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Somehow he made it through the board meeting, and though his diary was full for the rest of the day, he thought about ditching it all, about going straight to his car and driving home, full pelt.
He didn’t.
His obsession with her was something he had to at least try to control – for her sake as much as his own. Hell, he’d become part-demented by lust. She was all he could think about, all he wanted in life. A man renowned for his devotion to his family’s business, to the empire that was a world-leader in logistics and transport, was nowhere to be seen.
His phone rang sometime after lunch and he snatched it up, desperately hoping it would be Bella. He told himself it didn’t matter that he was so desperate to hear her voice he’d practically broken his arm in an effort to reach his phone faster.
“Katrakis,” he spoke into it, a smile on his lips as he waited for her breathy voice.
“Vit, darling, tell me you’re in Athens?”
His smile dropped, his chest squeezed and his body tightened on high-alert. “Kat,” he drawled, the word not at all welcoming. “How are you?”
“Oh, Vit, please say you’re here. I need to see you.”
“Here?” His heart began to run faster. The walls were suffocating him.
“Athens. Oh, Vit, God, I have to see you. Are you home?”
“No,” the word was issued too swiftly. “What’s the matter?”
“It’s urgent. Please.”
He wanted to tell her to go to hell, to leave him alone, to disappear, but he knew Kat – he knew how unlikely she was to take ‘no’ for an answer, and he couldn’t risk her showing up on his doorstep, upsetting Bella.
Liar, his conscience prompted. This wasn’t about Kat upsetting Bella - it was about Bella learning the truth before he was ready for her to know it. Would
he ever be ready? He couldn’t say with any clarity. But hell, he needed to do what he could to control this damned mess.
“I am not at home,” he surprised himself by sounding calm and in control when all the pieces of his world seemed to be hurtling out of his control. “Let us meet at Asiménios for a drink. In an hour?”
“I can’t now. Later? Six?”
“I thought it was urgent?”
“It is. But I have to finish this first. Six?”
He clenched his teeth, hating that he had to see Kat at all, let alone when all he could think about was Bella. “Fine. But I won’t be able to stay long.”
“We’ll see,” she purred. “I can’t wait.”
He disconnected the call, and stared out at Athens, his mood dark. He had to do this – to see Kat, to work out what he could say to her to get her to accept it was never going to happen between them. He saw now that he should have been clearer sooner. He should have put aside whatever thrill he got from flirting with her, from the illicit nature of their temptation, and simply told her ten years ago that he would never, in a million years, betray Andrew. Living or dead, he owed his friend more than that.
He was in a mess, but he would find a way through it. He had to. He’d married Bella because it had made sense, but he saw now how much more there was to their relationship. He’d never wanted to marry – at least, not for many long years – but everything was different now.
He lifted his phone again, his mood lifting a little as he punched out a text message to her.
I have a late meeting. I’ll be home around eight. I’ll bring dinner.
And then, a moment after sending it, he added,
I miss you.
He hesitated for a few seconds and then pressed the button to shoot it to her phone. It crossed over with one of her texts.
A photo.
He laughed when it opened on his screen – Bella was wearing a reindeer sweater, and in the background of the photo he could just make out a pile of wrapped presents.
