Claimed by the Sicilian Tycoon (9 page)

 
Dating him on and off was out of the question.
So if he refused?

She
sighed as she stepped out of the shower, and grabbed one of the super soft,
perfectly white, towels. She knew the layout of his house now. Had already
picked out the various knickknacks that could be taken and pawned if need be.
But she did not want to go that route. She wanted him, wanted to have fun with
him, wanted to please him and be pleased in return.

An
honest transaction.

Just like a prostitute.

She
smiled as she wiped away the condensation from the full-length mirror, knowing
full well that many people would probably view her actions in that light. Lyra
didn’t care though. This was about doing right for others as well as getting
something she wanted. If it felt right to her, felt okay, what did it matter
what others thought?

Except Penny and Rachel.

Well
yes, their opinion mattered, but they were never going to find out what she was
up to. She’d get the money for
The Point
and that would be that. There’d be no need for them to find out exactly what
she was doing in her free time, and it wasn’t like this thing between the two
of them would last for very long. Andros was a fucking billionaire. He moved in
circles all of his own. No doubt he’d get bored of her after a month or two.
But what a month it would be!

She
padded into the dressing room and helped herself to one of Andros’ tee shirts.
They were all perfectly arranged, row after row of cotton. She snorted a little
as she imagined her own closet. Likely he had a maid though, so whatever.

Ten
minutes later, as dry as she could be because Andros, it seemed, did not own a
hair dryer, she made her way back downstairs. The house, though large, wasn’t
difficult to navigate, and she wasn’t surprised to see Andros stood at the
large windows overlooking the front of the street in the living room. The very
same one they’d fucked in just last night.
 
His hands were in his trouser pockets, his stance stiff.

What is he thinking?

She
wished she knew.

He
turned when she entered the room, and walked over to her. His hands threaded
into her wet hair, and before she could so much as breathe he kissed her. It
was a hard kiss, unforgiving. Lyra melted a little into his arms from the force
of it.

When
they broke apart both were panting, and Lyra realized, tilting her head to look
into his eyes, Andros was kinda mad.

“I
have arranged a home for you,” he snapped.

She
raised an eyebrow. “I’ve been gone like a half hour.”

“People
can be very efficient when I ask them to be.” He glared. “And I have many
employees. The apartment you will be staying in is close to Chelsea. Is in a
security-controlled complex, and has all the amenities you need on hand. My
understanding is that many young professional women live there.”

Her
head was spinning. Lyra took a step back, sinking into the wide couch. “You’re
putting me in with a bunch of suits?” she asked, more because she didn’t know
what else to say. Andros was giving her what she wanted. Letting the mission
run its course. It was almost too much to comprehend.

“You’ll
fit right in,” he said.

“Did
you see what I was wearing last night?”

He
glared some more. “My overwhelming memory is of you naked, which is why we’re
doing this. I want you. I will have you. If this is the only way then so
fucking be it.”

Lyra
swallowed unsteadily, her heart racing. So she’d baited and played enough to
push him into her plan. It was a weird feeling. Part of her was thrilled, the
other part ever so slightly scared.
To be
Andros Casstellini’s mistress…

“I
plan to see you naked often,” he added.

“Then
you’ve decided?” she whispered.

“I
have. And there will be rules.”

“Rules?”

“If
we are going to do this as you suggested.” He paused. “Then I want it all to be
clear between us.”

“Okay.”

He
paced in front of her, a scowl still on his face. “For as long as I want you will
be mine, Lyra. I will have you when and how I want. I call and you come
running, is that understood?”

“Of
course.”

“There
will be no other men. You will be mine and mine alone.”

“Obviously.”

“And
in return,” he continued, as if she hadn’t spoken. “I will make sure you are
comfortable. I will house you and spoil you, and you will be mine. But, and you
need to be clear on this, you are not my girlfriend, I will not treat you as
such.”

“I
don’t want you to.”

Another
glare. “And you will not become my wife. Do not imagine that you will soften
me, that I will fall for you. You will not, there is no chance of that ever
happening. I want to fuck you, constantly, and I will, but that is all there
is, or will be, between us.”

“I
know.”

“We
will have fun,” he added. “Do not doubt that.”

“So
you…” She paused, wondering if there was even a need to ask what she’d been
planning to ask. The answer was obvious wasn’t it?

“What?”
he demanded. “Finish your sentence.”

“Had
fun last night?”

He
stopped his pacing, and laughed, actually laughed. The sound made her stomach
clench, and Lyra sighed a little inside. He was very attractive when he
laughed, when he smiled—hell, he was all round super-hot. There was nothing
about him that she could pick out as a flaw.

“Lyra,”
he said. “You are quite something.”

She
grinned, his smile suddenly making her feel a million times lighter. “Why thank
you, Andros. I had a wild time last night.”

The
smile remained. Lyra preferred it immensely to the scowl, or the glare for that
matter. “So your list has been met?” he asked.

“Uh
huh. You’re dynamite in the sack. Don’t tell me a gal has never told you that.”

“Not
in so many words.”

“Well
I will then. You, Andros Casstellini, know how to fuck.”

 
He shook his head, and joined her on the
couch. Close, too close. Lyra’s breath caught in her throat, and her nipples
hardened. How she wanted him.

“So
blunt,” he whispered, tucking a wayward strand of hair behind her ear.

“I
always am, Andros,” she replied slowly. “I can’t help it, never have been able
to. It got me into so much trouble when I was at school. Detention after
detention for speaking my mind.”

