Nine Months To Tame The Tycoon by Chantelle Shaw, Annie West
CHAPTER FOUR
LISSAFROZEWHENshe spotted Takis threading a path through the crowd on the dance floor towards her. She had only decided to attend the charity ball after her sister had mentioned that Jace’s best friend could not make it. No way did she want to run into the most arrogant man on the planet ever again.
She was having a perfectly nice time at the party, or so she tried to convince herself. Plenty of men had asked her to dance, and she’d drunk champagne, although she had learned from bitter experience to stick to one alcoholic drink, and she could make a glass of fizz last all night. She had laughed and flirted and pretended to be the glamorous socialite everyone believed her to be. Only she knew that the truth was very different.
The evening had felt flat, flatter than usual. Until she saw Takis was here and fireworks exploded inside her.
He halted in front of her. His grey eyes gleamed like polished steel and his chiselled features were utterly mesmerising. Lissa could not look away from him or greet him as coolly as she would if he was any casual acquaintance. Her breath was trapped in her lungs and her mouth had dried.
Takis looked dangerously sexy dressed all in black—an elegant tuxedo, a silk shirt open at the throat and his bow tie hanging loose around his neck as if he had impatiently tugged the two ends apart.
‘I didn’t think you would be at the ball,’ she blurted out, cringing that she appeared so gauche.
‘I wrapped up a business meeting quicker than I’d expected and I arrived a few minutes ago. What was all that about?’ he drawled. At her puzzled look, he said, ‘I suppose the two young colts were fighting over you?’
She blushed because he was so close to the truth. Jean-Claud Delfour’s family owned a vast wine estate in the Loire Valley and Tommy Matheson was the son of an American billionaire. They were at the ball as representatives of their families, who had made large donations to the charity that Jace headed. Lissa had met the two young men on the London party circuit.
‘They’ve drunk too much,’ she said with a shrug. ‘I’m not a piece of meat to be fought over. I choose who I want to dance with.’
Takis’s gaze dropped to her bare shoulders and his mouth crooked in an enigmatic smile. ‘Choose to dance with me.’
It sounded like an order that she had no intention of obeying. But somehow she was standing so close to him that her cheek was against the lapel of his jacket and he slid his arm around her waist. He captured her hand in his and pulled her even closer to his whipcord body.
It had to be then that the DJ swapped the frenetic disco music for a slow jazz number, Lissa thought despairingly. While she danced with Takis she felt as though they were the only two people in the ballroom, in the universe, moving in perfect synchrony to the slow beat of the music. She was fiercely aware of his hard thighs pressed against her, and his hand at the small of her back exerted pressure to bring her pelvis flush with his.
His warm breath fanned her cheek as he murmured, ‘You didn’t call.’
Lissa remembered the text message she had received from him days after her sister’s wedding. She’d left the Pangalos hotel early the next morning to avoid any chance of running into Takis again and had spent several hours at the airport, waiting for her flight to London.
Back in Oxford, she had thrown herself into her job at Francine’s hotel, where she had been the general manager since Eleanor had married and moved to Greece. Lissa was grateful to her sister for giving her the chance to work in the family business. It was something she had wanted to do—more to prove that she could rather than a burning desire to be a hotel manager. Her grandfather had accused her of lacking a strong work ethic after he’d seen newspaper pictures of her sunbathing on beaches in exotic locations around the world. Out of stubborn pride she had not told him that she fitted her modelling work around studying for a diploma in hospitality management.
Pappoús had made her feel worthless, but Lissa had hidden her true feelings behind a mask of bravado. Accepting the modelling contract had given her financial freedom. She had pretended to be an irresponsible party girl, partly to annoy her grandfather, but her public image was also a defence to stop anyone discovering that the real Lissa Buchanan felt lost.
The text from Takis had flashed on to her phone’s screen one evening, and her heart had pounded as she’d reread it countless times. She did not know how he had got hold of her number and wondered if he had asked her sister for it. He had included his own contact details and the message simply read:
It would be good to hear from you.
She tilted her head up to his face and her heart missed a beat when her eyes meshed with his glinting gaze. ‘Did you expect me to want to speak to you after you were so vile? You’re cute, but not that cute,’ she said drily.
His husky laughter rolled through her, and she felt inordinately pleased that she had amused him. She was transfixed by his smile and the flash of white teeth in his darkly tanned face. But it would be unwise to lower her guard against a wolf, however docile he might seem.
‘I am definitely not cute like a little puppy dog.’ His smile disappeared and the sudden grimness in his voice sent a shiver through Lissa. ‘You should keep away from me.’
