A Deal with Demakis(19)

                Shaking his head, he tried to stem the flow of resentment coursing through him. Because that’s what it had to be. Ms. Nelson’s effervescent outlook toward life and her sheer naïveté were beginning to grate on him. The sooner he got her out of his life and back to her I’m-all-that-is-love-manipulate-me-all-you-want existence, the better.

                Muttering a curse, he turned around to leave when a sleepy moan rumbled from the bed. Still hunched tight, she scooted a little more over the edge. With a quick movement, Nikos caught her just as she would have toppled off the bed.

                He ended up on his knees next to the bed, her slender body cradled on his forearms. Blue eyes flew open, terror cycling through them.

                Before he could blink, she squirmed in his hold, throwing punches and kicking her legs. He turned his face just at the right time, and her punch landed on his jaw. His teeth rattled in his mouth. Grunting at the pain shooting up his jaw, he threw her onto the bed none too gently.

                She rolled over to the other side, and stared up at him, her eyes wide and full of shock. “What are you doing?”

                “What do you think?” he shouted back, running a hand over his jaw. “I should have let you fall. The bump would have given you some much-needed sense.”

                Theos, but the woman could throw a mean punch. If he hadn’t turned he would have had a severely displaced nose.

                She scooted to her knees on the other side, her movements wary and tight, her mouth pinched. “I’m sorry. I just acted on reflex.”

                Running a finger over his jaw, he looked at her and curbed his anger. “Would you like to explain, Ms. Nelson?”

                Her hair stood up at awkward angles. Moving as though in slow motion, she got off the bed, walked around it and stopped at a good distance from him.

                Her gaze was set on his jaw, her lips trembling. “I’m fine,” he said, cringing at the thought that she might cry. He sat down on the bed and waved toward the empty spot. “Sit down.”

                Remaining silent, she slid down onto the edge of the bed, leaving as much distance as possible between them. And it finally struck him. All the times she had scrunched tight when he came near. Even now her slender frame was coiled with tension. For some reason, the thought filled him with a cold anger.

                “You’re afraid of me.”

                Her silence rang around them.

                He shoved away the questions and, of all the strangest things, the dent to his ego, aside. He might not like her but the fear in her eyes, it had been real. “I know that you think me a heartless bastard, and you are right, but I would never lay a finger on you.”

                She met his gaze finally. “I think I know that.”

                “Well, that’s good, then.” This time, he couldn’t keep the sarcasm out.

                She grimaced, and took a deep breath. “Sorry, that didn’t come out right. I know that you won’t harm me, Nikos, at least not physically,” she added, just to annoy him, he was sure. “And it’s not your intentions I’m scared of but...” Pink flooded her cheeks “But your... I mean...”

                “Theos, Lexi! Just say it.” Sitting here in the intimate confines of the luxurious cabin, he had never felt the strange energy that suddenly arced into life in the cabin.

                Lexi sighed, fighting the urge to run away from the cabin. Even though the temperature was perfect, she still felt a line of sweat down her spine. And their sitting here on the same bed, even with the breadth of it separating them, it felt too intimate. Too many things, strange and unnerving, crowded in on her. But the man did deserve an explanation.