Maya Blake - Greek Bachelors - Paying The Price

After what his father had done to his family, to his mother especially, he deserved to be forgotten totally and utterly.

Unfortunately, at times like these, when the media thought they could get a whiff of scandal, they pounced. And this time, there was no escaping their rabid focus...

The deafening sound of the industrial-size vacuum starting up drew his attention from Brianna, reminding him that he had more important things to deal with than his hitherto unruffled personal assistant’s off behaviour, and the unwanted memories of a ghost.

He zipped his jumpsuit back up and strode over to the black, slick shoreline. Half a mile away, giant oil-absorbing booms floated around the perimeter of the contaminated water to catch the spreading spill. Closer to shore, right in the middle of where the oil poured out, ecologically safe chemicals pumped from huge sprays to dissolve as much of the slick as possible.

It’s not enough. It would never be enough because this shouldn’t have happened in the first place.

His phone rang and he recognised Theo’s number on his screen.

‘What’s happening, brother? Talk to me,’ Theo said.

Sakis summarised the situation as quickly as he could, leaving out nothing, even though he was very aware that the mention of kidnap would raise painful, unwanted memories for Theo.

‘Anything I can do from here?’ his brother asked. The only hint of his disturbance at being reminded of his own kidnap when he was eighteen was the slight ring of steel in his voice when he asked the question. ‘I can put you in touch with the right people if you want. I made it my business to find out who the right contacts are in a situation like this.’ His analytical brain wouldn’t have made him cope with his ordeal otherwise.

That was Theo through and through. He went after a problem until he had every imaginable scenario broken down, then he went after the solution with single-minded determination—which was why he fulfilled his role as trouble-shooter for Pantelides Inc so perfectly.

‘We’ve got it in hand. But perhaps you could cause an outrageous scandal where you are, distract these damned paparazzi from messing with my salvage operation.’

‘Hmm, I suppose I could skydive naked from the top of Cristo Redentor,’ Theo offered.

For the first time in what felt like days, Sakis’s lips cracked in a smile. ‘You love Rio too much to get yourself barred from the city for ever for blasphemy.’ His gaze flicked to where Brianna stood alone, having dispersed the last of the journalists. She was back on her tablet, her fingers busy on the glass keyboard.

Satisfaction oozed through him. Whatever had fractured his PA’s normal efficiency, she had it back again.

‘Everything’s in hand,’ he repeated, probably more to reassure himself that he had his emotions under control.

‘Great to hear. Keep me in the loop, ne?’

Sakis signed off and jumped into the nearest boat carrying a crew of six and the vacuum, and signalled to the pilot to head out.

For the next three hours, while sunlight prevailed, he worked with the crew to pump as much sludge of out the water as possible. From another boat nearby, the journalists to whom he’d granted access filmed the process. Some even asked intelligent questions that didn’t make his teeth grind.

Floodlights arrived, mounted on tripods on more boats, and he carried on working.

It was nearing midnight when, alerted to the arrival of the refresh crew, he straightened from where he’d been managing the pump. And froze.

‘What the hell?’

The salvage-crew captain glanced up sharply. ‘Excuse me, sir?’

But Sakis’s gaze was on the boat about twenty yards to his left, where Brianna held the nozzle of a chemical spray aimed at the slick, a distressed look on her face as she swung her arm back and forth over the water.

The first of the changeover crew was approaching on a motor-powered dinghy. Sakis hopped into the small vessel and directed it to where Brianna worked.

Seeing him approach on a direct course, she changed the angle of her nozzle to avoid spraying him, her face hurriedly set in its usual calm expression. It was almost as if the bleakness he’d glimpsed moments ago had been a mirage.

‘Mr Pantelides, did you need something?’

For some reason, the sound of his father’s name on her lips aggravated him. For several hours he’d managed not to think about his father. He wanted to keep it that way. ‘Put that hose down and get in.’

She turned the spray off, eyes widening. ‘Excuse me?’

‘Get in here. Now.’

‘I...I don’t understand,’ she said. Her voice had lost a little of the sharpness and she looked genuinely puzzled as she stared down at him.

He saw the long streak of oil across her cheek. Her once white T-shirt had now turned grimy and slick and her khaki cargo pants had suffered the same fate.

But not a single hair was out of place.

The dichotomy of dirt, flawless efficiency and the bleakness he’d glimpsed a moment ago intrigued him beyond definition. The intrigue escalated his irritation. ‘It’s almost midnight. You should’ve left here hours ago.’ He manoeuvred the dinghy until it bumped the boat, directly below where she stood on the starboard side.

From that angle, he couldn’t miss the landscape of her upper body—more specifically, the perfect shape of her breasts or the sleek line of her jaw and neck as she glanced down at him.

‘Oh. Well...I’m here to work, Mr Pantelides. Why should I have left?’

‘Because you’re not part of the salvage team, and even they work in six-hour shifts. Besides this—’ he waved at the nozzle in her hand ‘—is not part of your job description.’

‘I’m aware of what my job description is. But, if we’re being pedantic, you’re not part of the crew either. And yet here you are.’

Sakis felt a shake of surprise. In all her time with him, she’d never raised her voice or shown signs of feminine ire. But in the last few minutes, he’d seen intense emotion ream over her face and through her voice. Right now, Sakis had the distinct feeling she was extremely displeased with his directive. A small spurt of masochistic pleasure fizzed through him at the thought that he’d unruffled the unflappable Miss Moneypenny.

‘I’m the boss. I have the luxury of doing whatever the hell I want,’ he said softly, his gaze raking her face, secretly eager for further animated reaction.

What he got was unexpected. Her shoulders slumped and she shrugged. ‘Of course. But, just in case you’re worried about the corporate risks, I signed a waiver before coming aboard. So you’ll suffer no liability if anything happens to me.’

Irritation returned, bit deeper. ‘I don’t give a damn about personal liability or corporate risks. What I do give a damn about is your ability to function properly tomorrow if you don’t get enough sleep. You’ve been up for over eighteen hours. So, unless you have super powers I’m not aware of, put that hose down and get down here.’ He held out a hand, unwilling to examine this almost clawing need to take care of her.

She didn’t put the hose down. Instead she handed it over to a salvage crew member. Finally, she faced Sakis.

‘Fine. You win.’ Again he saw the tiniest mutinous set to her lips and wondered why that little action pleased him so much.

He was tired; he must be hallucinating. He certainly wasn’t thinking straight if the thought of getting under his executive assistant’s skin held so much of his interest.

She swung long, slim legs over the side of the boat and dropped into the dinghy. The movement made the vessel sway. She swayed with it, and threw out a hand to steady herself as Sakis turned.

Her torso bumped his arm and her hand landed on his shoulder as she tried to find her feet. His arm snagged her waist, encountered firm, warm muscle beneath his fingers.