by Penny Jordan
Well, tough, she told herself. And knew that she’d probably put more hours in than necessary. As avoidance tactics went, she was a master of the game. Extreme self-protection. Keep busy to avoid the pain of seeing Alexandros every day. She was sure it’d only be a matter of time now before she’d receive divorce papers and then she could start to pick up the pieces of her broken heart. Because every minute, every moment spent with Alexandros meant that her heart grew more and more heavy.
Cécile hurried up to her side. ‘Kallie, Pierre is looking for you—something about the projector?’
Damn. Kallie’s thoughts were pulled back to the evening. That was all she needed now, just when the producer of the latest Oscar-winning best film had arrived. She hurried in to see what the problem was.
Alexandros was tense, could feel it in every muscle. And didn’t like it. The usual control he enjoyed seemingly at an ever-increasing distance. The car crawled along the Champs Elysées. He had his driver stop and jumped out. He started to walk to the art museum at the end of the boulevard, and as he walked the bizarre concern rose again, swiftly, like a dark cloud. He saw Kallie’s face in his mind’s eye. He stopped in his tracks. What if someone gave her something that could spark the same reaction she’d had in the restaurant in Athens?
Alexandros unconsciously speeded up, suddenly imagining Kallie vulnerable, weak, in trouble. He arrived at the door of the function, strode through and was stopped.
He looked down at the young woman who appeared to be in her early twenties, very lusciously half-dressed and looking up at him with big come-hither eyes that did absolutely nothing for him. She was caked in make-up.
‘Excuse me?’ she asked, fluttering her eyelashes at him.
Excuse me?
He couldn’t remember the last time, if there’d ever been one, when he’d been stopped at the door of a party. Suddenly Cécile appeared and flushed prettily, like she normally did. ‘Mr Kouros! Odette, this is Kallie’s husband. He can come in.’
Odette gave Alexandros a simpering smile. ‘So sorry, but we have a strict door policy.’
‘No problem.’ He’d already forgotten her. Looking at Cécile,’ he asked, ‘Where is she?’
‘Is something wrong, Mr Kouros? You seem a little…’
He forced himself to calm. ‘I’d like to see my wife, please.’
‘Of course. I’ll get her.’ Cécile hurried away.
Alexandros finally saw her through the crowd and felt what seemed like a punch in his stomach. She was beautiful. Stunning. Wearing a cream satin dress, it fell Grecian-style to her knees. Off the shoulder on one side and held together on the other by a jewelled clip. Her hair was piled high and a slim golden band held her fringe back. A gold bracelet circled her toned upper arm and golden strappy sandals made him want to walk over, pick her up and carry her far away. She turned her head at that moment, just as Cécile reached her. He couldn’t fail to see the shock and surprise register on her face and he didn’t like it. They stared at each other for a long moment. Then someone said something to her and she smiled apologetically, indicating that she was busy, and gestured to the bar in the corner.
Alexandros felt a crushing feeling. She was OK. He felt a little foolish and welcomed the respite for a moment. A short time later, he watched Kallie walk over with the man of the evening, Pierre Baudat. When she came close, he couldn’t read the expression on her face and it made him nervous.
‘Alexandros, I’d like you to meet Pierre Baudat. Pierre, my husband Alexandros Kouros.’
Kallie felt a bubble of hysteria rise up as she witnessed two very alpha males meeting. Even though Pierre was in his sixties, he was no less virile, exuding charisma. ‘Kouros, pleased to meet you. Lovely wife you have here, quite the charmer. Don’t know what I would have done without her.’
‘I know…’ Alexandros battened down his conflicting emotions and smiled lazily at Kallie. She recognised danger in the smile, and then he looked back at Pierre. ‘She charmed me into marrying her.’
He could feel Kallie tense beside him and needed to touch her so badly that it was a physical pain and he pulled her into his side. They chatted for a few minutes more and Pierre left, wagging a finger. ‘I’m going to need her back, Kouros…she’s mine tonight.’
