Page 17 of The Tycoon’s Affair: Tempted By Desire

CHAPTER SIX

S IDONIE FELT AS if she’d done something wrong.

The look on Alexio’s face just now had been almost..

. disgusted . She felt stupid for blurting out that she’d always loved glittery things.

It was a trait that she’d inherited from her mother and Sidonie didn’t like to be reminded of that.

Especially when she knew deep down that it wasn’t like her mother’s love for real jewels.

When she’d found her childhood jewellery box during the clearing of the house after her father had died she could almost have laughed, because it was full of ten-cent pieces, buttons and tin foil. Hardly a treasure trove.

Sidonie tried to push down the sense of disquiet and followed Alexio into a very mysterious-looking doorway with no name on it. A man in a black suit with an earpiece let them in with a deferential nod to Alexio.

Determined to put his reaction out of her mind, Sidonie tightened her hand reflexively in Alexio’s and he looked down at her. She was relieved to see that the tightness in his expression was gone and that the lazy, sexy insouciance was back.

Another entrance was just ahead, with billowing white curtains wafting in the breeze. A stunning glamazon of a woman stepped out, dressed in a tiny black dress which showcased her astounding body.

Sidonie nearly tripped over her heels and Alexio steadied her, looking down. ‘Okay?’

Sidonie nodded, still struck dumb by the dark-haired Greek beauty who was now greeting Alexio very warmly with kisses on each cheek—far too close to his mouth for Sidonie’s liking. She felt something rise within her—something hot and acrid. Jealousy .

The woman turned her gaze on Sidonie and dismissed her with a cool glance before turning back to Alexio. She pouted ruby-red lips and proceeded to talk to Alexio in Greek, which Sidonie of course couldn’t follow.

Alexio replied in English, though, saying, ‘I’ve been too busy to come back. This is Sidonie—Sidonie, this is Elettra.’

Sidonie smiled, but the other women barely smiled back at all.

It was like the air hostess all over again.

Far from making Sidonie feel triumphant that she had the man everyone wanted, it only made her feel insecure.

Was Alexio even now looking at this woman and wishing he was availing himself of her charms instead of gauche, inexperienced Sidonie’s?

But then the sight of the interior of the club took every thought out of Sidonie’s head.

It was a massive, cavernous, breathtaking space.

Dark and dimly lit with what seemed to be a thousand lanterns.

A huge bar took up one entire wall. There was a dance floor with glowing boxes of neon lights in the old Studio 54 style.

There were booths and private tables dotted around the place, and then there was a whole other level down below which was already heaving with people.

Beautiful people were everywhere. Funky music throbbed from the sound system. It was achingly hip and exclusive.

Elettra was leading them to a booth, her hips swaying sinuously in her teeny-tiny dress.

When they got there Sidonie could see that they had a bird’s eye view of the entire place, and almost immediately after Elettra left—with clear reluctance—an equally stunning-looking waitress was there to take their orders.

She was dressed in tiny shorts and a white shirt with very low-cut buttons.

She had a pinafore-style apron that did little to detract from the sexiness of the outfit—if anything it fetishised it slightly.

Sidonie felt seriously out of her depth.

After Alexio had given an order he leant back and looked at her. She knew she must look like some wide-eyed hick.

‘Well? What do you think?’

Sidonie sat back, overwhelmed, and gave a little laugh. ‘I think that we’re not in Kansas any more, Toto.’

Alexio frowned and Sidonie explained with a wave of her hand. ‘When Dorothy ends up in Oz...’ She shook her head. ‘This is out of this world. I’ve never seen anything like it. I’m used to grimy college student bars.’

The waitress came back with small plates of finger food and a bottle of champagne. Sidonie groaned softly. She hadn’t realised she was hungry and she stole a glance at Alexio, who was watching her with amusement.

‘My appetite is just one big joke to you, isn’t it?’

He shrugged and prepared some pitta bread and tzatziki, handing it to her. She ate it with relish and took a sip of the sparkling wine.

Joking, she said, ‘I could get used to this, you know.’

She missed Alexio’s enigmatic look as she plucked an olive from a bowl. When she did look at him he was lounging back, regarding her with an expression that had her blood heating up. It was that look. The one that made him look hungry and made her feel hungry. But not for food.

