Sold to the Enemy

He stilled, his eyes a dark, dangerous black. ‘You are playing with fire.’

‘I’d so much rather be playing with you...’ Registering the exasperation on his face, she giggled. ‘For a sophisticated man of the world with a shocking reputation, you’re very restrained.’

‘A drunk woman telling me she wants love tends to do that to me.’ Unbelievably tense, Stefan dropped his tie onto a vacant chair and undid the top button of his shirt, his eyes never leaving her face.

‘I am definitely not drunk and I absolutely don’t want love from you. I just want sex,’ Selene said firmly. ‘Really steamy sex. There’s nothing to be afraid of. I won’t hurt you. And you can walk away afterwards and neither of us will mention it again. It will be our little secret.’

The atmosphere shifted in an instant. For a moment she thought he was going to walk out of the room but instead he stared at her for a long time, as if he were making a decision about something.

Just when she’d given up on him taking it any further, he walked towards her with a purposeful stride.

As he approached her tummy tumbled and she felt a wild flicker of delicious, terrifying anticipation.

Her eyes collided with his and she struggled to sit up. ‘Say something—’

‘You’ve said more than enough already. It’s time to stop talking.’ His tone raw, he undid the buttons on his shirt with sure, strong fingers and her mouth dried.

Her stunned gaze rested on his wide shoulders and slid slowly down to his flat abdomen.

‘I—I—’

‘You issued an invitation, Selene. I’m here to take it up.’

As her eyes fixed on his he shrugged the shirt off his shoulders revealing a bare, bronzed torso that would have been the pride of any gladiator.

‘That’s what you want, isn’t it?’

Still looking at her, he reached for the button at the top of his trousers...

CHAPTER FIVE

STEFAN lay with his hands hooked behind his head, watching as dawn sent beams of light across the bedroom. He could see a tiny bird dipping itself in the pool, playing innocently, blissfully unaware of the possibility of danger.

It reminded him of Selene.

Next to him, she stirred. With a moan, she flung her arm over her eyes. ‘Turn the light off. Ugh—how can you be so thoughtless? It’s giving me a headache.’

He turned his head to look at her, remembering how frank and open she’d been. He was starting to understand why her father was so overprotective. She was a sitting duck for any unscrupulous individual that happened to come along.

And now she was lying in his bed.

His bed. In his house, where no woman had stayed the night before. The house he’d built from nothing after Stavros Antaxos had ripped everything from his family.

Now he lay in silk sheets, but he never forgot how it had felt to lie on the cold, hard ground with the smell of rotting food in his nostrils. He never forgot the pain of seeing someone he loved laughing with someone he hated.

Stefan reached out and pushed her tangled blonde hair away from her face, remembering how open she’d been with him. It was the champagne, of course. ‘It’s called the sun. It’s morning and your headache has nothing to do with the light.’

She peeled her eyelids open gingerly. For a moment she stared at him, as if trying to work something out. Those eyes slid from his bare shoulders to his abdomen and lower to—

‘You’re naked?’ She shot up in bed and then groaned and immediately flopped back down again. ‘Oh, my God, that hurts.’

There was something hopelessly endearing about her lack of sophistication. ‘Yes, I’m naked. And so are you. That generally happens when two people spend the night together.’ He waited for his words to sink in. Watched as her eyes widened and a faint colour touched her pale cheeks.

There would be regret, he knew. She would shoot out of his bed, accuse him of taking advantage of her and that would be the end of that. Except he would have taught her a lesson life hadn’t yet taught her. To be cautious of people.

Next time she’d be more careful.

Next time she wouldn’t drink so much with a man she didn’t know—especially a man with his reputation.