The Billionaire's Virgin Box Set

‘I’m prepared to work as hard as I have to. I’m excited about it.’ Her eyes sparkled. ‘I’ve given up the job in the taverna—they only took me on because of you so I felt bad taking a job from someone else. I want to concentrate on my business and if you could loan me enough to live on while I get everything off the ground I’d consider myself fortunate. But I will pay you back. It’s a loan, not a gift. No more money tied in a thong.’

Stefan lifted his brows. ‘That is a creative way of keeping money in one place.’

‘With hindsight it wasn’t such a clever idea. My father found it.’

The thought horrified him. ‘It’s a good job you ran from him when you did.’

‘It’s a good job you turned up when you did. Thank you for that, too. And I was very impressed that you managed to land a boat on that side of the island without sinking it. That will go down in Antaxos legend, I can tell you.’

‘I don’t understand how you could have lived with that man all your life and escaped unscathed.’

‘I’m not unscathed. I dreamed of heroes. It made me unrealistic. I created a mythical person who could defeat my father and leave him grovelling with apology—’ She frowned. ‘Come to think of it, you did leave him groveling.’

‘But there was no apology.’

‘That would have been asking for a miracle.’ Her hand was resting on his chest. ‘Aren’t you going to ask me what else I want apart from help with my business?’

‘Go on.’

‘I want to be with you. I want to go on dates like normal people. I want to have lots of sex.’

Stefan breathed deeply. ‘You shouldn’t say things like that—’

‘I’m just saying it to you. I know I’m asking a lot because you don’t normally date women. This is the part where you tell me you’ll break my heart, you don’t want happy-ever-after and that the longest relationship you’ve ever had lasted three courses over dinner.’ Her arms slid round his neck. ‘And this is the part where I tell you I just want to have fun with someone I trust. I want to explore the chemistry with someone I feel safe with. I want to make love with you the way we did that night at the villa and this time I don’t want to have to rush off in the morning.’

Heat spread through his body. ‘Selene—’

‘But if you’d rather go back to your meeting...’ Her finger trailed down his neck. ‘Or if being hugged is making you uncomfortable and you’d rather go back to living your life in an isolated bubble, that’s fine with me. Actually it’s not fine with me, and if that’s what you decide you’ll probably find I’m just as persistent as you are when I want something.’

He caught her hand in his. ‘You’re driving me crazy.’

‘Good. Because I haven’t slept since that night at your villa. I’ve turned into a sex maniac. If you could do something about that, I’d appreciate it.’ Her fingers tangled with his. ‘Look at it this way—if it doesn’t work out you can just dump me and move on. Isn’t that what you always do? It’s never caused you a problem before. What’s different this time?’

His collar was constricting his throat and he extracted himself from her arms, yanked at his tie and flipped open the top button of his shirt. ‘Your first instinct was probably the right one. You should stay away from me. I’m not good for you.’

‘Maybe you are. And maybe I’m good for you. But if we don’t do this we’ll never find out.’

* * *

‘I know that this product is special. It’s a luxury. A treat. Something to make a woman feel pampered. If we sell it in supermarkets as an everyday item, it loses its appeal. It’s a high-end product. I thought maybe if we made it exclusive to your spa hotels to begin with it might add to the feel that this is a superior product.’

Selene stopped talking, aware of the twelve people in the room all watching her. It should have felt daunting, but only one person interested her and that was the man who lounged at the head of the table. Stefan hadn’t spoken a word since the meeting began and yet it was obvious from the body language of everyone in the room that his opinion was the one that mattered.

He’d removed his jacket. On the surface he was no different from anyone else, and yet he throbbed with authority and power. Even without speaking he commanded the room and Selene felt something stir inside her.

He was shockingly handsome, those dark lashes framing eyes that looked at her with raw sexual promise.

Imagining that mouth on hers, she lost the thread of her speech.

He smiled, and the fact that he so clearly knew what she was thinking infuriated her and at the same time made her insides turn to jelly.

She didn’t want to be that predictable, but she loved the fact he could read her. She didn’t want him to be so sure of her, but she wanted him to know her. She wanted that intimacy.

‘Exclusive,’ she said firmly. ‘That’s the approach I think we should take. By making it hard to get, people might want it more.’

His eyes held hers. Amusement danced there, along with something infinitely darker and more dangerous.

There was an expectant silence. Heads turned to Stefan and finally he stirred.