Page 18 of The Tycoon’s Affair: Tempted By Desire

Relief and anticipation swept through Alexio as he grabbed for her hand and led her out of the booth—this time back to the VIP exit.

The return journey to Alexio’s villa in the car was torturous.

Sidonie was acutely aware of the thick sexual tension that enveloped them.

Alexio had looked so... primal back at the club.

She hadn’t had a chance of pretending everything was normal after that dance and after his bald declaration.

She’d wanted them to be alone as badly as he had.

Alexio looked at her now and lifted his arm for her to come close to his side.

Sidonie didn’t hesitate. She slid her arms around his hard-muscled torso and rested her head on his chest. Alexio’s hand found the hole in the side of her dress and sneaked underneath, climbing up until he could cup her breast, his fingers pinching a nipple.

Sidonie’s breath grew choppy. Between her legs she was embarrassingly wet.

By the time they reached the garage and he stopped the car Sidonie had to peel herself off Alexio.

He growled softly, ‘Where do you think you’re going?’

Sidonie stopped and looked at him. He had that look again, and it sent tremors of excitement into her blood. ‘Inside?’ she said hopefully, already imagining the huge bed.

Alexio shook his head and as he did so moved his seat back. ‘No time. I can’t wait. Take off your knickers.’

Sidonie’s eyes went very big when she saw Alexio’s hands go to his belt. He started undoing it. They were going to do it here. Right now. Heat washed up through Sidonie and her hands shook with need as she did as she was bid, sliding her panties off and down her legs.

When they hit the floor of the car Alexio reached for her and brought her over to straddle his lap. Sidonie’s heart was out of control as Alexio dragged her dress down to bare one creamy white breast, its nipple already hard and pouting flagrantly for his mouth and tongue.

She groaned out loud when he surrounded it in sucking heat and clasped his head.

Her hips were already grinding gently against his lap and the hard bulge she could feel there, still constrained by his trousers.

Feeling frustration build, Sidonie reached down, lifting up slightly, and almost wept with relief when she could feel Alexio’s naked arousal pushing against her where she ached.

When he thrust up and into her their mingled breaths were harsh in the quiet of the small space.

Sidonie could feel the steering wheel digging into her back, the gearshift against her knee, but she didn’t care.

Her body rose and fell against Alexio’s.

They were both so turned on and ready that their mutual completion shattered around them in minutes.

Sidonie could only sag against him afterwards, her mind a blissful blank of nothingness.

As dawn broke over the eastern side of the island and bathed the western edges in a pink glow Sidonie lay awake, with her cheek resting on Alexio’s chest. Despite their frantic coupling in the car as soon as they’d got back, their hunger for one another hadn’t been dented.

She knew he was awake too because she could feel the tension in his body.

The master bedroom of the villa, despite its vast airiness, felt like a cocoon around them.

Sidonie never wanted to leave this place, or this man.

For a second she resented the inevitable intrusion of reality and responsibility —and then felt immediately guilty when she thought of Tante Josephine.

Of course she couldn’t expect her aunt to deal with the debts incurred by her mother.

Sighing deeply, Sidonie snuggled closer to Alexio, hating how a shiver went down her spine, as if someone had just walked over her grave.

‘What’s wrong?’

Sidonie shook her head against him and whispered, ‘Nothing.’ Everything , she didn’t say.

A question she’d wanted to ask him for days rose up within her and, longing for a diversion from her own thoughts, she lifted her head and rested her chin on her hand against his chest.

He looked at her and she almost smiled at the wariness of him. As if she were some kind of unexploded device.

‘Can I ask you something?’

A small smile played around that gorgeous sexy mouth. ‘Do I have a choice?’

‘Not really,’ Sidonie said cheerfully, and then, ‘Why did you turn your back on your inheritance to make your own way?’

She’d asked him the question that first evening in his apartment but he’d deflected it easily. Now his face became inscrutable, and Sidonie prepared herself for another brush-off, but to her surprise his chest rose and fell in a deep sigh. As if he was giving in.

He said carefully, ‘You do know that if I tell you I’ll have to kill you?’

Sidonie nodded with mock seriousness. ‘I know. However, I feel like I’ve packed a lot into my twenty-three years, so I’m prepared to go if I have to.’

