The nightclub was a glorious spectacle with live dancers on raised platforms on either side of the dance floor. Soft purple lights illuminated the crowd below. White couches, white columns, white tables—all soaked up the light giving a sultry vibe to the club. And having noticed the lines outside the entrance and the small crowd inside, she had no doubt it was an exclusive type.
Judging however by the curious, almost-hungry looks thrown up at the private lounge where she was sitting, she realized it was the private lounges that were the main attraction. And she could see why.
Separated and placed discreetly above the main party floor, the VIP lounge, enclosed by glass walls on all sides, offered a perfect view of the club. She sat on the edge of the provocative sofa bed, the leather luxuriously soft under her touch.
Amidst the crowd and music, she found Nikos as easily as if he was her honing beacon.
Leaning against the wall on the opposite side of the club, he was talking to a tall, curvy blonde. Her upper body was slanted toward him in an unmistakable invitation. Despite black envy scouring her, Lexi couldn’t find fault with her.
Nikos Demakis would tempt any woman.
She was about to leave the private lounge when a bartender walked in to serve cocktails. The easy smile in the bartender’s eyes boosted her flagging spirit. She took a sip of the cocktail as he left, placed it back on the table and started moving to the steamy number playing softly. She was not going to let Nikos’s indifference to her ruin her evening any longer.
* * *
Refusing Venetia’s friend’s blatant invitation, which held zero interest for him, Nikos pushed his way through the crowd. His frustration must have been apparent because more than one group of people jumped out of his way.
He had severely underestimated Venetia’s determination, her envy for Lexi. Before meeting her, he would have called Tyler and his fickle mind the root of Venetia’s insecurity. There was no such doubt in his mind now.
Lexi might not be gorgeous, or sophisticated, or wealthy, yet there was something about her that made one look deep inside and come away wanting. He perfectly understood what his sister must have felt.
In four days of his security team and Nikos himself following several leads, there was no information about where she and Tyler had gone. He was beginning to believe his sister would return only when and if she wished it.
In the meantime, Savas was tightening the screws further, Theo Katrakis was ready to start discussions about the board and then there was Lexi, who with her mere existence was spinning his life out of control.
Four days of Lexi, waiting alongside him worried about what Venetia would do to her blasted friend, four days of Lexi looking at him with those big, blue eyes.
You want me, Nikos? You got me.
Never had a woman’s acceptance to have sex with him, which put in those base terms felt like an insult to her, never had such simple words moved through him with such power.
He walked up the steps to the private lounge. He halted outside the entrance and pushed the door open.
She was moving in time to the music slowly, her short white skirt displaying her toned legs perfectly. Soft revolving lights from outside the lounge revealed her laughing mouth and warm eyes in strips and flashes. The delicate curve of her neck came into view next, the silver of her earrings glinted.
The sleeveless black leather vest hugged her, displaying the curves of her small breasts. With her hands up and behind her head, she moved so sensuously to the music that lust bolted through him. Every time she turned, that vest moved upward, flashing him with a strip of her midriff.
A lush smile played on her lips and she was totally lost in the moment. He closed the door behind him and she turned slowly.
Her eyes rounded in her delicate face. He waited for her to drop her gaze, shy away, but she held his gaze, even as a dusting of pink streaked her cheeks. She was different, and not just because of how she was dressed, but the tilt of her chin, the resolve in her eyes.
“Did she—” Lexi nodded toward the dance floor “—know anything about where Venetia could have taken Tyler?”
“We have no idea who’s taken whom.”
She frowned. “Tyler is unwell, has no money or connections, and the last I saw him, he was determined to not hurt Venetia. Are you the one with amnesia or him? Because you seem to have forgotten everything that happened four days ago completely.”
She walked past him and the whisper of her scent had his gut tightening in a burst of need. His body was oversensitized to her presence, wound tight in anticipation of wanting her, driven to the edge by having her near and not taking, or touching. And yet he had stopped himself.