by Maya Blake
Immediately her mind homed in on what had happened between them last night. From the way his green eyes darkened, he was remembering too. God, what was wrong with her? Or maybe that was the wrong question. She knew what was wrong. Despite cautioning herself against it, she was attracted to Sakis with a fierce compulsion that defied reason. She accepted that now. What she needed was a cure for this insanity before it raged out of control.
‘If you regret the act before it’s happened, you take away the enjoyment of it.’
‘So you’re saying I should just ignore what will come afterwards and just live in the moment?’
His gaze dropped to her lips, the heat of it almost a caress that made her want to moan. ‘Exactly.’ He breathed the word then said nothing else.
Silence grew between them, the only sound the distant clatter of plates and cutlery from other diners.
She could only stand it for a few minutes until she felt as if she’d combust from the sizzling tension in the air. Forcefully, she cleared her throat and searched for a neutral subject, one that would defuse the stressful atmosphere. ‘You were going to tell me what your description of me would be.’ Oh, nice one, Brianna.
He sat back in his seat, extended his arm along the back of the booth. Her eyes fell on rippling muscle beneath his shirt and she barely managed to swallow.
‘Perhaps now is not the time, or the place.’
Leave it, Brianna...leave it. ‘Oh, is it that bad?’
‘No, it’s that good.’
She breathed deeply and opted for silence. When their food arrived, she pounced on it, feeding her culinary appetite the way she couldn’t let herself feed on the dark, carnal promise in Sakis’s eyes.
She looked up several minutes later to find him watching her with an expression of mingled shock and amusement.
‘Sorry, it’s your fault. Now you’ve unleashed my innermost craving, there’s no stopping me.’ She took another sinful bite and barely managed to stop her eyes rolling in pleasure.
‘On the contrary, seeing you eat something other than a salad and with such...relish is a pleasurable experience in itself.’
‘Don’t worry; I’m not going to re-enact a When Harry Met Sally moment.’
A puzzled frown marred his forehead. ‘A what?’
She laughed. ‘You’ve never seen that clip where the actress simulates an orgasm in a restaurant?’
He swallowed. ‘No, I haven’t. But I prefer my orgasmic experiences not to be simulated. When it comes to orgasms, only the real thing will do. Do you not agree?’
Dear Lord, was she really having breakfast with her boss, discussing orgasms? ‘I wasn’t... This was...’ She stopped, silently willing her racing pulse to quieten. ‘I was merely making conversation. I don’t have an opinion on orgasms one way or another.’
His low laugh caressed her senses like soft butterfly wings. ‘Everyone has an opinion on orgasms, Brianna. Some of us may have stronger opinions than others, but we all have them.’
She was not going to think about Sakis and orgasms together. She was not. ‘Um...okay; point taken. But I’d rather not discuss it any longer, if that’s okay with you?’
He finished the last of his pancakes and picked up his black coffee. ‘Certainly. But some subjects have a habit of lingering until they’re dealt with.’
‘And other subjects deserve more attention than others. What was your other point?’
‘Sorry?’
‘Before the subject went...sideways you said “on the one hand”. I was wondering what the other was.’
It was a purely diversionary tactic, but she wanted—no, needed—to get off the subject that was making desire dredge through her pelvis like a pervasive drug, threatening to fool her into thinking she could taste the forbidden and come out whole.
There would be no coming out whole once she gave in to the hunger that burned within her, that burned relentlessly in Sakis’s eyes. Wanting—or, God forbid, needing—a man like Sakis would destroy her eventually. Their conversation in the boardroom had reiterated the fact that he was emotionally scarred from what his father had done to him. He would never allow himself to trust anyone, never mind reaching the point of needing another human being to the extent she suspected she would crave if she didn’t control her feelings.
‘On the other hand, I’m glad I know this weakness. Because I have a feeling you don’t give yourself permission enough to enjoy the simple things in life.’
Her heart hammered with something suspiciously like elation. ‘And you...you want to give me that?’
‘I want to give you that. I want to indulge you like you’ve never been indulged before.’
Simple words. But oh, so dangerous to her current state of mind.
‘Why?’ she blurted before she could stop herself.
Her question seemed to surprise him. His lashes swept down and veiled his eyes. ‘For starters, I’m hoping to be rewarded with one of those rare smiles of yours.’ He looked back up and his expression stopped her breath. There was a solemn kinship, a gentleness in their depths, that made her heart flip. ‘And because I had my brothers while I dealt with my daddy issues. But you, as far as I know, are an only child, correct?’
Emotion clogged her throat. ‘Correct,’ she croaked, battling the threat of tears.
That weird connection tightened, latched and embedded deeply, frightening but soothing at the same time. ‘Let’s call this therapy, then.’ He glanced down at her plate where one last square of honey-soaked pancake was poised on her fork. ‘Are you finished?’
She hadn’t but the thought of putting that last morsel in her mouth while he watched with those all-seeing eyes was too much to bear. ‘Yes, I’m done. And thank you...for this, I mean. And for...’ She stumbled to a halt, alien feelings rushing through her at dizzying speed.
He nodded, stood and held out his hand. ‘It was my pleasure, agapita.’
