Evidently not.
Which was probably all the warning I needed to keep my distance. Never to repeat what had happened on his sofa.
‘Efkharisto,’ he murmured, his voice deep and thick.
His eyes were molten, as heated as that needy place between my legs. Unable to withstand his gaze, for fear I’d give myself away, I turned to face the rack of clothes. Of course my senses leaped high when he stepped next to me, then took another step closer to the open closet.
To my shaky memory this was perhaps the first time I’d been this close without having his laser eyes on me. The opportunity to give in to the urge to stare was too hard to resist.
The breadth and packed strength of his shoulders.
The vibrancy of his lustrous hair.
The sharp, mouthwatering angle of his freshly shaved jaw.
Too busy fighting the way every inch of Axios triggered this unwanted but unstoppable reaction, I didn’t notice he’d made a selection until he pivoted, the momentary gaping of his shirt delivering one final punch of his sheer magnetism before he drawled, ‘You’ll look beautiful in any one of these gowns. But this one will do, I think.’
Heat engulfed my face as I reached out and snatched the gown from his hand, hastily stepping back. ‘I…thanks.’
‘You need help with the zip?’ he asked, in a voice thicker than before.
Aware of the dangerous waters I was treading, I shook my head. ‘I think I’ll manage. Thanks.’
He hesitated for a stomach-churning moment, then nodded. ‘I’ll return in fifteen minutes. We will go downstairs together, if you wish.’
I nodded my thanks.
Contrary to his stealthy arrival, I was conscious of Ax’s departure for the simple reason that he seemed to take the very air out of the room with him, leaving me breathless as I shrugged off the robe and slipped the gown over my head.
Barely paying attention to the design, I zipped it up and stepped into the heels that had been helpfully paired with the dress, spritzed perfume on my neck and wrists, and was adding the finishing touches to my make-up when his knock came.
Very much aware of the silk clinging to my hips and breasts, I prayed my body wouldn’t give me away as I opened the door.
For the longest time he simply stared at me. ‘Beautiful,’ he finally stated, and the sizzling gleam in his eyes only lent him a more dangerous air, rendering all my efforts for composure useless as I accepted there was no level this man couldn’t reach in the drop-dead gorgeous stakes.
‘Thank you,’ I replied, my voice a husky mess.
He held out his arm. I took it, and was still in a semi-daze when we exited the limo at the entrance to the six-star luxury hotel in the middle of Athens where the party was being held.
The moment Ax and I stepped into the ballroom silence fell over the guests, every eye fixed on me.
‘I don’t know whether to smile or scowl. What’s de rigueur these days?’ I murmured.
‘Just ignore them. That’s what I do when I feel out of place.’
I laughed, mostly to hide his unabated effect on me. Besides, I couldn’t help it, because picturing Axios as a fish out of water was like attempting to imagine what the landscape inside a black hole looked like.
‘Something funny?’
‘You wouldn’t look out of place amongst a clutch of nuns in a prayer circle.’
He smiled, and just like that my body went into free fall, breaking one tension while ratcheting up another. And as I was crashing down, towards some unknown destination, it struck me that this was the first time I’d seen any semblance of a smile from the man I called my husband.
‘An unusual compliment, I think, but thank you all the same,’ he said.
‘You should’ve told me the whole of Athens would be here tonight,’ I said, a little desperate to maintain a disgruntled distance from him.
He lowered his head even closer to murmur in my ear, ‘Put your claws away, pethi mou. You look much too beautiful to pick a fight.’
‘I’m sure we can find something to fight about if we look hard enough.’
Was I really that desperate to start a fight? Simply to stop this unruly attraction in its tracks?
His amusement disappeared, to be replaced with the unwavering regard that never failed to trigger mini-earthquakes inside me. My breath snagged in my throat as he stepped closer, until there was nothing but a whisper of space between us. To anyone observing us we’d look as if we were sharing an intimate moment. But I knew what was coming even before he spoke.
‘Keep tossing those little challenges at me, Calypso, and I’ll delight in picking you up on one.’
The electric promise in those words sent a bolt through me. It lingered through all the introductions to influential individuals, A-list celebrities and even more of the Xenakis clan and it slowly began to re-energise, that spark of rebellion re-ignited.
For some reason I wanted to challenge him.
So when I found a moment’s reprieve I looked up from my untouched glass of champagne into his face. ‘Do you know what I think, Axios?’
A simple but effective hitch of his brow commanded me to continue.
‘I don’t think you will pick me up on any challenge. I don’t think you’ll do anything to risk this reputation you’re bent on protecting.’
‘Are you brave enough to test your theory, I wonder?’ he asked, and something untamed pulsed beneath his civil exterior. Something that made the glass in my hand tremble wildly.
His gaze dropped to it before returning to my face. With a wicked smile he raised one imperious hand and traced his knuckles down my heated cheek.
‘Pick your battles with care, Calypso. You look stunning in this dress—every eye in the room keeps returning to you time and again, and I’m the envy of every man here. You should be celebrating that, not picking a fight with your husband.’
With that, he leaned even closer, replaced his hand with his mouth for the briefest of moments…
And then he walked off.
Leaving me shaking with a cascade of emotions.
The only reason I felt out of sorts was because that little incident in my dressing room had thrown me—shown me a different side to Axios that had intensified the illicit yearning inside me. And while standing next to Axios wreaked havoc with my equilibrium, watching him, the most prominent man in the room, walking away left me with a yawing hollow in the pit of my stomach.
Did I really want him? Or was I just terrified by the knowledge that the only eyes I wanted on me were his, not the guests’ who kept coming up
