Playing by the Greek's Rules (Puffin Island 0.50)

‘Because he’s just pulled up outside our apartment.’

Lily’s heart felt as if it were trying to escape from her chest. ‘Are you sure?’

‘Well there’s a Ferrari parked outside that costs more than I’m going to earn in a lifetime, so, unless there is someone else living in this building that has attracted his attention, he clearly has things he wants to say to you.’

‘Oh no.’ Lily shrank against the door of the bedroom. ‘Can you see his face? Does he look angry?’

‘What reason would he have to be angry?’ Brittany glanced out of the window again and then back at Lily. ‘Is this about the shirt? He can afford to lose one shirt, surely?’

‘I don’t

think he’s here because of the shirt,’ Lily said weakly. ‘I think he’s here because of something I did this morning. I’m going to hide on the balcony and you’re going to tell him you haven’t seen me.’

Brittany looked at her curiously. ‘What did you do?’

Lily flinched as she heard a loud hammering on the door. ‘Remember—you haven’t seen me.’ She fled into the bedroom they shared and closed the door.

What was he doing here?

She’d seen the flash of anger in his eyes when he’d realised it was his phone she’d answered, but surely he wouldn’t care enough to follow her home?

She heard his voice in the doorway and heard Brittany say, ‘Sure, come right on in, Nik—is it all right if I call you Nik?—she’s in the bedroom, hiding.’ The door opened a moment later and Brittany stood there, arms folded, her eyes alive with laughter.

Lily impaled her with a look of helpless fury. ‘You’re a traitor.’

‘I’m a friend and I am doing you a favour,’ Brittany murmured. ‘The man is seriously hot.’ Having delivered that assessment, she stepped to one side with a bright smile. ‘Go ahead. The space is a little tight, but I guess you folks don’t mind that.’

‘No! Brittany, don’t—er—hi...’ Lily gave a weak smile as Nik strolled into the room. His powerful frame virtually filled the cramped space and she wished she’d picked a different room as a refuge. Being in a bedroom reminded her too much of the night before. ‘If you’re mad about the shirt, then give me two minutes to change. I shouldn’t have taken it, but I didn’t want to do the walk of shame through the middle of Chania wearing an evening dress that doesn’t belong to me.’

‘I don’t care about the shirt.’ His hair was glossy dark, his eyes dark in a face so handsome it would have made a Greek god weep with envy. ‘Do you seriously think I’m here because of the shirt?’

‘No. I assume you’re mad because I answered your phone, but I saw that it was your father and thought you wouldn’t want to miss his call. If I had a dad I’d be ringing him every day.’

His face revealed not a flicker of emotion. ‘We don’t have that sort of relationship.’

‘Well I know that now, but I didn’t know when I answered the phone and once he started talking he was so upset I didn’t want to hang up. He needed to talk to someone and I was in the right place at the right time.’

‘You think so?’ His voice was silky soft. ‘Because I would have said you were in the wrong place at the wrong time.’

‘Depends how you look at it. Did you manage to clear the air?’ She risked a glance at the hard lines of his face and winced. ‘I’m guessing the answer to that is no. If I made it worse by handing you the phone, I’m sorry.’

He raised an eyebrow. ‘Are you?’

She opened her mouth and closed it again. ‘No, not really. Family is the most important thing in the world. I don’t understand how anyone could not want to try and heal a rift. But I could see you were very angry that I’d answered the call and of course your relationship with your father is none of my business.’ But she wanted to make it her business so badly she virtually had to sit on her hands to stop herself from interfering.

‘For someone who realises it’s none of her business, you seem to be showing an extraordinary depth of interest.’

‘I feel strongly about protecting the family unit. It’s my hot button.’

His searing glance reminded her he was intimately familiar with all her hot buttons. ‘Why did you walk out this morning?’

The blatant reminder of the night before brought the colour rushing to her cheeks.

‘I thought the first rule of rebound sex was that you rebound right out of the door the next morning. I have no experience of morning-after conversation and frankly the thought of facing you over breakfast after all the things we did last night didn’t totally thrill me. And can you honestly tell me you weren’t standing in that shower working out how you were going to eject me?’ The expression on his face told her she was right and she nodded. ‘Exactly. I thought I’d spare us both a major awkward moment and leave. I grabbed a shirt and was halfway out of the door when your father rang.’

‘It didn’t occur to you to ignore the phone?’

‘I thought it might be important. And it was! He was so upset. He told me he’d already left a ton of messages.’ Concern overwhelmed her efforts not to become involved. ‘Why haven’t you been home for the past few years?’