A Deal with Demakis(77)
He searched for words to say to her, wondered about what to say and how to do it without hurting her. Like he had done for three days.
He had seen her, sitting quietly at a table at the back, dressed in blue silk that made her look as breathtakingly lovely as she was on the inside. Nothing else had registered in his mind until Theo had made the announcement.
She had looked shattered, and his throat, it had felt as if he had swallowed glass. Only then, did he realize what he had set in motion.
He stood outside her studio now—it would forever be that in his mind—stunned to see her curled up in the recliner.
He had thought she would have fled in disgust. Maybe even hoped for it, like a spineless coward. He was about to step back out when her eyes fluttered open and instantly focused on him. Her knees tucked to her chest, her hands crossed over, she looked tiny, breakable in the huge recliner.
She offered him a small smile, nothing but sadness in her blue eyes. “Congratulations, Nikos.”
“You’re wearing the dress I picked.”
She looked down and ran a hand over the silk. Moonlight threw just enough light to bare her slender shoulders to him. She met his gaze and the intensity of emotion in it skewered him. “I wore it for you. It made me feel different, confident. I wanted to look beautiful tonight. I had a feeling it was going to be special.”
His heart beat a rapid tattoo, a part of him telling him to stay at the door, to not go to her, to act with honor. What little he had left. “I’ve never seen anyone more beautiful.”
She took a deep breath as though to contain herself. “For once, I believe that.”
Shrugging off his coat, he stayed leaning against the door. “I...had no idea Theo was going to announce it tonight.”
Resignation curved her mouth. “Have you already slept with her?”
The profanity that flew from his mouth should have created a frost in the air around them. But it didn’t wash away the bitter need inside to explain why he had agreed to this. He looked at her, and she seemed different. “Christos, I have no interest in her. I haven’t even looked at her.”
“Is that supposed to make me feel better?”
At his silence, she smiled. It was the most cynical thing he had ever seen on her innocent face. And he was responsible for putting it there.
“Say it, Nikos. Tell me to be gone. Tell me to my face that you’re done with me, that our little affair has come to an end. Tell me that you’re moving on with more important things in your life.”
“You know it’s not—”
She shook her head and the words halted on his lips. Not that he had any idea what he was going to say. “Don’t you dare say it’s not like that. People have affairs with each other, and then move on, right? Whisper those little words you whispered to Emmanuelle that day. Tell me it is time to pack up my things. Do I get a goodbye gift?”
“Theos, Lexi. What are you doing?”
Hugging her midriff, she cast a furious look at him. Her face alight with color, her mouth mobile, she looked like an angry tigress and nothing like the woman he had expected. “Were you hoping I would just slink away in the night, heartbroken and pitiful? Or were you thinking I would be so desperate to be loved by you, that I would take you any way I got you, that I would accept what little you offer me?”