Please let there be about a million people here so I can hide and not see him.
Where was she?
“You okay?” Bradley asked.
“Of course. Why?” Dominic continued scanning the resort he’d leased for the day. Sand for beach volleyball, tennis and basketball courts, a small carnival for the children. Horseback riding, croquet, big clumps of shade trees to escape the heat. A dance floor for later.
“You seem preoccupied.”
“We do not have ample reason for concern?”
Bradley’s jaw hardened. “Of course we do. But you’re prowling like a caged beast. Is it Ariana?”
“I wish I could have convinced her to come. She needs to get out more.” Dominic turned to his friend. “How was your dinner with her?”
A muscle in Bradley’s cheek ticked. “It was fine.”
Dominic remembered that she’d come home early. “Give her time.” His own jaw tightened. “That bastard. I will pay him back for what he did. She is a shadow of who she was.” His gaze narrowed. “But she will come back, if it is the last thing I accomplish. Lexie made her laugh. It was so good to hear.”
“She’s very fond of Ms. Grayson. Perhaps too fond.” The edge in Bradley’s voice sliced into Dominic’s own conscience.
“We do not know that Lexie is involved with Kassaros. The people I have searching for him have found no trace of connection.” Dominic felt Bradley’s gaze on him.
“Do I detect a softening? Have Ms. Grayson’s very fine legs obscured your instincts?”
“Do not speak of her like that,” Dominic snapped. He met his friend’s blue eyes, then glanced away, frowning.
“Dominic…” A note of warning.
He closed his eyes for a second, wondering himself why he couldn’t see her clearly. Why his vaunted instincts had gone on holiday. He settled for the easier explanation. “I want my sister to live again, to be free. Lexie is the first person to break through to her.” He turned toward Bradley. “So it’s complicated.”
“No, Dominic. It’s very simple. The company is in trouble. Lexie Grayson is the wild card, the woman whose involvement with the company neatly coincides with the first stirrings of trouble. The woman who’s made a big fan of young Josh, our genius designer, in case you’d forgotten.”
“Enough, Bradley. It is my company, in case you have forgotten. Poseidon is my blood and bone. I will not risk it or the welfare of its people. I will checkmate Kassaros, but to do that, the launch is critical. The gala is critical. Lexie is crucial to all of that. I am balancing all of it to the best of my ability.” He glared, knowing as he did it that Bradley’s arrows had hit their mark. “I will manage it. I always have.”
His friend’s blue eyes turned cool. He nodded. “And so you have. Just don’t let that woman take up too much of your attention.” He nodded across the way.
Dominic’s head swiveled, and he followed Bradley’s nod.
There. At last. She’d come, after all.
Mrs. Murray walked over to greet her and the two began to chat as if they were old friends. Bob the security guard walked up to say hello, hand outstretched. Instead, she gave him a quick hug, and Bob beamed with pleasure.
It was the Lexie who would stop to help a stranger. Despite every assurance Dominic had just given his friend, something inside him shifted, opened. Leaned toward the beacon of her presence.
He gave a shrug he didn’t feel, for Bradley’s sake. Maybe for his own. “Keep an eye on her. I will do the same.”
“Hey, Boss,” Bob said past her shoulder.
Lexie stiffened and tried not to turn to look. Only one man would be called Boss.
“Hello, Bob. Having fun?” the deep voice answered, sending shivers down her spine.
“Oh, yeah. You sure know how to throw a party. I was just trying to convince Lexie here to try a game of horseshoes with me.”
Lexie seized on the excuse. “That’s great—let’s go.” She grabbed Bob’s arm, ready to race away.
“Want to come along?” Bob asked him.
Say no. Please say no.
“Perhaps I will. I would like to see how Ms. Grayson handles herself.” Amusement threaded through that usually very serious voice. “Do you mind?”
She knew it was addressed to her and looked up at him for the first time.
