Xenakis's Convenient Bride(10)

When she brought her attention back to him, she saw he was taking in her  creased shorts and scoop-neck T-shirt, which amplified her insecurity.  She'd been telling herself they were on the same level, that Takis was a  snob, but she was very much an island peasant while Stavros was... She  wasn't sure. More.

Somehow she knew she was outgunned.

"I, um..." Her nerve almost failed her, but each night she relived the  way he'd made her feel and every morning she waited, hoping today would  be the day she felt that way again. He was like a potent drug that only  needed to provide one rush of ecstasy and she was hooked. It shocked her  how atavistic this need was. How undeniable.

Her voice scraped from the narrow space between foolish courage and  profound self-doubt. "I was going to suggest coming with you when you  leave today, so I can drive the Vespa home."

Here is my self-respect. I brought it out of the vault. Please don't drop it.

Takis had not been impressed when he realized she was loaning out the  Vespa. She hated that she had slipped a notch in his estimation, but she  refused to dwell on it. She wasn't a child this time. Takis was not her  father.

She wasn't being foolish. She was being a woman. Human.

Offering to go home with a man. For sex.

And maybe some give and take of the comfort she sensed they both needed.

"Tempting." A muscle ticked in his jaw and his gaze held memory and smug  ownership as he swept it over her. "But Ionnes is coming to pick up the  last of the equipment." He handed her the key for the scooter. "I'm  riding with him, then leaving."

"For?"

"New York."

Déjà vu all over again.

She couldn't help a flinch of yearning at what he might see there, in  ignorance, not the least bit aware it was everything to her.

"Want to come?" he asked in a way that suggested he knew she did.

She swallowed, feeling obvious and predictable. Why had she let him see  this stupid sexual crush? Why let him distract her from her goals at  all? She shook her head.

"Someday." The need to go to New York had been in every beat of her  pulse for the last six years, but leaving Ophelia had grown harder over  time, not easier. She hadn't been able to justify abandoning the girl  for a wild-goose chase.

But she had never managed to confirm anything solid from this side of  the world. Her only choice was to go to New York without a proper lead,  which meant she would need time once she got there. She would have to  get a job and support herself while she hunted, which meant getting a  green card. She had started the process, but it wasn't easy, not when  she was qualified for next to nothing. She had put her name in with some  nanny agencies, but hadn't heard anything.

It was daunting and added to the old fearful certainty that she wasn't meant to be part of her son's life.

She lifted her gaze to look Stavros in the eye. The impact was like an  arrow to the chest, but she hung on to that pain to ground herself.  Dating was a luxury she couldn't afford. She had to remember that.

"Safe travels."

"I'll be back." His sensual mouth lost its skew of humor as he heard her  words for the final goodbye it was. "I'll see you again. Soon."

She snorted, having played the game of waiting and wondering before. No.  She would not let herself be that stupid again. A familiar trickle of  humiliation invaded her bloodstream. Fool. Maybe she was still childish  and immature.         

     



 

"Don't bother. It wasn't meant to be." She offered a weak smile. "Take care."

As she turned away, he caught at her arm. "You're going to see me again, Calli."

Better not. Heart ripped from its moorings, she shrugged off his touch.

"Goodbye, Stavros." She went into the house.





CHAPTER FOUR

EVERY YEAR TAKIS celebrated his birthday with a huge bash. It happened  to fall on the same day as a local festival that included fireworks on  the water. He invited friends from the mainland and colleagues from his  auditing firm. While he sometimes had a date for other events, for this  one he always asked Calli to hostess. He rented her a gown and she stood  at his side between keeping an eye on the local girls she'd brought in  to serve the food she had prepared over the last two weeks. Ophelia had  elected to stay with her grandparents on the mainland this year,  claiming the event was hideously boring.

It was. Most of the conversation centered on finance or which hot car  had been purchased by whom at what bargain price. At least Calli had  done this enough times she knew most of the players and could inquire  after a child or ask about the retirement party for so-and-so.

Many remarked on how nice the tiling looked around the pool, now it had been refreshed.

"Spending a lot this year, aren't you? Boarding school, now this." One  of Takis's fellow auditors used a sharp gaze to add up the changes.

The game among Takis's workmates was always how little they spent, so she wasn't surprised by his response.

"I wouldn't have bothered, but Ionnes said he could do it at cost."

Calli had forgotten that was how the work had been approved. She'd  pressed for it to happen later in the summer, worried it wouldn't be  completed in time for this party, but Ionnes had insisted this was his  only opportunity.

Because Stavros had been on his working vacation?

She was trying not to think of that man, but frowned up at Takis, wondering if he also thought it strange in retrospect.

He was looking past her, but not with his relaxed, charming host expression. He was stone-faced. Affronted.

She glanced, saw a new arrival in a tuxedo, then did a double-take as she recognized that the clean-shaven, gorgeous man was-

"Oh, my God!"

If the dry smile on Stavros's sexy lips hadn't given him away, the way  her blood leaped in her arteries did. That was definitely Stavros. She  didn't react like this to any man except him.

You're going to see me again.

She had refused to let herself even think it, let alone believe it.

"Excuse me," Takis muttered, and drew Calli toward Stavros, muttering, "Did you invite him?"

"No." Despite being as drawn as ever by Stavros's magnetism, she had an urge to bolt. Takis's arm across her back held her fast.

Another zing of electricity shot through her as her gaze locked with Stavros's.

"We meet again. As promised," he said, then lifted his gaze to her  employer's. "Takis." It was a flat greeting. Arrogant and dismissive.  Very nearly disdainful.

"What are you doing here?" Takis demanded.

She imagined he was taking note of the tuxedo. It was no rental. It was  obviously made to fit Stavros's honed form to perfection. He looked like  a secret agent in a spy film as he accepted a flute of champagne from a  circulating tray and sipped.

"Men of my caliber are always invited." He reached into the pocket of his tuxedo and handed over a card.

"You run Dýnami Pharmaceuticals," Takis said with disbelief, handing her  the card that proclaimed this to be Steve Michaels, president.

"I prefer my Greek name, Stavros Xenakis. Stav, if you like," he said directly to Calli.

Her heart took another leap while something slithery and wonderful  curled deep in her belly under his regard. She had known he was more  than he seemed. Now whatever shade he'd been standing under was gone and  his full, glorious power was on display. He was both blinding and  breath-stealing.

"Technically my grandfather, the director, has last say on our biggest  decisions. But that will change very soon." His gaze stayed on Calli as  though she was some kind of linchpin to that statement. "Let's discuss  how you'll help me with that, shall we?"

Her heart ping-ponged in her chest. "I could never-"

"This can't be real. Get out of my house, whoever the hell you are."

Stavros lifted a gaze that was both weary and completely uncompromising.  "You negotiated a generous offer with an agent this morning. This house  is mine." The corner of his mouth twitched. "But I'll graciously allow  you to continue your party."         

     



 

"What?" A wave of shock slammed into Calli, leaving her drained of all  sensation, barely staying on her feet. She pulled from Takis's hold to  look up at him.

Around them, the music and conversation continued. The lights sparkled  and water splashed as a handful of couples laughed in the pool. A few  faces glanced in their direction, making her conscious that she should  keep her voice down and her expression neutral, but she couldn't take it  in.

Takis wasn't able to hide his flash of culpability. "I countered by  doubling it. I didn't think it would be accepted. I was going to tell  you later. I can send you to New York, Calli."

Hot tears of panic filled her throat. It was one thing to want something  with every fiber of your being, quite another to go after it. What if  it didn't work out? What if she failed? What if she found her son and he  wanted nothing to do with her? She wasn't ready!