He took her face in his hands, tilting it up to his. Why did he have to do that? Why couldn’t he just plant a dry kiss on her lips, quick and efficient? With his big hands cupping her jaw, face close to hers, his thumbs feathering across her cheeks, she felt her body temperature soar and imagined he must be able to feel her heart about to explode from her chest.
Slowly, and surrounded by a hushed quiet in the room, his head came closer and closer. Kallie’s eyes were trapped by his. When the drowning sensation became too much she closed them, the lids feeling heavy. And then…his mouth angled over hers and fitted so perfectly that her every nerve ending seemed to meet and connect with every one of his. The reaction in her blood to just the touch of his lips to hers made her knees weak and she had to put out her hands and cling to his waist in an effort to stay upright. The scent of him intoxicated her, his body heat enveloped her in a haze of sensual warmth. Just like yesterday—and she was being played like a violin, again.
He had intended for it to be a quick kiss. As much as he wanted Kallie with a desire that was fast running out of control, Alexandros had no intention of being surrounded by people when he plumbed the depths of that lush mouth again. So this was just going to be chaste, dry—certainly not this. This fire that had taken over his blood as soon as he’d touched her skin, as soon as their lips had made contact. Light exploded behind his eyes. And when he felt her eyelashes flutter against his cheeks, it tugged at a thread of a memory from long ago…
When he felt the tremor run through her, felt her hands reach out to steady herself, it was too much. He was only human. He pulled her in close and dropped a hand to her back to anchor her against his body. The crowd, witnesses forgotten. The world was reduced to this moment, this woman, these lips under his which were opening to him so enticingly, with such potent sweetness. And he was lost in a maelstrom of passion that made him shake with the effort not to stroke and explore and plunder the moist, hot interior.
A child’s cry pierced Alexandros’s consciousness and went through him like shock of cold water. Feeling every impulse in his body wanting to stay, he somehow managed to pull back. When he opened his eyes they felt dazed, hazy, and Kallie’s were still shut, her lips pink and plump, lashes curled against her cheeks. He could feel the uneven raggedness of her breath.
Kallie knew he had stopped kissing her. She knew it like a bizarre intellectual fact but could not seem to open her eyes or move. When she felt him tap a finger against her cheek it unlocked the stasis she’d been stuck in. Her eyes flew open to meet his. They were full of heat and darkness. A sound made her look and when she turned her head she saw their relations staring, open-mouthed. She felt her insides go cold, even as she felt hectic colour flood her cheeks.
Kallie couldn’t look at him. Instead, she smiled brightly, breaking the spell that seemed to encompass the room. The crowd started clapping and Alexandros took her hand and led the way back outside. Only when Kallie was sure she had regained some semblance of control did she turn to him. Before they were sucked into a round of congratulatory hugs, she said coolly, ‘Don’t think that just because I can put on a performance for the family, it’ll be the same in private.’
His face visibly darkened and Kallie rejoiced in needling him, even a little, even as she had to realise that this was not a man to trifle with. He would exact revenge for every petty point she scored. She was saved from a caustic response as they were surrounded in seconds and before she knew it they were getting out of a car and stepping into an exclusive discreet hotel for the lunch reception.
A few hours later, the only thing keeping Kallie back from the brink of sheer white-knuckled panic was the sight laid out in front of her in the glittering ballroom. Members of her family that she hadn’t seen in years and some of Alexandros’s family were seated at little round tables dotted around the room. Petra caught her eye beside her beloved husband Alexei, and waved at Kallie, who waved weakly back.
When they’d come out of the office earlier, into the Place Du Panthéon with its massive monument to the glory of secularism dominating the magnificent square, her uncle’s wife had rushed up to Kallie with tears in her eyes and, taking advantage of Alexandros talking to someone else, had whispered in her ear, ‘Kallie, darling, I’m so happy for you. When Alexei told me about how you two got together, I have to say I was a little worried, but after seeing you now…’ She’d raised her hands high. ‘It’s obvious you’re in love.’
Kallie couldn’t believe that people patently saw what they wanted to see. Not what was right under their noses. She was doing this against her will and no one could see it.
The lunch was finally over and Kallie could absent herself from Alexandros’s disturbing presence beside her. Thankfully he’d agreed that they wouldn’t make speeches—that would have been pushing things too far, even for Kallie. She excused herself to go to the bathroom and once inside splashed water on her wrists and on her neck to cool her pulse which had been racing since that kiss.
