I’ve had,’ he’d said when she’d protested that she couldn’t be responsible for hiring someone new.
He’d made no effort to ask her to stay, and even though Lucy didn’t even want that, couldn’t contemplate that, she’d found it nauseating to shake the hand of the best candidate just the other day and had forced a brittle smile when the girl had said, ‘Is it true what they say? Is he really that astoundingly gorgeous?’
Lucy shook her head now, to try and clear it, and pulled on her beige trenchcoat. She’d dressed down today, not having seen the point in making an effort, and was wearing jeans, an oversized black jumper and battered sneakers. Her thoughts in that moment went guiltily to her mum, and she bit her lip as she hefted up the box. She had to find another job, and soon. She’d be OK for the next few months or so, but after that—
‘Lucy.’
Lucy whirled around at the familiar deep voice. It tugged on her insides and made a fire of sensation race across her skin. Her movement had been so sudden that the full box wobbled precariously out of her arms and fell to the floor, upending everything in a big mess.
She barely registered Ari standing at the door like a huge, dark and threatening presence, and bent down to start picking the things up, her hands shaking. He moved fast and crouched down. Lucy put out a hand. ‘Please—don’t. I can do it.’
But he ignored her, picking up books and stationery, putting things back in the box. Lucy had to break the taut silence. ‘I thought you weren’t coming back till the weekend.’
Had he been wining and dining some new woman already in New York? She slammed a book more furiously than she’d intended into the box, in reaction to her wayward thoughts and the jealousy that spiked through her gut.
Ari didn’t seem to notice, calmly packing the box. His scent reached out and wrapped her in a heat haze of lust.
‘I wrapped things up early. I wanted to get back here.’
His voice was cool, devoid of emotion.
Lucy’s movements became brisker. She just wanted to get out of here—right now. ‘I think you’ll like Gemma, your new assistant. She was far and away the most qualified person.’
Everything was back in the box, and there was an awkward moment when Lucy and Ari went to pick it up at the same time. Lucy had to let him take it, or it would have fallen again.
‘I thought I told you I don’t like your hair tied back.’
Lucy’s eyes flew to his in shock. He sounded almost flirty. And his eyes were dark, glittering in a way she hadn’t seen since—Once again she cursed her fevered brain. ‘That’s hardly relevant any more.’ She took the box firmly out of his hands and held it to her like a shield. She stepped neatly around him, her breathing feeling short and jerky. ‘Well, I’d better—’
‘You haven’t found a new job yet, have you?’
Lucy turned around. When would this torture end? She longed to be able to say yes, feeling inherently ashamed that she hadn’t found a job, as if it made her look unemployable. But every single company she’d approached had stonewalled her—hadn’t even allowed her an interview. She couldn’t understand it. With a glowing reference from Ari himself, she’d have thought it would be at least easier than it had.
She shook her head and could feel her low ponytail move as she did so. ‘Not yet.’ She lifted her chin. ‘But I’m sure I will, sooner or later.’
Ari sat back on the edge of her desk and fire raced into Lucy’s cheeks as she remembered one day in his office in Athens, when he’d perched her on the edge of his desk, spread her legs and—She nearly dropped the box again.
‘Look, I have to get going. I have to visit my mother.’
‘How is she?’
Lucy wanted to scream. What was this? Twenty questions?
Her throat felt constricted. ‘She’s fine … well, as fine as she can be. She’s comfortable—that’s the main thing.’
Ari stood up then, hands in pockets. ‘Lucy, I want to offer you another job here in the company. You don’t have to work for me, you can work for the legal team again. A position has become vacant.’
She shook her head immediately, panic gripping her at the thought of not being able to escape from this man’s devastating orbit. ‘No, I don’t want—That is, I’d prefer to seek employment elsewhere.’
He said nothing for a long, ominous moment, and then said quietly, ‘You might find that more difficult than you think.’
Sick realisation sank in. The box slipped precariously in Lucy’s arms but she gripped it tight. She thought of all the jobs she’d gone for in the past few days. The dead ends when she’d known that they were seeking people yet had turned her away.
‘Did you—have you stopped me from getting jobs?’
Ari’s jaw clenched. He didn’t have to answer—he saw the dawning realisation on Lucy’s face. ‘I’ve changed my mind. I want you to stay here with Levakis Enterprises.’
His jaw clenched even harder. He’d changed his mind as soon as he’d seen his car pull away with her in it that day in Athens. ‘I want to see you again, but I know it can’t happen if you’re my assistant. It wouldn’t be fair on you. But this way it’ll be much more acceptable.’
Shock, horror, heat—a complete mix of emotions rushed through Lucy with such force that she nearly fainted. She saw black spots before her eyes, but through them she saw Ari— tall and proud and hard and implacable. And as ruthless as ever. Because he hadn’t finished with her. Yet.
‘You’ve changed your mind, you say? Well, I’m sorry,’ she bit out, ‘but I’m not available for the position of convenient mistress.’
He stood straighter, his face flushing. ‘It doesn’t have to be like that, Lucy. I’m asking you to be my lover. We were good together. I can’t get you out of my mind …’
She shifted the box. Her arms were starting to ache. But when Ari saw the movement and made as if to take it out of her arms she jerked away. ‘No.’
This moment was so important to her—how she acted right now. Because if she followed the craving call of her body to give in she would be going the way of the doomed, of her mother. She would have learnt nothing. Her heart was bound up inextricably with this man, and he would crush it completely.
She felt a deep sadness well within her that she’d fallen for someone who could never love her as she now knew she ached to be loved. She ached to find the fulfilment she’d never seen as a child. To have the security that came from being in a committed, equal and loving relationship. The kind of thing she’d seen in Kallie and Alexandros Kouros.
‘I don’t want that, Ari. I don’t want you … not like that. I’m worth more than a sleazy work affair, and, no matter how you try and pretty it up, that’s all it would be.’
‘There is another option. You don’t have to work here. It could be much easier than that. I could show you the best that this world has to offer, take care of you and your
