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‘I somehow can’t imagine anything knocking your cousin off his feet.’ Eva eyed him disbelievingly.
Markos shrugged. ‘Neither could I until it happened.’
This conversation had become altogether too personal for Eva’s liking. ‘Interesting as this conversation is, it’s getting late, Markos,’ she said briskly.
He raised those dark brows. ‘Do you have yet another appointment to go to this evening?’
She could so easily have said yes. But instead…’Well…no. But—’
‘But what?’
‘But it’s Monday evening, and I always clean my apartment on Monday evenings,’ Eva rallied weakly.
He eyed her mockingly. ‘I thought that was what the weekends were for?’
She gave a disbelieving snort. ‘Admit it, Markos, you’ve never had to clean your own apartment, or anywhere else you’ve lived, at the weekends or any other time!’
‘Not true. I had to keep my own rooms clean when I was at university in Oxford.’ He grimaced. ‘Admittedly I couldn’t see the bedroom carpet for the clutter after the first few weeks, and I ran out of clean clothes on a regular basis, but I coped.’
‘By ignoring the clutter and buying new clothes, probably,’ she guessed derisively.
‘Guilty as charged,’ Markos admitted with an unrepentant grin.
‘That is so—Oh, wow…!’ Eva gasped as she noticed the view from the huge picture window behind him for the first time—surely testament to exactly how powerfully attractive she found Markos, because the view from the window was amazing. New York City in all its glory.
Eva continued to look at the New York skyline as she slowly walked over to the window, dazzled by the combination of the tall, gleaming buildings and the lush green park.
‘I seem to recall you said you thought of Lyonedes Tower as just another tall building blocking the view,’ Markos reminded her as he joined her at the window.
Eva gave a wince at this reminder of the bluntness of her conversation when they first met. ‘I may have been a little…impolite to you at the party on Saturday evening.’
‘May have been?’ he taunted softly.
‘I was impolite,’ she conceded.
‘Any particular reason why…?’
‘Does there have to be a reason?’ Eva glanced sideways at Markos, totally aware of how close he was now standing to her. Close enough for her to inhale the heady combination of the lemon soap and sandalwood aftershave. Close enough that their arms were almost touching. Close enough that Eva was now fully aware of the heat emanating from Markos’s body.
Close enough that Eva could barely breathe for wanting to close that short distance between them and lose herself to the feel of those sensuously chiselled lips devouring her own.
Instead she rushed into speech. ‘I behaved badly—unprofessionally—and I apologise.’
He arched dark brows. ‘Does that mean you’ve reconsidered and are now willing to give me—and my reputation—the benefit of the doubt…?’
‘I’m not sure I would go that far,’ she said warily.
‘Liar,’ Markos murmured huskily. He’d seen the way those luscious golden eyes had darkened to amber, the slight flush appearing in Eva’s porcelain cheeks. Her lips were slightly moist and parted. As if waiting to be kissed.
As if she realised that was Markos’s intention, Eva took a step back and away from him. ‘I really do have to go now. If you’ve changed your mind about considering my designs—’ She broke off as Markos took another step forward, until they were now once again standing so close they were almost touching. She gave a determined shake of her head. ‘Markos, if you’re trying to intimidate me then I think I should warn you—’
‘Warn me of what…?’ Markos murmured throatily, even as he raised one of his hands to cup the warmth of her cheek, before moving the soft pad of his thumb over the softness of her lips, feeling the warmth of her breath against his fingers as he parted those lips in preparation for his kiss.
His own arousal intensified at the feel of that sensual warmth against his skin. His shaft was hard and pulsing, demanding…
Eva’s eyes were wide, deep amber pools as she stared up at him. ‘I should warn you—’
‘Yes…?’ Markos prompted softly, holding that wide and startled gaze with his own as his head began to lower towards hers.
She breathed softly. ‘I really should warn you—’
‘Warn me later, hmm?’ he dismissed gruffly, before finally claiming those full and pouting lips with his own.
Eva totally forgot what it was she wanted to warn Markos about as his other arm moved firmly about her waist and he pulled her in tightly against the heat of his body, angling her face up to his before his mouth finally took possession of hers.
Markos’s kiss was everything that Eva had known it would be—not in any way a gentle exploration, but an instant explosion of the senses, taste, smell, feel, and it felt so good to be against the hard heat of his body as they kissed hungrily, deeply, lips devouring, tongues duelling.
