“It’s all sorted.” Andreas resumed his seat and dropped the phone back onto the table.
“What do you mean?”
“The sharks will be, let us say, suitably satisfied when they turn up on Thursday. I have a small welcoming party arranged for them.” He flicked her a warning glance. “It is over with regard to them. Funds have been deposited into your account to cover the bank loan and the personal favors you owe on behalf of your mother. There’s also some extra money in there to cover the phone bill I’ve just run up.”
Kizzy’s head began to swirl. “I don’t know what to say, except thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart. But why would you go to such lengths on my behalf?”
“Why?” he repeated sharply. “As you said, the money means nothing to me, and all this misery and worry on your part is becoming extremely tedious. We have no need to discuss this sorry episode ever again.”
He noticed the way she flinched at his harsh words but it was the only way he could explain away his instinctive reaction to her predicament.
Besides, he didn’t need to justify his actions to anyone—he knew exactly what he was doing. He was going to deal with the mind-numbing attraction to this woman that was throwing him off track and distracting him from his work like nothing he had ever known before.
He didn’t have time for an affair—there was work to be done, important work, including rescheduling that abortive meeting in London. Then there was Paris and Rome. The sooner he could get her out of his system the better.
“You should eat more.” He eyed her neglected plate. “You’ll waste away at this rate.”
“Hardly,” she smiled. “There were always leftovers in the kitchen at Timi’s to pick over, so I’ve got enough reserves to see me through an arctic winter.”
Andreas pursed his lips thoughtfully. Leftovers…scraps…
She had been in no better place than the beggar boy in Rhodes, he thought with a growing sense of outrage: a victim of poverty, crime, and callous rejection at the hands of her stepfamily.
Family.
He ground his jaw, pushing away bitter memories of his own gnawing hunger and the sight of his sister clutching her tiny belly as she gnawed the morsels he had managed to scavenge for her.
“I’d hate to see those curves disappear,” he remarked, hiding his pain. “They have quite an interesting effect on me.”
Kizzy blushed crimson. “I really don’t think—”
“In fact,” he continued, casually undoing the second button of his shirt. “I’d like to become reacquainted with them again.”
“That would be highly inappropriate,” Kizzy said. “We were supposed to be talking about work.”
“For the agreed ten minutes, yes?” He pushed back his chair and stood up, a slow smile forming on his face. “And then I wrote off all the financial worries you could possibly have, so you must be feeling much more relaxed.”
Kizzy looked up with a startled expression into the seductive umber of his eyes. Awkwardly, she pushed back her chair. “I think I’ll take these dishes into the kitchen and help Dorinda out.”
“Dorinda has gone for the evening,” he countered. “We’re alone here.”
Kizzy’s heart was beating so hard, she was sure it must be audible in the thick, charged silence that hung between them.
“I don’t want to seem ungrateful after everything you’ve done for me. But I’d like to know what job I’m going to be doing here so I can begin to pay you back.”
“What job do you want?” he asked with a shrug of indifference.
“This is ridiculous,” she answered him, frustrated. “How am I supposed to answer something like that? I know nothing about your business interests here.”
“Real estate mainly,” he replied quickly. “Luxury-end sales and renting with the associated finance and administration requirements. My legal and shipping work feeds more out of Rhodes. Then there are a number of other projects in the area.”
Before she could respond, Andreas had circumvented the table and taken hold of both her wrists. He gently drew her body against the firm strength of his, bringing her so close he could almost taste her quickening breath on his tongue.
“You can do whatever job you like as far as I’m concerned, Kizzy. Take your pick. Name your salary. None of that matters because I won’t accept a penny back from you anyway. But there is one particular role that would be perfect for you, one I know you would excel at and find fulfilling.”
Kizzy could only close her eyes and gasp as he lowered his mouth to brush his full lips tantalizingly across hers, tormenting her with a touch as light as a butterfly’s wing. Desire rocketed through her as she felt the burning rigidity of his arousal ease itself suggestively against her navel.
“You could be my very personal assistant.” His breath grew harsher as he released her wrists and slid his hands around each rounded cheek of her bottom, pulling her even more tightly against him. “And my mistress.”
Chapter Six
“What did you say?” Kizzy gasped.
Andreas smiled. “You heard me,” he replied. “I want you to be my mistress.”
The serious expression on his face, and the way his eyes had suddenly become hooded and even darker than she thought possible, told her she hadn’t imagined what he had just suggested.
The growing heat of his body against hers and the now-insistent pulse of his arousal against her belly indicated a very intense male hunger that made her own body respond involuntarily. What had previously been a glowing ember of awareness between her thighs was being fanned into warmth, and her breasts were growing heavy with desire.
“Previous lovers have been extremely vocal in expressing the pleasure my body can give them.” His tone was teasing. One hand slid up from her rear and underneath her top. “At least, I’ve never had any complaints.”
Kizzy was beginning to feel delirious with sensation. If the way he kissed her was anything to go by, and the way her body was trembling at his touch, then making love with him would be like nothing she could imagine.
“I can be generous, Kizzy,” he breathed with deepening urgency. “You won’t be disappointed, believe me.”
Kizzy breathed out roughly, her mind whirling nonsensically with the intoxication she was feeling. “Andreas.”
Every brush of his fingertips drew her into wanting more, wanting him to go even further. Yet while each second brought her closer to submitting to the magic spell his body was casting on her, she knew it was madness. Every particle of her body wanted him to carry her off to his bed, but she knew that becoming his lover was not a viable career option. Sliding between her new boss’s sheets could only invite disaster.