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But she knew, just knew, it had been the other way around.
"I wasn't watching where I was walking," she admitted with a grimace while she fought a totally inappropriate urge to reach out and touch the hard body so close to her own.
"And I was too busy watching you to notice the direction my steps took me." He spoke with a slight accent she could not place, his words infinitely more formal than the average American businessman.
She stared. "Did you really just say that?"
His smile grew to such sexy proportions, she was in danger of melting in a puddle at his feet. "You are unused to the men around you being honest in their attraction to you?"
"I'm not used to men like you being attracted to me at all." As soon as she blurted the words, she blushed so hotly she felt like her cheeks were on fire. She couldn't have been more gauche if she'd tried.
He didn't seem to notice. In fact, he was shaking his head, his eyes speaking messages she had to be misinterpreting. "You are teasing me, no?"
"No. I'm not very good at that sort of thing."
This made him laugh. "You are charmingly honest."
"Whereas you are embarrassingly so," she muttered, not at all sure how to take this man's attitude.
He opened his mouth to speak, but his cell phone rang. He frowned. "Excuse me for a moment."
She went to move away, but he kept one hand firmly on her shoulder while flipping his phone open with the other. She had no trouble reading his expression then. He was silently telling her to stay right where she was and arrogantly assumed she'd do it as he turned his attention to his phone call.
Her heartbeat tripled at his continued nearness and the knowledge she didn't want to go anywhere.
He started speaking in another language, one she could not place any more successfully than she had placed the accent.
He didn't talk very long before hanging up the phone and then smiling at her once again. "I must apologize. It was my assistant."
"If you need to go…"
He shook his head. "No. I find my afternoon free. My hope is to spend it with you."
Totally unprepared for that claim, she shook her head, trying to clear it.
"You have another engagement?"
"No. I…" She swallowed. "A guy like you…you don't have free afternoons."
"A guy like me, pethi mou?"
"What does that mean?" she asked, diverted.
"Pethi mou ? Loosely translated, it means my little one."
"In what language?"
"I am Greek."
"Oh," she sighed out. She should have realized. He was every bit as yummy as any statuary she'd ever seen of the Greek gods. More so, if she was honest with herself.
"Now, answer me…what do you mean by a guy like me?"
"A businessman…a corporate shark."
"You think I am a shark?"
She looked at his clothes, took in the familiar aura surrounding him, and then remembered the way he'd wielded his cell phone and how effectively he'd controlled her with a mere look. "Yeah."
"And do you have a lot of experience with guys like me?" Incredibly, he sounded jealous.
She almost laughed, but didn't think he'd appreciate the humor of the situation. "Not a lot, no. But my dad is one and I used to work for him."
"No longer?"
"No. I work for a museum in upstate New York now."
"So, you are not from the city?"
She shook her head. "I'm supposed to be visiting my dad, but something came up." And then, incredibly, she found herself telling him her other errand and he offered to go with her to see the artist.
It was mad, but she wanted desperately to say yes, to prolong this meeting between total strangers.
He read her hesitation and asked, "Your father is into big business?"
"Yes."
The gorgeous Greek handed her his phone. "Call him. Tell him that Aristide Kouros wants you to spend the afternoon with him."
His absolute assurance her father would know who he was and vouch for him surprised her, but maybe it shouldn't have. This guy was not lacking in confidence in any way.
"That's your name? Aristide?" she asked to put off making the call, trying to decide if she wanted to.
This man was dangerous, but so delectable she wasn't sure that was going to matter to her.
"Yes."
"My name is Eden."
Aristide's hand moved to cup her nape and his thumb brushed along her jaw. "That is a lovely name."
Her breathing fractured and she stuttered out, "Th-thank y-you."
He pressed the phone into her hand. "Call."
She did. Her father did indeed know who Aristide was and asked to speak to him. She couldn't tell much from Aristide's side of the conversation, but when she got the phone back, her father told her the other man was trustworthy.
"But he's out of your league, honey. Be careful."
"It's not safe to go with him?" she asked.
Aristide frowned, his body stiffening with offense, and she could just tell he wanted to grab the phone back from her and tell her dad a thing or two.
"I didn't say that," her dad was saying. "He's safe to your person, but your heart is another matter. He makes me seem like a tame pussycat."
That did give her pause. Her dad hadn't gotten serious with anyone since her mom, though he'd had numerous affairs, and the truth was, he hadn't been faithful to her mom, either. Was Aristide the philandering type?
One look into his burning blue gaze and she had to doubt that assessment.
Nevertheless, she was biting her lip when Aristide took the phone from her and flipped it shut.
She sighed. "He says I'm not in your league."
"You are in your own league, Eden. You are special."
"You don't know me, how can you say that?"
"Are you saying your reaction to me is like any you have had to another man?"
"No."
"Special."
"Yes."
"Do you think I make a routine practice of clearing my heavy schedule to spend time getting to know a woman I bump into on the street?"
Put like that… It should be impossible for something like this to happen so fast, but it was happening. "I guess I can accept that this is unique for you."
"You are unique for me."
And she had believed him, Eden thought as she lay in her hospital bed, memories washing over her. From that point on, he'd certainly treated her like she was special. They spent the day together and he didn't press to take her to bed that night. Honesty made her admit to herself that, if he had, she would have been a total pushover.
But he hadn't and she had stayed over in New York City for the weekend, which they spent together.
Then she had to go home.
She didn't know if she would see him again, but she had. He'd called several times that week and then surprised her by coming to see her in upstate New York. He'd wined and dined her, his every casual touch sending her libido to places it had never been. They talked for hours, discovering they liked the same foods, enjoyed the same movies and he was fascinated by her knowledge and interest in antiques.
When he took her home that night, he'd started making love to her and she'd gone under with all the buoyancy of a rock tossed into a stormy sea.
Remembering that first time made her heart palpitate even now.
Eden had waited in silence while Aristide unlocked the door to her apartment. The sexual tension in the air was so thick, it pressed against her like a physical force. He wanted her, but she wanted him too. More than she'd ever wanted another man…enough even to silence her clamoring nerves and internal worries that all of this was moving way too fast.
The look of dark promise in his deep blue eyes said he didn't think it was moving fast enough. "I like your place."
She looked around. Her home was the middle floor of a tri-story Victorian-era house that had been converted into three separate apartments. Carved wooden trim painted white and walls painted in deep rich tones gave her home an elegance that she had fallen in love with on first viewing the property.
She'd broken up the high gloss of the hardwood floors with antique oriental throw rugs in tones complementary to the walls. All of her furniture had an oriental motif, but it didn't feel modern. She'd scoured flea markets and antique stores all over the state to decorate with inlaid lacquer pieces and furnishings that gave the impression of the ancient culture of the Far East.
"I'm glad you like it. I do too."
He'd shut the door and locked it and now turned to face her, his hands divesting her of her jacket while his eyes devoured her. "I like you even more."