‘Difficult, considering our current position,’ she murmured. Her feet momentarily lost the rhythm of the music and Takis tightened his hold on her waist as she stumbled. She did not understand why the bleakness in his voice made her heart ache.
‘As a matter of fact, I came to your apartment the morning after we argued to apologise for my behaviour, but the maid said you had already left for the airport.’
‘I had an early flight,’ she fibbed, smiling at him. Her heart lifted with the knowledge that Takis regretted the unpleasant way the evening of the wedding had ended as much as she had. She was willing to put it behind them and move on. But move on to what exactly? She did not know what Takis wanted from her, although the hungry gleam in his eyes gave her a fair idea. She could not ignore their white-hot sexual chemistry, but was she brave enough to throw herself into the flames?
Perhaps he had the ability to read her mind. He drew her even closer to him, and desire tugged in the pit of her stomach when she felt the hard proof of his arousal beneath his trousers. ‘Shall we start over?’ he suggested.
Her breath caught in her throat. He fascinated her more than any man had ever done. ‘I’d like that,’ she said shyly.
A frown briefly appeared on Takis’s hard-boned face, but then he smiled, although the expression in his eyes remained speculative. And all the while they danced hip to hip. Lissa’s breasts were crushed against his chest and the fire inside her burned hotter, wilder, out of control. Takis muttered something beneath his breath as he swept her across the ballroom and out of the door on to the terrace. A few guests were standing around chatting and he steered Lissa over to an empty corner.
‘Are you staying in the private apartment here at the hotel?’
‘Jace’s mother and her nurse are using the apartment, and I have a room in the staff quarters.’ Lissa sighed. ‘My room is the size of a broom cupboard and has a view of the car park. But I made a last-minute decision to attend the ball and the hotel was fully booked.’
‘I am in the penthouse suite, which has a private roof terrace and a pool where guests can swim naked beneath the stars if they so desire,’ he drawled.
Lissa’s mind ran riot as she imagined him naked. She had been acutely aware of his muscular body beneath his suit while they had been dancing. She wondered if Takis had chosen his words deliberately to seduce her. To let her know what would happen if she gave in to the desire coursing though her.
The answer blazed in his eyes, and her heart skittered. After their last disastrous meeting she had tried to convince herself that she disliked him, that she should forget him, but she had failed on both counts, she acknowledged with a sigh.
Her tongue darted across her lips. ‘Do you desire?’ she whispered. ‘To swim beneath the stars, I mean.’
‘I do.’ The dark intensity of his voice set every nerve ending on Lissa’s skin alight. ‘Would you like to swim with me?’
Her pulse was racing so fast that she felt dizzy, unmoored and uncharacteristically reckless. She had the sense that she was standing at the top of a precipice and about to leap into the unknown. ‘Yes,’ she whispered.
Takis caught hold of her hand and lifted it up to his mouth. He grazed his lips over her knuckles and Lissa felt a sensation like an electrical current shoot up her arm. She watched his dark head descend and anticipation ran through her as he angled his mouth over hers. She wanted him to kiss her, there was no point denying it to herself.
She parted her lips and glimpsed a fierce gleam in his eyes as he claimed her mouth with arrogant possession. His kiss was even better than she remembered, hotter and more intense, and she melted against him, helpless to resist his passionate demands.
All her adult life Lissa had refused to be the kind of woman she had allowed her grandfather to think she was. She had hugged the secret of her virtue to herself when Pappoús had criticised her after reading reports of her wild lifestyle. But Kostas was dead, and Lissa could barely remember why she’d engaged in a stupid battle of wills with him. She no longer had to be in awe of an old man who had disapproved of her. She could do whatever she wanted.
Takis’s warm breath filled her mouth and his raw, male scent intensified her longing. He broke off the kiss at last and stared intently at her, his expression half-hidden in the shadows. And then he tilted his head back and looked up at the dark sky, studded with diamonds.
‘It is a perfect night for swimming beneath the stars, koúkla mou.’ He held out his hand, and after an imperceptible hesitation Lissa linked her fingers through his.
Takis ushered Lissa into his penthouse suite, and as she heard the door close with a soft snick she was beset with doubts. When they had left the ballroom and entered a lift, there had been other guests besides them. But now she was alone with the most enigmatic and sinfully attractive man she’d ever met. And somewhere on the way up to his hotel suite the reality of what she was doing had sunk in and her confidence had deserted her.
‘Would you like a drink?’
It was tempting to settle her nerves with alcohol, but the one and only time she had been drunk had ended with her very public humiliation.