There ought to be a law against the way Dominic Santorini looked in a pair of cargo shorts. Long, tanned, muscular legs. Trim waist, broad shoulders filling a snug black t-shirt that emphasized the body of a man who did more than sit behind a desk.
A little short of breath, she summoned up every ounce of grit she possessed. “I’ve never played before. You might get bored.”
Dark eyes held hers in thrall. “I can’t imagine anything about you ever being boring, Ms. Grayson.”
She hated that Ms. Grayson spoken in the slightly accented, deep voice that had the power to make her tremble as memory swept over her. That voice. Those lips…the things they could do to her…
“Lexie?” Bob spoke up.
She forced back to the moment and summoned a bright smile, tucking her hand in his elbow. “Right here—and ready if you are.”
The older man brightened, the lines of loneliness in his face vanishing. He patted her hand on his arm. “I’ll go easy on you.” He looked back at Dominic and winked.
“Not on your life, my friend. If I can’t win honestly, I’d rather go down in flames.”
“A commendable attitude,” Dominic said, but something odd was in his voice.
Lexie glanced over at him as he walked beside her, so tall and proud and commanding. “Honesty is very important to me.” I wish it were to you.
He held her gaze. “Is it now?”
Lexie frowned at his tone, but just then Bob came to a halt at the horseshoe pit. One of the employees looked up and grinned. “Hey, Bob—just the man I’ve been waiting for. Come on, let’s play.”
Bob looked over at Lexie, his gaze uncertain.
Dominic spoke up from beside her. “Why don’t you go ahead? I will be happy to answer any questions Ms. Grayson might have.”
She wanted to be anywhere but here, but the older man obviously wanted to answer the challenge. “Go ahead,” she urged. “I’ll watch this round.”
“If you’re sure…” Bob grinned and headed for the pit, rubbing his hands together.
Lexie stood beside Dominic, feeling the heat from his body even through the heat of the day. He was like a pole to her magnet—a lodestar calling her to him, despite what she knew was wise. She risked a glance upward, only to meet his dark, compelling gaze.
Quickly, she glanced away, but not before she saw amusement light his eyes. She tensed, waiting for him to bring up the subject she’d run away from at the Starlight Ball: their night together. The night of magic that had turned out to be strictly illusion.
Lexie readied herself to make an excuse for why she needed to be elsewhere at this moment. Seek out Mrs. Murray. Powder her nose. Anything, anything at all but having that discussion—or having to lie to this man again.
She hadn’t lied when she’d said that honesty was important to her. She’d never been tangled up in anything like this, and even her intense loyalty to Max lay heavy on her heart. She didn’t want to lie to Dominic Santorini; she wanted to come clean, wanted him to come clean. Wanted to spill it all out and devil take the hindmost—
But it was not her dream on the line.
And, truth be told, she wasn’t sure she was ready to know if Dominic had played a part. Lexie glanced around for an excuse to get away.
But he surprised her. “Do you see how he holds his horseshoe? His grip is light and easy. The horseshoe will go farther that way.” He leaned closer to her and pointed toward Bob with one long finger.
A finger that had trailed over her skin to such devastating effect.
Light-headed, Lexie struggled to answer. “Yes, I—” She cleared her throat of the tightness. “I think I see what you mean.”
Lexie blinked, trying to follow what he said, but when he placed his hand on the small of her back and bent at the knees to point out something to her, it was all she could do not to press her lips to that strong, tanned throat so tantalizingly close.
Bob threw his arms up in triumph and turned her way, beaming. “Ready, Lexie?”
“Uh, I—” she stammered.
“Come, I will help you.” With a small nudge to her back, Dominic urged her forward, the heat of his palm searing through her shirt.
Panic skittered through her. Surely everyone could see how he affected her, could sense how easily he got under her skin, so magnetic, so very unforgettable.
Lexie forced herself to smile at Bob and picked up her pace, moving away from Dominic’s hand. She reached her position past the other pole several steps ahead of him, but just as she bent to grasp her horseshoes, his longer reach seized them, too.
