Her guilt and shame were obvious, and he had a sinking feeling that he understood what motivated those emotions. She had, after all, just cheated on her lover. And it had been spectacular.
“What we did is not wrong, agape mou.”
“Easy for you to say,” she groaned. “You do this all the time.”
He pushed aside the statement. “And you don’t?”
“No!” She said it with such venom that he stilled. His hands were running down her arms, bringing her slowly back to life. But her guilt was too difficult to assuage. She was upset.
He sighed and did as she’d asked, moving away from her. The instantaneous emptiness that filled him was a surprise.
“You do not have sex?”
“No!” She shook her head, her eyes still winched shut.
“You were not a virgin.” He grinned down at her, genuinely amused by the picture she made. Somehow he doubted she had any idea how utterly ravishing she looked, stretched naked across his desk with her eyes shut and her lips pouted.
“No, but I don’t know you. I mean, I hardly know you. And you’re just the kind of man I try to avoid.”
Because I’m not married, he wondered bitterly. “What is it about me that you try to avoid?”
“Your experience.” The way she said the word, an insult was obviously implied, but he couldn’t fathom what it was.
“Did my experience displease you in some way?”
She risked blinking one eye open, and even with a single look was able to convey a sense of mockery. “This is not the time to seek praise for your skills.”
“Ah,” he shrugged. “You are wrong there. It is always the time for a man to be complimented on how well he makes love to a beautiful woman.”
“Stop!” She closed both eyes again. “You’re making it … So. Much. Worse.”
She was the woman who was breaking up his sister’s marriage and yet he felt a lovely kernel of pleasure at this unexpected conversation. He moved back to her and gently glided her jeans up her legs. “I do not know what you feel is bad about our situation, but I should like to have dinner with you while you try to explain it to me.”
Sophie’s sharp intake of breath showed her surprise. “You would?”
“Ne.”
“No?”
“Ne is yes,” he admonished softly. “And if you are to raise two Greek boys, you should learn to speak some of the language.” He gripped her hands and pulled her gently to standing. “I will teach you.”
Her eyes were enormous, and she stared at his face as though she were drowning. “You will?” For that implied so much more than what she was expecting from him.
“Ne,” he grinned, and pressed a light kiss against the tip of her nose.
“Alex.” But what did she want to say? What could she say? This was wrong. Or was it? It certainly felt a thousand shades of right. “What shall we eat?”
Chapter 3
“Two sisters?” His look of disbelief was priceless. Then again, Alex had led his life to that point looking out for Helena. The idea of multiplying his worry and responsibilities was onerous indeed.
Sophie shook her head dolefully. “Not just two sisters. Triplets.”
“Triplets?” He expelled a long, slow whistle. “You mean somewhere in Australia there are two girls just as gorgeous as you walking around the outback?”
Sophie laughed. “No.” The champagne was excellent; the food even more so. She’d always been a sucker for Indian and this little restaurant was the most authentic she’d tried. She fingered a pappadum thoughtfully. “We’re not identical. Though if you saw us together, you’d know we were related. And as for the outback, Olivia and Ava wouldn’t be seen dead there.”
“Tell me about them.”