by Abby Green
As Alexio moved over her body, sinking his hips between her thighs, his erection hard and ready, Sidonie was melting, weakening. She wasn’t ready to walk away yet...she wanted more of this man. More of this fantasy. More of this wicked self-indulgence.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and opened her legs to him and then, when he stopped kissing her for a few seconds, just before he joined their bodies, Sidonie looked up at him and said huskily, ‘Okay...I’ll come with you.’
* * *
Alexio Christakos was a magician. A sexy, devilish magician. Just over twenty-four hours after meeting him he had magicked her to an island in another country. Where everything was painted blue and white, where the sun sparkled overhead, and where the glittering sea stretched as far as the eye could see. There was nothing but the hazy shapes of more islands in the distance to break the horizon line.
Her hand was wrapped tightly in his as he showed her around his stupendously gorgeous villa near Oia, on the north-west coast of Santorini. Sidonie could feel the faint burn of secret muscles after the long hours of intense lovemaking the previous night. If she stopped to think about it all for a second she might explode...so she bit her lip and tried not to gape as he showed her into the master suite, which led directly out to a terrace featuring an infinity pool.
He glanced back at her, saying, ‘I know you didn’t exactly come prepared...there are some clothes here for your use.’
Sidonie watched as he let her hand go to open double doors which led into a walk-in closet. His clothes were hung up and laid out on the left hand side and the right hand side was bursting with a glorious kaleidoscope of colours and textures.
A funny pain lanced her chest. Of course he had a wardrobe stocked with women’s clothes. This had to be a frequent pitstop for him with his lovers/mistresses. He was a generous man. She was sure many of the garments must still be unworn.
To buy time, and hide her reaction, Sidonie reached out and fingered a piece of silk which felt as delicate as air in her hands.
This whole experience was transitory and all this was doing was driving the point home. She had to not think about things like how attentive he’d been on the flight to Athens on his private jet—distracting her from her fear of flying with drugging kisses. Or the revelation on the helicopter flight to the island that instead of feeling her fear increasing she’d felt exhilarated.
Sidonie forced herself to smile and said with bright joviality, ‘Well, at least I won’t have to worry about washing my knickers out in the sink. I’m sure your housekeeper would be horrified.’
She looked at him and her smile slipped a little as she saw something hard in his eyes—something she hadn’t seen before. But before she could dwell on it he’d stabbed his fingers deep in her hair and tipped her face up to his, distracting her with a mind-altering kiss.
When he finally pulled away they were breathing harshly and Sidonie’s body trembled all over. She still wasn’t used to this unprecedented physical reaction—as if she were some kind of a puppet and he could control her responses at will. It made her feel intensely vulnerable.
‘Get changed and let’s go for a swim.’
Sidonie burned at the thought of seeing Alexio’s semi-naked body just for her private pleasure.
She managed a rough-sounding, ‘Okay.’
And when he gently turned her around and pushed her in the direction of that wall of clothes again Sidonie tried in vain to stem the flood of emotions that made her hands shake as she searched for the relevant garments.
* * *
Sidonie wrapped her legs around Alexio’s waist and her arms around his neck. His back was broad, strong and smooth between her legs and against her chest. They were both wet and salty after swimming in the sea at the bottom of a precipitious set of stone steps leading directly down from the villa. His arms were looped under her thighs as he carried her piggyback-style back up.
The sun was hot on Sidonie’s back and Alexio grumbled good-naturedly, ‘I’m not a mule, you know.’
She grinned and pressed a kiss to Alexio’s neck, feeling his arms tighten under her legs. ‘I know. You’re much, much better-looking than a mule, and far more comfortable.’
She rested her head on his shoulder for a moment, squinting her eyes at the glittering endless azure blue of the sea. Three days had passed since they’d arrived at his villa. Three days of sun, sea and... She blushed at the thought of all the mind-blowing sex.
They’d only left the villa once. Yesterday evening Alexio had taken her out on a small boat into the Caldera where he’d surprised her with a light supper complete with wine. They’d had prime position for watching the famous Santorini sunset and Sidonie had never seen anything so stunning or special.
She’d felt absurdly emotional at the beauty of everything...at the experience that this man was unwittingly giving her when her life was about to change so dramatically. She was storing up every moment—morsels she would take out at a later date and comfort herself with.
An all but invisible housekeeper at the villa left out food at strategic times, so she and Alexio had done little but eat and sleep and make love. Sidonie felt sated on a level she’d never known before. Sated...but curiously unfulfilled too.
Conversation with Alexio never went beyond the superficial. It felt almost as if the level of closeness and intimacy she’d experienced when they’d first met had been closed off.
But then what had she expected? This was transient. Alexio didn’t do relationships, and neither was she in any position to cleave herself to a man.
Sidonie had realised that the only way she could get through this and remain in any way protected was to try and fool Alexio into believing that this wasn’t half as special for her as it really was. So she was doing her best to project an air of vague nonchalance. Every time her mouth wanted to drop open in awe, or she wanted to squeal with excitement, she reined it in.
