by Kendrick, Sharon; Lawrence, Kim; Crews, Caitlin; Milburne, Melanie
He let out a low laugh of pleasure as he skimmed his hand over her tiny thong. ‘I love that you blow so hot and cold,’ he said. ‘Did you learn long ago how to keep a man guessing?
Keeley bit her lip. His impression of her was a million miles away from the reality, but why puncture the bubble now? He obviously thought she was some kind of man-magnet and surely it would be a waste of time to try to convince him otherwise. Because she wasn’t expecting any future in this. She knew that only a fool would expect a relationship with a man like Ariston, but her heart still clenched as she acknowledged just how fleeting it was going to be. And if his fantasies about her were turning him on, why not play the game? Why not scrabble up what little knowledge she had and work with it?
‘Do you always waste so much time talking?’ she purred.
Her softly spoken tease made the atmosphere change. She could sense a new tension in him as he picked her up and carried her over to the bed, not bothering to pull back the bedsheet as he laid her on it. His eyes were unfathomable as he stared down at her.
‘Forgive me for not recognising your…’ he slid his hand between her legs, pushing aside the panel of her panties with a murmur of acknowledgment as he flicked his finger over her slick, wet heat ‘…impatience.’
Keeley swallowed because now his finger was working with a purpose and she could feel the heat inside her building. She wanted him to kiss her again but the only area he seemed interested in kissing was her torso and then her belly and then…then… She sucked in a shocked breath as he pulled down her panties and moved his head between her legs so that she could feel the tickle of his thick hair brushing against her thighs. Her body was tensed for what was going to happen next but nothing on earth could have prepared her for that first sweet lick. She jerked on the bed and tried to wriggle away from the almost unendurable pleasure which was spiralling up inside her, but he was holding her hips so she couldn’t move. And so she lay there helplessly—a willing prisoner of the Greek tycoon as layer upon layer of pleasure built to such a level of intensity that when it broke it felt like a swollen river bursting its banks and she screamed out his name.
As the spasms slowly ebbed away she felt a delicious warmth seeping through her body and opened her eyes to find him leaning over her, a trace of amusement curving the edges of his lips.
‘Mmm…’ he said softly. ‘For a woman who blows so hot and cold, I didn’t expect you to be quite so vocal. Are you always so sweetly enthusiastic when you come, Keeley—or are you trying to massage my ego by acting like that was the first orgasm you’ve ever had?’
Keeley wasn’t sure how to answer. She wondered if it would be shameful to admit she’d never experienced pleasure like that before and wondered how he would react if he realised just how sketchy her sexual experience was. She licked her lips. Don’t frighten him away, she told herself. Why shatter this deliciously dreamy mood with reality? Tell him what he expects to hear. Be the woman you’ve never dared be before.
‘You shouldn’t be so good,’ she said lazily. ‘And then I wouldn’t be quite so…vocal.’
‘Good? Are you kidding? I haven’t even started yet,’ he murmured.
She swallowed, and suddenly she felt out of her depth. ‘I’m not…’
His gaze lasered into her. ‘Not what, Keeley?’
She licked her lips again. ‘I’m not on the pill or anything.’
‘Even if you were, I always like to be doubly sure,’ he said, his voice hardening as he groped around in the pocket of his trousers until he’d found what he was looking for.
Keeley watched as he slid the condom on and thought how anatomical this all seemed—as if emotion played no part in what was about to happen. She swallowed. Had she really thought it might be otherwise—that Ariston Kavakos might show her tenderness or affection?
‘Kiss me,’ she said suddenly. ‘Please. Just kiss me.’
Ariston frowned as she made her breathless appeal and as he gave himself up to the kiss she’d demanded, his heart clenched. Hell… She was so…surprising. One minute the cool seductress and the next—why, she was almost shy. After making him wait longer than he’d ever had to wait for anyone, she was so sweet in her response. Had she learned at the knee of her mother how best to captivate a man? Had she discovered that keeping them guessing was the ultimate turn-on for men who’d seen everything, done everything and sometimes been bored along the way?
