A man who could have anyone did not go for moderately pretty girls unless they threw themselves at him and that was about as likely to happen as her being asked to model in a Victoria’s Secret parade!
Lexi glanced down and realised she had used up the whole board of hairpins. Disgusted at her distracted thoughts, she stepped into high-heeled sandals and went to check on Ty.
Once she’d done that, she arrived in a ballroom the size of a basketball court, dimly lit by crystal chandeliers and alive with the happy chatter of Leo’s guests and a live jazz band set up in the corner beside a wooden dance floor.
She swept her gaze around the room and her heart stopped beating when she noticed that Katya had taken up residence by Leo’s side and it would have taken a crowbar to prise her away from him.
And he didn’t seem to mind at all. In fact he was welcoming her attentions, his hand laying across the small of her back whenever she leaned in to whisper something to him—which appeared to be every five seconds.
Lexi’s breath caught as her eyes drifted over Leo in a sleekly tailored black tuxedo. The black bow tie—which she had always found a touch effeminate on other men—only served to enhance his dangerous appeal—drawing attention to the strong column of his tanned neck and square jaw. The jacket hugged wide shoulders and drew in around his lean, hard-packed waist.
The tall model, dressed in a tiny white dress that loved every one of her generous curves and set off her red-gold hair, which hung like a smooth sheet down her back, the perfect feminine foil for his masculine sensuality. The yin to his yang.
Lexi drew in a sharp breath and tried to convince herself that she wasn’t upset. Because he really wasn’t her type and yet she literally ached to have him touch her again. To touch him. She could explain it away when she had been half asleep, or half-drowned, but now, in a room full of party-goers, his effect on her was a little hard to fob off.
Not wanting to dwell on something she couldn’t fully understand, she startled a waiter by whisking a glass of champagne off his tray as he walked past. Not that she knew why she bothered because she doubted she’d be able to get a millimetre of the delicious liquid past the boulder lodged in her throat.
She felt her breathing take on an uneven kilter and her heart pound and for a minute she felt lost and completely humiliated. Because, even though she had taken umbrage with Leo’s kisses, with his possessive behaviour in front of Tom, a small part of her had thought that … what? That he might actually want to be with her? That he might seriously find her attractive? That he might have invited her to his party to be with him?
She felt like a fool. A fool who had dressed up for nothing.
No, not nothing. She would have a good time if it killed her.
‘Care to dance, omorphe kopella?’
Lexi turned at the sound of a deep Mediterranean voice beside her. The man who had spoken to her was tall, though not as tall as Leo, and clean-shaven, with raven black hair and a cleft in his chin.
‘My name is Anton Pompi
dou. I am a lawyer with the Greek government.’
‘I’m Lexi Somers. Childcare manager.’
He smiled and held out his hand. ‘You forgot to say beautiful.’ His smile wasn’t exactly smarmy, but he was smooth and she could tell he was used to getting his way with women. Lexi was just about to decline his invitation when she noticed Leo place his hand in the small of Katya’s back again as she leaned in to whisper some sweet nothing in his ear and found herself agreeing instead. ‘I’d love to.’
Anton’s smile widened and Lexi fervently hoped he didn’t read too much into her overzealous acceptance.
Which, a short time later, after he offered to escort her outside for some ‘fresh air’, she realised he had.
‘Look, I’m really sorry,’ she informed him as he tried to take her into his arms, ‘but I really did just come out here for air.’
‘Is there a problem out here?’
Lexi made a small, pained noise as she recognised Leo’s gravelly accented voice behind her just before he came into view.
‘No problem, Mr Aleksandrov.’ The tall Greek released her and all but bowed down to him. ‘Miss Somers required some fresh air.’
‘And now she requires some privacy,’ Leo drawled, his eyes pinned to hers as he spoke to the lawyer.
Some small part of Lexi willed the man to defy him but it didn’t happen. Leo had an air of command about him few men possessed and even fewer argued with.
‘You should know that when a man offers to take a woman outside for air it’s rarely what he’s offering,’ he said shortly.
Lexi turned back to the twinkling lights of the distant island she had been admiring earlier. ‘Thanks for the tip.’
‘That is Naxos,’ he told her after a brief pause.
‘I didn’t ask.’