Maya Blake - Greek Bachelors - Paying The Price

She told herself it was too early to hope this was over but she allowed herself a tiny breath of relief. ‘And...you think that’s the end of it?’

His hand went to the next unopened button and slid it free. ‘If they know what’s good for them. If they don’t and they keep sabre-rattling, things will just get decidedly...dirtier.’

‘You mean you’ll dig deeper,’ she murmured, unable to take her gaze off the hands slowly revealing more and more of his mouth-watering torso. ‘What are you doing?’ she gasped, her fist tightening around the plastic bottle as another bolt of heat drilled through her belly. It cracked under the force of her fist, echoing loudly through the room.

‘Taking a leaf out of your book.’ He shrugged out of his shirt, balled it up and threw it into the corner.

‘I... But...’

He paused, his hand on his belt. ‘Does my body make you uncomfortable, Moneypenny?’

Her tongue threatened to not work. ‘You’ve undressed in front of me many times.’

‘That wasn’t what I asked you.’ The belt slid free.

Arousal roared to life, tightening her nipples into deliciously painful points, weakening her knees, shooting fiery sensation between her legs. ‘W...what does it matter? I’m invisible, remember? You’ve never seen me in the past.’

He came forward, his long legs eating up the short distance between them until he stood in front of her.

‘Only because I’ve trained myself not to look...not to betray the slightest interest. Not since...’ He paused, lips pursed. Then, shaking off whatever thought he’d had, he shrugged. ‘You’re not invisible to me now. I see you. All of you.’ His gaze slid down, paused and caressed the valley between her breasts, before reaching out to boldly stroke the hard, pointed crests. Her needy gasp made him caress her more intimately, rolling her nipple between his fingers until she had to bite her lip hard to keep from crying out. ‘And just like I knew you would be like...a potent wine, promising intoxication even before the first sip.’

Reason tried to surge forth through the miasma of sensation shaking her very foundations. But her body had a mind of its own. It swayed towards him but she managed to stop herself from taking the fatal step.

‘I wouldn’t really know. I...I don’t drink.’ Another ruthless stance she’d taken since Greg. That last night before the police had crashed in and carted her away, he’d plied her with vintage champagne and caviar. She’d been so drunk she’d been barely coherent when her life had taken a nosedive into hell.

‘My, what a virtuous life you lead, Moneypenny. Do you have any vices at all? Apart from your pancakes, that is?’

‘None that I wish to divulge,’ she responded before she managed to stop herself.

Sakis gave a low, rich laugh that soaked into her senses before fizzing pleasure along her nerve endings. ‘I find that infinitely intriguing.’ His gaze dropped to her mouth in a blatant, heated caress. His lips parted and a slow rush of breath hissed through them. Slowly, almost leisurely, he stepped closer, bringing his body heat within singeing distance.

Move, Brianna!

Her feet finally heeded the frenzied warning fired by her brain but she’d barely taken a step when Sakis reached out. He caught her around the waist and brought her flush against him.

The contact fired through her, so powerful and potent, she lost her footing. One strong hand cupped her chin and raised her head to his merciless gaze. In his eyes, she read dangerous intent that made her stomach hollow with anticipation and feverish need, even as the last functioning brain cells shrieked for her to fight against the dangerous sensations.

‘I’m going to kiss you now, Moneypenny,’ Sakis breathed. ‘It’s not wise and it probably won’t be safe.’

‘Then you shouldn’t do it...’ She half-pleaded but already wet heat oozed between her thighs.

He gave a half-pained groan. ‘I can’t seem to stop myself.’

‘Mr Pantelides—’

‘Sakis. Say it. Say my name.’

She shook her head.

His head dropped another fraction. ‘You’re doing it again.’

‘D-doing what?’

‘Refusing to obey me.’

‘We’re no longer in the office.’

‘Which is all the more reason why we should drop formalities. Say my name, Brianna.’

The way he said her name, the soft stresses on the vowels, made her insides clench hard. She tried desperately to fight against the overwhelming sensation. ‘No.’

He walked her back until he had her pinned between the gym wall and the solid column of his hot body. The hard muscles of his bare chest were torture against her heavy breasts but it was the firm, unmistakeable imprint of his erection against her belly that made her stop breathing.

‘Luckily for you, the need to taste you overwhelms the need to command your obedience.’ His lips brushed hers in the fleetest of caresses. ‘But I will hear you say it before very long.’

Eyelids too heavy to sustain fluttered downwards. Drowsy with lust, she fought to answer him. ‘Don’t count on it. I have a few rules of my own. This is one of them.’

The very tip of his tongue traced her lower lip, again with the fleetest of touches, and the fiery blaze of need raged through her. ‘What’s another?’

‘Not to get involved with the boss.’

‘Hmm, that’s one I agree with.’

‘Then...what are you doing?’ she asked plaintively.

‘Proving that this isn’t more than temporary insanity.’ His voice reflected the dazed confusion she felt.

‘Won’t walking away prove the same thing? As you said, this might not be exactly wise.’

‘Or this is nothing but a no-big-deal kiss. It’ll only become a big deal if we aren’t able to handle what happens afterwards.’

No big deal. Was it really? And would it hurt to experience just a kiss? They were both clothed...well, he was technically only half-clothed...but she could put the brakes on this any time she wanted...couldn’t she?

‘Afterwards?’ she blurted.

‘Yes, when we go back to what we are. You’ll continue to be the aficionado who runs my business life and I’ll be the boss who demands too much of you.’

‘Or we could stop this right now. Pretend it never happened?’

A hard gleam entered his eyes. ‘Pretence has never been my style. I leave that to people who wish to hide their true colours; who want the world to perceive them as something other than what they are. I detest people like that, Moneypenny.’ His mouth dropped another centimetre closer, his hands tightening around her waist as his eyes darkened with hot promise. ‘It’s why I won’t pretend that the thought of kissing you, of being inside you, hasn’t been eating me alive these past few days. It’s also why I know neither of us will misconstrue this. Because you’re above pretence. You’re exactly who you say you are. Which is why I appreciate you so much.’

He kissed her then, his mouth devouring hers with a hunger so wild, so ferocious, it melted every single thought from her head.

Which was fortunate. Because otherwise she wouldn’t have been able to stop herself from showing her reaction to his stark words; from blurting out that she was not even remotely who he thought she was.

CHAPTER SIX

SAKIS FELT HER moan of desire shudder through her sexy body and groaned in return. Theos, he’d been so determined not to be seen by another woman in the work environment in the way that Giselle had portrayed him in court and in the media that he’d deliberately blinded himself to just how sexy, how utterly feminine and incredibly gorgeous, Brianna was. Now he let his reeling senses register her attributes—the hands’ span soft but firm curve of her bare waist underneath his fingers; the saucy shape of her bottom and the way the supple globes felt in his hands.