‘I want to dance with you.’

Sidonie swallowed what she was eating. The mere thought of dancing with this man made any appetite she did have flee. A slow, sexy hip-hop song was playing, its beat sending tremors of sexual awareness through Sidonie’s body.

‘Okay...’

Moving out of the booth seat, Alexio stood and held out his hand. He looked so young in that moment, and so breathtakingly gorgeous, that Sidonie had to relegate it like a snapshot to the back of her mind because it was too much to deal with.

His hand in hers, Alexio led her to the dance floor, which was filling up with similarly minded couples. He drew her into his arms, close to his body, and it was the most natural thing to loop her hands and arms around his neck.

His hands were possessive on her, sexual.

One hand rested over her buttocks. The other slid under the gaping hole at the side of her dress to splay across her naked back.

Lord . How was she expected to stay standing when he touched her like that?

As Sidonie looked into his eyes the infectious beat of the music throbbed through every vein and made her tingle.

She realised, not for the first time, how far under her skin he’d sneaked.

There was something so...so up-front and unashamed about him.

He was too confident to play games. Too assured.

She knew exactly where she stood. And even though that brought misgivings about how cool she was with that—which was a lot less cool than she pretended—she couldn’t blame him for her growing confusing emotions. Her attachment.

The fact that she trusted him was huge. She’d never trusted anyone, really.

..not since those awful days when her mother had exposed a very ugly side of reality and herself.

Sidonie suspected now that her highly developed reticence had influenced her experiences with her first two brief relationships.

No wonder they’d been unsatisfactory; she hadn’t let either of them get too close.

But Alexio... Alexio had smashed through a wall she’d been barely aware of building around herself and now all that remained was rubble. And her exposed beating heart. It hit her then, as she looked up into those golden compelling eyes...she was falling for him. And it was too late to stop herself.

Her arms tightened around Alexio’s neck in automatic rejection of her thought, as if she could ward it off if she squashed it right away.

But Alexio couldn’t read the stricken nature of her revelation.

He saw only those wide aquamarine eyes and felt Sidonie’s arms tighten around him and he pulled her even closer.

Her breasts pressed against him, her hips welded to his, and his arousal was urgent and insistent. Damn her. He never lost it like this.

Wanting to punish her for something he wasn’t even sure of, Alexio cupped the back of her head and, as the throbbing beat of the music changed and got faster, bent his head and took her mouth in a bruising passionate kiss.

As if something was holding her back, Sidonie didn’t respond for a moment. Incensed by this, Alexio used every skill in his arsenal to make her respond—and when she did his blood ignited.

After long, drugging moments, Alexio struggled to drag himself away from Sidonie’s mouth.

He felt dazed. The music was faster now.

People were dancing around him. They were the only ones standing still.

She was slow to open her eyes. They looked slumberous, filled with hidden depths.

Filled with...emotion. Instantly Alexio waited for that cold feeling to infect him, but it didn’t.

Before he could feel any more disjointed he all but dragged Sidonie off the dance floor and back to the booth.

The food had been cleared away. They sat down and Alexio took a swig of champagne.

But it was no good. He couldn’t feel civilised sitting next to Sidonie with that provocative dress testing his control every time she moved.

He took her hand and she looked at him. Her mouth was swollen. Her eyes were huge, pupils dilated.

‘Let’s get out of here...’

She opened her mouth, paling slightly, as if she saw something in his expression that frightened her slightly. He felt feral.

‘But we only just got here.’

Alexio forced himself to calm down and tried not to think about the fact that when he usually came to a club with a woman it was a very different experience. He was usually a lot more in control.

Tightly he said, ‘If you don’t want to go we can stay...’

‘Why do you want to go?’ she asked, surprising him. Most women would have pouted or sidled up to him, trying to distract him, cajole him.

‘Because,’ he offered with brutal honesty, ‘I’m afraid if we don’t leave that I’ll get arrested for making love to you in front of an audience, and the last time I checked this wasn’t a sex club.’

‘Oh...’ Sidonie said, in a small voice barely audible above the music. She took a swift sip of her drink and then looked at him. She was all at once shy and confident—again that intriguing mix. ‘In that case maybe we should go...’