Читать книгу Greek Affairs - Кейт Хьюит - Страница 26

IN THE moments between sleep and wakefulness the first thing Katie thought about was Alexi … and how much she missed having him in her life. It was a familiar feeling—something she had woken with most mornings since their split—but she had hoped the pain was easing recently. Now it seemed worse than ever.

She sighed and rolled over, stretching out to the cold space next to her in the warm cocoon of Egyptian cotton. She couldn’t remember where she was. She could see a patch of blue sky through the window opposite, and sunlight was pouring in across the pristine-white carpets and bedding.

Then she woke up and reality came rushing back in a whoosh: the job, the long flight, the fact that she was here in Alexi’s apartment and, after all her strong words and determination not to fall back under his spell, that kiss, that same familiar, deep longing …

Her heart thudded viciously against her chest as she remembered the moment—remembered the conversation—remembered that look in Alexi’s eyes when she’d told him she wasn’t interested in a casual affair. Wariness and unease had definitely flickered through the darkness of his gaze. Not surprising, given his commitment-phobic attitude.

She cringed. At least she had salvaged the situation and what was left of her pride by assuring him that she didn’t want a serious relationship with him.

And that was true, she told herself fiercely. She didn’t want to get involved with someone who would tire of her when the novelty of the passion they shared died. It would be a disaster. The sensible side of her knew that—the trouble was the passionate side of her nature was crying out for his caresses, his kisses.

This must be what it felt like to be a drug addict, she thought morosely. She knew Alexi was bad for her yet she still craved him.

She stared up at the ceiling, willing the feelings to go away. They were crazy and illogical.

OK, he was good at kissing, at making love, but she didn’t really want him. It was her body playing tricks on her mind, reminding her how good things had been between them and avoiding the fact that he was everything she didn’t want in a man.

She looked at her watch. It was almost eight! She’d slept for longer than she’d intended, amazing considering how wound up she’d been when she’d got into bed.

Flinging the sheets back, she reached for her short blue robe. As there was no en suite bathroom in her room she’d wanted to get up as early as possible so that she could shower and get back to her bedroom before Alexi woke up. Now she was on the last minute and risked bumping into him in the corridor.

She crossed to the door and listened. There was no sound in the apartment, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t up. Deciding to make a dash for it, she picked up her cosmetic bag, opened the door and hurried out.

Unfortunately Alexi was coming down the corridor at the same moment and she almost ran straight into him.

‘Morning, Katie.’ He smiled at her and immediately her stomach tied into knots.

‘Morning.’ She wanted to keep on walking, but he seemed to dominate the corridor so she hung back.

Unlike her he was fully dressed. She noted how stylish he looked in the pale linen suit and light-blue shirt. She also noticed the way his eyes flicked slowly over her body, making her remember those moments in his study early this morning and the way he could control her body and her mind with just a look … a touch.

‘We have to leave in thirty minutes,’ he told her nonchalantly.

‘I’ll be ready.’ It was disquieting how he could look at her with intensity yet sound so coolly businesslike at the same time.

He nodded. ‘I’m going across the road to the deli for something to eat and a coffee; do you want me to bring you something back?’

‘No thanks.’ She didn’t think she could eat anything; her stomach was too busy churning with nervous apprehension.

‘Sure?’

‘Very sure indeed, thanks.’

His dark eyes were lingering on her face now, and she wished she’d taken the time to brush her hair. She put a self-conscious hand up to the tumble of curls and tried to push it back. ‘If you will excuse me, Alexi, I’m just on my way for a shower.’

‘Go right ahead.’

‘I will, if you would just move out of my way.’ She really didn’t want to brush past him, not after their earlier encounter.

He laughed. ‘Heavens, Kats, you could get a tank past me, and you’re only the size of a baby doll.’

He hadn’t called her Kats in a long time. It had been his pet name for her when they’d made love, and the memory of him whispering against her ear and stroking her sent a fierce wave of emotion through her.

‘Don’t call me that.’

‘Why not? You used to like it.’

‘Well, I don’t now!’ She glared up at him. ‘This is the start of our new professional working relationship, remember? And I think we should start as we mean to go on.’

He smiled at that, and it made anger sizzle inside her—however it was an anger that started to undergo a metamorphosis as his gaze moved slowly over her scantily clad body again.

