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CHAPTER EIGHT
ACHILLESPACEDRESTLESSLYin his office, all thoughts of making calls gone from his mind. All he could see was Sofie. The awestruck wonder on her face as she’d turned in a circle, taking in the Acropolis around her.
The idea to take her there had occurred to him after he’d noticed how obviously disappointed she was not to have seen it. It had taken a mere phone call for him to arrange it. As it did most things. A fact he was starting to realise for the first time in his life.
He’d surprised himself with the gesture. Usually he was loath to do anything that might send the wrong signal.
Sofie hadn’t taken it like that. She’d assumed that it must be some kind of signature move on his part. A flamboyant coda to an evening date.
The thing that had surprised him most about her assumption was that it had hurt. Her low opinion. When it shouldn’t. Because he’d been living down to people’s low opinions of him for a long time. Revelling in them, almost. Until he’d decided to reform his reputation.
Achilles’s relationship with Sofie had already smashed through about a hundred of the boundaries he usually insisted on. They’d been pushed aside when she’d taken him in and treated him with such kindness when he was at his most vulnerable.
And even though she’d been innocent—physically—and was unworldly, she had a pragmatism about her that he’d never encountered before. A groundedness that had reassured him that she knew not to spin castles in the air about what was happening between them.
Which was good, given his insistence that she come to New York with him. The words had tripped out of his mouth before he’d even had time to really register what he was saying.
But then he thought of how she’d managed to make him feel something earlier—hurt. By her opinion. Perhaps she’d been right to resist his invitation to New York—which, admittedly, had been less of an invitation and more of a decree, he realised now with a little wince.
Maybe it was a bad idea to prolong this...this madness. Maybe he should let her go after the island. After all, he could take his pick of women to continue in his campaign of reformation. As it was, Sofie’s appearance on his arm more than once was making people talk—in a good way.
A soft knock came on his door, dislodging his thoughts. ‘Come in.’
Sofie appeared in the doorway, black hair tumbling around her shoulders, wearing some sort of silk sleep suit. Shorts and a short-sleeved button-down top. And everything Achilles had just been thinking about was blanked from his mind.
She sounded hesitant as she said, ‘Sorry, I didn’t want to disturb you.’
‘Yet here you are,’ Achilles pointed out dryly. Shadows hid her face, but he could imagine her blushing.
‘I just wanted to say I’m sorry about earlier—I never wanted to give you the impression that what you did wasn’t amazing. It was. I had no right to assume that it was something you did all the time.’
Once again Achilles felt a piercing sensation in his chest. Damn her. He said, ‘Come here.’
She walked towards him and he saw her breasts swaying gently under her top. And just like that his body was inflamed. He put his hands on her waist and tugged her into him, relishing her soft curves against his hardening body.
Her hands were on his arms. Small. Capable. He wanted them on him. Encircling him. Moving up and down. Followed by her mouth. And tongue. He knew just how to punish her for making him feel...
‘You had every reason to make that assumption. I have a reputation.’
‘A reputation you’re working hard to reform.’
Achilles slid his hand around Sofie’s neck, the fall of her hair a silken caress on his skin. ‘I think we could work much harder.’
‘We?’ She arched a brow.
Achilles’s brain went red-hot. In these moments when Sofie played with him he could imagine that she was every inch the experienced coquette. He seized on it to remind himself to keep his guard up and to counteract anything deeper.
‘Yes, we,’ he growled. ‘I want you on your knees. Now.’
Sofie’s eyes widened and flamed at his command, but she wasn’t shocked or intimidated. He could see that she was excited. Colour poured into her cheeks. Her breath got faster. Achilles undid the buttons on her top and it swung open, revealing the ripe globes of her breasts. He almost forgot the need for restraint. No. This was how she would pay.
He put his hands on her shoulders and gently pushed her down. He undid his belt and trousers and pulled them down with his underwear, releasing his erection.
Sofie’s gaze fixed on it. Eyes wide. Before he lost the ability to speak, Achilles said roughly, ‘Touch me. Taste me.’
And she did.
And even though he’d been with countless women before, Achilles knew that what he was about to experience, as inexpert as it was, would blow everything he’d experienced out of the water.
Damn her.
It was late in the afternoon and that was about the only concrete thing Sofie knew. All other concerns had melted away in the heat of the sun beating onto and under her skin, warming her bones in a way they’d never been warmed before.
This late in the day was the only time Sofie felt it was comfortable enough and safe enough for her to lie in the sun. Slathered in factor fifty sun cream. Under strict instructions from Achilles.
The only sounds were the chirruping of birds and insects in the undergrowth near the infinity pool. Boats in the far distance. The lapping of the waves on the beach far below where she was.
They’d arrived on the island a couple of days ago and were staying in a modern villa perched on the edge of a bluff overlooking the Aegean Sea. Dark blue and endless, and broken only by the sight of other islands in the distance.
While Achilles worked in the villa’s home office, Sofie behaved like a sybarite. Lounging by the pool, eating delicious snacks provided by the discreet staff. Drinking homemade lemonade and then, in the evening, delicious Greek wines. And even more delicious food.
She was being thoroughly indulged, exactly as Achilles had promised.
It made her feel a little ashamed, how quickly she was getting used to being served. When that had been her job up until a very short time ago; serving tea and toast to patients in the hospital.
It felt like another life now. But she needed to remember that that was real life. Not this.
She sat up on the lounger and hugged her knees into her chest. She looked out over the view and sighed deeply, trying to imprint it onto her mind for ever. But she knew that in spite of her best efforts it would fade. Would he fade too? Impossible to believe.
She heard a sound and looked around to see Achilles appear on the terrace. He was naked but for a pair of short swim-shorts and Sofie couldn’t take her eyes off him. She was glad she was wearing sunglasses.
He went to the deep end of the pool and dropped the towel he was carrying, dived in with innately graceful athleticism. Sofie sighed with appreciation. Her efforts in the pool were more akin to a dog doing its best to keep its head above water.
After an impressive set of lengths, with his strong arms scissoring in and out of the water, Achilles stopped and came to the edge of the pool nearest where Sofie was still sitting, ogling him. Too late to act cool.
‘Come and join me,’ Achilles said.
