Bought: The Greek's Baby(13)

As he pulled away from her, Eve’s heart was pounding, each rise and fall of her breath shallow and quick.

His dark eyes gleamed down at her as if he knew exactly the tumult he’d created inside her. He was only maybe ten years older than her, and yet he somehow made her feel as though he had twice her strength and about a thousand times her experience!

“So. Shall we go out?” He glanced back at the bed. “Or stay in?”

Stay in this penthouse suite, which for all of its square footage suddenly felt tiny? Spend the evening alone with this powerful man, who made her feel such strange things, knocking her world off-kilter?

“I changed my mind. Let’s go out!” she blurted, then blushed at her own nervousness. She felt like a shy young girl, a million miles out of her league.

“So you’re hungry after all.” At his low laugh, she knew she’d betrayed herself again, but she couldn’t help it. Casually, he took her white trenchcoat from the closet, slinging it over one arm. He placed his other hand possessively against the small of her back, and his light touch made her sizzle all over.

Eve almost sighed with the relief of leaving the gorgeous suite—with its enormous bed—safely behind them.

As she followed him out of the hotel into the dusky streets of Venice, she didn’t know it would be a classic case of out of the frying pan, into the fire.





CHAPTER FOUR


THE sun was starting to set in earnest, giving the twilight a pink-and-orange glow with a rapidly chilling autumn bite in the air. As a light fog blew in from the lagoon, Talos reached for Eve’s hand.

His hand wrapped around her smaller one, their naked palms pressing together, and she gave an involuntary shiver that had nothing to do with the cooling night.#p#分页标题#e#

He paused on the walkway between the piazzetta and the canal. “Cold?”

She nodded, because how could she tell him the truth? How could she tell him that his every touch exhilarated and frightened her in equal measure?

“That won’t do.” Behind his head, she could see the Byzantine white domes, arches and sharp spires of St. Mark’s Basilica. Sunset caressed his handsome face in warm reddish-pink light. “Here.”

He took the trenchcoat he’d carried on his arm and wrapped it around her. He was so handsome, she thought in a daze as she tied the belt of her coat. So starkly powerful, wearing a black wool coat over a black tailored shirt and black pants. For a moment, she just looked at him, catching her breath.

Then a group of young men walked past them and she heard a low whistle. She looked down and blushed, realizing her slim-fitting white trenchcoat covered her red dress completely. With her legs and collarbone bare, she must look as if she were naked beneath it!

She bit her lip. “Maybe we should take a taxi?”

“The restaurant is close,” he said tersely. “Just on the other side of the square.” He took her arm, placing it over his own. His eyes were dark as he looked down at her. “Come.”

It was incredibly romantic, watching the sun lower over the Grand Canal. Romantic, but not comfortable. Her black stiletto heels twisted her ankles as she walked, but that wasn’t the worst thing. She was continually aware of men staring at her as they passed by the walkway. And Talos was aware of it, too. She could tell by the way he held her arm tightly, glowering at any other man who came too close or stared too long. He was like a lion ready to fight, to kill, to protect his female.

Eve felt vulnerable. Like a gazelle about to get ripped to shreds for some lion’s dinner. What difference did it make which lion?

She looked up at Talos beside her. Something about him scared her in a way she didn’t understand. It was because she couldn’t remember him, she told herself. If she did, surely she wouldn’t be afraid…?

Behind them, she saw a shadowy figure following at a discreet distance. Nervously, she licked her lips, tasting lipstick flavored like wax and roses. “There’s someone following us.”

Talos glanced back, then relaxed. “Kefalas.”

“Your bodyguard?”

“He’ll only come if needed.”

“But—”

“It’s necessary.” He looked down at her. The slant of the setting sun cast his brutally handsome features in a roseate glow as he added roughly, “Just to protect you from all your Italian admirers, it seems.”

“I don’t like the attention,” she whispered. “I don’t want them to stare at me.”

She could tell by the twist to his lips that he didn’t completely believe her. Her cheeks burned pink. She wished she were covered from head to toe in a padded snowsuit.