when she noticed Leo place his hand in the small of Katya’s back again as she leaned in to whisper some sweet nothing in his ear and found herself agreeing instead. ‘I’d love to.’
Anton’s smile widened and Lexi fervently hoped he didn’t read too much into her overzealous acceptance.
Which, a short time later, after he offered to escort her outside for some ‘fresh air’, she realised he had.
‘Look, I’m really sorry,’ she informed him as he tried to take her into his arms, ‘but I really did just come out here for air.’
‘Is there a problem out here?’
Lexi made a small, pained noise as she recognised Leo’s gravelly accented voice behind her just before he came into view.
‘No problem, Mr Aleksandrov.’ The tall Greek released her and all but bowed down to him. ‘Miss Somers required some fresh air.’
‘And now she requires some privacy,’ Leo drawled, his eyes pinned to hers as he spoke to the lawyer.
Some small part of Lexi willed the man to defy him but it didn’t happen. Leo had an air of command about him few men possessed and even fewer argued with.
‘You should know that when a man offers to take a woman outside for air it’s rarely what he’s offering,’ he said shortly.
Lexi turned back to the twinkling lights of the distant island she had been admiring earlier. ‘Thanks for the tip.’
‘That is Naxos,’ he told her after a brief pause.
‘I didn’t ask.’
‘You are angry with me.’
Lexi released a deep breath and turned her head to look at him. She thought how unfairly good-looking he was in the moonlight. ‘He thinks we’re together now.’
‘So?’
‘So … so you’re overbearing and arrogant.’
‘So?’
Lexi huffed out a breath. ‘I don’t know. Just go back to your supermodel accessory, would you. I’m too tired to argue with you tonight.’ She turned back to look out over the inky sea that shone silver in the moonlight.
‘Then don’t.’
Lexi’s eyes swung back to his and she shook her head as she clearly read the meaning behind that simple statement. ‘You can’t just waltz out here and treat me as if … as if …’
‘As if I own you?’
His silky words stole the breath from her lungs and set her heart pumping madly behind her breastbone. ‘What do you want, Leo?’ she asked without really meaning to but now waiting with bated breath for his answer.
You.
The single word floated into the front of his brain like a neon sign and he didn’t try to push it away as usual.
Why bother? He wanted her. She wanted him and he had already decided the best thing to do now was to give in to it.
He’d tried to ignore her all night. Had even used Katya as some sort of shield, but as soon as Anton Pompidou had laid his hands on Lexi he’d known the game was up.
Warning bells might be going off inside his head louder than a New Year’s Eve countdown but he might as well have been in a kamikaze jet on autopilot for all the good they were doing him.
He looked at her now, her low-cut gown shimmering around her, and he knew that he wanted her more than he’d wanted to possess anything else in his life.
‘You,’ he said softly, the word falling between them like a sacred offering.
He heard her breath hitch and saw her body tense, her nipples tight as they pushed against the silky fabric of her dress. He knew the air was still too warm to have brought about that reaction and his groin hardened to painful proportions as it read the signals her body was sending out.
If he didn’t touch her soon, if he didn’t get her beneath him in his bed, he just might implode.
She wasn’t looking at him but awareness vibrated between them and burned up some of the few remaining brain cells that were still functioning inside his head.
Then she turned her head, an errant curl falling over her forehead, the look in her eyes utterly disparaging.
‘Why? Did your supermodel turn you down?’
He sucked in a steadying breath. ‘I didn’t offer her anything.’
‘Really?’ She arched a delicate brow and snagged the piece of hair behind her ear. ‘Could have fooled me.’
‘I think I hurt you tonight.’
‘You confuse me,’ she said with raw honesty, ‘but if you’re seriously offering me a night in your bed then I have to tell you I’m not interested in casual sex.’
Leo studied her, aware of the scent of the sea air and the loud thud of his own heart.
‘There will be nothing casual about the sex we have, angel.’
Her eyes dropped away from his and he wondered at the flash of—uncertainty? Insecurity?—that crossed her face.
‘Lexi?’
She shook her head at him. ‘I’ve known men like you and … you have too many secrets, Leo. I couldn’t be with someone I couldn’t trust.’
Leo felt the skin on his face pull tight. ‘Are you saying I’m dishonest?’
‘I’m saying I don’t know who you are. You give nothing away and …’
‘Somebody hurt you?’
Lexi huffed out a breath and shrugged her shoulders but the movement was stilted. ‘My father led a double life and when my mother found out it nearly killed her.’ She tugged at the necklace nestled between her breasts agitatedly and then dropped it when she saw him looking. ‘I don’t know why I just told you that.’
‘Because you want to sleep with me but you’re torn.’
She shook her head. Oh, to be so confident. ‘I’ve never met anyone like you but … like I said, you have secrets and they scare me.’
‘Believe me, moya milaya, it would scare you more to know them.’
She shivered and wrapped her arms around her waist and Leo cursed himself for saying what he had. Then he cursed her for being the person she was. She was too genuine and almost innocent in her view of the world. She made his conscience spike and he knew that pursuing her after this would be selfish and he’d promised himself he’d never be selfish again after Sasha’s death.
He heard a discreet cough behind him. ‘Someone had better be dead, Danny,’ he growled, not looking at his EA.
‘You
