‘Oh, Tino, I love—’
He silenced her with another kiss, frightened of what she might say, frightened of the depth of feeling welling inside him. He wasn’t supposed to feel anything outside the need to satisfy them both. He was in a hurry to lose himself in sensation and ease the pain that came with knowing he didn’t deserve anything good…
‘Tino?’
When she saw the expression in his eyes Lisa looked away. The emptiness was too much to bear. Looking into each other’s eyes was like looking into a mirror. They were both so frightened of being hurt again, and they’d had more than enough pain as children to last them a lifetime. ‘Will you make love to me now?’
He smiled slowly. She was the most desirable woman he had ever met, and she was prompting him? ‘I’ve never had to be reminded of my duty before.’
‘Your duty? And I don’t want to hear about before.’
She was right. She was a virgin. It had to be special for her. He would make sure it was. ‘I have to be sure this is what you want.’
‘I am sure—and I don’t think you need much prompting now.’ She wrapped her hands around him.
The breath gusted out of his lungs at her touch. ‘That feels so good.’
He had never taken a woman so carefully, so tenderly, or with such tightly reined in passion. Lisa’s only experience had been at her own hands. He could understand it, it made perfect sense; she was always in control that way. It made him super-aware of her now, super-sensitive to her breathing, and to the look in her eyes, to the set of her mouth, and to the touch of her hands on his body. He wanted it to be perfect for her. He wanted it to be the first time that either of them had ever felt like this.
Lisa drew in a sharp breath as Tino entered her, and then softened when she felt his brief hesitation. She didn’t want him to think he was hurting her and stop. The surprise at his size had been welcome, the panic over almost before it began. She had never imagined it could be like this, that any man could be so tender, that she could feel so cherished, or so safe. ‘Please, Tino… please don’t stop.’
Caressing her with his warm, strong hands, he did as she asked, tipping her up to meet him so that he could inhabit her completely, and then he groaned as she tightened her muscles around him, drawing him deeper still.
‘Are you sure you want this?’ He nuzzled her neck as she bucked beneath him.
‘Yes, but more than anything I want to please you.’
‘You are pleasing me,’ he assured her.
He made his strokes deep and slow, relishing the sight of her passion-dampened face. He gave the greatest pleasure he could as the silken noose of her body sucked on him convulsively. He applied a little more pressure at the end of each long thrust until finally she gazed at him in disbelief.
‘It’s so good,’ she managed breathlessly. ‘Oh, please don’t stop… Don’t ever stop.’
Her fingernails raked across his shoulders. He barely felt the pain as he slowed the pace to keep her teetering above the abyss of intense sensation for as long as he could. But then the tension in her face, the absolute hunger in her eyes, as well as the apprehension he sensed in her as she approached pleasure beyond her understanding, proved too much for him, and with a few firm strokes he pushed her over the edge.
She cried out then, joyously, continuously, as if the powerful spasms would never end. He held her firmly and it took all his strength just to keep her in position without hurting her while he made sure that she didn’t miss a single, satisfying moment of pleasure.
He calmed her afterwards with long, soothing strokes, until she stirred restlessly again. ‘Aren’t you satisfied yet?’
‘I’ll never have enough of you,’ she admitted, knowing she meant that in every way.
‘What else do you have in mind?’
As he teased her she drew back inwardly into her little shell of uncertainty. She wanted one thing, but Tino wanted something else. And she wanted too much. ‘How about I ride you into submission?’ The front she could always put in place to hide uncertainty in any given situation had really come into its own, Lisa realised, tossing her hair back provocatively.
‘To the finish, if you please.’
‘If you insist.’
‘I do insist,’ Tino assured her, swinging her on top of him.
She eased down on him slowly, and rubbed herself rhythmically against him. She was composed entirely of sensation…
‘No,’ he insisted softly, ‘let me do that for you.’
She gasped and slumped inert as his searching fingers found her, and gently, skillfully, began to work. ‘I won’t be able to move a muscle if you don’t stop doing that.’
‘Then I shall have to stop,’ he said, pretending regret, ‘because I’m holding you to your promise.’
When he took his hand away she started to move again, taking him deep inside her. But then she teased him, pulling back, and making him wait—but he was having none of it, and caught her to him again. Lisa’s spirit soared as Tino took control, and as their eyes met in that moment they were one. He touched her delicately, and persuasively, until she could only move convulsively in time to a rhythm of his choice until they climaxed violently together.
Sleeping in Tino’s arms was almost the best part of all, Lisa realised. She had woken in the middle of the night, and now she traced the line of his lips with one finger. She gasped as he captured the tip in his mouth. ‘I thought you were asleep.’
‘Barely.’ He narrowed his eyes to look at her. ‘In fact, I need very little sleep.’
‘That’s good to hear.’
‘Isn’t it?’ he said, moving behind her. He nestled close so that he could touch her while he thrust into her. He played her well, judging her responses so finely that she angled herself shamelessly, moving so that he could see everything he was doing to her in the low light seeping into the room from the lanterns outside.
‘You’re quite a woman,’ he murmured later when they were lying twined around each other.