He felt as if he wanted to explode as he stroked her and kissed her and his heart was pounding as he moved over her, sucking in a deep breath of anticipation as, slowly, he entered her. And wasn’t the most insane thing that he was almost disappointed at the ease with which he thrust into her slick, wet heat? Hadn’t he been fantasising about her for so long that he’d allowed himself the ultimate illusion—and hadn’t her wild reaction to her orgasm only reinforced that crazy notion? That maybe she was a virgin and maybe he was the first…
But his insanity lasted no longer than a second before he began to relax and to feast himself on all the soft and curvy flesh which was just there for the taking. She was so hot. So tight. He caught his hands under her thighs and hooked her legs around his back, enjoying her little squeals of pleasure as he increased his penetration. He drove into her hard and harder still, deliberately holding back until she could bear it no longer and called out his name again. And then she just went under, her body arching into a tight bow until she let it go with one long and shuddering cry. And wasn’t this his fantasy? Not some woman she could never be, but Keeley Turner underneath him while he rode her, with those soft thighs tensing as she came all over again. He waited until her soft moans had died away and only then did he allow himself his own release, his heart clenching as the seed pumped hotly from his body and he reminded himself that this was what it was all about. The ultimate conquest of a woman who had been haunting him for years. A farewell to something which should have been finished eight years ago.
He fell asleep afterwards and when he awoke it was to find his lips touching one pouting breast. Barely any movement was needed to take the puckered nipple deep into his mouth and to graze it with his teeth and lick it, until she was squirming beneath him and before he knew what was happening he was inside her again. This time it was longer. Slower. As if it were all happening in some kind of dream. But his orgasm just went on and on and on. Afterwards he rolled onto his back, careful to allow her head to rest on his shoulder because women were very susceptible to rejection at times like this—and although he planned to wave her goodbye in the very near future, it certainly wouldn’t be tonight. But he needed to think about what happened next because this was a situation which would need unusual levels of diplomacy. His fingertip skated a light survey over her belly and he felt her shiver in response.
‘Well,’ he whispered. ‘I can’t think of a more satisfactory end to the evening.’
Keeley nodded, trying not to show her disappointment. Of all the things he could have said and he came out with something like that. Why, he made her feel like an after-dinner brandy he’d consumed! She licked her swollen lips. But what did she expect? Words of admiration and affection? Ariston telling her she was the only woman for him and that he wanted a relationship with her? Of course not. It was what it was, she told herself fiercely. A one-night stand which wasn’t supposed to mean anything. So she rolled away from him, shaking her tangled hair free as she attempted to find the level of sophistication which this kind of situation no doubt called for.
‘Indeed it was,’ she agreed coolly.
There was a short silence for a moment, during which he seemed to be mulling over his words.
‘I’m surprised Santino didn’t try to follow you down here to get to you before I did,’ he said eventually.
It was such a random remark that Keeley frowned as she turned her head to look at him, pushing back a handful of untidy hair. ‘Why on earth would he have
done that?’
He shrugged. ‘I noticed how much attention he was paying you throughout dinner.’
‘Did you?’ she said, without missing a beat.
‘I certainly did. And after you’d gone Santino and Rachel left pretty abruptly too. We could hear them arguing all the way back to their room.’
‘And you thought…what?’ she questioned softly as some inner warning system began to sound inside her head. ‘Did you think it was about me?’
‘I suspect it was. Your name was mentioned more than once.’
‘And…what?’ she demanded. ‘Did you think I was hungry for a man, Ariston? Any man? That if Santino had arrived before you that I would be in bed with him?’
‘I don’t know.’ There was a heartbeat of a pause as he lifted his eyes to hers. ‘Would you?’
