A flight to catch. A life to get on with while she put her own on hold—again.
Natasha answered with a curt nod of her head.
It was all he required to have him reach out and pull her back into his arms. The heat flared between them. She uttered a helpless protest as his mouth arrived to claim hers. And worst thing of all was how the whole heady, hot pleasure of it caught hold of her as fast as it took him to make that sensual stroking movement with his tongue along the centre of hers. By the time he drew back, she was barely focusing. Her lips felt swollen and thick—but deep inside, in the core element where the real Natasha lay hidden, she still felt as cold as death.
Leo thought about just saying to hell with it and taking her back upstairs to bed and forgetting about the rest of this. She had no idea—none whatsoever—what that hopeless look on her face teamed with the buttoned-up suit was doing to him.
He turned away from temptation, frowning at his own bewildering inclinations. How had he gone from being a tough business-focused tycoon to a guy with his brains fixed on sex?
More than his brains, he was forced to acknowledge when he had to stand still for a moment and work hard to bring much more demanding body parts under control.
Then she moved, swinging him back round to look at her, and he knew then exactly why he was putting this woman before his cool business sense. She had been driving him quietly crazy for weeks now, though he had refused to look at the reason why until Rico had ruined his chances with her.
Rico’s loss, his gain. Natasha Moyles was going to come so alive with his tutelage she was not going to be able to hide anything from him. And he was going to enjoy every minute of making that exposure take place. Then once their six weeks were over he would get his money back and walk away so he could get on with his life without having her as a distraction that constantly crept into his head.
Maybe it was worth the cool two million to achieve it.
‘I need to speak to m-my parents…’
‘You can ring them—from Athens. Hit them with a situation they cannot argue with.’
‘That wouldn’t be—’
‘You prefer to relay the full ugly details to their faces?’ he cut in on her. ‘You prefer to explain to them that you and Rico have been caught thieving and that their other daughter is a man-thieving tramp?’
The tough words were back. The sigh that wrenched from Natasha was loaded down with defeat. ‘I will need to get my passport from the apartment,’ was all she said.
‘Then let’s go and get it.’ Leo held out his hand to her in an invitation that was demanding yet another surrender—one that sizzled in the short stillness that followed it.
A step on the road to ruin, Natasha recognised bleakly as she lifted her hand and settled her palm against his. His long tanned fingers closed around her slender cold fingers, she felt his warmth strike through her icy skin and his strength convey itself to her as he turned and trailed her behind him into the hallway, then out of the house.
CHAPTER FOUR
OUTSIDE the afternoon sunlight was soft on Natasha’s face. The short journey to her apartment was achieved in silence. The first thing she saw when they arrived there was Cindy’s silver sports car and her aching heart withered, then sank.
Leo must have recognised the car, too, because, ‘I’m coming in with you,’ he insisted grimly.
It had not been a request. And anyway Natasha was glad she was not going to have to face Cindy on her own.
Feeling dread crawling across her flesh, she walked into the foyer with Leo at her side. The janitor looked up and smiled. It was all she could do to smile politely back by return.
‘I’ve mislaid my keys,’ she told him. ‘Do you think I could borrow the spare?’
‘Your sister is home, Miss Moyles,’ the janitor informed her. ‘I can call up and she will let you—’
‘No.’ It was Leo who put in the curt interruption. The janitor looked up at him and it didn’t take a second for him to recognise that he was in the presence of a superior power. ‘We will take the spare key, if you please.’
And the key changed hands without another word uttered.
In the lift, Natasha began to feel sick again. She didn’t want this confrontation. She would have preferred not to look into Cindy’s face ever again.
‘Do you want me to go in for you?’
The dark timbre of his voice made her draw in a breath before she straightened her shoulders, pressed her tense lips together and shook her head. The moment she stepped into the hi-tech, ultra-trendy living room, her sister jumped up from one of the black leather chairs.
Cindy’s eyes were red as if she’d been crying and her hair was all over the place. ‘Where have you been?’ she shrilled at Natasha. ‘I’ve been trying to reach you! Why didn’t you answer your damn phone?’
‘Where I’ve been isn’t any of your business,’ Natasha said quietly.
Cindy’s fingers coiled into fists. ‘Of course it’s my business. I employ you! When I say jump you’re paid to jump! When I say—’
‘Get what you came for, agape mou,’ a deep voice quietly intruded.
Leo’s dark, looming presence appeared in the doorway. Cindy just froze where she stood, her baby-blue eyes standing out as hot embarrassment flooded up her neck and into her face. ‘M-Mr Christakis,’ she stammered out uncomfortably.
Ah, respect for an elder, Natasha noted, smiling thinly as she walked across the room to open the concealed wall safe where she kept her personal papers.
‘I didn’t expect you to come here….’
Nor had Cindy expected Leo Christakis to catch her with Rico, thought Natasha, and that was why she was embarrassed to see him again.
Leo said nothing, and Natasha winced at the dismissive contempt she could feel emanating from that suffocating silence. Cindy just wasn’t used to being looked at like that. She wasn’t used to being ignored. Embarrassment and respect changed to a sulky pout and flashing insolence, which she turned on Natasha.
‘I don’t know what you think you are doing in my safe, Natasha, but you—’
‘Be quiet, you little tramp,’ Leo said.
Cindy flushed to the roots of her hair. ‘You can’t speak to me like that!’
Natasha turned in time to watch the way Leo looked her sister over as if she were a piece of trash before diverting his steady gaze to her. ‘Got what you need?’ he asked gently.
Gentle almost crucified her, though she was way beyond the point of being able to work out why. Fighting the never-far-away-tears, she nodded and made her shaking legs take her back across the room towards him.
Cindy sent her a frightened look. ‘You aren’t leaving,’ she shot out. ‘You can’t leave. That idiot Rico panicked and phoned the parents looking for you—now they’re on their way here!’
Natasha ignored her, her concentration glued to the door Leo was presently filling up. I just need to get away from her, she told herself. I just need to…
‘You’re such a blind, silly, stupid thing, Natasha!’ Cindy went back on the attack. ‘Do you think I’m the only woman Rico has had while he’s been engaged to you? Did you really believe that someone like him was going to fall in love with someone like you—?’
Natasha hid her eyes and just kept on walking.
‘What