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Or, worse—Leo himself. Because she wasn’t sure how she was going to face him now. Cool sophisticate who entered into one-night stands whenever the desire took her, or … actually there was no ‘or.’ The ‘or’ was a clinging, love-struck fool. She’d played that role once before with Brandon and it hadn’t been any fun then either.
Hearing a clamour of raised voices outside, Lexi walked to the floor-to-ceiling windows that faced port-side and realised that they were docked in Athens.
The yacht must have sailed through the night and it was time to go home. In a couple of hours, last night would be nothing but a pleasant memory. She leant her forehead against the cool glass. Why did that thought make her feel so hollow? Surely she wasn’t silly enough to want more from a man like Leo Aleksandrov … A man who had turned short term relationships into an art form.
Last night she had said that she didn’t live in a fantasy world and she didn’t. Not any more. When she was younger she’d always dreamed of her father coming home, of her parents being reunited, and she hadn’t realised how affected she was by her father’s abandonment. Oh, she knew the thought of finding love made her nervous and she didn’t need to see a shrink to tell her that that was because of her father’s inconsistent role in her life and Brandon’s treachery. But she hadn’t realised until last night how much she had shelved the idea of having a family of her own.
She pushed away from the glass, the revelation strangely unsettling.
And really, it was a good thing that Leo hadn’t waited around this morning. This was more honest. This told her exactly where she stood in his life.
Yes, Lexi smiled to herself, it was a very good thing he had left.
She was lying to herself. It wasn’t a good thing.
Slowly, over the course of the morning that had now turned into afternoon, Lexi’s insecurities had taken such a stranglehold that she felt as if she were choking.
She hadn’t expected him to come chasing after her as if she were the love of his life, but nor had she expected to be totally ignored. His continued absence told her more clearly than words that last night had meant nothing to him.
And she didn’t want that to make her feel empty. Sad. She didn’t want it to make her wonder if she had actually been terrible in bed. She hadn’t seized up as she had done with Brandon but … that didn’t make her a femme fatale either, did it? She shook her head. Just the thought was laughable.
Home. She needed to go home. Off this yacht and away from Leo so she could lick her wounds in peace and forget that she’d most likely just made a bigger mistake than she had with Brandon.
She watched Ty splashing around in the pool with Carolina and felt anger start to take hold. She didn’t know if it was directed more at Leo or herself, and she didn’t much care—it just felt a lot better than self-pity.
Leo had to get off this yacht and the sooner the better. He’d woken up with a horrible sense of well-being that had set his heart beating so fast he wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d had a heart attack. He’d been wrapped around Lexi Somers as if his life depended on it. Then he’d remembered everything he’d told her the night before and could have cut out his own tongue. Thank God, he’d had meetings to finish up and guests to see off his yacht all morning to keep him busy.
But now that he was alone in his office his mind turned to Amanda Weston and what he was going to do about Ty. He didn’t want the responsibility that came with relationships, knew he wouldn’t be any good at them. And despite Lexi’s assertions last night that he wasn’t like his father, he knew he couldn’t be a parent to Ty. He controlled his aggression nowadays but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t hurt Ty one day. And he’d rather die than do that.
Ty deserved more than he could give. He deserved a man who knew how to be a father. A man who knew how to love.
A crisp knock on his office door brought his mind back and he called out, ‘Enter,’ with a little more relish than he was actually feeling.
Lexi stood framed in the doorway, wearing a white strapless sundress that was partially transparent where the red tria
ngles of her bikini had dampened the fabric. Her glorious sable hair, also damp from the pool, hung down her back and her chin was angled, her eyes glittering bright gold.
‘I’m sorry to bother you, but I wanted to know what time we were due to leave for London,’ she said, standing before him as if she had a steel pole for a backbone.
No prizes for guessing her mood, he thought, somewhat humourlessly.
He leaned back in his admiral’s chair and wondered what had set her off. ‘And good morning to you too, angel.’
‘Actually, you’re a little late with that particular greeting—it’s afternoon.’
Ah, so that was it. She was upset because he hadn’t seen her all day. Women always wanted the post-sex cuddle and conversation and naturally she wouldn’t be any different. But he’d known that and hadn’t that been one of the drivers in keeping him so busy all day? That and the fact that she was so damned nice and that last night had been so damned good.
But was that her fault? And was it anything to truly be worried about?
So he had slept with her and it had been possibly the best sex of his life.
Nyevazhno. Unimportant.
That just proved that his instincts were on the money. He’d known sex with her would be dynamite and it was. And that made the fact that he still burned for her completely normal. What man wouldn’t want to repeat an experience like that? He felt his body stir predictably as memories of last night sifted into his consciousness.
And it also wasn’t her fault that his life had been turned upside down and punishing her for Amanda’s deception was not going to accomplish anything.
‘I apologise,’ he said in a perfunctory fashion that did nothing to lessen the grim set of her pretty mouth.
