Page 33 of Modern Romance September 2025 1-4

CHAPTER THREE

Ulysses

Katla freezes, her gaze clear and cold. ‘You wouldn’t dare,’ she says. ‘You’d destroy Tanaka Solar just because I won’t go to bed with you?’

Little volcano. I can see her starting to boil already and I am here for it. She’s outraged, which of course she should be. Olympia will have my head when she finds out about my behaviour tonight but, as always, it’s better to ask forgiveness than it is to beg permission.

Not that I beg anything from anyone. Ever.

I’m aware I am being a petulant child, but that doesn’t bother me.

What bothers me is that she doesn’t seem to understand what I’m saying.

I’ve already told her I’m not going to force her into my bed.

I’ve no need to force any woman, not when I have so many who want to be there willingly.

So I laugh softly. ‘You mistake me, ice queen. Yes, I want to go to bed with you. I’ve made no secret of the fact, and what man wouldn’t? But all I’m actually asking for is time. However we spend that time is up to you.’

This doesn’t mollify her. I can see flashes of lightning in her eyes, like a thunderstorm over the blue seas of the Mediterranean.

‘For the sake of argument,’ she says, ‘How much time are we talking about here?’

I lean back in my chair and put one foot on the opposite knee, entirely at my leisure, as I like to be.

Meanwhile, she sits bolt-upright with her hands clasped on the table, her chin at a belligerent angle.

She’s all challenge, which looks incongruous with the reindeer antlers and Christmas sweater.

‘Well,’ I say. ‘Let’s see. You’ve refused me six times, so I’m thinking…perhaps one month for every one of those refusals.’

She blinks, shock flickering in her eyes. ‘So, six months? You can’t be serious.’

‘Miss Sigurdsdottir, I am always serious, especially when it comes to women.’

‘But…why? Why me?’

I stop lounging and lean forward, put my elbows on the table and clasp my hands, pinning her with my gaze so she can see just how serious I really am. ‘Because you are unique. You are rare. You are a mathematical genius and a beautiful woman and it’s no lie to say that I’m fascinated by you.’

She’s not expecting me to be so honest; I can tell by the way her pretty pink blush deepens. But there’s no point hiding my interest. After all, my presence here basically shouts it, so why shouldn’t she know she’s fascinating to me? That’s she’s rare and beautiful? That she’s unique?

‘Well,’ she says primly. ‘That’s very…interesting. But I’m not giving you six months. That’s ludicrous.’

‘I’m not here to debate the finer points of how ludicrous or otherwise my ultimatum is, Katla.’ I taste her name like it’s something sweet and hot, melting on my tongue. ‘I’m not here to bargain, either. I’m here to get what I want, no more and no less.’

‘And you’re going to use Mr Tanaka’s company to get it?’

‘Let’s be honest.’ I lean forward a little more.

‘My intention has always been to take Tanaka Solar. I let you and Tanaka walk away from our first meeting only because you captured my interest and I wanted to take some time to consider my approach. I have considered it now and this is my offer. At least I’m giving you a chance to save the company. ’

Her gaze narrows into sharp needles of sapphire. ‘Or perhaps you don’t take it in the first place.’

I give another low laugh, very much enjoying the run for my money she’s giving me. I had no idea this Christmas Eve would turn out to be so…exhilarating.

‘Or maybe you could give me your time without arguing,’ I suggest.

Her delectable mouth hardens. ‘But I’m not interested in giving you my time. I don’t know how I can be any clearer.’

‘Really?’ I raise a brow. ‘I think you’re interested, Ms Sigurdsdottir. In fact, I’d go as far to say that now you can’t think of any else.’

‘You’re wrong.’

‘Am I? Care to test that theory—how me just how clear you can actually be?’

She pushes her chair back and rises to her feet. ‘I don’t care to test anything, thank you.’

‘So you’d really throw Tanaka Solar away?’ I ask. ‘Just so you don’t have to spend some time with me?’

There’s that pretty flush again, bringing colour to her cheeks. I watch it spread down the elegant column of her neck, making me salivate like a hungry wolf.

‘I do not appreciate ultimatums, Mr Zakynthos.’ The frost in her voice could rime the table between us.

‘Seems petty of you,’ I murmur, deliberately goading her. ‘All I’m asking for is time.’

‘Six months is not—’

‘It doesn’t need to be consecutive. An hour here, an evening there…’ I pause then add, ‘Perhaps you’ll even give me a night once in a while.’

She is silent a moment, her arms folded, her gaze stern and not a little judgmental.

I don’t mind. Many people judge me, but I don’t care about them.

The only person whose opinion I care about—the only person I care about—is Olympia, my little sister.

I would tear down the world for her if she asked. Luckily, she has never asked.

‘I thought you weren’t going to bargain,’ Katla says and this time she’s the one raising an eloquent eyebrow.

Little witch. She’s not wrong. I am bargaining with her now.

Telling her she doesn’t have to take my six months consecutively was not the plan and I do not like deviating from a plan.

The plan is for a six-month relationship—her available whenever I want her—so I can immerse myself fully in her.

Experience her absolutely until there is nothing more to experience.

I’m not insisting because she denied me, but because she fascinates me. I have never met a woman so icy on the surface and yet, despite all that ice, hot down deep. There’s lava inside her; I can see it glowing in her eyes.

