She turned back to stare out over the water and felt him come up behind her. ‘And you? How are you feeling?’
Confused.
‘Tired. It was a wonderful day. Thank you for taking us.’
He reached out and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her back into his chest. ‘The day’s not over yet,’ he murmured against the top of her head.
Lexi let herself lean her full weight into him and soaked up his manly smell, which now seemed so familiar to her.
Gathering her courage in hand, she decided she had nothing to lose by asking the question uppermost in her mind. ‘Can I ask you something?’
‘You know that always makes a man want to say no.’
‘Who’s Sasha?’
He stiffened for a moment before fanning his hands out over her belly and bending his knees a little so he could nuzzle the side of her neck. ‘Sasha is no one you need to worry about.’
Lexi felt herself stiffen this time and gripped the wooden railing more tightly. ‘You’re not still seeing her, are you?’
He stopped nuzzling her and spun her abruptly towards him, grasping her chin between his thumb and finger and forcing her eyes to his, his expression fierce. ‘I’m not your father or your ex, Lexi. I don’t play around on a woman if I’m sleeping with her.’
Lexi swallowed, not doubting him for a second but remembering an earlier comment he had made about not having girlfriends, only bed partners. ‘That’s good to know.’
‘Anything else?’ His voice was clipped and her heart sank a little when she realised that he wasn’t going to answer her question.
‘You won’t tell me, will you?’
He let out an exasperated breath and released her chin. ‘Sasha is not relevant to you and me.’
No, whoever Sasha was, she was relevant to him, otherwise he wouldn’t mind talking about her.
Lexi folded her arms and looked down at the tiny space between their bodies. She felt raw and exposed and she could feel the tension coming off him in waves. She glanced up at him and almost raised her hand to smooth the frown line marring his perfect brow. ‘And what is you and me, Leo?’ she asked the other question that had been milling around the outskirts of her mind all day, holding her breath as she waited for his answer, remembering too late her new-found intent to live in the moment.
He rubbed the back of his neck in that telltale sign that said he was stressed. Lexi wondered if her question was the death knell of whatever it was that was going on between them, the thought making her stomach clench painfully.
‘I don’t know.’ He reached out and his hands curved around her hips, the familiar warmth of his touch flooding her lower body. ‘But I want you more than I’ve ever wanted any other woman. Is that enough for you?’
Lexi held her breath. Was it? She knew that if she said no he would walk away from her without a backward glance and deep down in her heart she knew she didn’t want that. Not yet. Maybe not ever.
Swallowing hard against that thought, she raised her arms and ran her hands over the taut muscles and sinews of his arms until she reached his shoulders. She felt his body quiver under her touch and heard the whistle of air as he released a pent-up breath between his teeth.
He held himself absolutely still as he waited for her to continue and Lexi made up her mind. She didn’t know if his answer was enough but she wouldn’t worry about the future. And what was there to worry about, anyway, if she made sure her heart stayed clearly out of whatever this thing was between them?
An affair?
A fling?
‘I don’t know.’ She gave him the same answer he had given her because it was the most honest. ‘But I know I’ve never felt like this with any other man and I’m not ready to let it go,’ she breathed, raising herself onto her tiptoes and kissing him at the same time as he wrapped his arms around her body and crushed her to him.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
BUT old habits died hard and three days later, as she sat in Leo’s library and hit the send button to email her revamped business proposal to her bank manager, Lexi knew she was getting in too deep.
Apart from one afternoon when Leo had flown to Athens to finalise the business deals that had instigated this trip, he had kept his word and spent almost every minute of each day with her and Ty and it had been lovely. Too lovely. But too often Lexi had caught her runaway heart drumming up stories of a future between them that her practical side had scoffed at.
It was like having a split personality. Or having the puppets Punch and Judy in her head. Punch would start daydreaming and going off on a completely inappropriate tangent and Judy would return and bop him on the head.
Lexi pushed her computer aside and stretched the kinks in her neck and tried to go easy on herself. Because who wouldn’t dream of a future with a man like Leo Aleksandrov?
Yes, he was arrogant and demanding and always wanted things his way, but he was also gentle and tender and never ran roughshod over her wishes. In fact, this week, he had almost gone out of his way to fulfil her wishes. And not just in the bedroom.
And he had completely eradicated her feelings of insecurity, at least with him. She couldn’t imagine ever making love with another man with such joyful abandon and was now gladder than ever that she had been honest with Simon about how she felt. It just pained her that she couldn’t be as honest with Leo.
But then how did she feel about him?
She liked him, of course, but … that was all she could ever let it be. Because, as tender as he had been with her, as insatiable as he was in bed, he didn’t let himself do emotion. And of course there was still the mysterious Sasha floating around in the background.
‘There you are, moya milaya.’ Lexi looked up, startled by the sound of Leo’s voice. ‘Come—’ he held out his hand to her ‘—I have a surprise for you.’
‘What is it?’
‘If I tell you, it won’t be a surprise.’
Lexi smiled and pushed her gloomy thoughts aside. They were leaving in two days. Plenty of time to feel gloomy after that. ‘Okay.’
