A Deal with Demakis

His muscled thigh lodged between her legs and Lexi whimpered. For a man so big, he was so incredibly well-coordinated. Just the thought of all that finesse and power focused on her had her tingling in all kinds of places. “Who the hell is Piers?”

“Piers is the bartender who’s been serving me cocktails.”

“And he likes you?”

She nodded. “Yes.”

His teeth clamped tight, he nodded. And she had the strangest notion that he hadn’t liked what she had said. Intensely. “So help me understand, thee mou. Just any man with a working...” His gaze glimmered with a dark amusement. “Any man will do for this new risk-taking life of yours?”

She pushed at him, fighting the heat spreading up her neck. She was not going to back down from this. So she just evaded. “You’re being purposely crude.”

“Sex is all you want from me?”

“I... Yes, of course.” She was getting good at lying. But then it was easy, because she didn’t know what else she wanted from him. And she didn’t want to know, either. She had never feared her feelings before or what they drove her to. But with everything she had learned about Tyler, with everything Nikos made her face, she preferred to not have any feelings right now. “You said it yourself. Sex should not be complicated.” And she wanted it with the most complicated man she had ever met, whatever he thought of himself.

Nikos ran his thumb over her lower lip, his gaze drinking her in. Stepping back from her, he shrugged off his leather jacket. The V-necked gray shirt stretched tight across his muscled chest hugged his lean waist. “There should be a sign somewhere here. Find it.”

Frowning, Lexi stared at the door. Shaking her head, she looked around the lounge. Tension pinged across her skin as she found it.

Do Not Disturb.

Her heart jumped to her throat. She held up the matte sign just as Nikos walked back in.

Meeting her gaze, he smiled. “Hang it on the doorknob and close the door.”

The cardboard sign slipped from her fingers. Her skin tingled as his gaze stayed on her, challenging. Molten heat flared through her as she realized his intentions. Her knees shook, her entire body felt like a pool of liquid longing and anticipation.

She looked around the room to the huge glass to her right that gave a perfect view of the dance floor and the crowd below. She was not a virgin. Granted, the two times she had slept with Tyler had been almost painfully awkward. But with the tremble in her knees, the soft but persistent tug in her lower belly, she might as well have been one.

“Here? Now?”

Nikos came to a halt with an arm’s length between them, his gaze devouring her. He handed her the champagne glass. “Yes, here. Now. Is there a problem?”

Suddenly, Lexi felt hyperaware of everything around her. Her skin, the ratcheting beat of her heart, her breath rushing in and out, the din of the crowd below and Nikos—tall, gorgeous and within touching distance.

He moved to stand behind her. His hands landed on her waist, spanning it with his long fingers. She could feel every finger, every ridge of his palm on her skin.

“That glass is one-way.”

His words rumbled over her skin. Lexi turned to look at him. “They can’t see us?”

The heat from his mouth seared through her skin, his fingers slowly kneading her hips. “No.”

She sucked in a much-needed breath. His hands moved to her rib cage and held her tight against him.

“They can’t see us or hear us. This is what I want, Lexi. Are you ready for it?” Warm breath feathered over her ear, before he ran his tongue over the outer shell.

Lexi clutched his forearms, a shiver running through her.

She turned in his arms and looked up at him. His brown gaze dark, his aquiline nose flared. The liquid desire in his eyes, the feel of his rough palm over her bare arms, it was everything she wanted. Slipping from his grasp, she took the sign from the floor. She had no idea how she did it with her legs shaking beneath her, but she hung the sign and closed the door.

CHAPTER NINE

NIKOS STRUGGLED TO hold the lust rocketing through him in check and failed completely. She closed the door and stood there, the line of her back an inviting temptation. The strip of flesh exposed between the hem of her short skirt and her knee-high boots was the most erotic thing he had ever seen.

A shiver took root in his muscles. His nerves stretched taut, he felt as if he was the one taking a risk, as if he was the one who was new to sex.

He settled down into the luxurious sofa bed with his back against the wall. She turned around and leaned against the wall. Pink streaked her cheeks. Her mouth pursed and then opened.