ he told her sardonically.

‘I was five minutes!’ Her beautiful blue eyes seemed to simmer. ‘And you’re lucky I’m here at all. This is very short notice, I could have had other plans.’

‘But you don’t,’ he concluded.

‘That’s not the point. I really need at least a few days’ notice for business trips away like this.’

‘I’ll bear that in mind for the next time.’

‘The next time?’ She sounded suddenly flustered. ‘Do you think we will have to make many more trips like this?’

He inclined his head. ‘Definitely. We’ll need to iron out as many teething problems up front as possible, and there is no better way than the personal touch.’

‘I see.’ She looked away from him, out of the windows.

What was causing that flutter of panic? he wondered. It couldn’t be work—she was well used to travelling between different offices; she’d done it at Demetri Shipping. Was it the thought of being alone with him?

What had made her finish things with him? he wondered angrily. She had always been passionately compliant and eager for his kisses … what had changed that?

The briefcase she had placed next to her on the seat fell over as the car made a U-turn at a junction. Alexi reached to catch it at the same time as Katie, and for just a second their hands touched on the leather strap.

She pulled away as if she had been burnt, allowing him to place it safely back beside her.

‘Thanks.’ She could barely look at him now.

‘Everything OK, Katie?’ he enquired casually.

‘Of course.’ She glanced at him, but there was a blush over the high cheekbones that said differently and her eyes were over-bright.

If he could make her skin heat up with just the brush of his fingertips, make her eyes sparkle with fire, what would happen if he really touched her? In the past it had always been spontaneous combustion.

He itched to find out now if the old magic was still there. He wanted to lean forward and take hold of her hand, find her lips and devour her.

His eyes moved to the buttons on her blouse. He imagined himself unbuttoning them; he remembered how firm and willing her body had been.

With difficulty he forced himself to sit back against the comfortable leather seat and bide his time. The chase was on, but he couldn’t rush it. When he took Katie again he wanted her to be wild for him … desperate for him. He was going to make her want him so badly she wouldn’t know what day it was.

‘Did you get the paperwork we need to sort out?’ he asked casually.

‘Yes, I brought it with me—it isn’t finished, obviously, but …’ She started to unzip her bag.

‘We’ll go through it on the plane.’

‘Oh! OK.’ She fastened the bag back up.

Silence stretched between them. Her eyes darted over to him. He looked powerfully dynamic in the dark business-suit, every inch the successful business-tycoon. For a moment it was hard to believe that he had once been her lover, that he had once held her so tenderly, made love to her so passionately. He looked over at her and her eyes veered hurriedly away again. Thoughts like that were not helping her!

‘So how have things been with you, Katie?’

The sudden personal question made her look back at him warily. ‘Absolutely fine—why do you ask?’

There was a glimmer of amusement in the darkness of his eyes now. ‘Because I’m interested to know how you are; what other reason would there be?’

‘I don’t know.’ She shrugged and forced herself to try and relax. But the confined space and the memories he conjured up were sending her blood pressure soaring. Even the touch of his fingertips against her hand a few moments ago had sent her senses into a spin. ‘Let’s face it. You’ve never been one for making small talk, Alexi.’

‘Haven’t I?’ He shrugged. ‘I’m sure we had our moments.’

She kept her composure with difficulty. She really didn’t want to think about what moments he might be referring to—not now.

‘It wasn’t all work between us—there was quite a bit of play time,’ he continued nonchalantly.

Her eyes snapped with sudden fire. ‘I really don’t think we should be discussing that!’

‘Don’t you?’

She allowed her eyes to hold firmly with his. ‘We’ve moved on, remember?’

‘Ah, yes.’

His gaze flicked down towards her lips and she found herself remembering the way he could kiss her and caress her and make her feel truly alive.

The intensity of the memory stirred up a painful need inside her, and she wrenched her eyes away from him and looked out of the window again. She needed to forget the past. He wasn’t the type of man to get serious about; they’d had their fun. It was over.

‘But it’s good that we can move on and work together, without any discord, don’t you think?’ he said smoothly.

‘Yes, of course.’

He noticed that her hands had curled into tight fists at her side, and he smiled.

‘So, tell me, what have you been doing with yourself since you moved on?’ he invited conversationally.

She shrugged and tried desperately to just treat him like any other work colleague. ‘I went to visit my sister in France for a week.’

‘I didn’t know you had a sister.’

‘Didn’t you?’ She couldn’t stop herself from flicking him a pointed look. ‘Perhaps because our conversations always revolved around work; in fact, you don’t know a lot about me at all.’

Something about the way she said that struck a cord in him. To a certain extent she was right; he’d tended to focus on their work connection more than anything else. He didn’t do deep and meaningful; he’d been happy with the equation the way it was—but so had she. He’d noticed on more than one occasion that she’d used work to hide behind.