He dropped a searing kiss on her lips and almost dragged her out of the library and down to her bedroom. There, in front of her full-length mirror, was a metal rack stacked with what looked like couture evening dresses.
She turned to him, slightly bemused. ‘I don’t understand.’
‘It’s very simple. I tore your dress the other night and now I’m replacing it.’
Lexi raised her eyebrows. ‘With fifty new ones!’
‘You never know when the urge might take me over again,’ Leo drawled, the wicked grin on his face sending her pulse rate soaring. ‘They are all in your size. Choose one to wear tonight and do what you want with the others.’
Lexi ran her hand over the beautiful gowns. If she sold them she imagined she might just make enough money to pay for the renovations to the building for her new childcare centre! ‘This is too much, Leo.’
‘Enough.’ He waved his hand at her imperiously. ‘We are going to dinner. You have nothing to wear. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t mind—but tonight there will be other diners around and I am nothing if not possessive with what is mine.’
Oh, if only she was.
Lexi cleared her throat. ‘Where are we going?’
‘Get dressed and you will find out. You have half an hour.’
‘Half an hour! I’ll need longer than that to do one of these dresses justice,’ she exclaimed with real panic.
‘You do them justice already.’
‘Too smooth,’ Lexi complained and shooed his grinning face out of the door.
When he closed it behind him she returned her attention to the dresses, not knowing which one to choose.
‘Athens! You’re taking me to Athens!’ Lexi had felt sick the whole time they had been travelling in the helicopter that felt no safer than a tin box being tossed around by one of her toddlers. She had only just now prised her hands from her eyes at Leo’s insistence.
Athens sprea
d out below her like a bejewelled cloak, the Parthenon sitting atop it like a porcelain crown.
The helicopter circled lower and Lexi once again covered her face, ignoring Leo’s husky chuckle but glad of his strong arm holding her close.
She felt a jolt and then Leo said, ‘We’re here, angel.’
He unclipped her safety belt as the whine of the rotors ebbed, then jumped down onto the ground and placed his hands around her waist as he lifted her out. ‘Lucky you’re so small,’ he said huskily against her ear. ‘Not to mention exquisite in that dress.’
‘It’s black,’ Lexi said almost apologetically, ‘but I loved the design.’
‘It’s beautiful.’ Leo looked over her shimmering strapless dress, which fell in elegant waves to her feet with frankly male appreciation. ‘I can’t wait to tear it off you later on.’
‘You will not.’
He laughed at her tone and she knew that if he wanted to tear it off her she could do nothing about it. Then she looked around and realised that they had landed on the top of a building with a clear view of the Parthenon. ‘Oh, my …’
‘You wanted to see the Acropolis at night. And here it is.’
Lexi swung her gaze back to his and tried not to let every one of her overawed emotions show on her face.
‘Thank you. This is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me.’
He seemed to be caught up by her gratitude and blinked before holding his hand out to her. ‘Come. We have a booking in Athens’ most revered restaurant and then you can take a tour.’
‘Really? We can walk around it?’
‘Of course. I didn’t bring you all this way just to look at it from afar, angel moy.’
Lexi laughed and tried not to be dazzled by his arrogant confidence.
‘My mother would love it here,’ Lexi mused, gazing around the posh old-world restaurant, with tables set at discreet distances from each other and draped in heavy white linen. ‘She’s half Greek herself.’
Leo leaned back in his chair. ‘That explains the dark hair and golden eyes.’
Lexi laughed. ‘My eyes aren’t golden; they’re a hybrid.’
‘Yes. Golden when you’re angry and green when you’re aroused. They’re very alluring.’
The muscles deep within Lexi’s pelvis clenched at his intimate tone and she knew from the way his eyes smouldered that he knew it. The man oozed sexuality when he wasn’t even trying so when he was … Lexi felt heat sweep into her face and tried to think of something to say.
‘I’ve always hated them. As a child I longed for blue eyes and blonde hair.’
‘I love them.’
Okay, not helping.
‘We need to change the subject.’
‘We need to find a bed, you mean.’
Lexi felt a stupid grin split her face as he reached across the table and took her hand in his, drawing lazy circles around her palm.
‘That’s not helping either.’
‘Have I told you how beautiful you look tonight?’
‘Yes. Several times. As are you.’
‘Beautiful? Sexy, maybe.’
‘And modest.’
‘You don’t get anywhere being modest, angel.’
Lexi sipped her wine, feeling mellow and content. ‘Speaking of getting anywhere, do you think you’ll stay in the apartment, or do you think you might get a house with a garden now that Ty is staying with you?’
She’d said the wrong thing. She knew it even before he removed his hand from hers and picked up his water glass.
‘Ty lives with Amanda.’
‘But Amanda’s email …’
‘Is rubbish. Once my security team find her I’ll sort out the problem and everything will be back to normal.’
Sort out the problem? Lexi felt slightly queasy. He had been so different this week. She had been so sure … and of course she knew why he thought he couldn’t have Ty, but didn’t he see he was different from his father? Or was there more to it? Was it that he just didn’t want Ty, regardless? A thought Lexi had trouble formulating, let alone verbalising. And why was that? Why did she care so much …?
