A Deal with Demakis

“Perhaps Spike should kill Ms. Havisham,” he said, emotion roiling in his throat. It was a warning, for himself and her. “He is a heartless pirate, isn’t he? He’s not going to miraculously fall in love with her and want to save her.”

Something flashed in her gaze. “I never said they’ll have a happy ending, Nikos. And as to whether Spike will kill her, I’d say you still underestimate Ms. Havisham. She’s not going to let anyone kill her, least of all Spike.”

Standing back, she held the edge of the material in her hand and pulled. “It’s too tight, isn’t it? I should have gone for XXXL instead of XXL.” She winked at him and started pulling the T-shirt up. “Now it’s going to be really hard to get it off.”

He swallowed at the lick of desire in her blue eyes and at the relentless shiver that took hold of his skin. And let his own desire for her mute the warning bells clanging in his head.

CHAPTER TWELVE

IT WAS A whole week before Nikos had finally untangled himself from Lexi and made it to a meeting aboard his yacht with Theo Katrakis. A meeting that Theo had requested days ago. Nikos had deliberately locked himself out of any business matters but for the most important. Walking over to the glass bar that was the pride of the main deck, he was about to reach for whiskey when he saw an ice bucket with champagne. A note said it was from Theo, which meant he had good news for Nikos.

But instead of the fierce rush of satisfaction he expected, an image of Lexi, trembling with cold champagne over her skin, little mewls of pleasure falling from her mouth, flashed in front of him. He was instantly hard as rock, the strength of his desire unprecedented. That was the word for it. His desire, this ever-growing unease he felt right under his skin, everything about the situation he created with Lexi was unprecedented. And through each day, Nikos felt the doubts he experienced at night with Lexi solidify into cold, hard truth.

More than once, he had caught himself, weakening, wavering and shutting out the world and even work. Postponing this meeting with Theo when he had spent more than a year carefully cultivating this association, blocking out Savas instead of finding out what his grandfather was up to even now...when and how had he become this man?

It was like watching himself exist in a different reality, as vivid as the one in Lexi’s comic book, a happy one, a parallel one that seemed as fragile as it was fantastic. The ruthless life he had carefully built into existence slowly unraveled as Lexi wove herself into the very fabric of his life.

For a man who had never had a romantic relationship that lasted more than a few hours, having one with someone like Lexi was like sitting on a box of explosives. Because that’s what he was doing. Only a week ago he had asked her to stay, and yet now, he felt the iron lid he kept on his control shake loose, and everything he had ruthlessly wiped from his life creep back in.

It was when he had caught himself panicking in the middle of the night because she hadn’t been in the bed, wondering if she had left him like his mother had done, like his father had done, that was when he had realized he needed to get out of there. Cold sweat had drenched him just as his darkest fear rose to the surface.

If he let himself feel so much, there would only be pain. After everything he had survived to get here in life, he didn’t want pain.

Hearing a sound behind him, he turned around.

Theo walked in, a frown on his craggy, old face. Silver glinted in his hair, the warm smile he wore belying the calculatingly shrewd light in his dark eyes. Shaking Nikos’s hand, he subjected Nikos to a thorough scrutiny. Nikos brought him to the deck and they settled down on opposite sides of the table.

The sun glinted off Theo’s skin, shadowing his expression from Nikos. “I was surprised to learn you wanted to postpone the meeting, Nikos. Your sister, she is safe, yes?”

Gritting his teeth, Nikos nodded. He couldn’t fault the man for the doubts in his eyes.

“You still want to continue this alliance between us then?”

“Of course I do, Theo. Nothing else is more important to me.”

Leaning forward, Theo smiled. “Then I have three more votes on my side. They will support me without doubt. Savas does not control the board anymore.”

Nikos smiled. This was it. His dream was within reach now. He would sit in that chair, claim the prize of his hard work. He shook Theo’s hands, his breath ballooning up in his chest. He wanted to celebrate with Lexi, he wanted to...

“There is one condition, though.”

He had been expecting this. And Nikos was prepared. “Name your price, Theo.”