‘No, thank you,’ she said stiffly. She was aware that she sounded like a teenager on a first date, and the truth was that she had never really moved on from the deeply upsetting incident when she’d been seventeen.
Takis’s eyes narrowed when she stepped away from him, but he made no attempt to touch her. Lissa reminded herself that she had been alone with him in her apartment the previous time they had both stayed at the Pangalos hotel. But tonight was different. She had responded to his passionate kiss and encouraged him to have expectations that, though she’d desperately wanted to, she hadn’t been sure she could deliver.
‘I don’t usually do this,’ she told him in a low voice. ‘Go to a hotel room with a man I barely know, I mean.’
‘No?’ His tone was sardonic.
Lissa bit her lip, feeling at a loss to know how to explain that she was not the person he believed her to be. That she had courted scandal and lived up to her party girl reputation to provoke her grandfather, but that she was now ashamed of her childish attempts to gain Pappoús’s attention.
Takis shrugged. ‘You came here of your own free will and there is nothing to prevent you from leaving. No chains across the door.’ He strode across the room towards the glass doors that slid open smoothly when he flicked a switch on the wall. ‘I’m going for a swim. Join me, if you wish,’ he drawled as he stepped outside.
The only chains were in her mind, Lissa realised.
She looked over at the front door of the penthouse and felt a hollow sensation inside at the thought of walking away from Takis without exploring the powerful chemistry they shared. Did she have the courage to overcome her inhibitions and behave like any other single, twenty-three-year-old woman? There was only one way to find out.
The sound of a faint splash from outside drew her over to the glass doors. Light from the penthouse spilled on to the terrace, but the pool was dark and Takis was a shadowy figure cutting through the water. He swam several lengths before he stopped and hauled himself half out of the pool, resting his elbows on the tiles.
‘So you’ve decided to stay.’ Nothing in his tone gave an indication of his thoughts.
‘Yes.’ Trying to ignore the frantic thud of her heart, Lissa walked across the terrace, her stiletto heels clipping against the tiles. ‘But I don’t have a swimsuit.’
Takis grinned. ‘Neither do I.’ He heaved himself out of the pool with a lithe movement and stood a little way off from her. Water streamed down his body, running in rivulets over his broad chest and washboard-flat abdomen.
Lissa’s gaze followed the tracks of water down to his black boxers that sat low on his hips, and she felt relieved and just the tiniest bit disappointed that he wasn’t completely naked. A partially clothed Takis was enough for her to cope with. At the ball he’d looked magnificent in a tuxedo, but the sight of his bare chest with a smattering of dark hair that arrowed down to the waistband of his boxers set her pulse hammering. He was so male, so virile and potent, and she felt intensely aware of her softer, feminine body.
‘Presumably you are wearing underwear, which is not so different from a bikini,’ he said. ‘Do you need me to unzip your dress?’
‘I can manage.’ She could do this, Lissa told herself. Undoing her dress wasn’t a problem as it had a side zip, but undressing in front of Takis tested her resolve to throw off the shackles of her past.
Silver sequins sparkled like tiny stars as the dress slipped to the floor, leaving her in her stockings, stiletto shoes, lacy knickers and strapless bra. She had worn less on the beach, she reminded herself.
Takis uttered a low growl of admiration that caused her nipples to harden. Before her nerve could fail, she kicked off her shoes and peeled her stockings down her legs. ‘Which end is the shallow end?’ she asked him when she walked towards the pool.
‘It’s all one depth. I am a couple of inches over six feet and I can stand on the bottom, but I doubt you will be able to as you are much shorter than me. I left the underwater lights off so that we can swim by starlight.’
Lissa stared down at the dark depths of the pool and her stomach muscles clenched with fear. Why on earth had she thought that this was a good idea? ‘I’m not a confident swimmer,’ she admitted. ‘I don’t like being out of my depth in water.’ She was way out of her depth with Takis before she’d even dipped a toe in the pool, she thought. Panic made her breathing erratic.
Takis jumped into the pool and disappeared beneath the surface. He reappeared and slicked his wet hair back from his brow. ‘I’ll stay close to you so that you can grab hold of me if you feel nervous.’
Terrified was a more accurate description. Her phobia of deep water had started when she’d been a child. She stood on the top of the pool steps and was aware of a dryness in her mouth and her rapid heartbeat. She felt an urge to run back into the penthouse. But she could not spend the rest of her life running away from scary situations, Lissa thought, feeling impatient with herself. She wanted to change who she was, and change began with simple steps.
