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She couldn’t handle seeing him again. Not today. Not so soon after his summary dismissal. His practiced seduction had been bad enough, for she’d fallen at his feet like a love starved puppy dog. Her attraction to him must have been obvious. Heck, he was undoubtedly used to women tripping all over themselves in the hope of catching his attention. She’d been no different, in the end. Despite her best intentions to seem totally unaffected by his masculine good looks and overpowering aura of control, she’d failed.
Worse, though, than practically begging him to make love to her was the way he’d simply put an end to it. And then pushed her away with total ease.
No. No way could she sit about at the beautiful villa today, waiting for the axe to drop and to see him again.
Her heart was palpitating just thinking about those dark, brooding eyes fixing her with his slightly ironic glare. Ugh.
“Come on, Mikey. You’ll need someone to protect you from all those Greek lotharios.” Bobby said with a wink, his old confidence back; all hint of shame at his ill advised kiss was gone.
“Oh I will, will I?”
“Surely will,” he grinned, coming into the kitchen and playfully bumping his hip to hers.
She smiled up at him, but it was a smile loaded with uncertainty. “And you can do that?”
“Yes.” His eyes flashed with remorse. He put a finger beneath her chin. “I can.”
She felt an odd sensation butterfly through her. It wasn’t attraction. At least, not in the sense of what Loucas made her feel. This was different. It was frustration, if anything. Frustration at herself that she couldn’t just fall for a nice guy like Bobby. Life would be so much easier if she could just return his feelings. Her smile was forced. “Great. I’ll go grab some stuff. Meet you downstairs in ten minutes.”
“Ten minutes?” He laughed. “That’s what I love about you, Mikey. You’re the most un-female woman I’ve ever known. None of this taking hours to get ready palava.”
She grinned at him as she walked out of the large open plan kitchen, her stride unknowingly graceful and athletic. But her heart was lurching painfully. She wasn’t at all good at the whole being a girl thing. With four older brothers, what hope had she had? Her own mom sat squarely in the tomboy mould, and Mikey had grown up happily following in her footsteps.
She threw a sweater and a guidebook, as well as a water bottle and sunscreen, into her tote bag and checked her reflection. Denim cut off shorts and a loose fitting singlet top made her look like a teenager. Bowing to the small part of her that wanted to at least go to a little effort to acknowledge her femininity, she slipped on a pendant necklace, some flat, strappy sandals and a spritz of Angel perfume. A line of peach lipstick across her lips and she was a little mollified. And all in under eight minutes.
Bobby was waiting when she arrived, and he let out a low whistle of appreciation. Mikey lifted her straw hat off her head and hit him across the shoulder. “Stop it, you.”
“I can’t help it, Mikey. You just look good enough to eat.” His eyebrows were raised as he slowly raked his gaze over her body.
She frowned. It was on the tip of her tongue to remind him that she thought of him as a friend, and nothing more, when she remembered her own inner-frustrations at not being able to return Bobby’s feelings. He was, after all, perfectly suitable for her. It would be so much easier if she could like him back! So she just rolled her eyes instead, and put the hat back in place, before pushing out of the front doors of the villa.
The heat hit her like a wall. A thick, fog of sunshine and light. She slid her sunglasses down into place and took a step away from the villa. Yes, she was running away, but it felt good.
The journey to Athens began with a short ferry ride across the Aegean. As they walked down the sloping path that led away from the villa, Mikey and Bobby debated the merits of which ferry to catch, the earlier one, which they’d have to run for, or the next service. Their conversation was an animated one.
In fact, it looked extremely friendly, passion-filled and flirtatious, to Loucas Aleksandros. From the endless expanse of windows in his office, he watched them go, a grim expression on his face. His eyes were like coal, dark and angry, as he stared after them.
She’d insisted there was nothing between her and Bobby. That they were friends. Had she been lying to him? Why did he care? He had put an end to it. What would have undoubtedly been an incredibly hot tryst with the woman who was front and center of all his fantasies, and he had to decide to be noble. With a muttered groan, he slammed his palm into the window frame and hurled himself around. His breath was laboured. Watching them was doing nothing for his temper. And remembering the way Mikey had looked, lying across his desk the night before, was doing nothing for his blood pressure.
***
“So, four brothers, huh?” Bobby asked, holding Mikey’s hand as she walked along a narrow wall that skirted a garden overflowing with roses.
“Yep. Four older brothers, in fact, which is a particular kind of hell.” She stopped at the end of the wall and jumped down, wishing she could go for a jog. There was a coil of pent up energy inside her, and nothing was helping to unravel it. Not even the miles and miles of Athens they’d walked, exploring every beautiful little nook and cranny, had worn through her strangely energised state.
“Why hell?”
She shrugged. “Four older brothers to boss me around. Four older brothers to act all protective when I was dating a guy.” She smiled up at him. “I was by no means a princess in their eyes, but they’re all apparently convinced I can’t make good decisions for myself.” And, she thought with an inward grimace, in that, perhaps they had a point. After all, she’d developed a hugely inappropriate crush on her boss, and given Bobby a big, fat ‘no way, hose’.
“Even now you’re older?”
She thought about her brothers. Rick, Tom, Ben and Sam. All solid names for the solid men they’d become. “They’re a little
more subtle now,” she said slowly. “But they still stick their noses in to my life more than they should.”
Bobby’s grin was teasing. “I like the sound of them. Anyone who wants to look after you is all right in my book.”
Mikey’s lips twisted in a dubious smile. “I don’t need looking after by anyone, Bobby. You of all people should know that.”
