Читать книгу Modern Romance July 2015 Books 1-4 - Кэтти Уильямс, Maisey Yates, Cathy Williams - Страница 13

CHAPTER FIVE

FRUSTRATION WAS NEVER a good feeling to wake up to, but Jessica supposed it was preferable to regret.

Standing beneath the pounding jets of the shower, she scrubbed furiously at her skin, as if doing that would wash the Greek from her memory, but nothing could shift the annoying thoughts going round and round inside her head. Had she been crazy not to invite Loukas into her suite, to kill the fantasy of her ex-lover once and for all? To make her realise that she’d been building him up into some kind of god for all these years, when in reality he was a mere mortal?

She reminded herself of the evening they’d shared. He had shown her no real affection, had he? He had taken her to dinner, then made a cold-blooded move on her afterwards. He had made her feel more like a potential conquest than an object of desire. Was she so desperate for sex that she was regretting not having settled for that? No, she was not. She needed to keep her wits about her and she needed to stay in control.

Pulling on a pair of linen trousers, she buttoned up her shirt and twisted her hair into a bun and was just clipping pearl studs into her ears when the phone beside the bed shattered the silence. She hesitated for a moment before picking up the handset. ‘Yes?’

‘Sleep well?’

The deep voice washed over her like dark honey. It made staying in control seem like the hardest thing in the world.

‘Like a log,’ she lied. ‘Did you?’

‘No, not really.’ His voice dipped. ‘I kept being woken up by the most erotic dreams imaginable and they all seemed to involve you. I blame you for my disturbed night, Jess.’

‘Because you didn’t get what you wanted?’

Loukas didn’t answer. If only it were as simple as that. If only his frustration could be put down to the fact that she’d stopped him making love to her—but it wasn’t that simple. It was starting to feel complicated and he didn’t do complicated. Why had it become so important to possess her again, and why was she so determined to fight him?

He knew she wanted him—she’d made that very clear—and yet she had resisted. He wondered if she revelled in the power it gave her—to tap into that icy self-control which she pulled out just when you were least expecting it. She had fallen apart in his arms the moment he’d touched her, and yet still she had said no.

His mouth hardened. He was aware that he had the double standards of many men to whom sex had always come easily, but his attitudes had been reinforced by the unhappiness of his childhood and the things he had witnessed. Those things had soured him towards the opposite sex and the women he had met subsequently had done little to help modify his prejudices.

But Jess was different. She had always been different. Not just because she was streamlined and blonde, when his taste had always tended towards fleshy brunettes. She was the one woman who had walked away from him. The one he had never been able to work out. She had that indefinable something called class, which no amount of money could ever buy. It had been her aloofness which had first drawn him to her—something he’d never come into contact with before. That sense of physical and emotional distance had fascinated him and so had she. She was the first woman he’d ever had to woo. The first—and only—woman he’d ever bought flowers for. Had she secretly laughed at his cheap little offering—when sophisticated bouquets had awaited her when she walked off the tennis court? He’d often wondered whether it had been her secret fantasy to take someone like him as her first lover. Someone as unlike her as possible. Someone who knew what it was all about, but who could safely be discarded afterwards. Her piece of rough. Had he served his purpose by deflowering her and introducing her to pleasure?

He considered the options which lay open to him. He could walk away now. Leave the new advertising campaign in the hands of the experts, and keep his own input to the bare minimum. Or he could pay her off with an overinflated sum, since money was the reason she was here. He could find a fresher, newer model, with none of the baggage which Jessica Cartwright carried. And he could easily find himself another lover. One who would not cold-bloodedly shut the door in his face, but who would welcome him with open arms and open legs.

But he had not finished with her. Not yet. His list was not yet completed. He had met his brother. He had dealt with his mother’s betrayal and uncovered all the dark secrets she had left behind. He had built up a fortune beyond his wildest dreams. He had made some of his peace with the world, so that only Jessica remained—and he needed her. He needed to take his fill of her, because only then would he be free of her and able to walk away.

‘Maybe I didn’t get what I wanted last night, koukla mou,’ he said softly, ‘but I always get there in the end.’

He heard her suck in a deep breath.

‘What happened between us last night. You must realise that it changes everything.’

He affected innocence. ‘How?’

There was a moment of silence. He could hear her searching for words. He wondered if she would try to hide behind those polite little platitudes which didn’t mean a thing.

‘I can’t possibly work alongside you now!’

