Authors: Emma Shortt
She could pay Iannou back, surely she could? She needed to find
another job. It would mean paying the debts back a little slower but it wasn’t
impossible.
Nothings impossible, Andy, not after what you’ve been through.
It never even occurred to Andy not to pay back the money. To
protest that she was attacked and had lost it through no fault of her own. By
her thinking it
was
her fault, she’d lost the wallet. She should have
taken more care to protect it. Just like those damn debts were down to her.
Andy did not shirk her responsibilities and wasn’t going to start now.
I’ll
speak to him, he’ll understand.
A curious excitement flooded her at the
thought of seeing him, and she damped it down. He might well send her home once
assured the money would be forthcoming. The thought did not cheer her like it
should have done. But then who would willingly swap such surroundings for the
awfulness that was her own apartment?
She made her way back to the bedroom and opened the closet where
the maid stashed her clothes. Once dressed in joggers and a vest—she had
nothing better—Andy picked up her hairbrush, ready to tame the fiery locks.
As if he’d been waiting for movement the door opened slowly,
almost threateningly, and stood within the frame was Iannou. Andy, lowered the
brush, cast her eyes over him and felt her stomach clench. He was so attractive.
There was just no getting around that fact. It would all be so much easier if
he wasn’t! She desired him, wanted him in a way she had wanted a man since
Pete, and that made losing his wallet, and falling asleep on the job all the
more all the embarrassing. She didn’t want him to think badly of her.
“You look rested,” he said, gesturing her forward. “Come and eat
and you’ll feel even better.”
“I wanted to talk to you,” Andy said, biting her lip against the
effects of that voice. It was deep and honeyed and to her horror she could feel
her nipples hardening. Crossing her arms over her chest, Andy looked down at
the floor. “To explain about the wallet, to discuss paying it back.”
“We can talk while you eat,” he said. “Aren’t you hungry?”
“Always,” she said, then snapped her mouth shut. She’d answered
without thinking and, damn it, she sounded like a freaking urchin.
“Then come.”
Andy
was
starving, and the thought of filling her belly
was enough to override the nerves. She pictured herself like a camel, chugging
down enough food to keep her going for the next few days once she returned to
her apartment. Following him out of the bedroom, down the hall and into a large
dining room her eyes widened at the sight. Breakfast, lots of it, was laid out
on the table, and her stomach rumbled audibly. She blushed and sat down.
“Help yourself.”
Andy hadn’t seen so much food in ages. Piles of bacon and eggs
and toast. She placed some on her plate, careful not to take too much and look
like a pig.
“More,” he said.
Andy looked up and blushed again. “Excuse me?”
“You need more than that. Your body is healing it needs fuel to
do so. I want you to pile up your plate, and you will not leave the table until
you’ve cleared it.”
Dear God, he’s so high-handed!
Despite wanting to do
exactly what he said Andy shot him a glare. “Stop ordering me around, Mr.
Iannou. I’m not a child.”
He smiled, a wicked curve of his lips. “It’s Alexander, and
clearly someone needs to order you around. You don’t seem capable of looking
after yourself.”
“How dare you—”
“Though of course, I’d have to be blind to not realize that you
are indeed all woman,” he added.
A blush shot through her body, and Andy looked down at her plate,
her heart racing a little bit too fast.
“Andrea, it would please me to see you eat your fill. We can talk
after.”
Her stomach rumbled again, and Andy stabbed a rasher of bacon
forcefully, before popping it in her mouth. She almost moaned from the taste
and before long was doing exactly as he wanted, not even sure why pleasing him
sounded good to her. On any other day Andy would have felt embarrassed scoffing
her way through so much in front of someone she barely knew, but the hunger
she’d lived with for so long overriding any nerves she felt.
Camel it up.
Once her plate was clear and her stomach groaning from the amount
of food she’d stuffed in it, Andy sat back on her chair and asked the question
plaguing her mind. “Why did you bring me here?”
Alex picked up his coffee mug and took a look swallow before
answering her. “You are injured. You need to rest.”