Keeley froze just before instinct kicked in and she longed to flex her fingernails over his skin and tear at his silken flesh. To inflict some kind of hurt on him—something which might mimic the searing pain which was clamping around her heart. She expelled the breath she’d been holding, bitterly aware of how little he thought of her. But she’d known that from the start, hadn’t she? And had thought, what? That the growing sexual attraction between them would somehow cancel out his obvious lack of respect? That admitting him to her bed so quickly might make him admire her? What a stupid little fool she’d been.
‘Get out,’ she said, in a low voice.
‘Oh, Keeley,’ he said softly. ‘There’s no need to overreact. You asked me a question and I answered it truthfully. Would you rather I told you a lie?’
‘I mean it!’ she snapped. He made to pull her back into his arms but she jumped out of bed before he could touch her. ‘Get out of here,’ she repeated.
He shrugged as he swung his legs over the bed and reached for his trousers. ‘I wasn’t intending to insult you.’
‘Really? In that case, I think you ought to take a good, long look at the things you just said. You think I’m sexually indiscriminate, do you, Ariston? That one attractive man is pretty much the same as any other?’
‘How should I know? You are your mother’s daughter, after all. And I’ve had enough experience of women to know what they are capable of,’ he said rawly. ‘I know just how unscrupulous they can be.’
Keeley reached for the cotton dressing gown which was hanging on a hook on the door and pulled it on, not daring to speak until she had tied the belt around her waist and her naked body was hidden from his gaze.
‘Why did you seduce me, Ariston?’ she questioned in a low voice. ‘When you obviously think so little of me?’
He paused in the act of sliding on his shirt, the movement making his powerful muscles ripple beneath the silk fabric. ‘Because I find you intensely attractive. Because you lit a longing in me all those years ago which never really went away. Maybe now it will.’
‘And that’s all?’
His eyes narrowed. ‘Isn’t that enough?’
But instinct told her there was something more. Something he was holding back. And suddenly she needed to know, even though she suspected it was going to shatter her. ‘Tell me the truth like you did before,’ she said. ‘Just…tell me.’
His eyes gleamed like silver in the moonlight, before he shrugged. ‘It started out with wanting to have you for myself, for all the reasons I’ve just stated,’ he said in a low voice. ‘But also because…’
‘Because what, Ariston? Please don’t stop now. Not when this is just getting fascinating.’
He zipped up his trousers before looking up. ‘Because I knew that my brother wouldn’t be tempted by you, if he knew I’d had sex with you first.’
‘Which naturally you would have made sure he knew?’
He shrugged. ‘If I’d needed to, then yes. Yes, I would.’
There was a disbelieving silence before she could bring herself to respond. ‘So it was…it was some kind of territorial thing? The ultimate deterrent to ensure that your brother wasn’t tempted, even though there is no spark between me and Pavlos and there never has been?’
He met her gaze unflinchingly. ‘I guess so.’
Keeley felt faint. It was even worse than she’d thought. Briefly, she closed her eyes before going into damage-limitation mode and that was something which came as naturally to her as breathing. The thing she was best at. She sucked in an unsteady breath. ‘You do realise I’m going to have to leave the island? That I can’t work for you any more. Not after this.’
He shook his head. ‘You don’t have to do that.’
‘Really?’ She gave a bitter laugh. ‘Then how do you see this playing out? Me carrying on with my domestic work while you occasionally sneak down here to have sex with me? Or am I now supposed to abandon my uniform as if this was some bizarre kind of promotion and join you and your guests for dinner every night?’
‘There’s no need to overreact, Keeley,’ he gritted. ‘We can work something out.’
‘That’s where you’re wrong, Ariston. We can’t. There’s no working out something like this. I won’t be treated in this way and I won’t spend any more time in the company of a man who is capable of such treatment. Tonight was a mistake—but we can’t do anything about it now. But I’m not staying here a second longer than I have to. I want to leave tomorrow, first thing. Before anyone is awake.’