How the hell did he do this to her? she wondered in disbelief; how could he look at her like that and make her want him?

‘And, just for the record, I wouldn’t be walking around like this if there was an en suite bathroom in my room,’ she assured him sharply.

‘Wouldn’t you?’

‘No, of course not! It’s most inconvenient!’

‘Well, then, you better move to the room across the hallway.’

Her eyes flicked warily to the door he had indicated.

‘This is a four-bed apartment, Katie,’ he told her with a shake of his head. ‘And you selected the only room that doesn’t have en suite facilities.’

‘Why didn’t you tell me that this morning?’ Her face suffused with colour.

‘Well, we had other things on our mind this morning, didn’t we?’ He smiled as he watched how easily she blushed. He enjoyed winding her up, enjoyed the way she threw the full fulminating heat of her gaze on him.

‘You really are intolerable sometimes!’ She marched past him at speed, slammed the bathroom door behind her and leaned back against it.

Damn man! He was absolutely infuriating … and infuriatingly gorgeous at the same time. The thought crept in with unwelcome force. She was sure he could get anyone he wanted into bed with just a teasing look.

Her eyes connected with her reflection in the mirror opposite. But not her, she reassured herself firmly. Not her.

She went across and turned the shower on, then took some cleansers and a body wash from her bag. She was about to slip out of her dressing gown and under the steamy hot water when she suddenly felt queasy. The feeling just hit her out of nowhere.

What on earth was wrong with her? she wondered as she clung to the side of the basin and waited for the feeling to pass. She’d had a few hours’ sleep so it couldn’t be tiredness. She hadn’t eaten anything that would make her ill. And she couldn’t be pregnant because she had done that test and it had come back negative.

A curl of apprehension stirred inside her suddenly.

But she still hadn’t had her period, and it was over two months late now!

The realisation sent apprehension spinning into full-blown panic. It would be OK, she reassured herself. The test had definitely been negative, and her periods were irregular sometimes.

Even so, they were never this late!

She looked at herself in the mirror. Her skin was so ashen it looked almost opaque. But she couldn’t be pregnant, she told herself again. However, just to reassure herself, maybe she should buy another pregnancy-testing kit.

The boardroom was hot and stuffy, and there were so many people around the long polished table that there was hardly room to breathe.

Katie had found herself wedged between Alexi, who was presiding at the head of the meeting, and a hefty man who seemed determined to encroach into her space. One of his elbows was almost in her ribs. She tried to lean away from him, but that brought her too close to Alexi. And she would rather have been prodded to death than get too close to him.

The confines of his apartment were too much for her, never mind the space at this table! This morning had been hell. It was totally weird to be in such a close situation with a man who had once known every curve of her body intimately. How did you move on and forget that? How did you go from being lovers to sharing an apartment platonically?

And what was she going to do if she found out she was expecting his baby?

Her fingers tightened on the pen she was holding as she tried to focus on the conversation and jot down the relevant information she needed.

‘So, gentlemen, if you would turn to page two you will see the chart for the projected expansion into the market,’ Alexi instructed.

Katie watched as everyone dutifully turned over the pages.

She wouldn’t be pregnant, she told herself calmly. She’d probably just got a stomach bug. And she did feel a lot better now.

And as for sharing the apartment it wouldn’t be for long. They’d be home tomorrow, and anyway perhaps she would just get used to being around Alexi again, and after a while all these feelings inside her would just go away of their own accord.

Their eyes met as she glanced up and immediately the theory seemed ludicrous. How could she get used to being around someone who made her whole system melt into emotional chaos?

‘Katie, do you want to run through the schedules you are setting up for us?’ he asked suddenly.

‘Yes, of course.’ She tried to inject the right amount of professionalism into her tone and squeezed back from her place to dutifully do as he had asked.

She was very conscious of his eyes following her as she stood up and went to turn on the projector so that she could make her points with the visual aid of the screen.

‘As you can see, the sales are up in that sector, but we need to concentrate on our main targets.’

Alexi tried to concentrate solely on the graphs that Katie was pointing to. But she kept sidetracking him. She looked fantastic in the tight-fitting little grey suit; he could see every curve of her figure as she stretched.

