Playing by the Greek's Rules

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She hesitated. ‘Someone like you will think I’m a ridiculous romantic.’

‘Tell me.’

She dragged her gaze from his and looked over the tumbling bougainvillea to the sea beyond. Was she a ridiculous romantic?

Was she setting herself unachievable goals?

Seduced by the warmth of his gaze and the beauty of the spectacular sunset, she told the truth. ‘I want the whole fairy tale.’

‘Which fairy tale? The one where the stepmother poisons the apple or the one where the prince has to deal with a heroine with narcolepsy?’

She laughed. ‘The happy-ending part. I want to fall in love, settle down and have lots of babies.’ Enjoying herself, she looked him in the eye. ‘Am I freaking you out yet?’

‘That depends. Are you expecting to do any of that with me?’

‘No! Of course not.’

‘Then you’re not freaking me out.’

‘I start every relationship in the genuine belief it might go somewhere.’

‘I presume you mean somewhere other than bed?’

‘I do. I have never been interested in sex for the sake of sex.’

Nik looked amused. ‘That’s the only sort of sex I’m interested in.’

She sat back in her chair and looked at him. ‘I’ve never had sex with a man I wasn’t in love with. I fall in love, then I have sex. I think sex cements my emotional connection to someone.’ She sneaked another look at him. ‘You don’t have that problem, do you?’

‘I’m not looking for an emotional connection, if that’s what you’re asking.’

‘I want to be more like you. I decided this morning I’m going to have cold, emotionless rebound sex. I’m switching everything off. It’s going to be wham, bam, thank you, man.’

The corners of his mouth flickered. ‘Do you have anyone in mind for this project?’

She sensed this wasn’t the moment to confess he was right at the top of her list. ‘I’m going to pick a guy I couldn’t possibly fall in love with. Then I’ll be safe. It will be like—’ she struggled to find the right description ‘—emotional contraception. I’ll be taking precautions. Wearing a giant condom over my feelings. Protecting myself. I bet you do that all the time.’

‘If you’re asking if I’ve ever pulled a giant condom over my feelings, the answer is no.’

‘You’re laughing at me, but if you’d been hurt as many times as I have you wouldn’t be laughing. So if emotions don’t play a part in your relationships, what exactly is sex to you?’

‘Recreation.’ He took a menu from the waiter and she felt a rush of mortification. As soon as he walked away, she gave a groan.

‘How long had he been standing there?’

‘Long enough to know you’re planning on having cold, unemotional rebound sex and that you’re thinking of wearing a giant condom over your feelings. I think that was the point he decided it was time to take our order.’

She covered her face with her hands. ‘We need to leave. I’m sure the food here is delicious, but we need to eat somewhere different or I need to take my plate under the table.’

‘You’re doing it again. Letting emotions govern your actions.’

‘But he heard me. Aren’t you embarrassed?’

‘Why would I be embarrassed?’

‘Aren’t you worried about what he might think of you?’

‘Why would I care what he thinks? I don’t know him. His role is to serve our food and make sure we enjoy ourselves sufficiently to want to come back. His opinion on anything else is irrelevant. Carry on with what you were saying. It was fascinating. Dining with you is like learning about an alien species. You were telling me you’re going to pick a guy you can’t fall in love with and use him for sex.’

‘And you were telling me sex is recreation—like football?’

‘No, because football is a group activity. I’m possessive, so for me it’s strictly one on one.’

Her heart gave a little flip. ‘That sounds like a type of commitment.’

‘I’m one hundred per cent committed for the time a woman is in my bed. She is the sole focus of my attention.’

Her stomach uncurled with a slow, dangerous heat. ‘But that might only be for a night?’

He simply smiled and she leaned back with a shocked laugh.

‘You are so bad. And honest. I love that.’

‘As long as you don’t love me, we don’t have a problem.’

‘I could never love you. You are so wrong for me.’

‘I think we should drink to that.’ He raised a hand and moments later champagne appeared on the table.

‘I can’t believe you live like this. A driver, bottles of champagne—’ She lifted the glass, watching the bubbles. ‘Your villa is bigger than quite a few Greek islands and there is only one of you.’

‘I like space and light and property is always a good investment.’ He handed the menu back to the waiter. ‘Is there any food you don’t eat?’

‘I eat everything.’ She paused while he spoke to the waiter in Greek. ‘Are you seriously ordering for me?’

‘The menu is in Greek and you were talking about sex so I was aiming to keep the interaction as brief as possible in order to prevent you from feeling the need to dine under the table.’

‘In that case I’ll forgive you.’ She waited until the waiter had walked away with their order. ‘So if property is an investment that means you’d sell your home?’

‘I have four homes.’

Her jaw dropped. ‘Four? Why does one person need four homes? One for every season or something?’

‘I have offices in New York, San Francisco and London and I don’t like staying in hotels.’

‘So you buy a house. That is the rich man’s way of solving a problem. Which one do you think of as home?’ Seeing the puzzled look on his face, she elaborated. ‘Where do your family live? Do you have family? Are your parents alive?’

‘They are.’

‘Happily married?’

‘Miserably divorced. In my father’s case three times so far, but he’s always in competition with himself so I’m expecting a fourth as soon as the wedding is out of the way.’

‘And your mother?’ She saw a faint shift in his expression.

‘My mother is American. She lives in Boston with her third husband who is a divorce lawyer.’

‘So do you think of yourself as Greek American or American Greek?’

He gave a careless lift of his broad shoulders. ‘Whichever serves my purpose at the time.’

‘Wow. So you have this big, crazy family.’ Lily felt a flash of envy. ‘That must be wonderful.’

‘Why?’

‘You don’t think it’s wonderful? I guess we never appreciate something when we have it.’ She said it lightly but felt his dark gaze fix on her across the table.