‘Don’t make such a big deal out of it, Jess,’ he said. ‘Our bodies are programmed to react towards each other that way. You want me and I want you. We’ve always had chemistry. Big deal. We’re both grown-ups and neither of us are in relationships—at least, I’m not and I’m assuming you aren’t either.’

‘Isn’t that something you should have asked me before you leapt on me in the elevator?’

‘I don’t know if I would describe it as leaping,’ he commented drily. ‘And I was assuming you might have put up some kind of objection had that been the case.’

‘How do you manage to twist everything I say?’

‘Is that what I am doing, koukla mou?’ he questioned innocently.

‘You know you are.’

‘So why don’t we put down what happened to curiosity and leave it at that? The advertising team want to meet you at their offices,’ he added. ‘My car will be outside your hotel at eleven.’

Jessica was left staring at the phone as he did that frustrating thing of ringing off before she felt the conversation was finished. Though really, what was there left to say? She ordered breakfast from Room Service, nibbling half-heartedly on a piece of wholemeal toast, and drank two cups of coffee strong enough to revive her. But when she went down to the front of the hotel just after eleven, it was to find Loukas sitting in the back of a car parked directly outside, reading through a large sheaf of documents.

‘Oh, it’s you,’ she said as he glanced up, and was caught in his ebony gaze. Her heart gave a punch of excitement she didn’t want to feel, but was it really so surprising that she was reacting to him? Last time she’d seen him he’d had his tongue down her throat and she had been in danger of dissolving beneath his touch. Was he remembering that, too? Was that why his eyes were gleaming with inky provocation and his lips had curved into a mocking smile?

‘Yes, Jess. It’s me.’

She swallowed as the driver shut the door behind her. ‘I wasn’t expecting to find you here.’

‘But hoping you might?’

‘You’re...’

‘I’m what, Jess?’

She shook her head. ‘It doesn’t matter.’

‘Oh, come on,’ he taunted softly. ‘Why hide behind that frozen expression you’re so fond of—why not come out and say just what you’re thinking for once?’

She stared at him, her heart beating very fast, and suddenly she thought, What the heck? Why shouldn’t he know how she felt about him? She wasn’t on a tennis court now and he wasn’t her opponent. Well, he was, but not in the traditional sense. What did it matter if she was honest with him—the world wouldn’t stop turning if she told him the truth, would it? But it wasn’t easy to voice her emotions, when she’d been drilled to keep them hidden away ever since she could remember. Wasn’t that why sex with him had been so wonderful—and so scary—because it had knocked all those barriers down, and for a little while had made her feel free? ‘Actually, you’re the last person I wanted to see.’

‘Liar,’ he said softly. ‘Stop pretending—most of all to yourself. Your body language gave you away the moment you saw me again. Even you can’t disguise the darkening of your eyes or the unmistakable tightening of those delicious breasts.’

‘How come you’re even here?’ she said crossly as the car pulled away from the kerb.

He laughed. ‘I live here.’

‘You live in a hotel?’

‘Why not?’

‘Because...because a hotel is somewhere you stay. It’s not a real home.’

‘For some people it is.’

Loukas stared out of the window as the streets of London passed them by. Would it shock her to discover that he’d never really had a home of his own, just a series of places in which to stay? He remembered the too-thin curtain at one end of the room, and the saving grace of the cotton-wool plugs which he’d crammed into his ears and which had blotted out most of the sounds. ‘Actually, it’s ideal for all my needs,’ he said. ‘It’s big, it’s central and there are several award-winning restaurants just minutes away from my suite. I send out for what I want. My car gets valet parked and there is effective security on the door. What’s not to like?’

‘But don’t you like having all your own things around you?’

He turned back to look at her. ‘What things?’

She shrugged. ‘Oh, you know. Pictures. Ornaments. Photos.’

‘The clutter of the past?’ He smiled. ‘No. I’m not a big fan of possessions. I try to live by the maxim that you should always be able to walk away, with a single suitcase and your passport.’

She frowned. ‘But what about the future? Do you plan to live in a hotel for ever—is that what you want?’

‘There is no future,’ he said softly. ‘There is only what we have right now and right now all I want to do is kiss you, but unfortunately there isn’t time.’ He reached for his jacket. ‘We’re here.’

Heart pounding, Jessica stared out of the car window. ‘Here?’

‘Zeitgeist. The best advertising agency in London.’

She looked up at the cathedral-high dimensions as they entered the modern building, forcing herself to concentrate on her surroundings instead of focusing on how much she had wanted him to kiss her back then. ‘Tell me why we’re here?’

‘Gabe and his team would like to show you a mock-up for the new campaign. They’ve been in pre-production for weeks and want to present you with your brief.’