‘I’ve taken the accountants’ provisional estimates and, as you see, the results are very exciting.’ She flicked a switch so that the next graph came up on screen.

Not as exciting as the way she had kissed him in the early hours of the morning, or the way she had looked in that short robe … The thought crept into Alexi’s mind, along with the image she had presented with her long hair tumbling around her shoulders, and her curvaceous body tantalisingly hidden by silk.

She was too damn sexy.

His eyes followed her around the table as she placed printed copies of the graphs in front of everyone. She looked very different now from the vision she had presented earlier; her hair was tied back in a severe style that showed the delicate shape of her face and her exquisite high-cheekbones. She looked sophisticated and efficient. He found it just as sexy as her earlier tousled look. He imagined kicking everyone out of the boardroom and taking her right here on the polished table. He wanted her now.

As if sensing his gaze, she glanced in his direction and for just a second he glimpsed distraction in her blue eyes, and the world of high finance suddenly ceased to exist.

Then she looked hastily back to the notes she was referring to.

She could pretend all she wanted, but the chemistry was still alive and kicking between them. They both knew that.

OK, it was just a sexual chemistry, but hell it was strong—stronger than anything Alexi had ever known.

He thought back to those moments in his office this morning when he’d kissed her. He had never felt so shaken up by need before! It had taken every ounce of control he possessed to pull back. And, for all Katie’s pretence at coldness after that, Alexi knew if he’d touched her again he could have melted her; if he had pulled her back into his arms and kissed her he could have had her.

OK, she was suddenly professing that she wanted a serious relationship, and he certainly didn’t want that. He didn’t believe in love, he didn’t want love. But he did want her. And the fact was she still wanted him, for all her moral high-ground. The truth of that had been there in her kiss, in her body language. It was there in the way she had just darted a look at him now.

They needed to finish what they had started and then they could both move on.

Alexi returned his attention to the paperwork on his desk.

The really bizarre thing was that she seemed to have cast some kind of weird spell over him; he just hadn’t been able to move on since she’d walked out a month ago.

Every time he’d decide to take someone else to bed and forget her, a picture of her sensuous, perfectly proportioned body drifted into his mind, stopping him. He’d remember the way she could look at him with those playful, challenging blue eyes, the way her lips could curve in that secret smile that promised so much … and it had sent him crazy.

He needed her. Needed to feel her sensuous body writhing against his. It was a macho pride thing, he told himself furiously. She’d dumped him so he wanted her back—nothing more than that. Once he’d had his fill of her, these feelings would go.

Alexi frowned as he realised he was losing track of the meeting. She was still adversely affecting his work.

Later today, after business was taken care of, he would address this situation, he promised himself. And this time he wouldn’t allow her to play games, he would have her exactly where he wanted her.

‘So—has anyone got any questions?’ Katie returned to switch off the projector.

There were one or two queries, and she answered them confidently, before suddenly diverting a question over to Alexi.

‘Perhaps you’d fill everyone in on that side of things, Alexi?’ She looked over at him and he noted that the blue eyes were suddenly shadowed with panic.

‘Yes … of course.’ He flicked to the notes he had made earlier and answered the enquiry with half an eye on Katie as she went to the water fountain to get herself a drink. Katie would certainly have had no trouble answering that question, so why the abrupt hand-over and the look of panic?

He noted that she looked very pale suddenly, and he half rose to his feet as she swayed.

‘You OK, Katie?’

‘Fine.’ She smiled. ‘Just a bit warm in here.’

She didn’t look fine. He’d thought for a moment that she was going to faint. He glanced back at the papers in front of him and decided it was time to sum things up. They’d covered the most important points and he’d had enough. Besides, she was right, it was close in here; the air conditioning didn’t seem to be very efficient for some reason.

‘Well, gentlemen, if there are no further questions I think we will leave it there.’

There was a murmur of dissent around the table. But Alexi had made up his mind, and he dealt with the few remaining items of business briskly. The meeting was adjourned and people rose to their feet to gather papers and leave.

Katie had never been more grateful. The room had suddenly felt like it was closing in on her, and she’d felt light-headed. She’d never fainted before in her life, but she had honestly thought she was going to black out.

She started to gather the files up and pack them away as one by one everyone left.

