The Greek Demands His Heir
Page 25
When they arrived at the block of exclusive apartments where Leo lived, his guards and her luggage went in the service lift, imprisoning her with Leo in the opulent confines of a far smaller and less utilitarian lift. She met his stunning eyes once and her heart stuttered as she immediately turned her head away, only to be greeted with a mirrored reflection of him instead: the luxuriant blue-black hair she wanted to tousle with her fingers, the arrogant angle of his head and the firm jut of his jaw, the sheer blazing confidence that inexplicably drew her like a magnet. Her mouth drying, she swallowed with difficulty. She felt out of step with herself, challenged to recognise the stranger she became in Leo’s presence, a stranger with random, often inappropriate thoughts and no control over her own body.
‘Stop fighting it,’ Leo growled soft and low, his abrasive accent purring along the syllables.
Grace glanced up. ‘Fighting what?’
‘This...’
And he reached for her, pulling her up against his big powerful frame with easy strength. In unmistakeable contact with the long, hard length of his erection Grace’s tummy flipped and her knees turned to water. Dangerous heat shimmied between her legs.
‘It’s crazy—’
‘The most powerful craving I’ve ever felt,’ Leo sliced in. ‘I felt it the first time I saw you. I fought it to let you walk away. But I’m done being sensible.’
Completely disconcerted by that blunt admission, Grace parted dry lips. ‘But—’
‘No...buts, meli mou,’ Leo husked against her cheek, his breath fanning her parted lips. ‘The words you’re looking for are Yes, Leo.’
A strangled little sound of amusement escaped Grace. ‘I hope you’re the patient type?’
‘Not even remotely.’ Strong arms banding round her, Leo lifted her up against him and claimed her mouth with a voracious driving passion that curled her toes and made her nails dig into his shoulder. When she made a half-hearted attempt to evade him his arms merely clamped tighter round her while he delved deeper into her mouth to send a current of fire arrowing through her quivering length. He tasted spicy and sweet and so unbelievably good she couldn’t get enough of him. She was barely aware of the lift doors whirring open or of the momentary separation of their mouths as he cannoned into a doorway with a muffled Greek expletive. Indeed the entire experience was like a time out from her brain because a hunger she couldn’t fight had taken control.
CHAPTER FIVE
LEO LAID HER down on a wide bed. ‘I want you to know that I didn’t bring you here for this,’ he breathed rawly. ‘I didn’t plan it.’
His lean, darkly handsome features were taut with hungry frustration and the strangest hint of vulnerability, and for a split second Grace almost raised her fingers to trace the compressed line of his lips. Instead she got a grip of herself and let her hand fall back from his shoulder to lie by her side. Her body was singing a very different message, all revved up like a racing car at the starting line. She was startlingly aware of every erogenous zone she possessed and his pronounced effect on her. Her breasts felt swollen while a hollow ache throbbed at the very centre of her. It was sexual need, plain sexual need, she repeated carefully to herself, as if by acknowledging that she could minimise the effects and suppress them.
‘I intended for us to sit down over a civilised dinner and talk,’ Leo grated impatiently, stepping back from the bed as if he didn’t trust himself that close to her. ‘But I can’t keep my hands off you!’
He made Grace feel totally irresistible and she marvelled at the sensation and the new buoyancy it gave to her sadly depleted ego, battered by her aunt’s abuse, her cousin’s scorn and Matt’s heartfelt and apologetic, ‘How could you be so stupid?’ There Leo stood, breathtakingly beautiful, rich and charismatic and he still wanted her when she was sure he had to have many more lovely and laid-back female options.
‘I think it cuts both ways,’ she admitted not quite steadily, just looking at him and wanting him so much it almost hurt while telling herself that was entirely and unforgivably superficial.