Alexandros couldn’t help the reflex he had to smash a fist into the other man’s face when he said that.
‘Alexandros, you’re hurting me.’ Kallie pulled free and looked up at him. ‘What are you doing here anyway?’
‘I…’
What was he doing there? Had he really been afraid that she’d be in trouble? Or what? That she’d be flirting with other men? So far, from what he’d seen, she was working tirelessly, harder than anyone else in the room. An uncomfortable prickling skated over his skin.
Kallie still had butterflies in her tummy, which had sprung to life when she’d seen him across the room. Ridiculous. She’d known him practically all her life, and now she knew him even better. They were lovers. And she desperately wished they weren’t. But right at that moment she felt as though she were seventeen all over again. The achingly sweet desire that he would have come like that, to see her, meet her at work because he missed her.
She’d gone through all the reasons as to why he might have come…had even dragged Pierre over to give her some time to collect herself. And now an awful thought struck her. Maybe he was going to serve her with the divorce papers here, now, tonight. She surreptitiously looked around him but couldn’t see anything. Just him, leaning back against the glittering bar, nonchalant in his suit and open-necked shirt. Easily the best-looking man in the room.
She remembered his words to Pierre. ‘How can you do that, say that?’
‘What?’
‘Let people think that this is a normal marriage. You said I charmed you into marrying you—’
‘Kallie.’ His face darkened. ‘Would you prefer if I tell people how we came to be married? That you betrayed me and I took advantage of meeting you again to take a convenient wife?’
She shook her head miserably. An ache formed in her throat as he put two hands on her arms and pulled her close again.
She hated herself for reacting, even now. Her head felt heavy as she looked up.
He brushed the back of his hand across her cheek. ‘We do have a real marriage, Kallie. As real as it can be in this day and age. We have great sex—’
His words tore at her. ‘Yes, but that’s all. If we didn’t, you would have divorced me as soon as you could after the wedding, and I wish you had, believe me.’
Two bright spots had appeared on her cheeks and Alexandros could feel her chest heaving against his.
Kallie couldn’t tear her gaze away from his. The room had disappeared, they could have been anywhere. Heat coiled in her belly like a live wire, her breasts tingled and pushed against the fabric of her dress. Alexandros’s gaze grew dark and heavy-lidded.
‘Just let me go, Alexandros.’ For good! ‘I have to get back to work. I’m busy.’
Alexandros felt off balance again, and felt like a fool for coming when he’d had no good reason. He’d acted on an instinct so strong he hadn’t questioned it, and that made him very nervous.
His mouth twisted into a cynical smile. ‘This is a normal marriage. When we get divorced we’ll just be joining the statistics of thousands of others.’
She finally managed to jerk free from his hands and stalked away, determined not to show him how he affected her.
She could feel his eyes bore into her back. Tears threatened, blurring her vision as she walked back through the room, the crowd swallowing her up. Why couldn’t he just leave her alone? Let her go? When would he stop desiring her? She bit her lip. That would be long before she stopped desiring him…and she knew she never would.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
WHEN Kallie arrived back to the apartment that night, she crept in and slipped off her shoes, sagging back against the door with relief. Thank goodness that was over. She felt as if s
he’d been put through the wringer. She heard a noise and jerked upright, eyes wide, to see Alexandros standing at the door of the living room, in dark slacks, his shirt open at the throat, revealing the bronzed column. Tiredness vanished. Energy pulsed through her body and she felt desire, hot, low and immediate in her belly.
‘What are you doing up? It’s almost three in the morning…’ She couldn’t keep the breathy tone out of her voice.
He walked slowly towards her. ‘I kept you some dinner.’
She gaped. ‘You made dinner?’
He kept coming. She couldn’t go anywhere, her back was to the door. Emotionally and physically. All she knew was that the man she loved was here, with her now, and she felt so weakly happy she could have burst. It must be the tiredness, she reassured herself, even though that had fled like a cowardly traitor.
