Brianna’s heart lurched. The sight of him, right there in front of her, fried her brain cells with pleasure and pain so strong she couldn’t breathe for a few precious seconds.
She’d missed him. God, she’d missed him.
Then memories of their last meeting smashed through. Sucking in a painful breath, she pulled herself away. ‘Nothing that concerns you any longer, Sakis.’
He caught her elbow. ‘Brianna, wait.’
‘No. Let me go!’ She managed to pry her hand away and walk a few steps before he caught up with her again.
‘Didn’t my security people warn you about the press headed your way?’
‘Why should they have? Wasn’t that what you planned?’
The hand he reached out to her shook. Or at least she thought she saw it tremble. She was feeling very shaky herself and could’ve imagined it. ‘No, it wasn’t. I had nothing to do with this. Brianna, please come with me. We need to talk,’ he said urgently.
‘Not in this lifetime. You made your feelings about me abundantly clear—’ She gave a yelp of shock as Sakis pulled her in the limo. ‘What the hell—?’
‘The paparazzi are increasing by the second. My security won’t be able to hold them back for much longer. And I really need to talk to you. Please,’ he tagged on in a ragged voice.
The mouth she’d opened to blast him with clamped shut again. Glancing closer at him, she noticed the shadows in his eyes and the pinched skin bracketing his lips. Against her better judgement, her heart lurched but she still pulled away until her back was braced against the door. He saw her retreat and his lips firmed.
‘You have two minutes, then I’m getting out of this car.’
Before she’d finished speaking, the car was rolling forward. Half a minute later, they were in a school yard three streets away parked in front of a familiar aircraft.
‘You landed your helicopter on a school compound in the middle of London?’ she asked as he helped her out of the car.
‘Technically, this isn’t the middle of London, and the school is shut for the holidays. I’ll pay whatever fine is levied and, if I have to go jail, well, it’ll be worth it.’
‘What will be worth it?’
He didn’t respond, only held the door to the chopper open. With the paparazzi within sniffing distance, it would be only a matter of time before they pounced again.
She got in. Sakis followed her. When he reached over to help her buckle her seatbelt, she shook her head. Having him this close was already shredding her insides. His touch would completely annihilate her.
The journey to Pantelides Towers was conducted in silence. So was the journey in the lift that took them to his penthouse.
‘What am I doing here, Sakis?’
He closed his eyes for a second and Brianna remembered how he’d said the sound of his name on her lips made him feel. But that had all been an illusion. Because his unforgiving heart had cast her away from him with the precision of a surgeon wielding a scalpel.
‘Where were you going when you left her your apartment?’
‘None of your damned business. You can’t push me around any more, Sakis. My life is my own—but go ahead, do your worst. I’ll fight whatever charges you bring against me. If I lose, so be it. But from here on in, I control my destiny.’