Eva tightly gripped Markos’s shoulders, her legs feeling weak as he crushed the ache of her breasts against his chest. Heat pooled between her thighs as she felt the hard throb of his arousal pressing insistently against her.
The sky could have fallen at that moment, the building collapsed around them, and Eva wouldn’t have noticed, too lost in the heat that consumed them both as Markos’s hands moved down to cup her bottom and pull her in more tightly. He ground his erection against and into her even as their mouths drank greedily of each other.
Eva was on fire, her inner ice melting, and her fingers became entangled in the dark hair at Markos’s nape as she returned that heat, needing, wanting—
She wanted Markos Lyonedes…!
CHAPTER FOUR (#ulink_88a431a6-0b1b-55b8-b02a-11155b9291c9)
‘OH, I’m terribly sorry! I had no idea…!’
Eva wrenched her mouth free of Markos’s to push against the hardness of his chest in an effort to free herself as she heard that startled gasp from the other side of the room. Her cheeks were aflame with embarrassed colour as she turned to see the middle-aged woman who had shown her into the office earlier—obviously Markos’s secretary—now standing in the open doorway, her eyes wide with shock at having interrupted them in a moment of intimacy.
Eva’s efforts to free herself proved totally ineffective as Markos’s arms tightened about her. ‘Let go of me!’ she said fiercely under her breath.
His only answer was to give her an amused glance before turning to look at the woman still standing in the doorway. ‘Are you ready to leave for the day…?’
The woman looked flustered. ‘I was about to, yes. I—Yes.’
In stark contrast, Markos appeared completely at his ease as he nodded. ‘Thanks, Lena, I’ll see you in the morning.’
‘Mr Lyonedes. Ms Grey.’ The woman Markos called Lena didn’t meet either of their gazes before she quickly turned and left the room, closing the door briskly behind her.
‘I asked you to let go of me!’ Eva instructed, agitated as she once again pushed against the solid muscle that was Markos’s chest. That particular moment of madness was definitely over.
‘Do I have to?’
‘Yes!’
‘Why?’
Eva glared up at him. ‘Because I asked you to.’
He regarded her with amused green eyes. ‘And do you always get what you ask for?’
Sometimes Eva got a lot more than she asked for! For instance, she hadn’t asked to be attracted to this man. Just as she hadn’t asked to enjoy his experienced lips moving so surely and sensually against and over her own. Or to feel her heart almost leap out of her chest as she recognised her own desire to feel and taste the hardness of Markos’s obvious arousal throbbing against the heat of her thighs. All of them were emotions Eva had believed herself to be incapable of feeling. Emotions she didn’t want to feel!
Her eyes narrowed. ‘Don’t say I didn’t warn you…’ she murmured, before reaching behind her to grasp one of his hands, bringing it forward before bending the wrist up at a painful angle as she slipped deftly out of his arms before releasing him.
‘Ouch!’ Markos frowned as he grasped his pained wrist. ‘Where did you learn to do that?’ He eyed her with bemusement once he was sure nothing was broken.
‘Self-defence classes.’ She briskly straightened her jacket before checking that her hair was still neatly secured at her nape, sincerely hoping that Markos couldn’t see that her hands were trembling as she did so. ‘A necessary evil since I moved to New York.’ She shrugged unapologetically.
‘Hmm.’ Markos grimaced as he once again leant back against his desk. ‘You never did tell me the reason you moved to New York.’
She raised dark brows. ‘Probably because that’s another one of those things I consider personal.’
Markos regarded her from between narrowed lids for several long seconds. ‘There was obviously a man involved,’ he finally murmured speculatively.
She gave a derisive laugh. ‘What a typically arrogant male conclusion.’
He shrugged broad shoulders, unconcerned. ‘That’s probably because I am a typically arrogant male.’
‘And obviously proud of it,’ she scorned.
Markos wouldn’t say he was proud of it. It was just the way it was. His father and uncle had founded Lyonedes Enterprises before he was even born, and he and Drakon had added considerably to the success of the company’s businesses worldwide since taking over completely when his Uncle Theo died ten years ago. There would be little point in Markos denying that this success, and the power that came along with it, had resulted in a certain assured arrogance in both himself and Drakon.