‘The meeting seemed to go well, I think,’ she murmured as Alexi came over to stand beside her.

‘Yes—except for the near-fainting incident,’ he answered wryly. ‘What’s the matter with you?’

‘Nothing’s the matter with me!’ She flicked him an impatient glance. Did nothing escape those penetrating dark eyes? she wondered. But inside panic was starting to take over. What was the matter with her? she wondered anxiously.

Just say she was pregnant?

The frantic thought thundered through her consciousness. She honestly didn’t know what she would do if she was. Because if Alexi thought for one moment that she might be expecting his child he would be horrified! Just remembering how he had reacted when she had even hinted at wanting a serious relationship made that very clear. And you couldn’t get anything more serious than becoming a father.

Somehow she managed to keep her voice casual. ‘I think it was just too hot in here, that’s all.’

‘You should have had breakfast this morning.’

‘You know, I could do without the lecture!’ She snapped her briefcase closed. ‘You look after your business and leave me to look after mine.’

‘I am looking after my business. I don’t want you having time off due to malnutrition!’ He looked at her pointedly. ‘We’ve got a lot to get through in the next few weeks. And I need you fit and healthy.’

‘Gee, your concern really is underwhelming.’

He smiled teasingly. ‘All part of the boss’s job.’

How was it when he smiled at her like that she could feel her emotions squeezing? It was crazy.

It was like during the board meeting. One moment she had been totally absorbed in what she was talking about, and the next she had caught his eyes and she had just melted inside.

She looked away from him with a frown. ‘While we are on the subject of work, did the accountant here send you the up-to-date figures that we asked for?’ If he could be solely focussed on business then so could she, she told herself. She had to be. It was called self-preservation.

‘Yes, he sent an email through. I’ll get a printout for you.’ He had to admire her, he thought wryly. She was a consummate professional; she’d obviously felt very ill, but she was still thinking about work.

‘We can deal with the email after lunch,’ he said dismissively. ‘We’ll go and have something to eat on board the Octavia. We may as well go down there now.’

‘What time is our next meeting?’ Katie asked briskly.

‘Three.’

Katie glanced at her watch. She wanted to get away from him in her lunch break—she needed to get to a pharmacy and buy a pregnancy-test kit as soon as possible. ‘You go on ahead and I’ll catch you up later.’

‘Well, you may as well come with me now,’ he said. ‘There’s not much for you to do here.’

‘I want one of the girls from the typing pool to type up my notes for me.’ She stumbled a little over her words as she sought for an escape route.

‘I’ll get one of the secretaries down on the Octavia to do it for you later.’

‘Yes, but I need to nip to the shops as well.’ She tried to sound as casual as possible.

‘If it’s a dress you’re looking for to wear at the party tonight, I’ll get the shops on board the Octavia to send a selection down to my private quarters. Most of the top designer names have outlets on board. So I’m sure you’ll find something you like.’

‘Thanks, but I have some personal items I want to get as well.’

‘Very well.’ He shrugged. ‘I’ll let you get on with some shopping, then.’

Katie felt a flare of relief. But the feeling was short-lived as he continued briskly, ‘I’ll take a cab down to the docks, and my driver can drop you wherever you want and then wait for you. I’ll see you back at the ship for lunch in say …’ Alexi looked at his watch ‘… forty-five minutes.’

Katie felt her heart drop. She didn’t want his driver to take her shopping—she wanted to be completely on her own. But she supposed she was being paranoid. A chauffeur wasn’t going to be interested in where she went. A trip to a pharmacy was hardly breaking news, and then she supposed she could get him to drop her at a department store so that she could find a bathroom.

‘OK, thanks.’ She nodded. She would have agreed to anything right now to get rid of him.

They took the lift down the fifty-seven floors to street level.

It was vibrant with life outside, yellow cabs weaving amidst a river of continual traffic, pavements filled with people, whilst overhead the buildings towered into the dizzying heights of a clear blue sky, making Katie feel very small and insignificant.

The chauffeur came round and opened the rear door of the limousine.

Alexi said something to him then smiled at her. ‘OK, Fred will take you wherever you want to go. Don’t be late back. You need to eat lunch, and we have a business meeting at three.’

Lunch was the last thing she was bothered about.

What was she going to do if this test was positive?