‘You can stop looking at me with those shocked, wide eyes, angel. I know what you’re thinking but life isn’t a fairy tale.’
‘I know that,’ she snapped, but she knew part of her wished that it was.
‘Then you know that I have to find Amanda.’
Lexi tried not to grimace. ‘And if you don’t?’
‘I will.’
His certainty sent a frisson of dread darting down her spine and she was starting to feel sorry for Amanda. ‘Don’t be too hard on her, Leo. I think it’s possible she suffered from postnatal depression after Ty was born.’
‘You feel sorry for her?’ His tone was incredulous and she cringed.
‘I’m not taking her side, if that’s what you mean. I know she tried to trap you into marriage, but I don’t see the point in dwelling on that. Life is too short to waste on anger or guilt.’
He stared at her for a heartbeat, his body tense. ‘It’s also too short to talk about Amanda Weston. Come.’ He stood up. ‘The Parthenon awaits.’
Lexi was only half paying attention to their personal guide as she wandered through the ancient ruins, her mind on the conversation in the restaurant.
This week she had assumed Leo had changed his mind about Ty but she’d been wrong and it made her feel edgy. She wanted to ask him if he was ever planning to tell Ty that he was his father but the magical night already felt tainted by their earlier discussion and she didn’t want to ruin it by getting into another argument. Which was probably very cowardly of her, but she needed more time to digest her feelings before she broached it again.
Thankfully, the flight back to the yacht was a little better than the flight over but that was because she was basically half asleep with her head on Leo’s shoulder. Still, if she’d had the energy she would have kissed the deck when the helicopter landed safely on the yacht.
Leo scooped her up into his arms and carried her into his suite. Lexi stood before him, much as she had that first night but instead of ripping her dress in half he gently turned her and lowered the zip at the back. Then he peeled the fabric from her body and proceeded to kiss his way down her spine.
His lovemaking was surprisingly gentle and afterwards Lexi lay in the crook of his shoulder and traced lazy patterns over the hair on his chest. Gradually his breathing eased as he slipped into sleep and, for all her earlier tiredness, she felt suddenly wide-awake.
He had told her a few nights ago that he had never slept as well as he had this week and she was glad. But she was also a fool. What she felt for Leo was ten times—no, a thousand times—deeper than what she had ever felt for Brandon. Because she hadn’t really loved Brandon—at least not the way she loved Leo.
She let the words that had been edging into the front of her brain for days now take root and she knew without a shadow of a doubt that they were true.
She stared into the darkened room at nothing in particular and didn’t know how she felt about that. Because she didn’t know how he felt about her.
Yes, he’d done nice things for her and, yes, he had spent time with her, laughed with her, helped her whenever she needed it, but was she really any different from any other woman he had spent a week with?
Being on his mega-yacht and sailing around the Cyclades islands was like being in a fairy-tale bubble. In two days she would return to London. Return to work. Return to reality. And she had no idea if he would want to continue seeing her there.
She tried to imagine what it would be like if he did. Movie nights with Todd and Aimee? Dinner in her tiny flat? Or would she always have to go to his penthouse and enter his world? And would she want that?
Oh, it was too hard.
Leo shifted and mumbled in his sleep, his arms tightening and releasing around her. He tried to turn, his brow pleated, and Lexi realised he was starting to have a nightmare again. She instinctively smoothed her f
ingers over his forehead, trying to soothe him.
‘Sasha?’
The whispered word was barely audible but Lexi heard it. And froze. ‘No, it’s me, Leo. Lexi.’
He seemed to relax at the sound of her voice and his lips whispered across her temple as he pulled her back down to him, immediately falling into a deep sleep. Unfortunately, it took Lexi a lot longer to do the same.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
LEXI woke alone the next morning for the first time since they had started sleeping together and knew it didn’t bode well.
Then she realised that she wasn’t quite alone when she heard Leo talking into his telephone over by the window. He was as naked as the day he was born and the morning sun streaming in highlighted his toned butt and the defined dent where his back muscles met his spine.
She had seen him on the phone many times this week but she had never heard him speaking in such a low personal tone and her stomach clenched, a sixth sense telling her that he was talking to a woman.
Then she remembered how he had called out Sasha’s name last night in his sleep. How he had thought she was Sasha? Lexi’s heart hammered at the thought that he had remembered the dream and called Sasha while she lay sleeping.
Stop, take a breath, she ordered herself. He was not her father and she was not her mother. Hadn’t she told him that his parents’ story didn’t have to be his own? So, ergo, nor did hers!
He switched off the phone and Lexi saw such a distressed look etched into his profile that her breath stalled in her lungs. She didn’t want to intrude on what was clearly a private moment for him but nor could she keep quiet.
‘Bad news?’
His head swivelled around at the sound of her voice. ‘You’re awake.’
Her eyebrows rose. ‘Yep.’
She was desperate to ask who had been on the phone but he tossed it onto a nearby sofa and turned back to face the window, effectively shutting her out.
His Last Chance at Redemption Page 15