Except there was a better, more subtle way to inflict pain. He had the resources, the influence, the knowledge.
All he needed to do was set the wheels in motion.
CHAPTER EIGHT
PEAK-HOUR traffic into the city seemed more hectic and hazardous than usual, and Alesha silently cursed her independence in refusing to ride in to the office earlier with Loukas.
It set the day on a wrong foot; her laptop refused to boot up, her PA called in sick, and almost anything that could go wrong … did.
Worse, her BMW developed a puncture en route home at day’s end and the spare happened to be flat. Enlisting the help of an automobile service took wait time, together with the need to have the car towed to an approved workshop, where she called for a taxi to take her home.
Loukas arrived as she paid off the driver, and she grimaced a little.
‘Don’t ask,’ Alesha declared as he reached her side. ‘You really don’t want to know.’
He examined her pale features, the tenseness apparent as he cupped her chin and tilted it. ‘You weren’t in an accident?’
Her eyes met his with fearless disregard. ‘No.’ Without preamble she relayed the puncture, the flat spare.
‘You should have called me.’
It simply hadn’t occurred to her to do so. ‘Why? I took care of it.’
He touched a light finger to her lower lip. ‘Next time, call.’
He’d been concerned about her?
‘Maybe.’
‘Do it, Alesha.’
He cared? Really cared enough to worry about her safety? No other man, with the exception of her father, had shown such concern.
Loukas managed to surprise her, when she least expected it, and whatever frustration the day held dissipated to nothing.
‘Okay, I will. I promise.’
Standing so close to him was beginning to affect her, and she moved around him, entered the foyer and ran lightly upstairs.
She thought wistfully of the spa-bath, a scented candle or three, and muted soothing music. Except it wasn’t going to happen. Instead she’d settle for a leisurely shower.
On reaching the master suite she discarded her outer clothes and entered the en suite, loosened her hair, set the water dial to medium, then she shed bra and briefs and stepped into the large tiled stall.
Heaven, she determined as the water cascaded over her body, and she reached for shampoo, lathered her hair, rinsed and applied conditioner, then she reached for the scented soap … only to freeze as the glass door opened and Loukas joined her.
Splendidly naked … as if he’d be clothed, a wicked imp taunted … he loomed large in the confines of the shower stall.
Shocked surprise didn’t cover it. Without conscious thought her hands moved to act as an automatic shield.
‘Modesty, agape?’ Loukas drawled with musing humour as he caught up the soap and began smoothing it along her arm.
‘Why are you doing this?’ Her voice sounded strangled, even to her own ears.
‘Sharing your shower?’ He turned her away from him and tended to her back, using long strokes that eased over her bottom and slid down to her knees … then crept up to encompass her shoulders. When he was done, he caught hold of her shoulders and turned her to face him.
‘Don’t.’ It was a heartfelt plea he chose to ignore as he shifted her hands and palmed her breasts, lightly examined their soft fullness, then slid to the curve at her waist before slipping to the intimate vee between her thighs.
The brush of his fingers caused her body to arch, and she balled one hand into a fist and aimed for his chest.
Except he deftly fielded it before it could connect.
For a wild moment her eyes seared his own, and her lips formed a soundless gasp as he brought her fisted hand to his mouth and lightly brushed his lips across her knuckles.
His eyes were dark, heavy with lambent warmth, and she gave a startled cry as he clasped her shoulders and began to massage the taut muscles, easing in to loosen the kinks.
It felt so good, and she sighed as he rendered a similar treatment to her back, easing up to her neck to knead and soothe until she relaxed completely beneath his touch.
Not content, he massaged her head, and she closed her eyes and let her mind drift until he shifted her beneath the beating water to rinse the suds from her hair, her body.
Alesha turned to face him and swept her hands over her face to dispense the excess water.
‘Better?’
‘Much,’ she admitted. ‘Thank you.’
The stress of the day had diminished, together with the loosening of tense shoulder and neck muscles. Although there was a need to escape the confines of the shower stall … and the man who stood far too close for her peace of mind.
A wet naked man who with just a look could cause her body to go into sensual meltdown.
Did he know?
She hoped not. After Seth she’d vowed never to allow another man to get beneath her skin … ever.
Yet Loukas was steadily invading her senses, there… a strong magnetic force who managed to arouse feelings she hadn’t known she possessed.
For one wild moment she wondered what it would be like to let go … to feel sufficiently secure to initiate sex and soar together in mutual delight. To gift him every sensual pleasure and know they were twin souls meant only for each other.
How emotionally freeing that must be.
Loukas glimpsed the faint wistfulness apparent, the fleeting emotions … and wondered if she knew how well he read her expressive features.
There was an urge to lift her high in his arms and take her, here, now. He could, easily. Except he wanted more than her mere compliance.
A quick coupling in the shower, invigorating as it would be for him, wouldn’t be her idea of fun … yet. He was treading delicate ground, with the need to earn her trust … completely and without reservation. Something that required time, patience and care.
‘I should go.’ Did her voice sound as awkward as she felt?
His mouth formed a faint smile. ‘You could stay and return the favour.’
Run the soap over his body? Reach for him?
‘It’s easy,’ Loukas encouraged gently as he placed the soap in her hand and covered it with his own.
Her eyes flared as he brought the soap to his chest and began easing it in a slow circular pattern extending to his throat, the tops of his arms and down to his waist.
Easy? How could this kind of intimacy be easy when she’d never indulged in it before?
Especially when the man was Loukas … who steadily with every day and night that passed seemed to extend the boundaries in their marriage.
Worse, she found herself increasingly in a state of ambivalence … alternating longing for his tenderness, the promise of something more, yet nervously reluctant to accept it.
The nerves in her stomach tightened into a painful ball as memory provided vivid recall of Seth’s unfeeling cruelty, both verbal and physical.
Don’t … the word screamed silently inside her head. Don’t bring your ex into the equation. There’s