“And
college?” he asked.

She
shook her head, her school grades—painfully bad grades—flashing through her
mind. There had been no time to study, not when she had Penny and Rachel to
look after, to keep safe. “Not a place I ever went.”

“So
up until now what is it you have been doing with yourself?”

“You
want my life story?”

His
fingers trailed along her cheekbone, to the v-neck of his tee shirt. “Some information
would be appreciated.”

Lyra
inhaled sharply as his other hand found the hem of the tee shirt. “I’m sure you
can get on your computer and find out everything you need to know in a few
minutes,” she whispered, her thighs shaking as he ran a hand along them. “You
have my full name.”

“Lyra
Matthews.”

“Exactly.”

“And
your middle name?” he asked as he moved the tee shirt up.

“I
don’t have one, or if I did I don’t know what it is, and in truth, Andros,
Matthews is not my original surname, though it is my legal one.

 
His hands stilled. “You have been married?”

“Didn’t
I say I wasn’t the marrying kind?”

 
“Then…”

She
laughed. “You know I resolved to be completely honest with you. Deception is
not my style, but now I think about it maybe you should just leave me shrouded
in mystery. Let me keep my secrets and leave it at that.”

He
frowned and took the hem of the tee with both hands. “I can’t do that. In fact,
I have already ordered a full background check on you. I simply need your date
of birth to finish it.”

“Why?”

Her
tee came off in one move and he flung it aside so that it disappeared over the
back of the couch. “I am a rich man. You could be planning to extort me or to
kidnap me.”

His
hands were on her breasts now and Lyra gasped as she arched her back. “And I
know exactly where I would take you, and exactly what I would do with you once
there.”

He
rolled her nipples between his thumb and finger, teasing them into stiff peaks.
“If we are going to be spending time together I need to be sure you are who you
say you are.”

“Fine.”
She muttered her date of birth, fidgeting on the couch, her pussy wet and
waiting.

“You’re
twenty-five,” Andros said, leaving her breasts and moving around the sofa so
that he was knelt in front of her.

“Yep.”

The
sound of his zipper was stark. A moment later and his dick was throbbing in his
hand. Lyra almost moaned when she saw it, was on the point of begging him to
just put it in her.

“I
am thirty-six.”

“I
know,” she sighed, shifting forward a little so that she was balanced on the
edge of the couch.

His
mouth twisted a little. “No doubt. I would say too old for you, but I suspect
that is not the case.”

She
shifted a little more, but Andros didn’t move inside of her. Instead he stroked
himself, his big hand moving up and down his shaft. “How so?”

“You
are old for your years, I think.”

“That
is truer than you know. Now fuck me already.”

He
reached around into his back pocket, and pulled out a condom. Lyra took it from
him with shaky hands, desperate to get it rolled on.

“Ah…I
will finish the security check,” he said as she began putting it on him. “Make
sure all is as it should be.”

Lyra
sighed, and her desire clouded a little as she thought of what exactly that
security check would show. Her, living alone in the little flat on the estate,
because as the oldest sister it was in her name, so her sisters wouldn’t even
come into it. It would maybe show a string of jobs too, at least the ones that
had been on record. A shitty school report, and then all the way back…to the
dark days. Her stomach clenched as she thought about them, about what Andros
might think. But there was no point in hiding the past, in trying to pretend
she was something she wasn’t. Her poor start in life was not her fault, though
the fact she had never been adopted might have been. There’d been plenty of
prospective parents over the years, and though Lyra had so wanted to be put in
a settled home, she had simply never connected with any of them.

Rude. Attitude. Issues with authority
figures.

Those
words were bound to be stamped over a file somewhere, and though it pained Lyra
slightly, if a security check was what Andros needed then a check he would
have.

“Lyra?”
he prompted and she nodded slowly.

A
moment later and he sunk inside of her. It felt like coming home, like it had
been too long since he was inside her walls. Like it was right.

Their
sex was fast and furious, hard and dirty. Andros was no doubt still angry that
he’d been maneuvered into a position he didn’t entirely want, and Lyra? She
wasn’t even sure where her head was at. In that moment it didn’t much matter.

When
they finally finished, panting in each other’s arms, their skins slick with
sweat, Lyra lifted her head and placed a very light kiss on Andros’ lips. They
were soft and suckable, and she felt her heart thud from the contact.

“When
you get the results,” she whispered against them, “of the security check, I
want you to remember what I said to you last night.”

He
kissed her back, before easing slowly out. “Which bit?”

In for a penny in for a pound.
“The bit about a girl stuck in poverty,” Lyra said, “and how she might behave
to get herself out of it.”

“I
do not understand.”

“You
will,” she sighed, her body aching in a million different ways. “And you need
to remember one thing above everything else.”

“Yes?”

“That
it is not the Regency times and unfortunately poverty is very seldom genteel.’”

Chapter Ten

“This
place is amazing.”

Andros
looked around the large room trying to see exactly what had gotten Lyra so
excited. From the moment they’d arrived, she’d skipped around, a smile making
her dimple peek out, complimenting pretty much everything she saw. To him the
apartment was okay, basic, passable, and certainly he’d lived in far worse, but
those memories were distant now. For the last decade, he had surrounded himself
with wide spaces. Huge town houses, wide, sweeping villas…and yet, had he not
been excited when he walked into the first home he’d lived in with more than
one room? Her reaction reminded him a little of how he’d felt back then, all those
years ago.