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‘Hi!’ Nikos raised his voice as the person obviously hadn’t heard him. ‘I’m looking for Kate O’Connor.’
He saw the figure go rigid. As it slowly moved to stand Nikos felt the breath catch in his throat. Of course. She still hadn’t turned around, but as she pulled out the buds in her ears, cutting short the tinny buzz of music from the phone she retrieved from her pocket, it was obvious. The shape of the back of her head, the long sweep of her neck...
Once again it had taken him a couple of seconds to recognise her, but if this was another disguise she was going to have to try a lot harder.
He advanced further into the room, positioning himself in the doorway of the glorified cupboard. ‘I see I have found her.’
‘Nikos!’
His name was a dry accusation on her tongue. As she finally turned to face him Nikos caught the alarm in her wide green eyes, saw the way her face had drained of colour. He heard the snatch of her indrawn breath. It was all suitably gratifying.
Nikos blatantly stared at her, ignoring the normal rules of decorum. They were way past that.
She was dressed entirely in black, her face free from make-up, her dark hair cropped short, cut into the nape of her neck so that it exposed her ears. With an unwanted kick of lust Nikos found himself wondering how that hair would feel beneath his fingertips. She looked elegant, fragile, beautiful. Certainly nothing like the woman he had seen last night. A pair of plain silver earrings dangling from her lobes were the only hint of adornment.
She looked away, avoiding his gaze. Nikos could see her desperately working to regain her composure, to pull a mask of indifference into place. He held the silence.
‘What do you want?’ Her voice sounded faint. ‘Why are you here?’
‘That’s not much of a greeting, Kate.’ Now his taunting animosity had kicked in. ‘Not much of a welcome after all these years.’
‘You’ll get no welcome from me.’ Her head swung back, her words falling like shards of glass.
‘No. Of course I won’t. How foolish of me.’
With a mocking stare, he stepped out of the doorway back into the office. After a moment’s hesitation he strode over to a chair, picking up the pile of papers from the seat and holding them in his hand as he waited for Kate to squeeze in the other side of the desk.
‘All right if I sit down?’
He waved the papers at her and Kate snatched them back. Nikos seated himself, stretching out his legs and crossing them at the ankles before linking his hands behind his head and leaning back in a classic display of dominance.
‘So, tell me, Kate—how have you been?’ He let his eyes drift over her face, watching the way the colour flooded back.
Kate gave him a fierce glare. ‘I’m sure you haven’t come here to ask after my well-being. I repeat, Nikos, what do you want?’
‘A cup of coffee would be nice, since you’re asking.’
‘What do you mean by walking in here uninvited?’ Her breath sounded dry in her throat.
‘I make a habit of turning up uninvited.’ Nikos gave her a pleasant smile. ‘You should know that by now.’ He watched as his barb sank in. ‘Now, how about that coffee? Black, one sugar for me. But I expect you remember that.’
Kate hesitated, looking as if she’d rather boil her head in oil than make him a cup of coffee. But then, obviously deciding it wasn’t worth the battle, she laid the papers down on the desk and moved over to a coffee maker in the corner of the room, her shoulders hitched up around her ears. As she removed the jug from the hotplate Nikos could see the way her hand tremored.
Good. He was glad of the effect he was having on her. It wasn’t much consolation after the way she had treated him, but it was a start. And it all increased his sense of power.
As Kate passed the mug to him he deliberately let his hand touch hers, acknowledging the frisson between them with a quirk of dark brows before Kate jerked her hand away.
Yes, he was enjoying this.
‘So, are these now the sole premises of the Kandy Kate empire?’ He briefly glanced around him, his tone light and casual, but no less cutting for that.
‘They are.’
Kate moved back behind the desk, reluctantly sitting down and folding her arms across her chest. She wore a black ribbed jumper with a scoop neck, the sleeves pushed up, and Nikos could see she had lost weight. But the clingy material still accentuated her shape nicely. She looked sober, chic...sexy.
