‘You’re giving us the silent treatment? Really? Wow, you must have it bad!’ Theo mocked.
‘Sweet mother of— So what if I have a thing for her, hmm?’ he demanded wildly.
‘Some of us would wonder how many times you had to be burned before you learned your lesson,’ Ari said, his gaze and his words holding a steady warning that made Sakis’s heart slide to his toes.
‘She’s not like that, Ari. I...trust her.’ It was true. Somehow she’d wormed her way in and embedded herself deep in a place he’d thought dead after his father’s betrayal. And, Theos, it felt...right. It felt good. He didn’t feel so desolate, so bitter any more. And he planned to hang on to it.
‘Are you sure?’ Ari probed.
Righteous anger rose on Brianna’s behalf but he stopped himself from venting it. His brothers were only looking out for him.
He wanted to tell them they didn’t need to. But a tiny niggling stopped him. What if they did...?
Brushing the thought away, he turned towards Theo, readying himself for more ribbing.
But his brother’s face had turned serious. ‘Are the investigators close to wrapping up the Lowell issue?’ Theo asked.
The other source of his frustration made his nape tighten. ‘Not yet. They think there’s a third party at play. Lowell may have been double-dealing both Moorecroft and someone else, someone who’s keeping him from talking. They’ve found a paper trail. They should have a name for me in the next twenty-four hours.’
He heard a drunken shout and looked over to see one of his junior executives falling over a pretty blonde. Realising he hadn’t spotted Brianna for a while, he frowned. This was the sort of function where she excelled with her organisational skills.
And yet she was nowhere in sight.
‘She went that way, towards the beach,’ Ari supplied softly.
Sakis looked at his brother and Ari shrugged, an almost resigned understanding in his eyes.
Were his feelings really so obvious? Who cared? Brianna had breached every single barrier he’d put in place around his heart. He craved her when she wasn’t around, and he couldn’t have enough of her when she was.
Some might call what he was feeling love; he preferred to call it... He searched for a suitable description and came up empty. Whatever it was, he’d decided to risk embracing it, see where it took him.
But before that he needed to get to the bottom of what was bothering her.
The junior executive let out another drunken guffaw. The pretty blonde looked ready to burst into tears. Just then a crash came from the other side of the tent.
‘Ari, you go take care of Mr Smooth over there. I’ll go check out the other thing?’ Theo offered.
Nodding gratefully, Sakis discarded his champagne glass and headed towards his other guests. His heart sank when Ari fell into step beside him.
‘Are you sure about what you’re doing?’ he asked.
‘I’ve never been surer.’ His answer held a steady certainty that shifted some hitherto unknown weight from his chest. He wanted Brianna in his life.
Permanently.