He’d noticed the way she had looked sometimes—the unguarded vulnerability in her eyes when she thought he wasn’t watching her. ‘I know that when we met you’d been hurt by some guy in the past.’

The observation took her by surprise. She had mentioned Carl once very briefly at the start of their relationship—but she hadn’t thought he was paying that much attention.

‘Now, what was it you said …?’ He frowned. ‘Ah … I know. You said you’d been in a serious relationship and had had enough hearts and flowers, and that sex and straight talking would do nicely instead.’

Katie looked at him in consternation. She couldn’t believe she had said that—but she had, the first time he’d taken her to bed. It had felt so good in his arms, and afterwards when he had reiterated something about ‘not doing hearts and flowers’ she’d made that glib reply.

‘Trust you to remember that!’ she murmured with acute embarrassment. ‘But you can’t remember I have a sister!’

He gave her a teasing look that made her want to melt inside. With difficulty she zoned out from the feeling. Melting around Alexi wasn’t recommended.

Alexi smiled. ‘By the way, remind me later to look out the figures we were discussing at the meeting this morning,’ he remarked casually as he glanced at his watch. ‘We need to fine-hone any problems with the timetable.’

She’d almost forgotten the way he was always able to switch back to business at a snap. How one moment he could play the consummate, arousing lover and the next the steel shutters of his mind could come crashing down to the focus of his real agenda, the real heart of his life: business.

‘Yes, of course.’ She nodded and tried to make herself sound as cool as he did.

They were arriving at the airport. She noticed that the warm June evening looked grey and wintry through the tinted glass. Amazing how your senses could be deceived by an illusion.

She’d deluded herself into thinking she could handle an affair with Alexi. The truth was she had been ensnared by that mesmerising way he had of turning her on with just a look, and she’d started to read things into it that hadn’t been there. He’d never lied to her, he’d never told her that she was special or led her on in any way—yet his kisses and his love-making had done the lying for him. Being with him had been somehow addictive, and to get her fix she had reassured herself that her emotions were not in any way involved, hence those glib remarks when she had first slept with him. But the truth was she had found it harder and harder to disconnect her feelings.

She bit down on her lip as she admitted the full extent of her mistake. Some sort of madness must have possessed her. Or maybe on a subconscious level she’d lied to herself as self-preservation against getting involved with someone who was clearly a heartbreaker.

At least she had pulled herself back from the brink before any real disaster. And she had to differentiate between what was real and what was an illusion now.

Alexi the steely controlled businessman was real—Alexi the warm, passionate lover was not.

The car pulled to a halt by the edge of the airfield and the driver came round and opened the door for them. Katie stepped out into the warmth of the evening. The company jet was standing on the tarmac ready and waiting for them with the steps down.

Someone came over to speak to Alexi. There were a few formalities, and moments later they were proceeding up the steps into the luxury of the aircraft.

Katie had travelled on board the aeroplane with Alexi just once before when they’d been attending a conference in Paris. She didn’t want to think about how they’d spent that one-hour flight now. It was definitely better forgotten when she had hours alone with him stretching ahead.

She took some papers out of her briefcase and put them on the seat beside her before placing the case in the overhead compartment. Then she sat next to the window and fastened her seatbelt.

Alexi was talking to the pilot. The door was open between the cabin and the cockpit, and Katie tried to pretend that she had been focusing on the dials and lights of the controls rather than on Alexi as he turned towards her.

He was too damn handsome, she thought distractedly. At thirty-five, he was definitely a man in his prime. The suit sat perfectly on his broad-shouldered frame, the white shirt emphasising the olive tones of his skin, the darkness of his hair and eyes.

He took the suit jacket off and tossed it casually over the arm of the seat before putting his case overhead. There wasn’t a spare inch of flesh on him; he was lean and muscular and incredibly fit. She wrenched her eyes away as he took the seat opposite.

‘We should have a smooth flight; the weather forecast is good,’ he told her as he fastened his seatbelt.

One less thing to worry about then, she thought dryly. Now if she could just keep her mind on work and not on how attractive she found him, and how pleasurable that hour had been in here last time, she’d be OK.

He smiled at her. ‘We’ll get through some of that paperwork as soon as we take off. Then hopefully there will be time to relax, get some sleep.’

She remembered him telling her that these huge seats folded down into beds. However they had never actually got round to converting the seats, they’d been in too much of a hurry. They’d just folded down the armrests, and then Alexi had reached for her …

Her stomach dipped with a sudden surge of adrenalin. Don’t think about it, she warned herself fiercely.

The door between them and the pilot closed, sealing them in alone. Then the engines fired up and after a few moments they were taxiing out along the runway. She glanced out of the window. Dusk was falling fast. Night flights were good, she told herself positively. After the day she’d had, she would probably have no difficulty sleeping.