“I know that but I’m not your responsibility.”
Just spit it
out, Andy. The sooner you get this cleared up….
“You can be truthful with
me. I see what’s going on.”
Raising his eyebrows, Alex leaned forward. “You do?”
Andy nodded. “The money and the ring. I know you were upset about
them, and again, I’m so sorry. I want to assure you that you don’t need to keep
me here. I’ll pay you back every single penny. It’ll take a little bit of time,
but maybe I could work out a payment plan with you of some kind?” Maybe he’d
even give her a job, if she promised him to never fall asleep again?
“You think I want you to pay me back for the contents of a wallet
that someone else stole?” he asked.
“You said I owed you,” Andy replied, not understanding the anger
in his voice. “That I had to come because I owed you for the money and the
ring.”
A tanned hand slashed the air in front of them, and he growled.
“It was the only way to make you come. To look after you. Of course I do not
hold you responsible for the actions of a thief.”
Andy didn’t understand.
He doesn’t want the money back?
A
weight felt like it had been lifted and yet at the same time confusion flooded
her. “But why do you care if I’m injured? You don’t even know me. And why did
you make me come here if you don’t want me to return the money?”
He stood up and walked around the table before bending down on
his heels in front of her. Without warning he reached out and took one of her
hands in his. Andy gaped, shock at his actions filling her. That strange spark
once again playing across her skin.
What the hell is he doing?
Alex looked up, his eyes finding her bewildered ones. “I’m no
good at being subtle,
Gatika.
It’s always best I find to be straight
with someone.”
Andy nodded mutely, unsure what to say, excitement racing across
every single part of her body.
“So I’ll be honest with you and let the chips fall where they
may.” He paused for a moment and squeezed her trapped hand. “I want you,
Andrea, and it is my intention to have you.”
Chapter
Thirteen
Alex wasn’t sure if the shock on Andy’s face was a good thing or
not. Perhaps he should have been less blunt? But that was never his way, and he
doubted he’d know how to be even if he tried.
“I—” She opened her mouth and then closed it again. “You want me?
He cast his eyes over her flushed features and felt his gut
clench. She was, as George had said, stunning. So stunning he hadn’t been able
to stop himself making his way around the table to her. Sure, he’d thought
about waiting a couple of days, but Alex was the sort of man to go after what
he wanted when he wanted it, and he wanted Andy—as soon as possible.
Alex pulled her other hand forth, until both were clamped between
his. Her hands, he noted with satisfaction, were tiny, completely enveloped
within his own. She was so delicate and small, he wanted to scoop her up and
wrap her in his arms. Though, maybe, it was too soon for that, she still looked
a little shocked.
“I want you in my bed, Andrea,” he said slowly. Making sure she
understood every single word.
Color flooded her face and that satisfied Alex. He was a
primitive sort of man where his women were concerned and he made no apologies
for that. He liked to do the chasing, and he liked the women he chased to be
bashful about it. Nothing turned him off more than an over-eager woman, not
till he had her in his bed at least.
“I don’t know what to say,” she whispered, looking down at their
hands.
Alex gave them a little squeeze and smiled. “I would like to
spend the next few days with you, Andrea, making you well again. Feeding you up,
spoiling you.”
She lifted her gaze and met his. Shock stabbed him again. The
same sort of feeling he’d felt when he found out her name. Now that she was
rested, and despite the bruises marring her features, Alex could finally see
the brilliance of her eyes, and an odd feeling fizzled through him.
They were green, emerald green…
just like grandmother’s ring.
“You want me to stay here with you? Andy asked. “In your hotel
until I’m well again, and then...”
He nodded, dampening down the strange feeling. “And then I would
like us to be intimate.”
She shivered. He could see it, and bit down on her lip—the side
that was not split. “Alexander,” she began, “I’m flattered, of course I am. But
I’m not sure how it works in rich people’s worlds. Maybe like you’ve just said,
but in my world, normal people’s world it’s not like that.”
What does she mean?
“I don’t understand.”