He was now so close that she could feel his body heat, smell his particular scent, a hint of musk and citrus. Nothing cloying or artificial. All male, all him.
‘Are you hungry?’
His arms came up on either side of her head. She looked up at him mutely and shook her head, thinking to herself, Only for you.
One hand came down and cupped her shoulder, feeling the smooth satin skin. ‘The moment I saw you in this dress I wanted to do this…’
‘What’s that?’
‘Take you out of it…’
‘Oh…’
He bent his head, but didn’t take her mouth. He pressed his lips to her shoulder, kissing, smoothing, his tongue flicking out to taste. Teeth nipping gently. A tiny shudder went through her. He turned his attention to the jewelled clip and with smooth finesse flicked it open. The dress fell down under its own weight, baring her lace-covered breasts to his hungry gaze, the nipples hard and pouting for his attention. When his mouth closed over one through the sheer material, Kallie sagged back even more, an electric wire of sensation connecting to her groin, making her breathe harshly. An unstoppable force was building up, an urgency that only this man could assuage.
She pulled his head back up and clasped it in her hands, kissing him deeply. Her tongue making a sensual foray, searching for his…tangling in a heated dance. The sense of urgency drove her. She blindly searched for buttons, popping them open with scant regard for care, wanting to feel his broad chest, the smooth skin, the light smattering of hair which led in a silky line all the way down to his trousers. Her hand traced this line as they kissed. Her fingers met the buckle and all without looking, or thinking, only feeling, she opened the buckle, then his trousers and slid her hands around and under, reaching around to pull him towards her and caress his bottom.
He groaned against her mouth, ‘Kallie, Kallie…’
She whispered against his mouth, ‘I want you, Alexandros…’
Here, like this, when nothing existed but the heat between them, she could be honest. Indulge her weakness.
Taking her mouth again with a fevered urgency that made her exultant, Kallie felt him reach under her dress, pulling it up, fingers finding the sides of her panties and sliding them down over her hips. She helped when they fell and stepped out of them. And in turn she pushed down his trousers and briefs, which snagged on his erection for a moment. He kicked his clothes aside impatiently.
She tore her mouth away from his and reached for him, holding him. Alexandros braced two hands on the door behind her. His eyes glittered fiercely as she looked up at him, her hands sliding up and down the shaft.
Two slashes of colour raced across his cheekbones, and she saw him swallow, fight for control. She couldn’t help but exult in the power she had over him in these all too brief moments. He stopped her hands with one of his.
‘Stop…unless you want to make me lose it…’
With easy strength, he lifted her up, her legs automatically coming around his waist, and with her back resting against the door, with one smooth movement he surged up and into her, piercing her moist silken flesh with his. She gripped his neck and stifled her gasp of pure pleasure against his heated skin, against the corded muscles that spoke of his effort to control himself.
Time and time again he thrust up into the heart of her, taking them both on a roller-coaster ride, more intense than ever before. When he thrust upwards for the final time, Kallie’s whole body shook with the violence of her orgasm, and shook still as he threw back his head and allowed himself to spill into her, his release unending. It took a long time for the room to right itself or for either of them to have the strength to extricate themselves. Alexandros lowered her gently back down and Kallie’s legs couldn’t hold her up. They buckled and she would have fallen if he hadn’t caught her and swung her into his arms. She buried her head in his shoulder and he brought her into the bedroom, kicking open the door of the bathroom.
The bath was full, the water lukewarm. Kallie lifted her head in surprise. ‘You were going to have a bath?’
He set her down and shook his head, avoiding her eye. ‘No. It was for you. I told Cécile to call me when you’d be leaving…’ And the minute she came in the door you fell on her like a lust-crazed teenager.
Self-derision made his movements jerky, but Kallie was too stunned to notice. He’d done this for her? She could feel the shaking set in again. She just couldn’t fathom this…or the strength of her climax, which still left her feeling slightly shell-shocked and sensitive to the touch all over.