Their hands clasped on the same iron curve, and the feel of him jolted her. She glanced up at him, wondering if he felt it, too. He must be used to bowling women over. She expected to see triumph.
But his eyes were almost sad. A little haunted.
Quickly she glanced away, confused. Uneasy. Wanting too much to reach out to him and soothe the distress she saw there.
“Allow me to show you what I meant.” His voice was strictly neutral.
When she glanced at him again, his face was the mask she’d come to expect. Lexie stepped back and yielded the pit to him.
With strong, easy grace, he threw the first shoe and sent it ringing around the pole at the opposite end. The crowd that had gathered cheered, and even Bob was grinning at him. On their faces, she could see the respect, the admiration. He was a winner, and he’d made winners of all of them.
But instead of accepting the cheers as his due, he gestured toward Bob to take his turn, shrugging. “I have heard much of Bob’s skill. I can only claim the old saying, ‘Better to be lucky than good.’” With his easy manner, he gave Bob the stage instead of accepting it himself.
It was hard not to like a man so confident that he didn’t need to prove himself at anyone else’s expense. No wonder his employees were so devoted.
“Now—” he gestured. “Ms. Grayson?”
Good thing she wasn’t shy. Instead she grinned at the people gathered around. “Everyone might want to move back. I’m afraid I was the kind of softball pitcher who beaned the batters.”
Laughter rippled around the circle, and even Dominic chuckled. Lexie glanced over, struck by the beauty of his smile.
This smile reached all the way to his eyes, and she had seen it only once before. She would never forget it, though it would never again be directed at her.
He stepped behind her, clasping her waist lightly with one hand and grasping her wrist with the other. “Here, perhaps I can assist in protecting some of my valuable staff.” The smile in his voice rendered an already attractive man too devastating by half.
“Grip it loosely,” he murmured next to her ear.
Lexie tried to loosen her death grip, but any sort of relaxation with him this close was asking the impossible. Yet she didn’t really want to ask him to move away. She should, but she didn’t want to.
Maybe, just for this day, we don’t have to be at odds.
So Lexie drew a deep breath, trying to focus—until she felt his hand tighten on her waist and heard his own indrawn breath.
How was a girl supposed to concentrate on a game when a man like Dominic Santorini had his hands on her?
“Would you please step back?” she murmured under her breath.
“Why?” he murmured back, and there was mischief in his voice.
Mischief? Dominic?
She whipped her head around, meeting his grin. “Dirty pool, Mr. Santorini. Whose side are you on?”
“Bothering you, Ms. Grayson?” His face was all innocence.
“Not a bit.” Lexie smiled, baring her teeth and leaning closer. “Now step back, if you value your life.”
He chuckled, but he complied.
Lexie tried to block out everyone around her, tried to focus on the pole. She closed her eyes, drew a deep breath, then opened them and sent the horseshoe flying.
Bob leaped away just in time to save his toes.
“Oops.” Lexie felt her face flame and glanced around, venturing a smile. “Well, I warned you.”
“You sure did,” Bob replied past the laughter.
Just then, Dominic stepped forward. “Quick—run for your lives. We have a company on the line. Save the women and children first.” Then he turned toward her and grinned.
Laughter rippled through the crowd and a few people on the front did step back, but they smiled as they did it.
Playing. Dominic Santorini, the somber tycoon, was playing with her. Knowing it did something funny to her insides, made her want to steal him away and hold him prisoner so that he never lost that smile. She could drown in that smile. It was Nikos who stood before her, and she missed him terribly.
“Stage fright?” he asked.
Lexie shook her head, then made a production out of rubbing her hands together while she tried to still the knot in her stomach. She reached for bravado. “Okay, Bob, this time I’ve got it.”
After Bob took his next turn, she tried again and didn’t endanger anyone but missed the pole by three feet—in the opposite direction.
Bob chuckled, then took his turn again, scoring a direct hit.