Lisa could only manage to mumble groggily and snuggle a little closer. She felt so safe, so content it was like returning home after an arduous journey…
‘Do you know how special you are?’ Tino whispered as he stroked Lisa’s hair. Her breathing was so even he knew she was asleep. And it was as well she couldn’t hear him saying words that would have misled them both—dangerous words…
Instinct warned him to pull back while there was still time. There was only one possible ending to this—and it was the same ending he had envisaged the day he’d walked into the Bond Steel boardroom. And she would hate him when he took the company from her…
Moonlight was streaming into the bedroom as Tino started up in bed wide awake. He had fallen asleep so deeply he could hardly believe the old nightmare had returned. Springing out of bed, he paced the floor. Halting by the window, he gazed out, seeing nothing.
How could a man admit to having nightmares? How could a man live with such images in his mind? Why wasn’t his will strong enough to get rid of them?
Hearing Lisa stir, he quietly opened the doors leading onto the balcony and stepped outside. Planting his hands on the stone balustrade, he stared out towards the horizon. Stella was the closest thing he had to a friend, and even Stella Panayotakis didn’t know all the things that had happened to him in the orphanage. It was better she never knew… And yet the past had made him the man he was today—it drove his every move. It had given him a private island, unimaginable wealth, and even worldwide respect— the only thing it could never give him was the capacity to love.
He glanced back inside the room where he could see Lisa’s hair spread out across the pillow like a cloud. Her face, deep in sleep, was pale and trusting like a child’s in the moonlight… His appetite to compete with her, to subdue her in every way, had deserted him utterly. If he had been capable of love, he would have loved Lisa Bond. But learning to love, like learning to feel, was a luxury he could never buy. And more importantly he had embar
ked upon a journey that no one else could share… a lifelong journey that demanded everything of him, a journey that drove him from deal to deal in the endless quest for money to fund his dream, to sustain his project…
It shamed him that he had set out to triumph over her. Taking Bond Steel from Lisa was one victory he didn’t need… but there was something he could do to salve his conscience. He would buy her small engineering works. He would give her the break she so desperately needed… He would give a little, just this once. She deserved that much— as that was all he could give. He would send the necessary information right away.
He would have liked to do more for her, but anything on a personal level was out of his reach. Straightening up, Tino stretched out his powerful limbs and turned his face up to the stars. He was a man people envied, a man who could buy anything he desired, but he was a man with nothing, because he had nothing to give. He had nothing to offer Lisa other than money and sex—and she deserved someone better than that. Someone better than him.
Lisa woke to another beautiful day. But then every day was more beautiful than the last on Stellamaris. Stretching languorously in Tino’s bed, she felt the empty space at her side and looked around for him. The room was empty. He would be swimming, she remembered, sighing deeply with contentment.
Propping herself up on the soft bank of pillows, she viewed the spacious room with interest. A mischievous smile curved her lips. She hadn’t taken it all in the previous night, because Tino had demanded all her attention.
It was much as she might have expected: a man’s space—marble floors, state-of-the-art sound centre, plain walls, neutral colours, and a couple of extraordinary pieces of modern art on the walls. Hockney, Lisa realised as she identified the vibrant images created by the British artist from Bradford.
Tino’s room. Smiling to herself, Lisa snuggled back on the pillows. She had never felt like this before… She had been waiting for Tino Zagorakis all her life. Even when she closed the biggest deal, or when she remembered the day her father had handed over the reins of Bond Steel to her—nothing, nothing came close to the way she was feeling now, after spending the night in Tino’s arms.
She had felt safe in his arms… in a man’s arms. She had felt cherished for the first time in her life. She had felt Tino’s arms around her, sometimes seeking nothing more than an affectionate hug, which had meant more to her than she could safely express without breaking down and spoiling the day with ugly comparisons.
She had never known affection; she had never known how wonderful a touch, a gesture, or just a simple look from someone who really cared for you could be. And then Tino had made love to her… really made love to her. So he really did love her a little bit, even if expressing his emotions didn’t come easily to him.
And what a lover. Lisa eased her body on the bed, feeling all the unaccustomed signs of lengthy lovemaking… But they’d had fun too. She had never in her wildest dreams imagined that sex could be such fun. And they had laughed together, as much as they had desired each other, and felt a ravening hunger for each other. They had laughed together… She laughed now, dashing away tears of sheer emotion. She had never thought of herself as an emotional person before; she’d spent all of her life hiding her emotions, pretending they didn’t exist. But one night with Tino had reduced her to an emotional mess. What she felt for him was so wonderful, so unexpected, such a revelation, she didn’t have a clue how she was going to handle all the feelings competing for space inside her.
Leaping out of bed, she hunted for his bathroom. Doors, doors: closets, dressing-rooms—one with nothing but casual shirts and jeans, another with suits at one end, and those see-through-fronted drawers at the other, holding goodness knew what. She was laughing again by the time she found the bathroom. As she might have expected, it was fabulous. Clad in black marble, the shower alone was big enough for a rugby team! She wouldn’t waste time on a bath, though that was easily big enough for two… She had seen baths like it in magazines, but even in her own rather splendid bathroom at the villa there was nothing approaching this scale of opulence. Once she was showered, and dressed casually in cream cotton trousers and a sky- blue short-sleeved shirt, she knew exactly what she wanted to do…
What this room needs is a woman’s touch, Lisa reflected as she turned full circle still fixing her hair in a casual ponytail. Flowers… flowers like the ones Tino had sent to her room, only even better than those… She would go downstairs and seek the gardener’s help.
