CHAPTER SEVEN
ANNA COULD NOT even try to stop him. His kiss was hot, demanding. She felt his fingers run down her neck and along her back, and her whole body seemed to relax like a sigh. For a brief moment she thought she could put all her cares and worries aside. She was safe in his arms. Maybe Nikos could protect her, care for her. Love her...
His tongue brushed against hers as he deepened the kiss, caressing her in an erotic dance that left her breathless. She leaned against him with a sigh.
“Anna,” he whispered, so softly that the words were a mere breath against her skin. “You belong with me. Always.”
He pressed her against the desk, kissing the vulnerable spot between her neck and shoulder until prickles of longing spread across her body. He ran his hands through her hair, causing bobby pins to scatter to the floor and her hair to tumble out of its chignon around her shoulders. She braced herself with an unsteady hand against his muscled shoulder. His fingers played with the waistband of her black pencil skirt, then moved beneath her fitted white shirt. A gasp escaped her as she felt his wide fingers splay lightly against the skin of her belly.
Without warning he lifted her up on the desk, crushing papers beneath her weight, cradling her to his body. He spread her legs to wrap them around him. Through his finely cut trousers, she could feel how badly he wanted her.
She wanted him too. But she was afraid. Afraid to trust too much, to give too much. What if she let herself depend on him and he crushed her?
She couldn’t let herself give in to her desire. If she agreed to be his wife it would mean disaster. She couldn’t give herself away to a man who didn’t love her!
He drew away. “You’re trembling.”
Grasping at straws, she indicated the résumés, their laptops, the appointment calendars spread across his large mahogany desk. “We can’t do this,” she panted. “There’s too much at stake—”
With an angry growl, he swept everything on the desk to the floor. Not even seeming to notice the crash of the laptops as they hit the carpet, he pushed her backward against the glossy wood of the desk. “Here. Now.”
“Nikos—”
He leaned forward, pressing his body against hers. His face inches from hers, his dark eyes pierced hers as he looked into her own searchingly. “Tell me that you don’t want this. Tell me you don’t want me.”
Licking her lips, she tried to speak the words. But the lies could not form themselves on her mouth when all she wanted to do was kiss him all over and feel his naked skin against her body.
She closed her eyes as she felt him slowly unbuttoning her shirt. He kissed her bare skin with each newly revealed inch until he finally pulled the shirt off her body. Without even knowing what she was doing, she whispered, “Please.”
He stopped. “Please what?”
Please hurry.
Please make love to me now.
Please love me...
“Wait,” she gasped. To her surprise, he released her, and, bereft of his touch, she opened her eyes.
He pushed himself up on one arm, looking down at her, and the expression on his face was one she’d never seen before. No, that wasn’t true. She’d seen it once. The night they’d conceived Misha. Nikos Stavrakis, the ruthless billionaire, was watching her with a vulnerable light in his dark eyes. As if she alone had the power to hurt him. Or save him.
“What is it, zoe mou?” he asked softly.
“I’m afraid,” she blurted out, then stopped, aghast.
“Of what?”
“I’m afraid you’ll hurt me,” she whispered.
A smile suddenly curved his lips, softening the hard angles of his handsome face as he gently brushed her cheek with his hand. “I would never hurt you, agape mou. Never.”
And at that moment she believed him.
“I will be gentle. I swear to you on my life.” With two easy movements he pulled off her skirt, murmuring with awe, “You are so beautiful.”
She reached up for him, unbuttoning his crisp linen shirt. Unlike his easy removal of her clothes, her fingers felt clumsy. They trembled in excitement, until finally she gave up on the last button and ripped off the shirt in her impatience.
“That was my favorite shirt,” he said, amused.
“Stupid of you to wear it today,” she murmured.
Growling under his breath, he braced himself with his knees on the desk over her and slowly stroked down her full breasts, beneath the lacy fabric of her bra, until the only sound she could make was a moan.
He unhooked the front clasp of her bra and pulled the fabric off her body, tossing it to the floor. “Beautiful,” he breathed again, cupping them in his hands, and she arched her back against the desk, straining to bring him closer to her. He lowered his head to taste her breasts. Then abruptly stopped.
Wondering why, she looked down and saw that a small trickle of milk had escaped her left breast. She felt a squirm of embarrassment, then defiance. She was a nursing mother. She wouldn’t, couldn’t, be ashamed of it. But still...
He raised a dark eyebrow at her, then lowered his head and slowly licked the other breast with his rough tongue. She sighed with pleasure. She gasped as he lowered his head between her legs.
He worked his tongue with agonizing slowness, spreading her wide to taste the very heart of her. The full thickness of his tongue seemed to touch every nerve-ending of her body, leaving her quivering and taut with longing.
Gripping his hair with her hands, she stared up at the ceiling, knowing she should make him stop, that she should pull away, but she couldn’t. She was naked in his office, her thighs spread wide on his mahogany desk, and her boss—the playboy desired by women far more beautiful than she—was lapping her with his tongue until she thought she would explode.
And then she did. She heard a loud cry and realized it had come from her own mouth. For a few seconds afterward all she could do was breathe, and Nikos took her in his arms, holding her close as he whispered endearments. Anna realized that he wasn’t even all the way naked. But he was all the way hard. She could feel that through his tailored pants, pressing against her. And yet he wasn’t trying to make love to her.
Why not?
She started to stroke him through the fabric, but he caught her hands. His eyes, looking down at her, were vulnerable. “Marry me, Anna. Be my wife.”
Yes.
Yes.
God, yes.
“I can’t.” It felt horrible to say. Ungenerous and so, so wrong. And it wasn’t what she wanted. Especially when it made him abruptly pull away. “We can raise our son together, but I can’t marry you, Nikos. It would never work.”
“So you say.” He pulled away from her and without even looking in her direction started to put on his shirt.
She sat up, still naked, feeling dizzy. “Don’t you understand? We’d never be happy together.”
“No, I don’t understand. I see only a spoiled woman who is determined to toss away happiness with both hands.”
“You don’t love me—” she started, praying he would argue.
Instead, he cut her off with, “And you don’t love me.” His face, so warm and loving just moments before, now expressed icy contempt. “But we both love our son. I am trying to do what’s best for him. I wish you would do the same.”
“I am!” she said, stung.
“Right.” He rapidly buttoned up his shirt. “What have I done to make you hate me, Anna? What did I do that was so horrible? What have I ever done except try to take care of all of us? One of us has to take responsibility for the family we’ve created. Especially since you obviously don’t give a damn.”
“Wait—that’s not true—you know it’s not true!”
His lip curled as he turned to go. “I’m going to go find Sinistyn and handle him once and for all. Before he talks his way into becoming Michael’s stepfather. Because apparently you have a problem telling him no. Unlike me.”
“I’m not trying to hurt you. I just don’t want you to get involved.”
“Too late.”
“It’s not your problem, it’s mine. I should be the one to—”
“My God, you really don’t trust me at all, do you? No matter what I do or say, you won’t accept my help. You’d rather fight me. You’d rather put both yourself and our son in danger.” He stopped in the doorway. “I always admired you, Anna. A pity the good sense you have as a secretary is lacking in you as a woman.”
His words struck her to the bone. His face was in shadow as he added quietly, “Look through the résumés, Anna. Find me a new secretary. When I come back, give me a name. I’m done fighting with you.”
* * *
Nikos was grim as he rode in the back of his limo, poring through documents about the last-minute details of the Singapore land lease bid as his chauffeur drove him back to the casino.