‘Aren’t you a little overdressed for a pizzeria?’ Great—now she sounded churlish. She said, ‘Sorry, I just wasn’t expecting you to appear and want to have dinner...’
Achilles shrugged. ‘I’m hungry. I called my driver to see where you were.’
‘Okay, that sounds nice.’ She was reading too much into it.
As they walked down the street together Sofie felt ridiculously shy. She realised that for all the time she’d spent with Achilles they’d never really just had a date. Or spent any time together that hadn’t been charged with sex or an appearance in public at an event.
It had been a rollercoaster. Since the moment he’d looked at her that day in the hospital and said, ‘I’ll stay with her.’
‘Here it is.’
Sofie found they’d stopped in front of a very humble-looking pizzeria. Tables outside. Couples and families having dinner. Casual. Relaxed.
They got a table inside, near an open window. Sofie lifted her face to the breeze.
‘So, flower-arranging...?’
Sofie looked at Achilles. ‘What? I saw a sign in a local coffee shop window. I fancied learning a new skill. Plus,’ she confided, ‘I’ve seen most of the major sights.’ She looked around the restaurant. Unpretentious, but very homely. ‘This is nice.’
‘I guessed you’d like it.’
She sent him a look. ‘I’ll take that as a compliment and not a reference to the fact that I don’t have a sophisticated palate.’ She picked up a bread stick and nibbled at it. ‘How do you know about it? It seems a little out of your league...’
‘My father used to bring me here. After a baseball game.’
Sofie tensed inwardly at his mention of his father. ‘You had a good relationship?’ she asked.
Achilles nodded. ‘The best. He wasn’t corrupted by the legacy he’d inherited. He cared about the business, but the money was superfluous to him. He cared more about the staff and creating a happy family.’
‘That’s pretty amazing, considering he could have been a total brat.’
‘Like I was a brat?’
Sofie’s heart clenched. ‘I don’t think you were half as bad as you think you were. And I can understand how you probably wanted nothing to do with it after—’
‘Drinks?’
Sofie looked up. She hadn’t even noticed the waiter.
Achilles ordered wine and Sofie’s stomach roiled. She said quickly, ‘Just sparkling water for me.’
Achilles looked at her. ‘Okay?’
She nodded and avoided his eye. ‘The heat and wine don’t really agree with me.’
She thought of the unopened boxes she’d bought in the drugstore the other night. She hadn’t had the nerve even to look at them yet.
Achilles took off his jacket and waistcoat and Sofie had to fight not to let her gaze linger on the way his muscles moved under the thin material of his shirt. Especially when he rolled up his sleeves.
When the waiter had delivered their drinks and taken their order, Sofie diverted the conversation away from Achilles’s family into more neutral territory.
She was surprised to find a couple of hours passing so easily that it reminded her of how it had been on the island, when Achilles had still been Darius.
‘So what are you going to do now?’ he asked.
Sofie took a sip of coffee and put her cup down. ‘I don’t think I’ll go back to the hospital. I think I might open up the house as a B&B for a while...think about what I want to do.’
‘You could do a degree in flower-arranging.’
Sofie scowled and threw a morsel of bread at Achilles. He grinned. Her heart broke and swelled at the same time. He liked her. She knew that. But she was still a novelty to him, and after being in his world for a while she could understand why.
He wanted her. She could feel it now, humming between them like a charge of electricity. But without a deeper emotion it would destroy her.
She looked at her watch. ‘It’s late. Maybe we should head back.’
‘Early start tomorrow?’
‘It’s my last day. I want to pack as much in as I can.’
‘Last day?’
Achilles was about to put some money on the table but Sofie stopped him and said, ‘Please, let me get this. It’s not even a dent in what you’ve spent on me, but I’d like to.’
He looked at her for a long moment and then put his money back in his pocket. ‘Sure.’
Sofie couldn’t imagine that many of his women offered to pay for their dinner. She put the money down and they walked out of the nearly empty restaurant.
She said, after a minute of walking companionably with him down the street, ‘I’ve booked a flight home to Glasgow for Saturday morning. A taxi is picking me up early.’
Achilles walked beside her, his waistcoat back on but open, his jacket slung over his shoulder. She noticed everyone he passed doing a double take—men, women, children, older people... No one was immune to his magnetism.
‘I told you I would organise it for you.’
Achilles’s voice was a little abrupt. But Sofie told herself she was imagining things. Even if he still wanted her, he had to be looking forward to moving on and seeking out fresh thrills. This was the man who threw himself down the blackest ski runs, after all.
‘It’s fine. I have savings. It’s not that expensive.’
They were back at his building now. Entering. Heading up in the lift. The doors opened and they stepped into the corridor outside the apartment. Achilles opened the door. Sofie went in. She felt the tension mounting.
Achilles closed the door behind her and she turned around and looked at him warily. The easy camaraderie of dinner had dissipated. There was a sense of danger and excitement in the air.
He leaned back against the door. Totally relaxed and yet coiled. ‘I still want you, Sofie.’
Sofie’s blood leapt. Sizzled. Every cell in her body was aligning to his like magnets. She was so tempted. But the emotion rising in her chest and throat reminded her of what was at stake. This wouldn’t be just sex for her.
‘I want you too. But I don’t think it’s a good idea.’
A muscle pulsed in Achilles’s jaw. He straightened up. ‘You’re probably right. I have early meetings tomorrow, all the way through to the afternoon. I’ll meet you back here at six to go to the function. I’ve arranged for a hair and make-up team to come and help get you ready.’
Sofie felt sick. A different kind of nausea this time. Regret and heartache. ‘Okay, thank you.’
This was it. They’d go to the function tomorrow night and then she’d never see him again.
Sofie went into the bedroom and the first thing she saw was the bag from the drugstore. She instantly felt nauseous again.
If she did see Achilles after tomorrow night, it wouldn’t be because he still wanted her.