‘Not his usual type,’ another remarked.
‘Fabulous hair though. Dyed, of course—’
And Elvi had been horribly tempted to twist around and disabuse the women with a tart response, but she had resisted the urge, preferring to be ignored while she had to listen to boring financial discussions and Xan kept an unexpectedly possessive arm wrapped round her even while they were sitting down, as if he feared she might bolt for the door.
Perhaps he had ESP, she reflected ruefully, because she was becoming increasingly apprehensive about the end of the evening. She had checked her phone repeatedly, even texting her mother to ask how she was, and if Xan had dropped the theft charge the fact hadn’t yet been shared with the older woman. How was she supposed to trust him? How was she supposed to know that he had done what he had promised?
‘That was a mind-numbing evening,’ Xan commented, surprising her as he lounged back in a corner of the limousine. ‘I hate it when people fuss over me like that and expect tips for free—’
‘The price of success?’ Elvi quipped.
As she was one of the benefits, Xan savoured, watching her with unashamed hunger. He had used his power to capture her and right at that moment he had not a single regret. She was a natural beauty and blue was definitely her colour, lighting up those eyes to brilliance. The wondrous curves were simply the icing on a very tempting cake and tonight she was finally his. He had been tempted to cut the party and stay in, had made himself go to convince himself that he was still in control of the need that made him ache with excitement in her radius. Not cool, not cool at all...but now he didn’t have to be any longer.
Elvi was not unaware of the way Xan was watching her, could only compare th
e blaze of those slumberous amber eyes to a panther lazily eying his next meal. Her entire body felt hot and scratchy, her breasts heavy, the space between her thighs tingling and hollow. She knew it was how he made her feel and told herself she ought to be grateful for that in the circumstances. Suppose he had not appealed to her in any way? How could she possibly have made such an agreement?
And exactly how was she now supposed to tell him that there was no way she was sharing that bed with him tonight?
Nerves gripped her fast as he accompanied her into the lift and she knew she had to say something. She cleared her throat awkwardly. ‘Look... I have something to say—’
‘Say it,’ Xan urged impatiently, his lean brown hands lifting to come down on her small shoulders and urge her closer even as the lift doors whirred back.
‘We...er...can’t. Not tonight anyway,’ she warned him with hot cheeks.
Xan groaned out loud. ‘Why didn’t you tell me sooner?’ he demanded, practically dragging her out of the lift and slotting his own key into the front door of the apartment.
‘It was...difficult—’
‘Surely you could have rearranged the pills or something? I would have sent you to the doctor, had I known,’ Xan growled, pressing her into the apartment and leaning back against the door to close it, his entire brain preoccupied with what he could do, what he couldn’t and the kind of frustration he had never experienced before engulfing him hard because he was literally burning for her.
As Elvi registered what Xan had taken from her declaration, her whole body lit up with embarrassment because her menstrual cycle was something she had never discussed with any man and the sudden realisation that his access to her was likely to include that kind of personal information appalled her.
‘No, you misunderstood me,’ she said swiftly. ‘It’s not that—’
‘Diavole...you’re driving me crazy here, koukla mou,’ Xan growled, curving both his hands to her triangular face to gaze down into her beautiful but evasive eyes. ‘What is it?’
But he didn’t wait for her response. He fell for the enticement of those soft pink sultry lips, nibbled sexily along the bottom one, groaned out loud as she gasped into his mouth and bundled her right off her feet to kiss her.
The devastating urgency of that first plunging, ravaging kiss sent an earthquake of burning hunger travelling through Elvi right to the very heart of her. She hadn’t thought, hadn’t dreamt, hadn’t even imagined that she was capable of feeling anything that powerful. But that hunger was like a seductive, sweet-talking infiltrator in her treacherous body, battling every thought, every other instinct and sweeping the floor with her. He blew her away with the sheer raw energy of his mouth on hers, unlocking her defences, connecting with her in a way she had never connected to a man before, making her want him and his body so badly, she felt shell-shocked by the experience, and that very small awareness reawakened her brain again and reminded her of what she had to do...what she had to say...
In a valiant effort, Elvi struggled out of Xan’s powerful arms, sliding down the front of his lean, strong body, learning that there was not a shade of doubt that he was as ready for her and that bed as he could ever be, and embarrassment and regret washed over Elvi in a horrible wave.
‘I’m so sorry,’ she said jerkily, stepping back from Xan, much as if he were contagious. ‘But I can’t do this yet—’
Xan surfaced faster to study her in disbelief. ‘Can’t?’ he queried. ‘But you said—’
‘You didn’t give me the chance to explain,’ Elvi reminded him resolutely, struggling to rise above her chagrined regret over her wanton weakness of body and brain. ‘My mother hasn’t told me yet that the charge has been dropped and nothing, absolutely nothing, is happening between us until I receive that confirmation from her—’
Incredulous as only a young, handsome billionaire could be at meeting with the word no for the first time, Xan raked a slightly shaky hand through his tousled black hair. ‘This is you joking...right?’ he pressed hopefully.
‘No, I’m only returning the same favour you gave me,’ Elvi assured him without the smallest sense of triumph. ‘You said you wouldn’t act and drop the theft charge until I moved in here and I had to do that. Now I’m saying that when my mother tells me the charge has been dropped, I’m yours but not before it—’
A line of dark colour flashed over Xan’s exotic cheekbones. ‘That’s outrageous!’ he shot back at her angrily. ‘The charge has been dropped! I don’t break my promises. It’s scarcely my fault if the police haven’t yet got around to informing her—’
‘It’s nobody’s fault,’ Elvi cut in, trying to pour oil on troubled water a little late in the day, she sensed, registering the blaze of frustrated fury smouldering in Xan’s amazingly eloquent gaze and the fierce clenched set of his strong jaw. ‘But it’s the way it is. It’s my only safeguard in this arrangement—’
Xan was so outraged, he swung away from her and breathed in deep to muster self-discipline. He wanted to behave like a caveman, gather her up and throw her bodily on the bed and keep her there until she understood who she was dealing with. But he knew he couldn’t behave like that, which infuriated him even more. Her only safeguard, he reflected in fuming disagreement. Did she really think he was about to break his word when she was standing there with a small fortune in diamonds around her neck and living in his apartment?