Because if she let her guard slip for a second Sidonie was terrified he would read the depth of her emotions—and as she wasn’t even prepared to inspect them herself she certainly wasn’t ready for his laser-like gaze to see them.
* * *
‘I want to take you out tonight.’
Sidonie murmured something indistinct. Her cheek rested on Alexio’s chest and one of her legs was thrown over his thighs. He could feel his body stir against her and despite the sated languor of his body he could have groaned. When would it end? This ever-present hunger?
His fingers trailed up and down Sidonie’s spine. After carrying her up the steps from the sea earlier he’d walked her straight underneath the outdoor shower on his terrace, near the glittering infinity pool. The cool spray had done little to stem hisdesire. Within seconds Sidonie had been in his arms, her body pressed against his, and they’d inevitably ended up in bed.
Alexio forced his mind from the memory because it made him uncomfortable. ‘Did you hear me, Sid? I want to take you out tonight...’
Sidonie eventually lifted her head and looked at Alexio with slumberous eyes and deliciously tousled hair. ‘You might have to give me a piggyback again.’
Alexio tipped her chin up, averting her hungry gaze from his mouth to his eyes. ‘No. You’re not going to tempt me again. We’ll pretend we’re civilised if it kills us.’
Sidonie shifted slightly so that she was moving on top of Alexio. His blood started to sizzle all over again. She spread her thighs either side of him and her breasts touched his chest, the hard nipples scraping against his chest hair, making him thicken with need.
He could see something in her eyes—something innately feminine and full of wicked mystery. She wriggled her bottom so that his erection pressed against her body, where she was already damp, ready for him again. And just like that Alexio had to give up any pretence that he could be civilised.
He took her h
ips in his hands, pushing her back so that he could thrust up and into her. Sidonie gasped at the intrusion and then sighed voluptuously as her body began to move against him, the delicious dance of desire starting all over again.
‘Witch...’ Alexio muttered as their movements became more urgent and they gave themselves up to the inexorable ride into ecstasy.
* * *
Alexio was waiting for Sidonie to emerge from the villa after her shower late that evening. The sun had set a while ago. They’d watched it from a lounger by the pool, both languid after their intense lovemaking. The spectacular sky was now fading into a faint orange and pink hue and the famous lights of Santorini’s west coast were coming on.
Alexio was oblivious to it, though. He was feeling more and more off-balance. Exposed. And, even worse, vulnerable. The last time he’d felt like this had been in front of his mother as a child, when she’d coldly infected him with her cynicism. From then till now it had formed a part of his protective armour. It had become a second skin, and everything in his life had merely compounded his world view.
As soon as he’d turned his back on his inheritance so publicly his coterie of so-called friends and hangers-on had left him—apart from one or two people and his brother. Then, as soon as he’d shown signs of making a fortune, they’d come back in their droves.
Nothing much had surprised him after that telling experiment in human nature—as if he hadn’t had enough lessons from his parents. Until Sidonie. She surprised him. She was like a whirling dervish, smashing everything in her path and taking him with her. He’d had no intention of taking a few days’ holiday until he’d woken up beside her in London the morning after that night and felt the insistent throb of hunger in his blood and his body.
No way could he have let her go.
He’d known one night wouldn’t be enough, but he’d felt then as if a month wouldn’t be long enough to sate himself with her. Feeling slightly panicked, Alexio had decided that the best thing to do would be to take her away, so that he could indulge this desire day and night and let it burn out.
However, this was the third night, and he felt as if a lifetime wouldn’t be enough to sate himself with Sidonie. He’d done his best to hold her at a distance, deliberately curbing the way she made him want to relax and speak whatever was on his mind. But it was hard. And getting harder.
When she’d leapt onto his back earlier, to be carried up the steps, Alexio’s chest had swelled with an emotion that had made him shake. No woman he knew was so impulsive, so tactile, so effortlessly affectionate.
Yet despite her easy affection she wasn’t suffocating him with emotion—far from it. She was holding back—exuding an air of nonchalance.
Something dark inside him had raised its ugly head. Suspicion. He remembered showing her the closet full of clothes on that first day. He’d expected shock, awe, gushing gratitude. Even his most cynical lovers never failed to put on an act when he presented them with gifts. But Sidonie, whom he would never have put in their category, had been completely blasé, and since then he hadn’t been able to push down a niggle of disquiet.
One minute she was like an open book, her expressions as unguarded as a child’s and equally disarming. The next she was as mysterious as the Sphinx, exhibiting an age-old feminine mystique that made him wonder if he was being completely naïve.
Alexio didn’t like the reminder that from the moment he’d met Sidonie on that plane he’d been acting out of character. He never encouraged a woman to stay overnight in his apartment, even if they’d had dinner there. And he certainly never took off at a moment’s notice, throwing his normally rigid schedule out of the window.
The growing doubt had prompted Alexio to put in a call to his most trusted employee and personal friend—his solicitor—just a short while before. He was one of the few who had stuck by Alexio’s side through his lean times. Pushing down a feeling of guilt, he had instructed him to engage someone to do a background check into Sidonie.