Steeling her nerves, she put her foot on the second rung of the steps and then the third, slowly lowering herself into the pool until her shoulders were beneath the water. She stretched her leg down but could not feel the bottom with her toes. Taking a deep breath, she swam a few strokes, but panic overwhelmed her and she felt herself sinking. She splashed frantically and swallowed a mouthful of water.
‘Be calm. I am here.’ A pair of strong arms wrapped around her waist.
Lissa clutched Takis’s shoulders. ‘It’s no good. I can’t do it. Will you take me back to the side, please?’
‘Try to relax,’ he murmured. ‘Why do you dislike being in a swimming pool so much?’
She thought about giving a flippant excuse that her hairstyle would be ruined if she got it wet. But something in Takis’s steady gaze made her want to confide in him.
‘My parents drowned when I was ten. They were in Sri Lanka to celebrate their wedding anniversary.’ Her voice shook. ‘They went away and never came back.’
‘That was a terrible tragedy,’ he said softly. ‘Have you ever sought help to overcome your understandable fear?’
She shook her head. ‘I’ve never told anyone. It sounds silly, but when I’m in the water I imagine how scared Mum must have been when she was caught in a strong sea current and couldn’t make it back to the beach. My dad tried to save her, but he was swept away too.’
Takis brushed a strand of hair off her cheek. His eyes were silver-bright in the darkness. ‘I promise you won’t drown. Will you trust me to keep you safe, koúkla mou?’
There was no reason why she should trust him, yet oddly she did. ‘Yes,’ she whispered.
‘You need to build your confidence in the water by learning to float. Try to relax and I will support you while you lie back.’
Lissa attempted to follow his instructions, but when the water filled her ears she panicked and grabbed his arm. ‘It’s no good. I’m hopeless.’ Her grandfather had often told her so, and she’d never had a reason not to believe him.
‘Nonsense,’ Takis said calmly. ‘Can you feel my arm beneath your back? I won’t let you sink. Try again,’ he encouraged.
Her second attempt was more successful. The sensation of water in her ears made her feel terrified that it would cover her face and she’d be unable to breathe. But she trusted that Takis would not allow her to sink and gradually her muscles unlocked as she discovered that there was no need to thrash her arms and legs frantically in an effort to stay afloat.
After a few minutes Takis dropped his arm away from her so that she was floating on her own. ‘Well done,’ he said. ‘It takes courage to face up to fear. You have taken the first step and I have no doubt that you will become a more confident swimmer.’
Lissa was not used to being praised. More often she had been criticised by her grandfather. She felt a spurt of pride in herself for starting to tackle her fear.
‘Thank you for being so patient.’ She gave Takis a shy smile and he looked puzzled for a moment before his answering smile set her pulse racing.
He placed his hands on her waist, drawing her towards him and turning her around so that her back rested on his chest and the water lapped around her breasts. ‘Look up at the sky,’ he bade her.
Lissa tilted her head and caught her breath as she stared at the glittering canopy above them. There was no moon, and the black sky was filled with more stars than she had ever seen. ‘It’s incredible,’ she said in awe. ‘I’ve always lived in a city and never noticed how bright the stars are because of the light pollution.’
‘When I was a boy I used to climb the mountain near my home, and when night fell, the stars seemed close enough to touch.’
‘That sounds lovely. Is it a pretty place where you grew up?’
He gave a short laugh. ‘I have not been back there for twenty years. The scenery attracted a few tourists in the summer, but there was no work or prospects for the people who lived there. I climbed the mountain hoping to see a better place on the other side of it. I couldn’t wait to leave.’
Lissa wanted to know more about his past, but his terse tone warned her to curb her curiosity. She stared up at the stunning light show in the sky. Nature at its most glorious. Her senses became attuned to the rhythmic rise and fall of Takis’s chest that felt like a wall of steel behind her. His strength made her feel safe and the heat of his body pressed up close to hers was intoxicating.
She let her head drop back a little more so that it rested on his shoulder. The night air was so still that she heard his breathing quicken, and his hands tightened on her waist. Her heart gave a jolt when she felt his body stir beneath his boxers, and the hard proof of his arousal nudged her bottom.
‘I’m curious,’ he drawled, turning her in his arms so that she was facing him. ‘Why did you accept my invitation of a night-time swim when you have a fear of deep water?’
‘I didn’t think we were actually going to swim,’ Lissa admitted. Her heart missed a beat at the glint in his eyes.
‘Ah, so was stargazing the attraction?’
She could pretend to agree, but she had been putting on a pretence for much of her life. It was time to be honest with herself and with Takis.
‘You are the attraction,’ she whispered.