* * *
By the time they returned to the office, Brianna knew something had fundamentally changed between them. She didn’t even bother to figure out a way back to equanimity; she couldn’t. Curiously, she didn’t feel as devastated at losing that particular battle.
It helped that they were barely in the door when Sakis threw out a list of things he wanted her to do but, despite the breakneck speed of dealing with his demands, they were soon both plugged into events at Point Noire, especially the clean-up process and the still missing Pantelides Six crewmembers.
After speaking to Morgan Lowell’s wife Perla for the fifth time at six o’clock, Sakis threw his pen on his desk and ran both hands over his stubbled jaw.
‘Are you okay?’
Tired eyes trained on her with breath-stopping intensity.
‘I need to get out of here,’ he rasped as he strode to the door and shrugged into his designer overcoat.
She swallowed and nodded. ‘Do you want me to book a restaurant table for you? Or call a friend to...um...’ She stopped, purely because the thought of arranging a date for Sakis with one of the many women who graced his electronic diary stuck in her gut like a sharp knife.
‘I’m not in the mood to listen to inane conversation about the latest Hollywood gossip or who is screwing whom in my circle of friends.’
His response pleased her way more than it should have. ‘Okay, what can I do?’
His eyes gleamed for a moment, before he looked away and headed towards the door. ‘Nothing.’ He stopped with a hand on the door. ‘I’m meeting Ari for a drink. And you’re logging off for the night. Is that clear, Moneypenny?’
She nodded slowly and watched him walk out, hollowness in her stomach that made her hate herself. She wanted to be with him. She wanted to be the one who wiped away that look of weariness she’d seen in his eyes. And all through today, every time he’d called her ‘Money
penny’, she’d wanted to beg him to call her ‘Brianna’. Because she loved the way he said her name.
She glanced down at the fingers resting on her keyboard and wasn’t surprised to see them trembling. Her whole being trembled with the depth of the feelings that had been coursing through her all day. Frankly, it scared the hell out of her.
Hurriedly, she shut down the computer and gathered her tablet, phone and handbag. She’d just slid her chair neatly into the space beneath her desk when the phone rang. Thinking it was Sakis—because who else would ring her at seven-thirty on a work night?—she pounced on the handset.
‘Hello?’
‘May I speak to Anna Simpson?’
A spear of ice pinned her in place as her lips parted on a soundless gasp. A full minute passed. Her lungs burned until she managed to force herself back from the brink of unconsciousness. ‘Excuse me, I...I think you’ve got the wrong number.’
The ugly laugh at the end of the line shook her to the very soul. ‘We both know I don’t have the wrong number, don’t we, sweetheart?
She didn’t respond—couldn’t—because the phone had fallen from her nerveless fingers.
Another full minute passed. ‘Hello?’ came the impatient echoing voice. ‘Anna?’
Numbness spreading through her, she picked up the phone. ‘I told you there...there’s no one by that name working here.’
But it was too late. She recognised the taunting, reedy voice at the end of the line. It was a voice she’d been dreading hearing again since her return from Point Noire.
‘I can play along if you prefer, Anna. Hell, I’ll even call you by your new name, Brianna Moneypenny. But we both know to me you’ll always be Anna, don’t we?’ mocked Greg Landers.
CHAPTER SEVEN
‘WHAT DO YOU want, Greg?’ Brianna snapped into her mobile phone as she threw her bag on the tiny sofa in her small living room.
‘What? No hello, no pleasantries? Never mind. I’m glad you were sensible enough to return my call. Although, I don’t get why you didn’t want to speak to me at your office. I made sure Pantelides wasn’t there before I called.’
Shock made her grip the edge of the seat. ‘You’re having him watched?’
‘No, I’m having you watched. You’re the one I’m interested in.’
‘Me?’
‘Yes. For now, at least. Tell me, why the name change?’
Bitterness rose in a sweltering tide, bringing a sickening haze that made the furnishings of her small flat blur. ‘Why the hell do you think? You destroyed my life, Greg. After you lied and swore under oath in court that I embezzled funds from your company, when we both know that it was you who set up that Cayman Islands account in my name. Do you think after what you put me through anyone would’ve hired me once they knew I’d been to prison for embezzlement?’
‘Tsk-tsk, let’s not blow things out of proportion, shall we? You served well under half of the four-year prison term. If it’s any consolation, I only expected you to get a slap on the wrist.’
‘It’s not a consolation!’
‘Besides,’ he continued as if she hadn’t interrupted, ‘I hear those prisons are just a step down from glorified holiday camps.’
The scar on her hip—the result of a shiv, courtesy of an inmate whose attention she wouldn’t return—burned at the careless dismissal of what had been a horrific period of her life. ‘It’s a shame you decided not to try it out for yourself, then, instead of turning coward and letting someone else take the blame for your greed. Now, are you going to tell me what this call is about or shall I hang up?’
‘Hang up and I’ll make sure your salacious past is the first thing Pantelides reads about when he steps into that ivory tower of his tomorrow morning.’