“People don’t just tell one another that they want to be
intimate!” she said. “They go on dates. They get to know one another. Then when
they’re comfortable together, once they feel like they’re ready they
get…erm…intimate. You now, start a relationship.”
“I see.” She expected to be courted? That thought caused a spike
of panic to surge through Alex’s body. He hadn’t courted a woman in years and
had no intention of doing so now. He wanted sleeping beauty, but in his bed,
not with a ring on her finger—despite George’s nonsense ideas. Courting was for
the woman he’d eventually have to marry, not the woman who he wanted to bed,
the woman he wanted to make, what? What exactly did he want her to be?
“I don’t think I’ve been clear in my intentions,
Gatika
,”
he said, his thoughts crystallizing, satisfaction filling him. It was so
obvious now. Almost like he’d known it the moment he’d seen her sleeping. And
it made sense, explaining his odd reaction to her, the dream, the desire—he
should have realized.
She shook her head. “You keep saying that, but I don’t know what
that means.”
“It means kitten.”
A small smile curved her perfect little lips, and Alex’s heart
gave a thud, followed swiftly by his cock hardening. He shifted uncomfortably,
aware that it would be some days before she would be ready for him. He cursed
the unknown assailant again. Alex wanted to bury himself in her, knew, without
even knowing why, that she’d be so tight. He’d have to be gentle with her, coax
her and encourage her. But the reward! It would be more than worth it, to feel
the tight walls of her pussy welcoming him, milking him…he shuddered inwardly,
such thoughts were not helping.
“I want to be perfectly honest with you,” he said. “So that you
understand what role I see for you.”
She looked up at him, that small smile still in evidence, a
becoming flush staining her cheeks. “Okay.”
“I understand that we have not known each other for long,” he
began. “That this seems very fast, but I won’t lie to you, Andrea. I desire you
most intensely. Such desire, such swift desire is very rare for me.” And it
was. Alex could count maybe a handful of women who he’d felt so intrigued by. Though
he’d never virtually kidnapped one before. “Perhaps that is why I am acting on
it in such a rapid manner?” he mused. “I’ve thought about you constantly since
we met. Not an auspicious beginning I know, but I can make up for that. I
want
to make up for it, because it is clear to me what I want, what I need.”
“I don’t understand,” she whispered.
And smiling, anticipating her reaction, Alex explained. “I want you
to become my mistress.”
Chapter
Fourteen
Mistress
. The word burned Andy’s brain, and she felt her
jaw drop. Was he even serious? Did men still ask women to be their freaking
mistresses? Jesus Christ, what world did Alex live in?
“Before you say anything,” Alex added. “Let me explain the
benefits of this arrangement to you. So you understand what it will mean.”
Benefits?
Arrangement?
Andy gaped. He talked about
it like a business agreement. Like he was trying to negotiate his way into her
bed. Disbelief filled her at his words, but at the same time excitement clawed
its way up her spine. Alex wanted her, just like she wanted him
.
It was
unbelievable.
“Are you even serious?” she whispered. She wasn’t sure if she was
asking whether he was sure he wanted her or if the whole mistress thing was for
real.
“Completely.”
The excitement increased and tingly sensation began to spread out
from her pussy, but again it was coupled with a growing unease. She got the
whole mistress thing. She wasn’t stupid. She understood what it meant. He
wanted to fuck her—clearly more than once. But mistress also meant something
else. It meant an ongoing sexual liaison, nada anything else. Theirs would not
be a relationship with any kind of emotional attachment.
Why did that thought bother her? It wasn’t as if she’d expected
him to declare undying freaking love. They hardly knew one another. Perhaps
because it was so far from her comfort zone? In her world men did not go around
asking women to be their mistresses. They had relationships, or one night
stands. By asking this of her, Alex was suggesting something she had no
experience of, and that thought scared her.
“Andrea, I will look after you,” he said, squeezing her cold
hands. “For as long as our arrangement lasts I will keep you safe. There will
be no need to return to that awful apartment. You will stay here with me. I
will spoil you like you should be spoiled, treat you like a princess. No one
will ever hurt you again. I will not let them.”