He’d finished buttoning up his shirt and the expression on his rugged face was hidden by a series of shifting shadows. ‘You’re aware that you need my cooperation to do that? That I own the airstrip as well as the planes—and no other aircraft is allowed to land or take off from here without my permission. I might not be willing to let you go so easily, Keeley—have you thought about that?’
‘I don’t care what you want, you’d just better let me go,’ she said, her voice shaking now. ‘Because I’m a strong swimmer—and if I have to make my own way to the nearest island, then believe me I will. Or I’ll contact one of the international newspapers and tell them I’m being kept prisoner on the Greek tycoon’s island—I imagine the press could have a lot of fun with that. Unless you’re planning to confiscate my computer while you’re at it—which, I have to inform you, is a criminal offence. No? So get out of here, Ariston—and prepare one of your planes to take me back to England. Do you understand?’
CHAPTER SIX
ARISTON STARED OUT of the vast windows, but for once the travel-brochure views of his island home failed to impress him. He might as well have been in a darkened cave for all the notice he took of the sapphire sea and silver sand, or the neglected cup of coffee which had been cooling on his desk for the last half-hour. All he could see was a pair of bright green eyes and a pair of soft, rosy lips—and pale hair which had trickled through his fingers like moonlight.
What was his problem? he wondered impatiently as he stood up with a sudden jerking movement which made the cup rattle. Why did he persist in feeling so unsettled when all should have been well in his world? Weeks had passed since Keeley Turner had fallen eagerly into his arms during a sexual encounter which had blown his mind but ended badly. She had flown back to London the next morning, refusing to meet his eye and saying nothing other than a tight-lipped goodbye before turning her back on him. But she had taken the money he’d given her, hadn’t she? Had shown no qualms about accepting the additional sum he had included. He’d thought he might receive an angry email telling him what he could do with his money—wasn’t that what he’d hoped might happen?—along with some furious tirade suggesting he might be offering payment for services rendered. But no. She was a woman, wasn’t she—and what woman would ever turn down the offer of easy money?
And that had been that. He hadn’t heard from her since. He told himself that was a good thing—that he had achieved what he had set out to achieve and bedded a woman whose memory had been haunting him for years. But infuriat
ingly, little had changed. In fact, it seemed a whole lot worse. Surely by now he shouldn’t still be thinking about her, or the way it had felt to press his lips to her pulsating heat as she had orgasmed right into his mouth. Was it because he wasn’t used to a woman walking away from him, or because he couldn’t help admiring the tempestuous show of spirit she had displayed when she had stormed away? Or just because she’d been the hottest lover he’d ever had?
But after yet another disturbed night he found himself wondering where was the closure he’d been chasing and why he hadn’t tried a little harder to keep her here a bit longer, so he could have got her out of his system. Should he have softened his answers to her questions with a little diplomacy and told her what she wanted to hear, instead of giving it to her straight? His mouth hardened. It didn’t matter. He didn’t like lies and it was too late to go back over that now. What was done was done.
At least Pavlos had announced his engagement to the beautiful Marina, with a wedding planned for early next year. His brother was happy—he’d called him just last night from Melbourne and told him so, and Ariston felt as if his work was done. That all was well within the Kavakos dynasty—its future now ensured…if only this damned disquiet would leave him.
But it didn’t leave him, despite a schedule spent travelling across much of Southeast Asia—and although he threw himself into his work even more single-mindedly than usual, he remained as unsettled as ever. Which was why he found himself making an unplanned trip to England on his private jet, telling himself it was always useful to pay an unexpected visit to his London office because it kept his staff on their toes. And besides, he liked London. He kept a fully staffed apartment there which he used at different times during the year—often when the summer heat of Lasia was at its most intense. But even in London he found himself struggling to concentrate on his latest shipbuilding project or enjoy the fact that the company had been featured in the prestigious Forbes magazine in a flattering article praising his business acumen.