He stared down at her for a long moment. ‘Even if you don’t want to eat with me you’re working yourself to the bone trying to afford to live. Let me help you.’
‘I don’t need or want your help. I’m doing fine by myself.’
‘Working in a taverna?’ He lifted his hand and touched her cropped hair. ‘What about your scented candles? What happened to the dream?’
‘The dream is still there. I’m working to get the money I need to set up in business.’
‘You’re determined to do things the hard way?’
‘I’m determined to do things myself.’
‘I said I’d give you a business loan. That offer still stands.’
‘I no longer want anything from you.’
His gaze was suddenly thoughtful. ‘You’re worried you can’t control your feelings around me?’
‘You’re right about that. There’s a possibility I could punch you. I can’t be sure it won’t happen.’
For some reason that made him smile. He stepped back and glanced up at the run-down building. ‘This is where you’re living?’
‘Where I’m living is none of your business. Neither is where I’m working or who I’m seeing. This is my life now and I’m not sharing the details with anyone.’
His mouth tightened as he took in the paint blistering on the woodwork. ‘I want to help you and that help is not linked to what happens between us.’
‘Nothing is going to happen between us. Next time I get involved with someone it will be with a man who has strong family values and who doesn’t treat commitment as a contagious disease to be avoided at all costs.’
‘Family. You still believe in family after what he did to you?’ Lifting his hand, he traced her lower lip with his thumb, a brooding look in his eyes. ‘Love just makes you vulnerable, koukla mou. You are hurting because you loved.’
‘I’m not hurting.’
‘I saw your face that day on the island. I saw the way you looked at him.’
‘He’s my father. You can’t just undo that.’ How did they come to be talking about this? It was something she’d never talked about, not even to her mother. It felt wrong to want love from someone for whom you had no respect. ‘But it’s—complicated.’
‘Emotions are always complicated. Why do you think I avoid them?’
Despite herself, she found herself wondering about him. She saw the shadow flicker across those moody eyes and the sudden tension in his shoulders as he let his hand drop.
‘My advice? Forget your father. He isn’t worth a single tear from you. And as for family—’ he eased away from her ‘—travel through life alone and no one can hurt you.’
His words shocked her. ‘Thanks to my father I’ve been alone for the best part of twenty-two years and that sucks, too. He alienated everyone. My life was a lie. For the first time ever I’m making friends and I’m loving it. No one knows that my surname is Antaxos. No one cares. I’m Lena.’
A noisy group of tourists surged down the narrow street and she flinched.
He noticed her reaction instantly. ‘And you’re looking over your shoulder all the time. Come with me and you won’t have to look over your shoulder.’ He stepped closer to her, protecting her from the sudden crush of people. His thighs brushed against hers and her stomach clenched. ‘I can protect you from your father.’
But who would protect her from Stefan?
Suffocated by the feelings inside her, Selene lifted her head and their eyes met.
The noise of the crowd faded into the background and all she could think was that he was the most insanely good-looking man she’d ever seen. And then he was kissing her, his mouth possessive, skilled, explicit as he coaxed her lips apart in echoes of what they’d shared that night at his villa.
When he finally lifted his head she had to put her hand on his chest to steady herself.
‘I want to start again,’ he said roughly, cupping her face in his hands and lowering his forehead to hers. ‘I’ve never felt this way about a woman before. Everything that happened between us was real. All of it. And deep down you know it. Give me a chance to prove it to you.’