Andrea Laurence - Seduced At Sea

And he didn’t seem to mind at all. In fact he was welcoming her attentions, his hand laying across the small of her back whenever she leaned in to whisper something to him—which appeared to be every five seconds.

Lexi’s breath caught as her eyes drifted over Leo in a sleekly tailored black tuxedo. The black bow tie—which she had always found a touch effeminate on other men—only served to enhance his dangerous appeal—drawing attention to the strong column of his tanned neck and square jaw. The jacket hugged wide shoulders and drew in around his lean, hard-packed waist.

The tall model, dressed in a tiny white dress that loved every one of her generous curves and set off her red-gold hair, which hung like a smooth sheet down her back, the perfect feminine foil for his masculine sensuality. The yin to his yang.

Lexi drew in a sharp breath and tried to convince herself that she wasn’t upset. Because he really wasn’t her type and yet she literally ached to have him touch her again. To touch him. She could explain it away when she had been half asleep, or half-drowned, but now, in a room full of party-goers, his effect on her was a little hard to fob off.

Not wanting to dwell on something she couldn’t fully understand, she startled a waiter by whisking a glass of champagne off his tray as he walked past. Not that she knew why she bothered because she doubted she’d be able to get a millimetre of the delicious liquid past the boulder lodged in her throat.

She felt her breathing take on an uneven kilter and her heart pound and for a minute she felt lost and completely humiliated. Because, even though she had taken umbrage with Leo’s kisses, with his possessive behaviour in front of Tom, a small part of her had thought that … what? That he might actually want to be with her? That he might seriously find her attractive? That he might have invited her to his party to be with him?

She felt like a fool. A fool who had dressed up for nothing.

No, not nothing. She would have a good time if it killed her.

‘Care to dance, omorphe kopella ?’

Lexi turned at the sound of a deep Mediterranean voice beside her. The man who had spoken to her was tall, though not as tall as Leo, and clean-shaven, with raven black hair and a cleft in his chin.

‘My name is Anton Pompidou. I am a lawyer with the Greek government.’

‘I’m Lexi Somers. Childcare manager.’

He smiled and held out his hand. ‘You forgot to say beautiful.’ His smile wasn’t exactly smarmy, but he was smooth and she could tell he was used to getting his way with women. Lexi was just about to decline his invitation when she noticed Leo place his hand in the small of Katya’s back again as she leaned in to whisper some sweet nothing in his ear and found herself agreeing instead. ‘I’d love to.’

Anton’s smile widened and Lexi fervently hoped he didn’t read too much into her overzealous acceptance.

Which, a short time later, after he offered to escort her outside for some ‘fresh air’, she realised he had.

‘Look, I’m really sorry,’ she informed him as he tried to take her into his arms, ‘but I really did just come out here for air.’

‘Is there a problem out here?’

Lexi made a small, pained noise as she recognised Leo’s gravelly accented voice behind her just before he came into view.

‘No problem, Mr Aleksandrov.’ The tall Greek released her and all but bowed down to him. ‘Miss Somers required some fresh air.’

‘And now she requires some privacy,’ Leo drawled, his eyes pinned to hers as he spoke to the lawyer.

Some small part of Lexi willed the man to defy him but it didn’t happen. Leo had an air of command about him few men possessed and even fewer argued with.

‘You should know that when a man offers to take a woman outside for air it’s rarely what he’s offering,’ he said shortly.

Lexi turned back to the twinkling lights of the distant island she had been admiring earlier. ‘Thanks for the tip.’

‘That is Naxos,’ he told her after a brief pause.

‘I didn’t ask.’

‘You are angry with me.’

Lexi released a deep breath and turned her head to look at him. She thought how unfairly good-looking he was in the moonlight. ‘He thinks we’re together now.’

‘So?’

‘So … so you’re overbearing and arrogant.’

‘So?’

Lexi huffed out a breath. ‘I don’t know. Just go back to your supermodel accessory, would you. I’m too tired to argue with you tonight.’ She turned back to look out over the inky sea that shone silver in the moonlight.

‘Then don’t.’

Lexi’s eyes swung back to his and she shook her head as she clearly read the meaning behind that simple statement. ‘You can’t just waltz out here and treat me as if … as if …’

‘As if I own you?’

His silky words stole the breath from her lungs and set her heart pumping madly behind her breastbone. ‘What do you want, Leo?’ she asked without really meaning to but now waiting with bated breath for his answer.

You.

The single word floated into the front of his brain like a neon sign and he didn’t try to push it away as usual.

Why bother? He wanted her. She wanted him and he had already decided the best thing to do now was to give in to it.

He’d tried to ignore her all night. Had even used Katya as some sort of shield, but as soon as Anton Pompidou had laid his hands on Lexi he’d known the game was up.

Warning bells might be going off inside his head louder than a New Year’s Eve countdown but he might as well have been in a kamikaze jet on autopilot for all the good they were doing him.

He looked at her now, her low-cut gown shimmering around her, and he knew that he wanted her more than he’d wanted to possess anything else in his life.

‘You,’ he said softly, the word falling between them like a sacred offering.

He heard her breath hitch and saw her body tense, her nipples tight as they pushed against the silky fabric of her dress. He knew the air was still too warm to have brought about that reaction and his groin hardened to painful proportions as it read the signals her body was sending out.

If he didn’t touch her soon, if he didn’t get her beneath him in his bed, he just might implode.

She wasn’t looking at him but awareness vibrated between them and burned up some of the few remaining brain cells that were still functioning inside his head.

Then she turned her head, an errant curl falling over her forehead, the look in her eyes utterly disparaging.

‘Why? Did your supermodel turn you down?’

He sucked in a steadying breath. ‘I didn’t offer her anything.’

‘Really?’ She arched a delicate brow and snagged the piece of hair behind her ear. ‘Could have fooled me.’

‘I think I hurt you tonight.’

‘You confuse me,’ she said with raw honesty, ‘but if you’re seriously offering me a night in your bed then I have to tell you I’m not interested in casual sex.’

Leo studied her, aware of the scent of the sea air and the loud thud of his own heart.

‘There will be nothing casual about the sex we have, angel.’

Her eyes dropped away from his and he wondered at the flash of—uncertainty? Insecurity?—that crossed her face.

‘Lexi?’

She shook her head at him. ‘I’ve known men like you and … you have too many secrets, Leo. I couldn’t be with someone I couldn’t trust.’

Leo felt the skin on his face pull tight. ‘Are you saying I’m dishonest?’

‘I’m saying I don’t know who you are. You give nothing away and …’

‘Somebody hurt you?’

Lexi huffed out a breath and shrugged her shoulders but the movement was stilted. ‘My father led a double life and when my mother found out it nearly killed her.’ She tugged at the necklace nestled between her breasts agitatedly and then dropped it when she saw him looking. ‘I don’t know why I just told you that.’