Tempted by Her Billionaire Boss(35)

Gideon.

Shock went through him as he recognized his brother-in-law. Not that  Gideon looked as though he was encouraging the woman, but Demitri still  rose to his feet in brotherly indignation. His sister had been through a  lot, especially a few years ago when Gideon's PA had intimated to Adara  that she and Gideon were having an affair. Demitri wasn't going to sit  here while some fresh tart made a play for Adara's husband.         

     



 

"I do recognize him," he stated grimly. "Excuse me."

But Gideon and the blonde were already parting ways by the time he  rounded the colonnade and approached. The woman swung away with a brisk  walk toward the front desk while Gideon glanced up in time to catch  sight of Demitri. His expression hardened with determination.

That was when Demitri remembered he was avoiding the man.

"Good," Gideon stated as he approached. "I was going to find you before I left. Adara's birthday. You'll be there."

The eye to eye, man-to-man directive was annoying, but vaguely  reassuring. Demitri liked seeing that Gideon was determined to make his  wife happy. When that PA had set her sights on Gideon, Demitri had been  on the verge of taking her for a tour himself to keep his sister's  marriage intact. In the end, Gideon had salvaged his own marriage. He'd  fired the woman before anything more than a few false and snarky claims  had been made. Despite Adara's worries that Gideon was straying, in  reality his devotion to her had never wavered and still appeared rock  solid.

Which was good, Demitri supposed. He didn't wish any more strife on his  sister than she'd already weathered, but she was so annoyingly happy. So  determined to bring him into the fold of happily-ever-after she'd  created for herself. The whole situation with his brothers and all their  kids, the number of secrets kept from him... It grated in a way Demitri  didn't like to dig into, so he slid his attention back to the blonde  threatening his sister's happiness and latched on to ensuring she didn't  try anything further with Gideon.

Better that than dealing with Gideon's demands.

"The date is in my calendar. I'll try to make it." Demitri dismissed him lightly.

Gideon folded his arms. His roots as a dock-rat sailor were visible in  the piercing glint of his eyes. "Is there a reason you won't make it a  priority?"

Given that Gideon had been part of the family for several years, Demitri  didn't think he had to explain why these reunion     s Adara kept trying  to organize were about as appealing to him as an impacted wisdom tooth.

"I'll do my best," he lied.

"Would you?" Gideon said flatly. The words just for once were silently tacked onto the end, loud and clear.

And here came Reason One why he had no desire to be around his family.  What are you doing with your life? Hold the baby. Isn't he adorable?  When are you going to quit chasing skirts and settle down?

Demitri mentally projected two words back at his brother-in-law,  punctuated them with a tight smile before he walked away. Wasn't it  enough that he had stepped up when Adara was pregnant? Hell, the only  reason he'd gone into the family business was for her and Theo. Maybe  he'd kept his own hours in the early years, but these days he showed up  all the time, and kicked ass, if none of them had noticed. They could  all play white picket fences with their new babies if they wanted to. He  had zero interest in becoming a family man-and would make a terrible  one-so they could all back the hell off.

Irritated, he glanced toward the Italian starlet watching him like a  spaniel that had heard the car keys. As much as he would welcome the  diversion of sex right now-lovemaking was his go-to coping strategy for  any sort of tension-he was oddly disinterested in taking her upstairs.  The blonde filled a bigger space in his mind, niggling at him.

Maybe she hadn't meant to cause this brief altercation with Gideon, but  animosity toward her still bled into him like adrenaline. He wasn't so  immature he couldn't figure out that he was blame shifting. Every time  familial obligations tugged at him lately a wave of anger and rebellion  came over him. Dark, miasmic thoughts sent him in search of  self-destruction on one level or another.

Usually he subscribed to being a lover, not a fighter. Forced himself to  stay on the sane side of violence, too aware of the streak of it in his  father. But nameless rage sat in him whenever he confronted the fact  that his only real family, his brother and sister, the two people he  trusted unequivocally, had kept him out of the loop on the existence of  their eldest brother.