The kitchen was busy when she found the same young girl who had brought the flowers up to her room. Fortunately, Maria spotted her, and came across at once to see if she could be of help.
‘These flowers are for Kirie Zagorakis,’ Lisa explained, ‘Could you help me with them, Maria? Do you have a vase?’
‘Malista—of course, Thespinis Bond.’ Maria glanced back to where her colleagues were hurrying about.
Lisa thought the young girl looked a little anxious. ‘It seems very busy in here. Are you sure I won’t get you into trouble?’
‘No, I am happy to help you,’ Maria assured her. ‘Come over here, Thespinis Bond. You can arrange them at the sink we use for such things.’
The flowers were magnificent. Lisa had chosen them to complement the reds, orange, green and pinks of the Hockney painting. Gazing round Tino’s room, she decided to set them on a low Swedish-style table opposite the picture.
Standing back to admire her handiwork, she sighed. ‘Perfect.’ Now all she had to do was to find Tino and spring the surprise on him. Why shouldn’t men have romantic gestures made to them? She could already picture them, arms linked as she dragged him along, teasing him… He would pretend to hold back… He would be puzzled, but laughing—they would both laugh. She couldn’t wait to see his face when she brought him back to his room…
Tino frowned as he cut the line. Lisa wasn’t in her room. No one in the house seemed to know where she had gone. He should have woken her… but she had looked so peaceful. She would be down on the beach, he guessed, and if so it would be hours before she returned…
He rang the housekeeper, and asked her to send someone down to the beach to find Thespinis Bond for him. The kitchen was in uproar, he could hear all the hectic preparations in the background. It pleased him to know that his household was equal to any task he set them. He ran a tight ship, a successful ship; everything on Stellamaris ran like clockwork…
CHAPTER EIGHT
‘LISA—’
Lisa blenched as Tino sprang to his feet.
She felt sick… sick and stupid all at once. It wasn’t a feeling that crept up on her as she gazed around the room Maria had directed her to; it hit her straight in the stomach like a blow.
The men gathered around the boardroom table were all in business suits—lightweight, but formal nonetheless. Tino, of course, was dressed casually, but in his own particular style that denoted rank as well as authority. His jeans were expensive, his shirt beautifully tailored, and as always he was immaculately groomed. His thick, wavy black hair—the same glossy black hair she had laced her fingers through, moulding the scalp beneath with an urgency approaching frenzy when he had made love to her; that hair— was swept back from his handsome brow and was still slightly damp, as if he had only just emerged from the shower after his swim…
Everyone was staring at her… and these were hard-bitten men, her men, along with Tino’s board of directors—chosen for their business acumen, not for their compassion. She was horribly exposed—without make-up, her hair casually arranged, her feet bare, her clothes simple.
To Tino’s credit, he came around the table to her at once.
‘Excuse us, gentlemen. I will be back with you shortly.’
Guiding her out, he closed the door behind them quietly and leaned back against it, as if to ensure they could not be followed.
Lisa managed, ‘I didn’t realise—’ before Tino shut his eyes, as if he accepted part of the blame… as if she should have known, as if the mome
nt she had walked into the room had been as agonising for him as it had been for her.
‘No one could find you. Where the hell were you?’
‘In the garden.’ Her voice was shaking. ‘In the kitchen, and then back in your room.’
‘They must have missed you. I tried to find you, Lisa, to warn you I’d set up an emergency meeting—I sent people to find you.’
‘I don’t understand… What’s everyone doing here?’
‘You wanted this deal so badly… I thought if I brought everyone over—’ He stopped and looked at a point somewhere over her head. ‘I wanted to give you the best chance. My people have identified a better deal with Clifton—but you already know that.’
‘Tino?’ Her voice sounded small, and wounded, and Lisa hated herself for the weakness, but she wasn’t in charge of her body now, or her powers of speech.
‘You’d better go and get changed—’
Tino sounded so cool, so businesslike, so logical… so distant…
‘I will call for coffee—it will distract them,’ he said, as if he was thinking out loud. ‘By the time you return, they will have forgotten. When you come back, they will have forgotten what they saw, and think only of business, of the money to be made.’
There was nothing in his eyes for her, Lisa realised. Nothing. Even now that he was looking straight at her, there was nothing there, nothing at all… She might have imagined what had happened between them the previous night for all the recognition there was in that stare. It was back to business. ‘You’re quite sure of all this, are you, Tino?’ she said coldly. ‘You’re quite sure they will have forgotten what a fool I just made of myself?’ She hardened her mouth, her face, her mind, and her heart, kicking herself back into cold, emotion-free business mode. Jack Bond was right, after all—there was no room for emotion in business.
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