He grimaced unapologetically. ‘It is what it is. And you, Ms Evangeline Grey, are deliberately trying to change the subject from my original question,’ he added knowingly.
Yes, she was. Because Eva was uncomfortably aware she didn’t want to answer Markos’s original question. Divorce, the ultimate admission of the failure of a marriage, was something that not even Eva’s parents had succumbed to—even if they should have done so years ago, rather than slowly destroying each other with the bitterness of their disappointment. Eva wasn’t in the least proud of her failed marriage, and nor did she wish to talk about it.
Her chin rose determinedly before she turned Markos’s earlier comment back on him. ‘It is what it is.’
Which told Markos precisely nothing. ‘I can easily make the necessary enquiries that would give me the answer to that question…’
Her mouth tightened. ‘That’s your prerogative.’
‘But I won’t,’ Markos concluded dryly. ‘I would so much rather wait for you to tell me about yourself than listen to inaccurate gossip,’ he added, in answer to her questioning look.
Her face flushed. ‘If that was a dig at me for the things I said to you on Saturday—’
‘It wasn’t,’ he assured her softly. ‘I would just rather wait for you to confide in me.’
She gave a dismissive snort. ‘Then you’ll be waiting a long time.’
Patience had never particularly been a part of Markos’s character, but he had a feeling that where this intriguing woman was concerned it might well be worth the wait…
‘I have no plans to leave New York for the foreseeable future, Eva,’ he said huskily.
Eva was well aware of that—which was why, after the mess she had made of things with this man, she was seriously considering relocating her office to Outer Mongolia, or possibly Antarctica—anywhere but New York!
Because this second meeting with Markos Lyonedes had shown her that he wasn’t at all what she had assumed he was after listening to Donna bemoan how callously he had brought an end to their relationship. He was arrogant, yes, but it wasn’t the over-bloated self-aggrandizement Eva had expected to find—more an inborn confidence in who and what he was. Markos had demonstrated that he was capable of dealing with, and returning, any challenge she might care to give him. He also had a wicked sense of humour, which he was just as likely to turn on himself as he was anyone else. There was something very appealing about a man who could laugh at himself.
And Eva defied any woman to remain unaffected by that heady combination of charming self-assurance and devastating good-looks.
That brief and thankfully interrupted kiss they had shared had certainly proved to Eva that she wasn’t immune to anything about Markos Lyonedes.
A man whose wealth and charm was everything and more than Jack, her ex-husband, had been…
Which was more than enough reason for Eva to take herself out of Markos’s insidiously seductive company. Right now!
‘Then I hope you enjoy the city,’ she told him lightly. ‘Now, if you will excuse me…’
‘Haven’t you forgotten something?’
Eva paused before turning back reluctantly to answer that softly spoken query. ‘Have I?’
He gave a mocking inclination of his head. ‘You haven’t been up to look at my apartment yet.’
She tensed warily. ‘Up…?’
Markos gave a husky chuckle even as he glanced pointedly towards the ceiling above them. ‘Up.’
Markos’s apartment was on the floor above this one? All this time there had been a bedroom—probably several—right above them? Oh, good Lord…!
Eva drew in a deep breath before speaking. ‘I think you’re right. It really wouldn’t be a good idea for me to work for you—’
‘Coward.’
‘I beg your pardon?’ she gasped softly.
Once again he shrugged those broad shoulders. ‘I called you a coward.’
‘Because I don’t want to work for you?’ She eyed him incredulously.
Markos shook his head slowly. ‘Because we both know the reason you don’t want to work for me.’
Her jaw tightened. ‘Which is?’
‘You’re afraid.’
‘You think I’m afraid of you?’ she said disbelievingly.
‘I think that you’re afraid of how you feel when you’re with me,’ Markos corrected softly. ‘You’re more comfortable in the company of a man like Glen Asher because you know you can manipulate and control him in a way you would never be able to do with me.’
All the colour drained from Eva’s cheeks. She knew that every word Markos spoke was the truth. Oh, not about Glen. But she was frightened—of Markos, and of what he made her feel when she was with him.
She didn’t want to feel that way about any man. After her divorce she had been relieved to feel so numb, to know that she would never again have to go through the pain of a broken relationship.
To now realise that Markos Lyonedes had penetrated her emotions, if only on a physical level, was not a welcome revelation.