They were ushered into a huge room filled with a confusing amount of people. She was introduced to Patti, the stylist—a spiky-haired blonde in a bright green mini-dress and a pair of chunky boots who was swishing through a rail of clothes. The long-haired art director was peering at photos of a woman standing on a gondola—a gondola!—who looked suspiciously like her. And when she looked a bit closer she could see that it was indeed her—with her head superimposed onto the body of some sleek model wearing a series of revealing evening dresses, set off with dazzling displays of diamonds.

There was a dynamism in the air which was almost palpable and nothing like the rather slow pace of the advertising agency Lulu had employed before. In fact, it was all a bit of a whirlwind experience, made all the more intense by Loukas at her side—warm and vibrant, and impossible to ignore. He took her over to the far side of the studio to meet Gabe Steel, the agency’s owner—a striking man with dark golden hair and steely grey eyes.

‘When Loukas explained that he wanted a complete change of image for the Lulu brand,’ Gabe was saying, ‘I could see it was a change which was long overdue. So we’re ditching the Grace Kelly look and going for something more modern. We’ve had a lot of fun putting these new ideas together, Jessica—and I think you’re going to like them. I showed them to my wife last night and she certainly did.’ He smiled. ‘So why don’t you sit down and you can see what we have in mind?’

Jessica sat down on a chair which had clearly been chosen more for style than comfort and watched as the art director and Patti whipped through a series of photos, showcasing different pieces of jewellery.

‘We’re taking out a two-page spread in one of the broadsheets just in time for Valentine’s Day,’ explained Gabe, ‘which only gives us a few weeks to play with.’

‘Valentine’s Day?’ repeated Jessica, thinking that no other date could have rubbed in her single status quite so effectively.

‘Sure. It’s one of the jewellery business’s most profitable times of the year—and Lulu needs to capitalise on that in a way it has failed to do before. The young girls who used to buy the wristwatch are all grown up now, and we want to show the world that you’ve grown up, too. We want to show that the new Jessica is definitely not a girl any more. And she won’t be wearing a waterproof wristwatch, she’ll be wearing jewels—preferably some which have been bought for her by a man.’

‘My jewels,’ interjected Loukas softly.

Jessica thought how weird it was to hear herself being spoken about in the third person. She stared nervously at the photos. Surely they weren’t expecting her to wear clothes like those—with half her breasts on show, or a long dress slashed all the way up the way up her thigh?

‘The shoot is booked to take place in Venice, as you can see from the mock-ups,’ Gabe continued. ‘It’s the most romantic city in the world and a perfect setting for the kind of look we’re aiming for. In winter it’s moody and atmospheric, which is why we’ll be shooting in black and white with the iconic Lulu pink as the only colour.’ He smiled at her. ‘The team are going out first to set up the locations and I gather you and Loukas are flying out separately.’

Every face in the room turned to look at her, but all Jessica could see was the gleam of Loukas’s black eyes and the faint curve of his mocking smile. Since when had they been travelling out separately and why hadn’t anyone bothered to tell her about it? She didn’t think she’d ever shouted at anyone in her life but right then Jessica wanted to stand up and yell that she didn’t want to go anywhere with the arrogant Greek—least of all to a city famed for romance, to advertise a campaign which was all about romance.

She wanted to be back in Cornwall, far away from him and the uncomfortable way he was making her feel. She had been fine before he’d come back into her life. Things might have been predictable, but at least they had felt safe. She hadn’t been racked with longing, or regret. She hadn’t started thinking about the fact that they’d never even spent a whole night together.

Did she really have to take this job—with all the complications which accompanied it? Again, she thought about selling up and buying a cheaper apartment away from the sea.

But then her half-sister’s face drifted into her mind and she felt the sharp stab of her conscience. She thought of Hannah sobbing in her arms following the terrible avalanche which had killed her parents. Things had been bad enough when they’d been forced to sell the big house, but they had chosen the new one together, and Hannah loved her current home. It was her home, too, and what right did Jessica have to deprive her of that security, just because being around Loukas bothered her more than it should have done?

She didn’t have to sleep with him, no matter how much she wanted him. And there was nothing to stop her making it clear to him that it wasn’t going to happen. A new sense of determination filled her, because hadn’t she come through far worse than having to resist a man like him?

So she gave Gabe a smile—the same smile she always used when people asked if she missed playing tennis. A very useful smile to have in her repertoire. It was bright and convincing.

And it didn’t mean a thing.

‘I can’t wait,’ she said.