Had they not trusted him? Why had they cut him out like that? The  betrayal sliced down the center of connection he felt toward them and  pushed him out in the cold. If he didn't keep a lid on his emotions, his  temper would mushroom out like a radiation cloud. It made for a lot of  pressure. A cold, hard, dark feeling deep in his core that he refused to  deconstruct, afraid of what he might find.

Instead, he channeled it into a wave of icy energy that carried him past  the curious looks from the registration desk through to the  administration offices, where he found the blonde Canadian in a chair  cozily nudged up against the hotel manager's. The guy wasn't looking at  where she pointed on the computer monitor. He was gazing down to where  her breasts strained against the fabric of her shirt.         

     



 

"I need to speak to you," Demitri said.

* * *

Natalie glanced up and felt the full impact of Demitri Makricosta, the  youngest brother of the family that employed her. The one with the  scandalously disreputable reputation. She'd seen him in person before,  but always from a distance. Never like this, with his dark brown eyes  pushing her back into her chair and then making a proprietary inspection  of her buttons.

He was incredibly attractive. That fact was legendary across the hotel  chain and impossible to ignore when he was barely ten feet away.

She tried comparing him to his older brother, Theo, who bore a  resemblance but was more polished, kept a low profile and remembered  every name and number he came across.

But there was no minimizing this man. All she could think was how  Demitri was known for the wicked streak that was evident in his winged  eyebrows and distant smile. Also for the women he picked up  effortlessly, not to mention his utter disregard for little things like  policies and procedures. Greek by birth but raised in America, he had a  Mediterranean warmth to his skin tone under a shadow of stubble. He  dressed like a citizen of the world in tailored pants and a suit vest  buttoned over his shirt that accented his very fine shoulders and trim  waist. He looked like the hottest of the 1920s gangsters.

Bad. He looked very, very bad. Full to the brim with sin.

She glanced up from taking him in and her gaze tangled with his. One of  his superior brows went up in challenge of her checking him out. This  was definitely a different kind of man from any she'd ever known. Sharp  and far too knowing. How mortifying to be so obvious.

Decorum, Natalie. You're a mom.

Swallowing her discomfiture, she glanced at Monsieur Renault as she rose. A blush stung her cheeks.

"I'll go back to my office and you can call me when you're done. It's  nice to meet you, Mr. Makricosta," she said as she approached the door,  expecting him to move aside and give her a dismissive nod.

"It's you I want to talk to, Miss...?" He held out a hand.

Shock made her hesitate before she placed her hand in his and was jolted  by the warm grip that enclosed hers. "Adams," she provided in a jagged,  baffled voice. "Me? Are you sure?" Who did he think she was?

"I'm sure. Show me to your office." He released her and waved her into the hall.

Brushing past him and cooking in self-conscious warmth, she walked ahead  of him down the narrow hall to her shared office. Her coworkers were  away from their desks. That had been perfect at lunch when she'd  connected with her daughter on one of her daily webcam calls. Zoey was  having the time of her life with Grandma, not missing Natalie at all,  which was a relief, but it still broke Natalie's heart. She'd shed a  couple of tears after she'd disconnected, missing her girl dreadfully,  and thankful for the privacy to do so. Now, however, her office mates'  absence left an isolated mood in the small, musty-smelling room with its  rain-blurred windows.

When he closed the door behind them, she felt as though all the oxygen was pulled out. "I'm not sure-?"

"Leave my brother-in-law alone," he said flatly.

"I- What?" The accusation was such a missile from the blue, she could  only stare, insides flash-freezing. "Gideon? I mean, Mr. Vozaras?" she  stammered.

"Gideon," he confirmed, but there was an underlying stealth to the word.  As though he thought she was overstepping by using the man's name.

"What makes you think there's something going on between us?" She was so  shocked she couldn't process how appalling the accusation was.