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To her relief, he didn’t speak. Didn’t say anything about the man she’d been dancing with, even though she hadn’t missed the tightness of his jaw when he’d appeared to interrupt them. She didn’t think it was for any other reason, though, than because here in public, no matter what had happened between them, she was his wife.
He pulled her close and after a moment of trying and failing to resist sinking against him, Sasha gave in, allowing her body to cleave to his. He held one hand up, and brought it in close between them. Her breasts were pressed against his chest. She stumbled for a moment when she felt the evidence of his arousal against her belly. She looked up and met that dark green gaze.
‘You look surprised.’
Sasha swallowed, her previous sense of insecurity burning away in the face of this evidence. ‘I thought... There are so many beautiful women here...’ She stopped, feeling inarticulate.
‘You thought I wouldn’t want you?’
She couldn’t speak or nod or move, and he stopped moving too so now people danced around them. He said, ‘I won’t stop wanting you till I have you again.’
He let her hand go and cupped her jaw and time was suspended as she waited for his mouth to touch hers. When it did she clutched at his jacket to stay standing. The kiss was all-consuming, and Sasha had no defence for it.
After long drugged moments Apollo broke the contact and pulled back. Sasha opened her eyes with effort, everything blurry for a moment. He was looking at her with a harsh expression on his face. ‘What do you do to me?’
She had no answer because she could ask him the same question. A sense of urgency seemed to infuse the air around them. Apollo took her by the hand to lead her off the dance floor.
He stopped next to a couple of people and exchanged a few words and then they were sitting into the back of a car and being driven back to the helipad where the helicopter was waiting.
The short journey back to Krisakis felt like a dream and Sasha purposely kept her mind blank as if that could help to not think about what was to happen, because she was in no doubt where this evening would end. In the reality of Apollo’s arms and bed. Not a dream of a hazy memory.
All was still and quiet at the villa when they returned. The air was heavy with the scent of night-blooming flowers. Sasha took off her three-inch-heeled sandals and relished the feel of the cool marble floor under her aching feet.
Apollo took off his jacket and draped it over a chair. He walked to the sliding door that led out to the back of the villa. His back was to her and Sasha took a moment to let her eyes linger on his tall, broad form.
He was so beautiful. Her heart gave a funny little skip.
Had she fallen for him after sleeping with him that first time?
Was that why she’d engineered a fake pregnancy? Because she’d been so desperate to cling to him by any means?
Was she in love with him now? Her heart thumped. She knew he consumed her on every level. And she wanted him with a fierce desire she didn’t even really understand. The thought of him casting her out of his life made her feel breathless with pain. Not fear. So it had nothing to do with the memory loss.
Dear God, she loved him. Was that why she’d lied to him?
He wasn’t moving but standing very still. For heart-stopping seconds Sasha thought he might have changed his mind. But then he turned around.
‘Come here.’
It was a command. A command that Sasha could not ignore or disobey, even if she’d wanted to. The relief that he wanted her made her feel weak. She walked towards him and came to a stop in front of him. His eyes were so dark they looked black. His jaw was already darkening again with stubble.
‘Take down your hair.’
Sasha complied, lifting her hands to where pins held the bun in place. She took them out and her hair fell to her shoulders. Apollo reached out and caught a strand. ‘It’s like golden fire...little flame.’
Sasha’s nerves were tingling. Her breath came in short choppy bursts. She closed one hand around the pins and they dug into her palm. As if sensing she was hurting herself, Apollo took her hand and opened it, taking the pins and putting them on a nearby surface.
Then he caught her face in his two hands and moved closer. All she could smell was him. The scents of the island clung to him. Citrus, sea. And something infinitely more masculine and human.
She didn’t need his hands to raise her face to his as she was already doing it, every cell straining to get closer, for his touch. When his mouth covered hers, she wound her arms up and around his neck, telling him with her body that she wanted him.
Sasha could have happily stood there all night just kissing Apollo, but he drew back and took her by the hand, leading her through the softly lit villa to his room. Her dress whispered around her legs, heightening her sensitivity.
His room was at the opposite end of the villa from hers, with its own suite of rooms like hers, except much grander. She hadn’t been shown this part of the villa and felt a little pang of hurt now to think of how divided they’d been.
But all her thoughts fled when they entered the room. It was palatial but minimalist enough to be a monk’s cell. Albeit a billionaire monk. The sky was dark outside, cocooning them.
The massive bed was the focal point in the room. It didn’t have four posters like Sasha’s. It had no adornment apart from pillows and sheets. Stark. Like the expression on Apollo’s face now as he turned to her. Sasha locked her knees in a bid to stop her legs trembling.