Brianna’s hand tightened around the phone at the ruthless tone. ‘How did you find me, anyway?’ Not that it mattered now. But she’d used every last penny to erase her past, to make sure every trace of Anna Simpson was wiped clean as soon as she’d attained her freedom.
‘I didn’t. You found me, through the wonderful medium of TV. Imagine my surprise when I tuned in, like every environmentally conscious individual out there who’s horrified about the Pantelides oil spillage, to find you right behind the main man himself. It took me a few minutes to recognise you, though. I much prefer you blonde to the brunette you used to be. Which is the real thing?’
‘I fail to see...’ She stopped because the Greg she’d known, the man she’d once foolishly thought herself in love with, hadn’t changed. He believed himself a witty and clever conversationalist and was never one to get to the point until he was ready. It was one of the things—many things, she realised now—that had irritated her about him. ‘Blonde is my natural colour.’
Greg sighed. ‘Such a shame you chose to wear that dull brown when I knew you. Maybe I’d have thought twice before taking the route I took.’
‘No, you wouldn’t have. Your slimy nature makes you interested in taking care of number one. Are you going to tell me what you want any time soon?’
‘You’re distressed so I’ll let that insult slide. But be careful now or I’ll forget my manners. Now, what do I want? It’s very simple: I want Pantelides Shipping. And you’re going to help me get it.’
You’re out of your mind was the first of many outraged responses that rushed into her head. She managed to stop herself before they spilled out. Slowly, she sank onto her sofa, the only piece of furniture in her living room aside from a lone coffee table, as her mind raced.
‘And why would I do that?’
‘To protect your dirty little secret, of course.’
She licked her lips as fear threatened to swamp any semblance of clear thinking. ‘What makes you think my boss doesn’t already know?’
‘Don’t take me for a fool, Anna.’
‘My name is Brianna.’ The woman Greg thought he knew no longer existed.
‘If you want to keep calling yourself that, you’ll give me what I want. And don’t bother telling me Pantelides knows about your past. He’s scrupulous when it comes to any hint of scandal. You’re the last person he’d employ if he knew your past was as shady as his father’s.’
This time her gasp was audible. It echoed around the room in tones of pain, shock and anger. ‘You know about his father?’
‘I do my homework, sweetheart. And if he’d bothered to do his he’d have discovered who you really were. But I’m glad he didn’t, because now you’re in the perfect position to help me.’
The vice tightened harder around her chest. ‘What exactly is it you want me to do?’
‘I need information. As much as you can get your hands on. Specifically, which of the board members hold the largest shares, aside from Pantelides. And which of the other members will be amenable to selling what shares they have.’
‘You know this will never work, don’t you? Sakis—Mr Pantelides—will crush you if you come within a whisper of his company.’
‘God, you haven’t gone and done it again, have you, Anna?’ came the soft taunt.
Brianna shivered. ‘Done what?’
‘Offered that foolish little heart of yours on a silver platter to another boss?’ he murmured in a pitying voice.
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ But deep down there was no hiding from the truth. Her feelings for Sakis had morphed from purely professional to something else. Something she was vehemently unwilling to examine right now, when she needed all her wits about her to defend herself against what her grimy ex was intent on pulling her into.
‘You have four days, Anna. I’ll be in touch and I expect you to have the information I need.’
Her mouth went dry. Her heart hammered with sick fear and loathing and the unmistakeable, sinking feeling of inevitability. ‘And if I don’t?’
‘Then your boss will wake up to a most tantalising double-page spread of his treasured assistant in the tabloid press on Saturday morning. I’m pretty sure with very little effort I can get Pantelides Shipping to start trending again on all social media.’
Her belly quivered and she clenched her muscles hard. ‘Why are you doing this? Haven’t you done enough? Aren’t the millions you squirrelled away enough?’
‘Every Joe Bloggs knows how to make a million these days. No, sweetheart, my ambitions are set much higher than that. I’d hoped my association with Moorecroft would see me there but the fool folded at the first sign of adversity. Fortunately, I have you now.’
‘I haven’t agreed to anything.’
‘But you will. You covet your position almost as much as I covet the prospect of acquiring Pantelides Shipping. Make no mistake, I will have it.’
‘Greg—’
‘I’ll be in touch on Friday. Don’t disappoint me, Anna.’
He hung up before she could appeal to his better nature. Who was she kidding? Greg had no better nature. He was a vulture who ruthlessly fed on the weak.
The discovery that he’d engineered her to take the fall for his failing company over three years ago had rocked her to the core. When he’d pleasantly asked her to act as his co-director, she’d thought nothing of it, especially when he’d brought in a legal expert to explain things to her. Of course, it’d turned out the so-called legal expert had been in on the scheme to bleed his company dry before declaring bankruptcy and leaving her to take the fall.
She’d had time to dwell on her stupidity and gullibility in the maximum-security prison the judge had sentenced her to, to set an example.
Brianna staggered up from the sofa, swaying on shaky legs as her mind spun with the impossibility of her situation.
The very idea of betraying Sakis made her stomach turn over in revulsion.
He would never forgive her if she brought his company under unpalatable scrutiny so soon after his tanker’s crash and having the memory of his father resurrected.