His friend had chuckled. ‘I thought you only did this when you wanted to take over another company or find an adversary’s weak points? Now you’re including your lovers?’
He’d answered far more curtly than he’d intended. ‘Just do it, Demetrius. I don’t expect a discussion about it.’
Despite the guilt he’d felt at taking such action, when Alexio had put the phone down he’d felt some semblance of equilibrium return. Sidonie hadn’t scrambled his head so badly that he wasn’t still aware of protecting himself. He was in control.
That control was about to be shot to pieces, though, as he heard a sound and turned around. Sidonie had emerged onto the terrace and for a long second Alexio literally lost his breath. All he could feel was his heart pounding as it struggled without oxygen.
The dress was a burnt orange colour and silk. Looped over one shoulder, and strapless on the other side, It had a big hole cut out over one hip, showing off the naked indentation of Sidonie’s waist. A hint of one breast was visible just above the top of the dress as it swooped over her chest, hugging the delicious curve. The silk fell to her knees, but one leg peeped out of a thigh-high slit.
She was wearing nothing that he hadn’t already seen on other lovers. He’d seen far less. But Alexio had to battle the very strong urge to tell her to go back and change, like an over-protective father. Or a mindlessly jealous lover, imagining the effect she’d have on other men. That thought alone made him stop and take in a breath. His chest swelled painfully.
‘Is it okay?’
Sidonie was frowning, plucking at the dress. She looked at Alexio and this was one of those moments when she looked endearingly exposed, reminding him of the woman he’d met on the plane—all at once spiky and yet vulnerable.
‘Come here,’ he husked.
Sidonie moved towards him and Alexio had to bite back a groan of need. One long, slender leg was displayed in all its provocative glory as she walked towards him, her dainty feet encased in gold peeptoe heels.
She stopped before him and looked up. Her hair lay loose and long around her shoulders, glinting like golden fire in the dusky light. Her skin had already taken on a golden glow from the sun, despite the copious amounts of factor fifty he’d insisted she keep putting on—much to her disgust. Her freckles had exploded and magnified across her nose and cheeks. And her shoulders.
When Alexio finally felt able to touch her without tipping her over his shoulder and taking her back inside, he slid a hand around the back of her neck. That silky fall of hair against his hand made his body throb.
‘You look...stunning.’
The vulnerability he’d seen dissipated and Sidonie smiled. ‘Thank you...so do you.’
Alexio was used to compliments and they always felt empty. Except when she said it. He took his hand away, because he knew if he did something like kiss her now he’d never stop. Instead he took her hand and led her out of the villa to a nearby hidden garage which housed a sports car—one of his brother’s new models.
It was a convertible, and Sidonie whistled in appreciation as she got in. Alexio held the door open for her, trying his best not to look at her exposed leg. Dammit, maybe he should get her to change?
Gritting his jaw, and wondering why on earth he’d thought taking her out would be a good idea, he got in the other side and soon they were driving along the coast, towards the bustling night-life of Fira.
* * *
As Alexio’s car swept them along the coast of the island, and the sky became darker over the expanse of the sea, the lights of the houses and dwellings and the approaching town of Fira made everything look like a fairytale. Alexio was driving relatively slowly on the narrow roads and the cool evening air was delicious on Sidonie’s sun-heated skin.
She shivered when she thought about how gorgeous Alexio had looked on the terrace against the setting sun, dressed in a dark suit with
a dark shirt. The more time she spent with him, the more gorgeous he seemed to get. She felt weak inside when she thought of how protective he was, too, making sure she wore a high-factor cream in the sun.
‘But I want to get some colour!’ Sidonie had protested earlier.
Alexio had held her down easily on the lounger and proceeded to slather her with cream, saying sternly, ‘You are not damaging your skin.’
Then she’d got so distracted by where his hands were going that she hadn’t had the strength to fight him...
‘Are you cold?’
Sidonie blushed in the darkening light and shook her head. ‘No, I’m fine. I like the freshness.’
Alexio looked back to the road. ‘I should have made you bring a jacket. It still gets cool at night this time of year.’
Sidonie smiled. ‘You can’t help yourself, can you?’
‘Can’t help what?’
‘Being protective. I bet you were like that with your mother.’
Alexio made a noise then. It sounded like something between a snort and a cough and Sidonie looked at him. After a minute he glanced at her and she could see that his jaw was tense. The air was definitely cooler now.
‘Believe me...’ his tone was icy ‘...my mother did not need a protector. Anything but.’
Sidonie frowned, ‘Why do you say that? What was she like?’
Alexio’s jaw got even tighter. Sidonie could see it reflected in the lights of the dashboard.
‘She was self-contained. Aloof. And she didn’t need anyone.’
Sidonie held in a gasp at his stark words. ‘Everyone needs someone—even if they don’t want to admit it. You make her sound lonely.’
Eventually Alexio responded, just as the town of Fira came into view. ‘Maybe she was... But I don’t really want to discuss my mother when we have far more exciting things to talk about—like where I’m going to take you clubbing.’