She watched as Alexandros briskly turned on the tap, emptying in more hot water. Then he helped her out of her clothes and into the bath, where she sank down into foam and bubbles so exquisite she had to catch her breath.
‘I’ll go and heat up the dinner.’
She looked up at him. He should have looked ridiculous, standing there naked in nothing but his open shirt…but he didn’t. He looked virile and masculine. Her eyes travelled down. Already one part of him was making a comeback. She hurriedly averted her gaze. After the last climax she didn’t think she could survive another like it any time soon.
‘OK, that’d be lovely, I’m starving now,’ she babbled inanely.
He left and Kallie breathed out. And then felt tears threaten. What was wrong with her? And what was wrong with him? And how much longer could she endure this exquisite punishment? She let the water calm and soothe her but couldn’t relax fully, his behaviour was confusing her. She was out and wrapped in a voluminous toweling robe when he came back to tell her the food was ready.
He’d prepared a delicious meal of pastitsio, a Greek form of lasagne, with lots of crusty bread. Kallie fell on the food, feeling like she hadn’t eaten in weeks. Which, she realised, she hadn’t really.
He watched her eat, shaking his head. ‘You really are unbelievable. Any other woman I know would run screaming into the hills if faced with a plate of food like that, but you can polish it off in minutes.’
Kallie blushed, feeling like the overweight teenager she’d been all over again. He reached across and grabbed her hand. ‘It’s a good thing, Kallie. Just because you had a little bit of puppy fat growing up…’
She took her hand away and said lightly, ‘It must be a refreshing change. You’ll be back to watching women chase a lettuce leaf around their plates in no time.’
Before he could say anything else, she took the plates over to the dishwasher. She was unaware of the spasm of emotion that had crossed his face for a split second. He was silent behind her and when she finally turned around, his expression was cool, blank. She felt awkward.
‘Thanks for making dinner…’
She quipped lightly, ‘If the shipping business fell through in the morning, you’d get a job as a chef no problem. I could even turn it into a reality show…’
Her words fell flat as she watched him come back from a long distance. His eyes focused on her again. ‘What did you say?’
She shook her head, ‘Nothing, just thanks for dinner. I appreciate it.’
He stood and pulled her close, speaking without thinking. ‘You work too hard.’
‘This from so
meone who thinks PR is full of drug-crazed lunatics running around partying?’ She wanted to smile teasingly but couldn’t. There was a still, heavy energy surrounding them that confused her.
‘I can see that I’m just going to have to get—’ He broke off suddenly and Kallie saw him go pale. She frowned but he’d gone inwards, disappeared. Shut down. He took her by the hand.
‘Let’s go to bed.’
With dawn coming up outside the bedroom window, Alexandros slid the robe from Kallie’s shoulders. Carefully took the pins and band out of her hair, until it fell around her shoulders. Shrugging off his own top and jeans, naked, he led her over to the bed and curled her back into his front, his strong powerful thighs cupping her bottom. She gave up trying to figure out what he’d been going to say.
For a long time Alexandros’s eyes stayed open, looking into the middle distance. He could hear Kallie’s breath deepen and feel her curl even closer to his chest. The shock that had rippled through him when he’d realised what he’d been about to say still made him feel queasy. He’d been about to say, without any preamble, without the slightest hint of any warning, I’m just going to have to get you pregnant…
The whole night made him feel queasy. The way he’d found himself going to the function…drawn her a bath, made dinner. He’d been led by impulse and instinct. And he did not want to look at what might have prompted those instincts or impulses.
He knew what he had to do.
When Kallie woke up it was nearly lunchtime. She didn’t panic, she knew she and Cécile had a day off today to recover. Needless to say, the bed was empty beside her. She sank deeper. The glorious feeling of knowing she had finished a job and that it had been well done made her smile. But it wasn’t long before her thoughts turned back to Alexandros. She groaned and rolled over, burying her head under a pillow.