‘I’m not doing this because you refused me,’ I say, because perhaps after all I do care just a little what she thinks of me. ‘I’m doing this because I want you. You, Ms Sigurdsdottir. Your body and your mind.’

She stares, her gaze uncannily perceptive. ‘Does that line work with other women, Mr Zakynthos? Because it doesn’t work with me.’

Oh, she is delightful. Utterly delightful.

I love a formidable woman and she is everything I’d hoped she’d be and more.

But I’m conscious that time is ticking away.

I promised Olympia I’d be home for Christmas Eve, and I’m already more than late with my little detour to LA. I need to move this meeting along.

I push myself from my chair and stroll down the length of the table. She might not want to test our attraction, but I do. A small demonstration is in order, both to confirm for myself that she wants me and to prove it to her if need be.

She regards me suspiciously as I approach. ‘What are you doing?’

‘Conducting a test.’ I move round to stand in front of her, the meeting table behind her, not too close, not just yet. ‘If you can swear that you are utterly unmoved by me, I’ll let you go back to your little party. And I’ll leave you and Tanaka Solar alone.’

She gives me a belligerent look. ‘Alone completely? You won’t come back and stage a takeover?’

I incline my head. ‘I will not.’ And I won’t. I’m a man of my word.

She is silent, her expression an icy mask. She’s trying to freeze me out, I can see that, but I can also see the glow in the depths of her eyes and that blush… I’m bringing out that colour in her—that’s all me.

‘I’m not interested in tests,’ she says coldly.

‘But you are interested in me leaving, are you not?’ I take a step closer. ‘Just as you are interested in proving how indifferent you are to me.’

She doesn’t move, though her mouth is in a hard line. ‘Fine,’ she says. ‘Conduct your little test, then.’

Her condescension is adorable. She clearly thinks she’s going to past this test with flying colours and ‘that’ll teach me’. Sadly, it will not. All it will teach her is the depth of her own self-deception.

I reach out and gently slide the reindeer-antler headband from her head.

She doesn’t move, but her eyes widen, as if she hadn’t been expecting that as my first move.

Excellent. The more I surprise her, the better this will be.

Leaning forward, I lay the headband on the table behind her then leave my hand resting on the table top.

This brings me closer and her eyes go even wider.

She smells as good as she looks, like sea salt and flowers, and I want to taste her skin, taste that luscious mouth. But I’m not going to touch her—not now, not yet. I’m only going to get closer and watch her melt like ice-cream in the sun.

Her gaze wavers, her pupils dilating as I extend my other hand to the table behind her, caging her with my body against the edge of it. We’re not touching, not any part of us, but I can feel the heat she’s putting out and she can feel mine.

I don’t move. I merely look at her, studying the blush that stains her cheekbones, listening to her breathing getting faster.

‘Is that it?’ She’s full of bravado and doesn’t look away. ‘Please forgive me if I don’t fall swooning into your arms.’

‘But you’re breathing fast,’ I murmur. ‘And your pupils have dilated.’

‘So?’ She isn’t making any attempt to get away from me, hellbent on proving exactly how uninterested she is. Except it’s not working.

‘Do you habitually lie to yourself, my ice queen?’ I lower my head a touch, not too close, but close enough to see the growing darkness in her eyes. ‘Surely you must know that those are physical signs of desire?’

‘Or fear,’ she returns.

Except she’s not afraid, and I know, because I know what fear looks like. I have an intimate acquaintance with it. It rests in my heart like a sliver of glass and I do everything I can to overcome it.

Fear that someone will hurt my Olympia.

Fear that someone will take her away from me. Again.

But that’s not going to happen, not now. I’ve insulated both myself and her with all the power and money I can get, and I’m not going to stop, because a person can never have too much power and money. Especially when there are people to protect.

‘I see,’ I say softly, not making any move. ‘So are you afraid of me, Katla? Or perhaps it’s yourself that you’re afraid of?’

Her chin is firm, yet her mouth is soft and her gaze drops to my lips. It’s only for the briefest second, but I see it. And I know what it means. The electricity in the air between us builds, as does the heat.

‘Afraid of myself?’ She tries to sound disdainful, but the huskiness in her voice spoils it. ‘Are you kidding?’

‘No,’ I say. ‘I told you—I’m always serious when it comes to women.’

She’s looking at me now from beneath her silvery lashes, and once again her gaze wavers. ‘I’m not afraid,’ she says.

‘Then explain your pulse,’ I say softly. ‘And how fast you’re breathing, the way your eyes are darkening and…’ I lean down a touch more, her lips a breath away ‘…the way you keep looking at my mouth.’

‘I’m not,’ she whispers, very definitely looking at my mouth.

I could kiss her right now. All I need is to bridge that tiny gap and brush her mouth with mine. She’d let me, I can see how caught in this mutual heat she is. She wouldn’t protest.

But that would feel like giving away a fine poker hand, and I’m not going to do that. I haven’t got where I am today by giving away my best cards.

I smile, slow and hot, then I straighten. ‘I think we can both agree that my theory has been proved.’

She flushes like a rose in bloom, with both anger and desire. ‘Really? Perhaps I need to do a little test of my own.’

And, before I can move, I feel her warm hand suddenly come down over the fly of my trousers and she grips my cock like she owns it.