Georgie Jones—all blonde hair, shiny eyes and sunshine personality—was exactly Nikos’s type. He didn’t need to go to Detective School to figure out that she was either Nikos’s newest love interest or soon would be. No wonder Nikos had given her the position as PA. How convenient to have her so nearby.
The idea of moving Nikos away to a monastery on a faraway island was rapidly becoming the best plan he’d had in a long time. But first he had to deal with returning this mermaid to wherever she belonged.
‘Please come in.’
She shuffled into the office, her full and rather enticing lips, painted a coral-pink, pulling into an open smile that slowly faded as she stopped in front of his desk.
She squared her shoulders and her hazel eyes held his steadily. ‘It would be a huge honour to work for you, and in a hotel as prestigious as The Korinna. I won’t lie or beat around the bush—I need this job.’
She gave him a quick smile that at first seemed open, but on closer inspection he saw that her eyes held a steely determination.
‘However, I respect the fact that you weren’t aware of my appointment and that it has put us both in a difficult position. I think I have a potential compromise, if you agree. And that is that I initially work for you for a trial period of a few days.’
* * *
Time slowed down to excruciatingly long seconds as Loukas studied her with obvious exasperation. Would he accept her proposal?
Life had taught her to be diplomatic, to negotiate and gently persuade rather than fight her way to acceptance by others. After years of being a newcomer she knew only too well that she had to give people space in order to come to realise that she posed no threat. And that included her new boss.
His office faced out towards the azure beauty of the Saronic Gulf, but when he stood up his huge Greek warrior size seemed to devour all the evening light that had been pouring in through the folding glass doors that led to a private balcony.
He moved to rest against a bookcase and asked, ‘Exactly what experience have you of being a PA?’
‘I’ve worked as a PA in an architectural firm in Spain for the past eighteen months. Before that I was a theatre hand, a trainee pastry chef, a dog walker...’ She paused, seeing that Loukas wasn’t overly impressed, and quickly added, ‘I’m flexible and I use my initiative, and I also speak Portuguese, Spanish, Italian...and passable Greek.’
His eyes narrowed in suspicion, he approached her as though he didn’t buy a word about her linguistic skills. ‘You speak all those languages?’
While her brain objected to his cynical tone, her heart was conducting a most peculiar dance in her chest. Goosebumps were popping up on her skin as her eyes were drawn to the smooth skin of his chest visible beneath the open neck of his shirt. She blinked as heat blasted inside her stomach.
She dragged her eyes away from the dark toffee skin tone and then, intending to let them travel up to meet his eyes, found herself waylaid by his mouth—was his lower lip slightly fuller than the upper one?—and then his nose, its straightness and perfection suiting his serious personality.
Eventually she managed to answer, ‘I moved around a lot as a child because of my dad’s work.’
‘Why are you here on Talos?’
Light golden-brown eyes marred by tension lines at the corners held hers. She needed to get Loukas to relax in her company.
She stepped back and gave her best excited smile. ‘I’m renovating a property.’
The tension lines tightened even more. ‘The old Alavanos property?’
His question came out in a rumble, his voice even lower than usual.
The nod of her head elicited a deep sigh of disbelief from him.
‘So, let me get this right... Nikos has employed as my PA someone who is soon going to be a business rival of ours?’
If only. The Talos Escape Guesthouse, as she had decided to call it, wouldn’t be opening anytime soon if she didn’t pull together enough money to actually furnish the guest rooms. But she wasn’t going to admit that to anyone. Sunny side up. That was her motto.
‘I’m going to open up a small guesthouse in the summer months, catering for the swimming holiday business. It’s hardly going to be a rival to The Korinna.’
Loukas shifted away from her and went and stood behind his desk. ‘Miss Jones, you can’t work here. I apologise that Nikos had you believing otherwise.’
He sat down at his desk, briefly gestured to the door and began to riffle through the paperwork on his desk.
Georgie opted not to take up his invitation to leave. She couldn’t let go of this financial lifeline.
Engrossed in his paperwork, he was either oblivious to her presence or choosing to ignore her, so she said to the rather beautiful wavy dark brown hair on the top of his head, ‘Why?’
He lifted that noble head of his slowly and eyed her unhappily. Throwing the pen in his hand to the desk, he said impatiently, ‘Thanks to Nikos, my PA Eleni ran away last week. I have now made it company policy that there is to be no relationships between employees. A policy that is to be implemented at all twenty-six hotels within the Christou Group. I can hardly go against that policy within days of its implementation.’
‘I’m not following... How does that impact me in my role as your PA?’
He crossed his arms and threw her a sceptical stare.
Confused, she said, ‘I would never date my boss... And anyway, I... I overheard your telephone conversation just now. Aren’t you looking for a wife? I’m not wife material.’
His eyebrows shot up. ‘I was talking about you and Nikos.’
‘Oh.’ Despite the inferno igniting her cheeks she heard herself laugh. ‘Nikos and me! Are you serious? He’s like a little brother. We’re friends—nothing more. Just as I’m friends with Marios and Angeliki.’
‘You’re friends with them too?’
‘I’ve got to know them over the past few months through Nikos. Marios and I share an interest in sea-swimming and Angeliki is teaching me Greek—she’s stayed over with me some nights.’
‘Really?’
Why did he sound so appalled...so surprised?
She rested a hand on the flimsy material of her mermaid tail, itching to whip it off, to go and put on some proper clothes. But perhaps she should fess up to everything in order to clear the air completely between them. Although she got the feeling he wasn’t going to like it.
‘There’s something else we need to talk about, as I’m presuming that you aren’t aware of it... I’ve moved into your family villa.’
* * *
She had what?
The mermaid wove a finger through the ends of her golden hair and gave him an uncertain smile before adding, ‘Nikos said I should stay at the villa as I will need to work late most days and the four-mile cycle back to my house in the dark is pretty terrifying, with all those open drops down to the sea.’
Had Nikos lost his mind? Yes, those who lived in the furthest reaches of the island often had to endure less than favourable road conditions on this car-less island. But he was the only person who still lived in the family villa.
Earlier this year, when he had made it clear how unhappy he was with their work, one by one the others had moved out. Nikos and Angeliki had originally shared an apartment overlooking the harbour in town, but had reluctantly agreed to move in to the new management apartment adjacent to The Korinna, that Loukas had commissioned as part of the renovations.
Nikos