They halted at the start of the runway as they waited for take-off clearance.

Her eyes met with Alexi.

‘Do you remember our flight to Paris?’ he asked her suddenly.

She felt that dipping sensation in her stomach again. ‘No. Not really.’

He smiled, and she realised her reply didn’t fool him for a moment.

‘And I’m surprised you remember it,’ she continued swiftly. ‘I mean, one dalliance at thirty-five-thousand feet must be like another to you.’

One eyebrow rose at that. ‘You think?’

She shrugged and looked away from him.

He said something to her in Greek suddenly. Although his looks were Mediterranean, it always surprised her to hear him speak his native language, possibly because he spoke such perfect English.

‘What does that mean?’ she asked him, trying to ignore how the sound of his voice sent provocative shivers racing through her.

‘It means that I thought our time together that day was pretty spectacular.’ He laughed as she flushed a deep shade of beetroot. ‘And I’m glad now that I didn’t tell you the exact translation—otherwise you might set the cabin on fire.’

‘Stop it, Alexi!’ she muttered in embarrassment. ‘The past is forgotten, OK? It’s a taboo subject—a different planet.’

He shot her a mocking look as the aircraft-engines roared, and suddenly they were thundering down the runway. ‘Time for take off.’

He seemed to be taking a perverse pleasure in deliberately winding her up, she thought uncomfortably.

How was she going to get through this time alone with him?

She didn’t think she would ever be able to be at ease with him again. It was too … dangerous. He’d made her behave in a way that was totally out of character for her. Made her desire him … and need him. She didn’t want to remember that. But being around him made it almost impossible to forget.

The plane lifted off the ground, and for a moment there was a weightless sensation as they floated up through the clouds.

The lights of London disappeared, and a little while later the seatbelt sign was switched off.

‘Do you want a drink before we get down to things?’ He glanced over.

‘No thanks.’ Even the way he was wording things was sending her nervous system into orbit. Everything was going to be OK, she told herself steadily, as long as she kept her senses firmly in the land of reality and the present.

Alexi got to his feet to take out his briefcase from the overhead compartment. ‘So, you didn’t tell me—what part of France does your sister live in?’ he asked idly as he snapped it open and took papers out.

‘The southwest; a small village called Aviger.’

‘Is she married to a Frenchman?’

‘No, Lucy is single.’

Her sister was as bad at picking men as she was, Katie thought wryly. In fact they had both decided not long ago that it was the curse of the Connor family. Her mother’s bad choices in men were legendary, and they had suffered considerably in childhood as a consequence. They’d been dragged from one bad situation to the next. No wonder they were both wary of giving their hearts, and both fiercely independent.

Katie had always been determined not to be like her mother. When she had got involved with Carl she had done so believing him to be the steady, dependable type. It had been ages before she had invited him into her bed. She’d wanted to be sure about him.

But how could you be sure about anybody? It had turned out that he had just seen her as a challenge. Once he’d taken her to bed and the thrill of the chase had gone, he’d been ready to move on to the next conquest.

Life was one big learning curve, she thought now as she looked across at Alexi. And she didn’t want to learn anything more about heartache.

‘We need to get on with those timetables.’ She changed the subject swiftly away from the personal angle. She needed to take her lead from Alexi and be motivated solely by business. ‘And I’ve been thinking about what plans we could incorporate to make the strategy for increasing business greener.’

‘Have you, now?’

‘Yes, and I have a few ideas that I think we should explore.’

‘I’m remembering now why I wanted you for this job.’

Was he being facetious, or was he just thinking about work? It was hard to tell.

The colour in her skin heightened slightly, but she continued on, her voice brisk and determined. He watched as she picked up the papers she had left on the seat beside her.

He noticed the way she bit down on her lower lip as she scanned through the pages.

He’d forgotten that she did that when she was trying to focus. Forgotten how businesslike she could sound, and yet how vulnerable she could look. How confident and grown up she could act and yet how lost she could seem.

There was something almost innocent about her. He remembered thinking that the first time he’d taken her to bed. Despite her glib words about being happy with a no-strings affair, he’d always suspected she’d spoken the words to mask a bruised heart.

She hadn’t been a virgin, but she’d been untutored in the art of love-making. She’d been almost tentatively afraid of giving herself to him, yet at the same time eager and willing for his kiss, his touch.

He’d found the combination explosive, had enjoyed drawing her out, teaching her how to please him.

Just thinking about it now made him want her all the more.

She looked up at him and he forced himself to concentrate on what she was saying. Work had to come first.

However, one thing was clear—he couldn’t wait too long before taking her to his bed again; his body was getting impatient. He felt edgy with need. And that was a situation he was very unused to.