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‘Goodnight, Sasha.’
Apollo walked out before he followed his base instincts and did something stupid because that way lay madness. The same madness that had made him want her with a primal need he’d never felt before, the first time he’d looked at her.
He got to his study and poured himself a drink and sat down, unable to excise the image of those huge blue eyes out of his brain. Or the impact they’d had on him the first time he’d seen her.
That night, in that anonymous function room in London, had been the first time that anyone had managed to slip past Apollo’s defences so skilfully, and without even trying. By just looking at him. Something wild and untamed had crackled to life inside him and he’d realised that he’d never truly felt desire before. He’d taken many lovers but had never allowed them to get close. Satisfying his physical urges only.
After his experiences—seeing his father humiliated and belittled and ultimately destroyed; after seeing his mother wither and fade from their lives, a sad broken woman; and after watching his brother self-destruct—Apollo had vowed never to let anyone close enough to make him care when they would inevitably leave. He’d been left behind too many times.
But for the first time, with Sasha, satisfying his physical urges had taken on a whole new level of need. He’d had to have her. And so he’d followed his base instincts and indulged.
He’d lost himself in her before he’d come back to his senses. And remembered who he was. And what he was. And what he was was empty inside.
Revenge had filled that space for a long time. He’d only been coming to terms with the fact that it hadn’t felt more cathartic to have achieved his goals when he’d met Sasha. He’d put her effect on him down to that curious space he’d been in. Anticlimactic. Restless. Dissatisfied, when he should have been satisfied. At peace.
There was a knock on his door and he tensed. ‘Come in.’
Sasha took a deep breath outside Apollo’s study door. She knew he’d said he was taking or making calls but she hadn’t heard his voice when she’d diverted to his office en route to her bedroom, so she’d acted on impulse.
She opened the door and he was sitting behind his desk, a brooding expression on his face. He frowned. ‘Is everything okay?’
She nodded, but immediately regretted her decision when that awareness of him coiled tight, down low in her belly. ‘Fine. I just...’ She stopped. She shouldn’t have come here now. The way he made her feel just by looking at her was so...disturbing. She wanted to run but also stay rooted to the spot.
He frowned. ‘Sasha—’
She spoke in a rush. ‘I know you’re busy, but I want to know why our marriage is...like this. Separate bedrooms. Tense. You don’t like me very much.’
At all, whispered a little voice.
Apollo put down the glass in his hand. He stood up and came around to sit on the edge of his desk. Arms folded across his chest, which only drew attention to his muscles. Heat washed up through her body and she couldn’t stop it.
Had she always been so aware of men?
Maybe it’s just him, whispered a voice.
Somehow, she couldn’t deny that it was entirely possible she only reacted like this to him.
Apollo saw the twin flags of colour in Sasha’s cheeks. He was almost disappointed that she was showing her true colours again so soon. She’d nearly had him convinced. But coming here like this now...she must have seen his desire for her. And now she was taking advantage of it.
He was tempted to just confront her right now, but something in him counselled against acting too hastily. ‘Our marriage had some...issues, but I don’t think now is the time to go into them.’
He watched her carefully, which only made him more aware of her. Aware that he wanted her.
Witch.
She looked at him. ‘I don’t know why but I feel I need to apologise, as if I’ve done something wrong and that’s why you hate me and Rhea and Kara look at me as if I’m about to do something unexpected.’
Apollo fought the pull to believe her. To trust in this image of innocence she was putting forward. She’d done it before. He straightened up from the desk. He told himself he was moving closer to test her, just to see if she would show her true colours. Not because he wanted to.
Her eyes got big and round and the pink in her chee
ks deepened as she looked up at him as if he were a big bad wolf. Something snapped inside Apollo, some control he’d been exerting since she’d woken in the hospital bed and looked at him with those blue eyes, re-igniting his desire.
He reached out and caught a lock of her hair, winding it around his finger. It felt like silk. It reminded him of how it had felt when her hair had trailed over his naked chest the night they’d made love.
‘I prefer it like this, loose and wild. You preferred it straightened.’
‘I did?’ Sasha’s chest constricted. Why couldn’t she seem to breathe? The air was thick and full of something that felt alive. The awareness she felt turned into a pulse in her blood. Heavy and persistent.