Alexio took some of her hair between his fingers and caressed it, saying, ‘Such a pity...but if you’re positive...?’

Mock resolute, Sidonie said, ‘I’m positive.’

Joking aside, Alexio lifted one shoulder and said, ‘It’s really not that exciting.’

‘I’m intrigued. It’s not many people who would turn their back on an Onassis-sized inheritance.’

Alexio grimaced. ‘The size of the inheritance was vastly exaggerated...’

Sidonie stayed quiet.

With clear reluctance Alexio told her, ‘I am my father’s only son.

Even though my half-brother grew up with us, my father used to taunt him every day that he would not receive a cent from him.

I always resented my father’s lack of generosity and the way he wielded his power over everyone else.

But I saw how it forged in my brother a will to succeed and prosper on his own.

I envied him because he wasn’t constrained like I was.

Bound to my father’s expectations. My father used to pit us against each other all the time, me and my brother. ’

Alexio grimaced.

‘Obviously this didn’t do our relationship much good, and by the time my brother left home it’s safe to say we hated each other’s guts.

My father just assumed I would be joining him in his empire.

He never listened to me long enough to know that I had no interest in his shipping business.

I rebelled against that expectation. The business wasn’t even his—not rightfully.

He was the second son and his brother had died at a young age, leaving him in line to take over.

His own father hadn’t wanted it for him, but my father grabbed it with both hands and ousted my grandfather as soon as he could. ’

Sidonie’s eyes grew wide. ‘But that’s so...’

‘Ruthless?’ Alexio interjected with a grim smile.

Sidonie nodded.

‘That’s my father’s way. To grab at things.

Take them. He wanted me to inherit and join him—but not as an equal, as someone he could control.

’ He sighed. ‘In the meantime I saw Rafaele, my brother, single-handedly resurrecting his own family name and business out of the ashes. All those years of rivalry were still in my blood—if he could do it so could I.’

Sidonie spoke softly. ‘So when your father expected you to follow in his footsteps you said no?’

Alexio looked into Sidonie’s clear eyes and felt in that moment as if he could just spill all the secrets in his guts and keep spilling. It was dangerous. Too dangerous. He stifled the impulse with effort.

‘I said no. And walked away. He disinherited me and now here I am.’

‘Probably more successful than he is...’

Alexio was surprised that she’d surmised that but it was true.

What he didn’t tell her, though, was how his success hadn’t given him any measure of satisfaction where his father was concerned.

It had never been about besting his father.

It had been about distancing himself from a man who had made him fear he had the same lack of emotional control in his own make-up.

Fear that he might be similarly greedy and never experience the thrill of making it on his own as his brother had.

Fear that he’d never get away from that sterile house full of tension and hatred. Violence .

He felt cold inside all of a sudden.

Just then Alexio’s mobile phone beeped on the nearby bedside cabinet. He reached for it and saw the text message icon winking. He opened it and saw it was from his solicitor.

I have information about your Miss Fitzgerald. Call when you get a chance. D.

Instantly something cold slithered into Alexio’s gut.

‘What is it?’ Sidonie asked with obvious concern.

Alexio put the phone back, face down, and looked at her. ‘Nothing important.’

Guilt warred with something much deeper inside him. Superstitiously he wanted to pretend he hadn’t just seen that text and that there wasn’t something dark lurking in the wings.

He came up and hovered over her, feeling that familiar heady rush of desire when he looked at her body, breasts bared and tempting. Her mouth was enticing him ever downwards, where he wouldn’t have to think about anything...for a little longer.

‘What did you just say?’ Alexio asked faintly.

He was stunned. The sun was high outside his villa’s office. His body was still humming in the aftermath of seriously pleasurable lovemaking and he couldn’t really compute this information.

His solicitor repeated himself. ‘Her mother went to jail for two years.’

Alexio went cold all over. ‘Jail? Why?’

Demetrius sighed. ‘I really wish I didn’t have to tell you this.

Her mother was prosecuted for stalking and blackmailing her married lover.

She’d been doing it for years, in ever increasing amounts.

It would appear that her husband, Miss Fitzgerald’s father, wasn’t making enough to keep her in the style to which she wanted to be accustomed.

Even though it also appears he did his best to try and keep both his wife and daughter in comfort and relative luxury. ’