at all,” she said, taking a deep breath. “We are not here together. Mr. Savas is able to dance with whoever he chooses.”
“Then I suppose you are free to dance with whoever you choose?”
She could always tell him she had a boyfriend. She often did that when confronted with men she wasn’t attracted to in these kinds of situations. But Nikos was handsome enough, and Apollo was dancing with someone else. Really, it seemed rather silly for her to stay hidden away in a corner.
“Absolutely,” she said. “I am always free to do whatever I want.”
He laughed, treating her to a smile that she had no doubt often made women go weak in the knees. Sadly, not her. Not now.
But she pretended. She offered a smile in return.
“I like a woman who knows her mind. And does your mind tell you that you might want to dance with me?”
“I would be delighted.”
He extended his hand, and she accepted it, wrapping her fingers around his. His touch was warm, but it did not light her on fire, not the way that Apollo’s did. It was sort of comforting, to have a man touch her like this, and for her to feel so very little.
Every interaction with Apollo, every brush of his skin against hers, was so layered. Was so hot, so intense, she couldn’t ignore it, or pretend it hadn’t burned. It was never simple. It was always hate spread over lust, spread over a strange attachment that stemmed from all of the years they had known each other. And betrayal. The betrayal that was unique to what she felt for him because of how well they had known each other. Because of how she had felt about him for so long.
Because of the way she had trusted him.
And you betray your father by sleeping with this man. By wanting him.
Still, she couldn’t help herself. Still, she could feel nothing as Nikos pulled her into his arms and swept her onto the dance floor. Still, she felt more when she looked across the crowded room and locked eyes with Apollo, who was glaring at her and her dance partner with dark rage.
Fine. He was welcome to be murderous. She didn’t particularly care. They were here separately. He was dancing with another woman, and she would be damned if she would play the part of wallflower.
She shifted her hands lightly on her partner’s shoulder, tightening her grip on his hand.
“I think Savas wants to kill me,” Nikos said, his tone tinged with amusement.
“Oh, I don’t suppose he wants to kill you,” she said, her tone dry. “Anyway, he and I are associates, as I said before. And neither of us believes in mixing business with pleasure.”
“Excellent. Then I shall never do business with you.”
She laughed. “Well, that would be a shame. Since you are in retail, I would very much like to do business with you.”
“Perhaps it is crass of me to discuss this during a dance,” he said, “but tell me more.”
They spent the next two songs largely ignoring the music and discussing the various ways in which they could marry their two brands. She decided that she liked Nikos quite a bit even if he did not make her heart beat faster.
She only wished that he could.
He was Greek, he was wealthy, he had a hint of a gorgeous accent. Truly, if she had a type, this was it. If any other man was going to start a fire in her loins quite the way that Apollo did, this man would. But there was nothing. Absolutely nothing. It was an extreme disappointment.
Still, though she had not found a way to encourage desire toward another man, she had come away with a very promising business contact. They parted at the end of the song, and he did not try to make any sort of romantic overture. He must’ve sensed the lack of chemistry as profoundly as she did.
She was making her way toward a waiter to get herself a drink when she was all but accosted by Apollo. “Having fun?”
“It’s a charming party,” she said.
“Yes. I told you already that you would be with me and me alone while we work out the attraction between us, did I not?”
“I’m sorry, I was not aware that a waltz was on par with intercourse.”
“You are playing with fire,” he said.
“Then you are, too. Don’t think I didn’t notice your lovely blonde partner.”
“It is expected of me.”
“And you want my face in the paper. Therefore, I had better do something newsworthy. You put me in this dress that leaves me essentially naked, and now you’re going to act as though my getting attention is not somehow essential to your plan?”
“All you have to do is simply walk into a room to gain attention, agape. Trust me on this.”
“I find your assessment flattering, if slightly ambitious.”
“I don’t care whether or not you find it ambitious. It is the truth.” He looked around them. “Even if you have not noticed, I have. Every male eye—and many of the female eyes—have been on you from the moment you walked in. You are absolutely the one to watch here.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. And when you make a large charitable donation in the name of the company, you will become even more of a conversation piece.”
Her mouth opened, then snapped shut. “I did not know you were going to make use of my money.”
“Of course I am. Anyway, it is a good cause, on that you can trust me. As I said, I provide housing and other necessities for families who have fallen below the poverty line. Surely you can find no fault with that.”
“I suppose not.”
“You sound so distressed. It must be terrible when I don’t rise to the part of blackguard when it suits you.”
“Sincerely awful. I can see why you prefer to pretend you’re terrible. For consistency.”
“I am nothing if not consistent.”
She laughed. “If only that were true.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“Exactly what it sounds like. You are not consistent, I don’t care how you frame it, I don’t care what you say. You were a friend of my family, and then you betrayed us. There is nothing consistent about that.”
His expression turned dark, fierce. He leaned in and her breath caught in her throat. She thought, for a moment, that he might kiss her. She hoped that he would. He did not. “From the moment I understood there was better than the circumstances I existed in I was determined to find better. When I went to a private school, knowing full well that I didn’t belong there, I was determined to rise to the top of the class so that no one could question whether or not I had the ability to succeed in the realms of society into which I had
