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His hand slashed through the air. ‘That’s just the problem, glikia mou. We’re not even doing anything and I’m already aggravated beyond all reason. So let’s call a truce on the bickering and just keep doing nothing, yes?’
Unable to find a response for that, she nodded.
It set the routine for the next two weeks.
She rose early, drank her cup of restorative coffee while standing at the window watching the sunrise. After that, she practised for three hours before breakfast. The times when Xandro joined her at the window, they stood in quiet, charged silence.
In the evenings, she dressed in another exquisite creation, met him downstairs, and off they went to dinner. Afterwards they would either go to a bar for a nightcap, or a nightclub where he would pull her close, swaying with her on the dance floor while he trailed kisses over her face and suggestive touches along her body.
The moment he was sure their antics had been captured on camera, he would place his hand on her back and guide her to the car. Back in the penthouse, he would bid her a stiff goodnight and retreat to his study.
Although she got her phone back, Ben never called. Her suspicion that his number was being blocked to her phone received a curt, ‘Leave it alone,’ when she broached the subject with Xandro.
And with Ben’s trail having gone ice-cold, they’d arrived at a standoff.
Xandro, for his part, worked punishing hours. Either that or he was actively avoiding the penthouse.
So when a knock came on the studio door late afternoon two Sundays later, she stopped mid-practise and called out a response.
Xandro entered holding two bottles of mineral water. He wore a black T-shirt and his favourite sweatpants, but his feet were bare. It took a lot of effort not to stare at them.
‘James tells me you’ve been in here since dawn.’
She shrugged, warily accepting the drink from him when she noticed the other item in his hand. The dumbbell she’d requested from James earlier. ‘I’m not really keeping track of time.’
‘At the risk of getting my head bitten off, you’ll wear yourself out if you don’t slow down.’
Self-conscious of the mild sheen of sweat filming her body, she retreated to grab her towel and dabbed at her face and neck. ‘I was just about to do a last set before I call it a day.’
‘But you asked for this.’ He held up the dumbbell and his gaze dropped to her wrist. ‘What’s wrong with your wrist? And don’t say nothing. I’ve seen you favouring it more than once.’
‘It doesn’t affect my work,’ she said hastily. A little too hastily if his shrewd gaze was any indication. Sage flinched inwardly.
‘I didn’t suggest otherwise. But I still want to know,’ Xandro said.
‘Why?’ she asked suspiciously.
He sighed. ‘I’m aware I’m still the big, bad ogre in your eyes, Sage, but let’s not turn every conversation into a battle, hmm?’
Maybe she was tired from the long day. Or maybe she didn’t want the shaky truce they’d struck over the last two weeks ending just yet. Either way, she found herself nodding.
Xandro set the dumbbell on the small table before he straightened and faced her. Bracing herself for
sharp questions, she was stunned when he took her hand and slid his thumb over her throbbing wrist.
‘Were you injured?’
The spark ignited by his touch slowly began to build. ‘Yes.’
‘How did it happen?’ he asked quietly.
Her mouth twisted. ‘For some strange reason I attracted the attention of the most popular girls at school. Except they weren’t just popular, they were nasty with it.’
His fingers drifted over her wrist again. The touch was light but she felt it all the way inside. ‘It’s not strange at all. Talent and beauty is often resented.’
She grimaced. ‘I wasn’t beautiful. I was all arms and legs and very clumsy inelegance.’
‘Your aggressors saw your potential and were envious. Talent like yours is in your DNA.’
