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“Ah,” he feigned a wince, and clutched his hand to his heart in a sign of pain. “I was wondering when my attempt to sweep you off your feet would come up. We made it the whole day!”
Her face reflected her cynicism. “I don’t think you want to sweep me off my feet, Bobby. Anymore than you would any other single woman you found yourself thrown together with day in, day out, on a beautiful paradise-like island.”
“Oh, ye of little faith,” he murmured, sliding a longer glance her way. “You think I’m just bored?”
She shrugged. “Probably. I think you’re getting swept up in the beauty of this place and mistaking that for something else. I think that you’re someone who probably has ten women on a line back home, and you’re in flirtation withdrawals.”
His laugh was light hearted. Mikey was glad. Glad they could talk about it without it seeming weird. “Is it so hard for you to think I like you? For you? Not because of the island or a lack of any other women?”
“Frankly, yes.” She stopped walking and put her hand on his forearm. The day was fast disappearing. Dusk was closing in on them. “Bobby, I really like you. I’ve enjoyed getting to know you. But that’s it, for me. I’m just not in a relationshipy kind of place right now.”
He took a beat to process the information. Then, he winked at her teasingly, and the moment had passed; the mood was lightened. “Doesn’t have to be a relationship, you know. Just sayin’.”
She rolled her eyes and laughed. “That’s right. You like to be free as a bird, huh?”
Mikey was relieved when conversation turned back to the innocuous and banal somewhere on the return ferry ride. The island truly was a slice of paradise. A stunning testament to all that was magical and pristine about this coastline. She watched as it came into view, and her eyes were immediately drawn to Nisi Ourano. It loomed large and golden against the evening sky. The pale walls reflected the sun, the lights in the villa leant it a feeling of warmth and calm. That morning, she’d been desperate to escape. Now, suddenly, she had an overwhelming compulsion to be back amongst its walled garden; back in the villa she’d called home for five weeks. Mikey was sure it boiled down to the little boy who’d stolen her heart, and her desire to be back at his side and giving comfort if needed. She breathed in the scent of ocean and gardenias, and wondered if there had ever been a more beautiful place on earth.
Loucas saw them return, of course. He told himself that he hadn’t been waiting. He’d had a very productive day, negotiating the purchase of two new ships for the Transatlantic route. The details had been nutted out; he was simply checking the terms and making sure the deal would go ahead without a hitch. He was legendary in the business for his attention to detail. His insistence on personally checking contracts was a sticking point for his legal team, but Loucas couldn’t have cared less. It was his business, and his name on the line. He only knew one way to run a company, and that was to run it himself. He’d tried delegating, once, but it had left him feeling nervous.
So the contracts had absorbed him, but far less so than they should have. Mikey’s face, so trusting, and then so hurt, was burned into his eyelids. Every time he blinked, he remembered the way she’d cried, and the knowledge that he had done that to her sat like a stone in his chest.
She seemed to have recovered from her sadness though, he thought, expelling an angry puff of air through his nose. The American was all over Mikey like a rash. He couldn’t have been more pathetically obvious about it if he tried. While Loucas watched, they walked, slowly, towards the villa. It was the kind of ambling stroll one might take with a person when they were desperate for the walk not to end. They were talking, too, but not animatedly as they had been that morning. This was a serious conversation. Engrossing too, for Mikey’s eyebrows were knit together, her lips pouted in deep thought.
It felt like a knife was twisting in his gut. He groaned and turned away again. He could have had her. This had been his decision.
It had been the right decision.
Loucas Aleksandros was famed not only for his attention to detail, but also for his firmly held belief that all women were expendable. Relationships were not his forte. He had a healthy libido, and he indulged it often. Never with the same woman for very long. And never with a woman like Mikey Jones.
What was it about her, anyway? His first impression had been distinctly unimpressed. He’d even thought her plain, in the looks department. Shock ran through him at the incorrect description. How could he have been so blind? So quick to discount her natural beauty?
She was not plain. She was like sunshine and freshly cut grass, a hint of jasmine on the breeze, the sound of the ocean hitting the beach. She was effortlessly sweet and honest. Artless. Genuine. She was as different to his usual conquests as could be. There was, in fact, no point trying to compare her to the string of lovers he’d had. Or to any other woman, for that matter. Mikey Jones was singularly unique.
And absolutely forbidden to him.
What he loved about her, that sweetness and kindness, would be crushed by his ruthlessness. His heart was cold. It always had been. And he didn’t want to see her face, marred by tears, because of him, ever again.
If he indulged his desire for her, he would risk destroying the qualities that made her so perfect. Certainly, he would harden a part of her that deserved to remain soft and vulnerable. She was off limits, and he needed to remember that.
“That’s good timing,” Nanny Paxton said with a smile, throwing open the door as Mikey and Bobby approached. “Andy’s just in bed, but he asked for you. I know you’re having a day off, but would you like to…?”
Mikey didn’t wait for Nanny Paxton to finish. “Of course!” She nodded, slipping her shoes off. She handed them, and her tote bag, to Bobby. “Would you mind putting these in my room? I want to go straight to him.”
Bobby hooked the bag on his shoulder. “Sure thing, sweet cheeks.”
Mikey sensed Nanny Paxton’s disapproval at what was obviously becoming a very familiar relationship. Seeking to put it back on a more professional footing, she nodded curtly. “Thank you.” Then, feeling like a bit of jerk, she tacked on, “And thank you for showing me around today. I learned a lot.”
Bobby’s eyes held a silent promise. “Any time, Mikey.”
Loucas assured himself that he wasn’t going in search of Mikey. It was just a coincidence that he decided he needed a break from his work at the same time they arrived home.
Hell, that was a lie. But he wasn’t a saint. He might not be willing to give in to temptation with Mikey, but he was clearly a masochist, because he sure as hell wanted to see her anyway.
He came down the stairs at the same time Bobby emerged from her bedroom, a smile playing on his lips, and a tune whistling out of his mouth.
For the smallest second, Loucas froze. Then he remembered that this was his house, and these people were in his employ. “Bobby,” he said, with a dismissive nod.
“Howdy, Loucas.” It was hard to tell if Bobby knew that Loucas and Mikey had picked up right where Bobby had left off. That one kiss had turned into so much more. But whether the American man knew or not was not relevant. As Loucas had no intention of letting anything happen with her, there was no business getting into a messy standoff with this man. Besides. Loucas knew he could have Mikey if he wanted her. If she went to Bobby as some sort of consolation prize, that wasn’t his concern.