She sent up silent thanks that he obviously hadn’t thought to invite Eleni and her husband, and then chastised herself for her churlish thought. Perhaps Eleni was back in hospital again? She looked at her pained face in the mirror. Why couldn’t she be more like him? Emotionally cut off from the neck down?
Wearily she straightened her hair, fixed her make-up and made her way back into the huge room, firmly diverting any line of thinking that involved the future or even later that evening. She hadn’t yet figured out how to handle Alexandros because there was one thing she was certain of—she was not going to be sleeping with him.
Alexandros couldn’t focus on the conversation around him. Kallie’s shining head stood out like a glowing beacon from all the darker ones. He watched her progress as she walked back into the room, the only member of the family who wasn’t entirely Greek on both sides. She’d tied her hair back in a loose, tumbled knot. With an orchid caught in the glossy strands and minimal make-up, Alexandros thought he’d never seen anyone lovelier.
Her outfit was simple, highlighting her natural elegance, and he had to admit that he hadn’t been entirely fair when he’d criticised the way she dressed. A knee-length cream silk dress with a gossamer-light golden-coloured shawl, high strappy golden sandals that drew the eye to slim ankles and shapely calves. And when she moved, like now, to greet one of her family, the silk of the dress moved with her and tightened across her hips…again, he was blown away by the beauty that had been lying in wait through her younger years. Yet hadn’t she always possessed it? Her eyes had always been that distinctive blue-green colour, her lips always as soft…Desire surged through him fast and urgent as he thought of the kiss in the registry office.
Acting on blind impulse, he strode through the crowd. It was time to get out of there and take her with him.
Kallie was still talking to one of her aunts when she felt a presence behind her like an electric frisson, and her skin tingled in reaction. She closed her eyes briefly in despair and when she opened them again a strong arm had come around her waist. She didn’t look up at Alexandros but smiled brightly at the older woman and chattered on nonsensically. She could feel the tension in the man beside her as his arm tightened on her waist, causing a whirlpool of sensations in her belly.
‘Are you ready to go?’
As if she had a choice, Kallie thought slightly hysterically. She just nodded, realising that she actually did want to get away from the attention, the looks, the questions. They said their goodbyes.
In the lobby, with her hand in the firm grip of his, Kallie stumbled, trying to keep up with his long-legged stride. And in that moment, the enormity of what had just happened
hit her. They were about to walk outside, away from any last piece of protection. She would be alone with Alexandros and he would expect—
She stopped dead in her tracks, forcing him to come to a halt, too. He looked back, a dark look on his face. ‘What is it?’
‘What is it? What is it?’ Kallie’s voice was rising as her fear rose, too, like an unstoppable volcano that had just blown its top. She yanked her hand out of Alexandros’s with an effort and stood there shaking.
‘What is wrong with you? This isn’t real…this is a farce. And everyone in there thinks that we’re in love, that this is a proper marriage.’ She started to back away, back towards the room, babbling, ‘I can’t do it. I can’t do this. I’m going to tell them. I’ll work for Alexei, I’ll do anything to help him get another loan…But don’t make me…I just can’t do this, I can’t—’
With lightning speed Alexandros reached her as she turned and hauled her into his arms, his mouth crashing down on hers, silencing her words. She struggled and fought but he kept kissing her, and kissing her. Finally he felt her body grow pliant, and her mouth had softened. He’d forgotten the reason he’d started to kiss her in the first place.
Kallie forgot, too, in a shamingly short amount of time. The anger drained away under the intense building of desire that started low down and rose throughout her entire body. Her hands were trapped against Alexandros’s chest and she revelled in the close contact with the hard muscle under his shirt. When she felt the strength of his arousal through the flimsy silk of her dress she couldn’t pull away. Her hips rocked, aching to be closer, and he pulled her up and into the cradle of his lap.
When he lifted his head after long minutes. Kallie’s mouth clung…until the cool air swept over her skin as someone came out of the door behind them. She tensed immediately and her eyes flew open, clashing with dark brown ones. This time there was a look of triumph on his face.
She was still too stunned by the strength of her reaction to do anything, feel anything other than the blood that coursed through her with the force of a crashing wave.
He smiled down at her, and trailed a finger along her jaw. He, unlike her, seemed to be capable of speaking, of being rational.