“Would you like some help?” Dominic walked closer, his eyes sparkling.
It was all she could do to concentrate. She shook her head. “Not on your life, buddy. This next one will hit, you’ll see.” She ignored the skeptical looks around her and forced herself to focus, shutting out everyone around her.
She threw and barely breathed as the curved iron arced through the air—
And clanged around the pole, swirling until it hit the sand.
“Yes!” Lexie leaped up, throwing her fist in the air.
Dominic caught her around the waist and swung her in the air as the people around them cheered.
Between them, all went silent and breathless. Lexie lost herself in his ebony gaze, feeling him all along the front of her, his body against hers sending shivers over her skin.
Then he blinked, and the noise around them crowded in. Suddenly Lexie remembered that they were surrounded by at least fifty people. She stepped away, rubbing her hands against her shorts to keep from reaching for him.
Dominic saw the moment she fell back to earth and cursed silently that he was the boss, that all these people looked up to him. That he had no idea who this woman really was or if he could trust her.
And just as the glow of her green eyes began to fade, he let impulse take him. Today could be a day out of time, time out of mind, a vacation from reality. It was a picnic, an occasion for joy. He would seize it and wring it dry of all its promise.
“Come with me,” he urged. Let tomorrow take care of tomorrow. I’ll be Dominic Santorini tomorrow. For the rest of today, I want to be Nikos. Only a man. A man who wants this woman more than his next breath.
He could see the doubts in her eyes. “Just to wander,” he soothed. “Simply to enjoy the moment.”
“But you’re—”
He shook his head. “I’ll be no one. No corporation, no gala, no employee, no boss. No A. Grayson, no Dominic Santorini. Just a man and a woman.”
He could see temptation battle with fear. He even thought he saw guilt, and he damned it. I don’t want to know, he thought. Not today.
“How are you at volleyball?” he asked.
Her eyebrows rose. “I may be short, but I’m feisty.”
“Spirit can move mountains.” Dominic grinned and held out his hand. “This way.”
When she p
laced her hand in his, he closed his eyes for one quick moment. Just today. Just this little while. Then I’ll be responsible again. I’ll remember my place, my duties.
Lexie pulled on his hand and skipped ahead. “Hurry—time’s a-wastin’.”
And for that moment, he felt lighter and younger than he had in years.
Lexie kicked off her sandals and stood on the edge of the sand.
“Everyone, this is Lexie Grayson,” Dominic said. “Where do you want us?”
“You serve, Boss. We could use a break,” one woman said.
He pointed to the center of the middle row. “Lexie, how about there?”
She took her place, then turned to look. Those strong muscular legs were spread as he prepared to serve the ball. Hair disordered by the wind, he flashed the pirate’s grin and something in those dark eyes reached out to—
She turned away quickly. Oh…man. Her goose was cooked. He looked like seven kinds of sin, and Lexie knew she was doomed. Just behind and to her right, she could feel him. Feel him. His touch. His gaze. Could remember the body beneath those clothes. She should never have agreed to this.
His serve rocketed over the net. No one could return it.
Was there anything the man didn’t do well?
Settle down and pay attention. The ball headed her way, and she was forced to move fast. She was so rattled that her return landed right in the net.
“I’m sorry,” she said to the rest of the team.
The guy next to her shrugged. “No sweat, babe. You just stand there and look good, and we’ll watch the ball.”
“I think I’d look better standing over there under the trees.”
One woman laughed. The guy flashed her a grin. “I’m Gary.”
“Lexie.”
“Where do you work, Lexie?”
“I’m designing the set for the gala.”
“No sh—no lie? I hear it’s really gonna be something.”
“I hope so. I’m trying my best.”
“So, you married?”
Lexie laughed in surprise. “You don’t waste any time, do you?”
“Ms. Grayson is not married,” Dominic intervened. “She is, however, a member of this team, as are you. Would you care to ask any other questions before we continue?”
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