‘I sorted it out. I needed to get back here.’ I shouldn’t have left, he surprised himself thinking, as lust slammed into his gut.
‘You did?’ Lucy was mesmerised by his mouth, remembering what it had felt like on her skin. Heat bloomed between her legs. People jostled past them and Aristotle took her arm and led her to the side, to the wall. He pushed her back against it and stood close—far too close. She could feel him, smell him … God, she wanted to taste him.
‘Ari …’
He bent his head, feathering a kiss to her neck. ‘Yes, say that again. That’s why I came back.’
‘Ari.’
His hands rested on either side of her head, his pelvis was tight against hers, and she could feel how aroused he was—right here in the middle of the street, with people passing by.
‘I’m going insane for you, Lucy.’
Lucy opened her mouth, but her words were stolen by his lips coming down hard and swift, demanding and eliciting a flash-fire of response. After a long drugging moment Ari lifted his head, his eyes glittering down into hers. Amazingly, she could see herself reflected in his eyes, looking up, dazed, and that sent sanity rushing back. Somehow, with super-human strength, Lucy found the will to put her hands against his broad chest and push.
He budged only minutely, a frown drawing those black brows together.
‘No.’ Lucy was starting to panic. The speed with which he’d appeared and made her conveniently forget all logic was making her burn inside.
He quirked a devilish smile. ‘You’re right. Here isn’t the place.’
He took her hand and started to pull her away, clearly misinterpreting her reasons for wanting to stop. Lucy dug her heels in and pulled her hand back. He didn’t let go, just looked back impatiently when she wasn’t moving.
‘What—?’
He took one look at Lucy’s mutinous face and it sent something cold through him. ‘I’m sorry—did I misunderstand? Maybe you want to be made love to in front of Athens strollers and their families?’
‘I don’t want to be made love to, full-stop,’ Lucy hissed, very conscious of the stares they were getting—primarily from admiring women.
Ari gripped her hand tight and Lucy, very reluctantly, let herself be pulled towards him.
Ari was frowning again slightly, something like ennui trickling through him, making him feel absurdly disappointed. ‘If this is about the way I left …’
Lucy emitted a sharp laugh that disguised the dart of pain and the surge of anger at how easily she’d given in to his charm and fallen into his bed the other night. Faced with him now, the fact that she desired him even more acutely was making her regret it all the more fiercely. ‘Of course it’s not. I’m well aware of how you conduct yourself … I guess—oh, I don’t know—I expected at least a bunch of flowers. After all, isn’t that what you give all your one-night stands?’
He stood stock still, staring down at her, the lines in his face tightening and growing harsher by the minute.
‘Well, let’s make this more than a one-night stand, and then you’ll get a priceless piece of jewellery. Is that what it’ll take, Lucy?’
He looked around for a moment and spotted something Lucy didn’t see. With that tight grip on her hand, he began hauling her away again. Trepidation slithered down her spine. He’d looked ready to throttle her.
He growled back, ‘Tell you what—why don’t we cover all bases now? That way we’re clear, left in no doubt as to where we stand, because to be perfectly honest I don’t think I’m going to be satisfied with just two nights.’
‘What—?’
Ari stopped abruptly at a flower stall and picked out the biggest bunch of flowers the man had. Then, to Lucy’s horror and the flower stall man’s delight, Ari presented it to her with a mocking flourish.
Lucy took them purely because she couldn’t not. She pasted a smile on her face for the benefit of the flower seller, and after paying Ari was leading her away again. The flowers were huge and cumbersome. Lucy tried to get his attention, pulling on his hand, but it would have been easier talking to a block of wood. He led her relentlessly through a veritable maze of streets until they emerged into a charming square and Lucy spotted shops with designer names.
Again without pausing for a moment, Ari tugged Lucy along until she found him leading her into an exclusive jewellery store, the iconic name of which made horror slam into her. As the door hissed quietly closed behind them, and the security guard clearly recognised Aristotle Levakis, Lucy tugged fiercely on Ari’s hand—but to no avail. He led her over to where an eager assistant, already smelling a large sale, stood.
He drew Lucy in close to his side with an arm of steel and sent her a devotedly loving look. Only Lucy was aware of the hard glitter behind it. Hardly breaking that eye contact, he said, ‘I’d like to buy something for this beautiful woman.’ He flicked a glance at the sales assistant and smiled urbanely. ‘Although I’m sure you’ll agree that there couldn’t possibly be anything in this shop to rival her beauty.’
The sales assistant cleared her throat obsequiously and looked Lucy up and down, taking in the T-shirt and shorts, the flat gladiator sandals and dusty feet. Lucy cringed from head to toe under the snooty woman’s scrutiny, and right then she hated Ari more than she’d ever hated anyone in her life, hearing his well-practised patter.
Hellbent on proving something, Ari was still so incensed that he dragged Lucy from display to display, forcing her to look at priceless bracelets, necklaces, earrings and brooches. Every now and then she tried to entreat him, to tug on his hand, but he ignored her. A heavy mass of dark, twisted emotion was weighing him down inside.
Why hadn’t her eyes lit up when they’d got in here? And why had he felt that punch to his solar plexus in the street when he’d believed her to be exactly the same as every other woman? And why was she contradicting that now, insisting on leaving? Making him feel confused and out of his depth. He heard her speak again.
‘Ari. Please. Let’s just go. I don’t want anything here.’
He turned to look down, and the stunning natural beauty of her face and those stormy grey eyes nearly floored him. He could feel the thrust of her soft breasts against his chest. She looked pale. But he did not know how to get himself out of this situation except by saying, his voice harder than he’d ever heard it, ‘We’re not leaving until you choose something, Lucy. There’s not a woman in the world who would say no to that, so please don’t play the wide-eyed innocent with me. It won’t work.’
Lucy’s belly clenched at the look of pure cynicism that crossed Ari’s features, twisting them. Suddenly her anger dissolved, and all she felt was sad. She tore her eyes away and looked around futilely, hating every single item of jewellery on display. This whole scenario was making her skin crawl. But she knew he meant it. They would not leave until she’d chosen something.
She tugged her hand, and for the first time Ari let go. Moving away, feeling tears film her eyes, Lucy searched and searched, barely even seeing the glittering gems arrayed in glorious profusion.
