One brow shot up. ‘Chivalry? You think I did it out of chivalry?’ His amusement was unmistakeable.
A damning tide of heat swept up her face. But she couldn’t look away from those mesmerising eyes. ‘Well, I’m sure you had your own reasons... But I thought...’ She huffed. ‘It doesn’t really matter now, does it?’
‘I suggested it because it wouldn’t have been a hardship for me.’
‘I’m sure it wouldn’t, but you don’t have a monopoly on pain and discomfort, Mr Pantelides.’
He stiffened. ‘Excuse me?’
‘I just meant...whatever the circumstances of your past, at least you had a mother who loved you, so it couldn’t have been all bad.’ She couldn’t stem the vein of bitterness from bleeding into her voice, nor could she fail to realise she’d strayed dangerously far from an innocuous subject. But short of blurting out her own past this was the only way she could stop the slippery slope towards believing Sakis cared about her wellbeing.
She’d suffered a childhood hopelessly devoid of love and comfort, and the threat of a life of drugs had been an ever-present reality. Sleeping on a sofa bed was heaven in comparison.
His narrowed eyes speared into her. ‘Don’t mistake guilt for love, Moneypenny. I’ve learned over the years that this so-called love is a convenient blanket that’s thrown over most feelings.’
She sucked in a breath. ‘You don’t think that your mother loves you?’
His jaw tightened. ‘A weak love is worse than no love. When it crumbles under the weight of adversity it might as well not be present.’
Brianna’s fingers tightened around her tablet as shock roiled through her. For the second time in two days, she was glimpsing a whole new facet of Sakis Pantelides.
This was a man who had hidden, painful depths that she’d barely glimpsed in all the time she’d worked for him.
‘What adversity?’
He shrugged. ‘My mother believed the man she loved could do no wrong. When the reality hit her, she chose to give up and leave her children to fend for themselves.’ Casually, he flipped his pen in his hand. ‘I’ve been taking care of myself for a very long time, Moneypenny.’
She believed him. She’d always known he possessed a hardened core of steel beneath that urbane façade, but now she knew how it’d been honed, she felt that wave of sympathy and connection again.
Ruthlessly, she tried to reel back the unravelling happening inside her.
‘Thanks for sharing that with me. But the sofa was really no hardship for me either and, as long as we’re both rested, that should be the end of the subject, surely?’
His eyes remained inscrutable. ‘Indeed. I know when to pick my battles, Moneypenny, and I will let this one go.’
The notion that there would be other heated battles between them disturbed her in an altogether too excited way. Before she could respond, he carried on.
‘You’ll also be happy to know there won’t be any need for me to crowd your personal space any longer. Another room has become available. I’ve taken it.’
Expecting strong relief, she floundered when all she felt was a hard bite of disappointment.
‘Great. That’s good to know.’
Her tablet pinged a message. Grateful beyond words, she jumped on it.
* * *
After breakfast they returned to the site, suited up, and joined the clean-up process. Towards mid-afternoon, she was working alongside Sakis when she felt him tense.
The pithy Greek curse he uttered didn’t need translating. ‘What the hell are they doing here?’
Her heart sank when she saw the TV crew. ‘This is one wave we’re just going to have to ride. Nothing I can do to send them away, but I may be able to get them to play nice. You just have to trust me.’ The moment the words left her lips, she froze.
So did he. Trust was an issue they both had problems with. She had no business asking for his when she hid a past that could end their relationship in a heartbeat.
But slowly, the look in his eyes changed from hard-edged displeasure to appreciative gleaming. ‘Efkharisto. I have no idea what I’d do without you, Moneypenny,’ he said in a low, rumbling voice.
Her heart lurched, then hammered with a force that made her fear for the integrity of her internal organs. ‘That’s good, because I’ve devised this cunning plan to make sure that you don’t have to.’
A corner of his mouth rose and fell in a swift smile. His gaze dropped to her lips, then rose to recapture hers. ‘When Ari threatened to poach you, I nearly knocked him out with my oar,’ he said, his voice rumbling in that gravel-rough pitch that made the muscles in her stomach flutter and tighten.
‘I wouldn’t have gone.’ Not in a million years. She loved working with Sakis, even if the last two days had sent her on a knuckle-rattling emotional rollercoaster.
‘Good. You belong to me and I have no intention of letting you go. I’ll personally annihilate anyone who tries to take you away from me.’
Her pulse raced faster. Work. He’s talking about your professional relationship. Not making a statement of personal intent. Brianna forced that reminder on her erratic senses and tried to breathe normally. When her belly continued to roil, she sucked in air through her mouth.
Sakis made a small, hoarse sound in his throat. Heat arched between them, making her skin tingle and the flesh between her legs ache with desperate need.
Hastily she took a step back. ‘I...I’ll go and speak to the TV crew.’
She turned and fled. And with every step she prayed desperately for her equilibrium to return.
The TV crew refused to leave but agreed not to interview any member of the crew. For that she had to be content.
Sakis’s meeting with the maritime disaster investigators went smoothly because he had already admitted liability and agreed to make reparations, and he barely blinked at the mind-bogglingly heavy fine they imposed on Pantelides Inc.
But his behaviour with her was anything but smooth. Throughout the meeting, Sakis would turn to her for her opinion, touch her arm to draw her attention to something he needed written down or shoot her a question. Fear coursed through her as she realised that the almost staid, rigidly professional team they’d been seventy-two hours ago had all but disappeared.
By the time the meeting concluded, she knew she was in trouble.
* * *
Sakis pushed a frustrated hand through his hair and paced the conference room, anger beating beneath his skin. The investigators had just confirmed the accident was human error.
Striding to his desk, he threw himself in the chair.
‘Has Morgan Lowell’s file arrived yet?’ he asked Brianna.
She came towards him and he tried not to let his gaze drop to the sway of her hips. All damned day, he’d found himself checking her out. He’d even stopped asking himself what the hell was wrong with him because he knew.
Lust.
Untrammelled, bloody, lust. From the easily controlled attraction he’d felt when he’d first met her, it now threatened to drown him with every single breath he took in her presence.
She held out the information he’d asked for and he tried not to stare at the delicate bones of her wrist.
‘What do we know about him?’ he asked briskly.
‘He’s