One thing she did know: as strong as her feelings for him had been when she was a teenager, she hadn’t loved him. There was a certain freedom in that. The kind of freedom that made her feel that maybe she didn’t have to guard herself as closely as she’d thought.
She’d never really known Ajax. She’d imagined who she’d thought he might be because of polite conversation they’d made. Because he’d smiled at her, accepted her gifts. But she knew better than that now. You couldn’t love a man you didn’t know.
Of course, not loving him didn’t mean not wanting him.
She did. She was so attracted to him her teeth ached. Among other things.
And she didn’t want his restraint. She wanted him just as vulnerable as she was. Just as raw. Now her being a virgin put her at a massive disadvantage but she was just not going to think about all the thin sexy beauties, possibly including her sister, who had graced his bed. No, she was not.
Anyway, he wanted her. She’d seen the look in his eyes.
She’d picked the bikini as a challenge, and as a test, for her own benefit. Because the last thing she’d wanted was for him to get her naked and for her to see shock and horror over her shape. She looked all right, but she didn’t have that popular stick shape happening. She wasn’t a runway model. She wasn’t even a swimsuit catalog model, in spite of the boobs.
But he’d seen, and he wanted.
There was victory in that.
Now she planned on taking his control while his defenses were down.
Her evil plan to seduce the Greek billionaire was in full swing. And when she did...when she did maybe she could exorcise the feelings inside of her. Maybe it would give her some power. Or maybe it would just dull the intensity of feeling she had around him.
Even without the feelings, she was the backup bride. The second choice. The less-beautiful, less-written-about, less-celebrated Holt heiress.
She loved her sister. She truly did. And having to share media adoration, or rather split it 70/30 was fine. But to let Rachel have her husband’s heart? That just felt unfair. She didn’t love him. He didn’t love her. But she did not want him to love someone else. Seemed reasonable to her.
But tonight, tonight wasn’t about crushes. Or love. Or being second best. Tonight he was going to want her. And that was just about control. And sex.
As soon as he came back from the very urgent business he was taking care of down in the resort’s main building.
She reached into the neckline of her dress and leaned forward, giving her breasts a quick boost. Hey, she knew her greatest assets, and she wasn’t above trying to display them to their best effect. Basic seduction technique. She was pretty sure. She’d never seduced anyone before.
But then, she’d never been in a loveless, or any other kind of marriage, either. So all new territory.
She looked in the mirror and let out a slow breath. Yeah, she looked...almost not like herself. Lots of eye makeup, her breasts putting on a great show over the neckline of her dress, a dress that was super skintight. She was just going to go with the bombshell look. And yeah, when she turned sideways, her stomach didn’t look totally flat, but oh well.
She was her. And she was going to seduce the man with what she had. Because she wasn’t like the other women he probably preferred. But not even a good pair of control-top panty hose would make it so.
And when she was naked they wouldn’t have helped anyway. No point in false advertising, not when he was going to be seeing the woman behind the curtain, so to speak.
Anyway, the bikini had showed him what he was getting. And the look in his eyes...it was burned into her mind. It was what was giving her confidence now.
The front door to the villa opened, and she turned. She could see him in the doorway, his silhouette clear through the curtain that partitioned off the living area.
“You’re back,” she said.
“Yes.” She couldn’t see his face in detail, and his voice was monotone. His expression was, in all likelihood, monotone, too, and probably wouldn’t give her any more clues than his voice. “Are you ready to go out?”
She swept the curtain aside. “Not really.”
“You look ready.”
She put her hands on her hips, on the dress that was practically shrink-wrapped to her curves. “This isn’t the kind of thing I normally wear out.”
“Why not?” He looked her over, appraising, and a rush of heat went through her body.
“Because...well, it’s just not.”
“Are you going to change?”