Page 28 of The Tycoon’s Affair: Tempted By Desire

Alexio blocked out the voice with an effort.

He couldn’t believe he’d told Sidonie everything last night.

The darkest, dirtiest secret of his father’s violence.

He’d never even told Rafaele about that.

He’d never forget his mother’s beautiful face, bruised and battered.

But she hadn’t cried out. She hadn’t let him help.

She’d put him from the room and closed the door and contained the incident. Always so cold, so frigid.

He could feel the remnants of the same rigidity that he’d learned from her in him, and also the desire to let it loosen.

He thought of everything Sidonie had told him last night.

He believed her. He wanted to believe her.

But some deep part of him was clinging to the tentacles of the past like a drowning man clinging to a buoy.

One thing was for sure: there was no way she could not agree to the fact that Alexio was going to be an integral part of her life from now on—and his daughter’s.

When Sidonie woke the following morning her whole body felt deliciously lethargic and sated. And then her eyes opened and horror coursed through her. Alexio . She’d begged him to make love to her last night like some kind of lust-crazed wanton.

She cringed. But then she recalled their conversation and that sensation of something giving way inside her, melting. In the cold light of day, and after what had happened last night, Sidonie couldn’t keep pretending to herself that she hated Alexio. Far from it.

She’d fallen for him on Santorini—if not as early as that first night in London.

Who was she kidding? she castigated herself.

She’d probably fallen for him on that plane, before they’d even kissed.

And, yes, she’d hated him for the way he’d treated her, but she’d really never stopped falling for him.

And after what he’d told her about his mother and his father... It didn’t excuse him, but it made her weak heart want to empathise with how a man had become so cynical at such a young age and never had any experience to counteract that.

No wonder he’d checked himself and doubted what was going on between them if he’d never allowed a woman that close before...

Feeling dangerously dreamy all of a sudden, Sidonie got out of bed and took a shower, all at once eager to see Alexio and cursing herself for having left his bed because she’d felt so raw and exposed.

Since he’d come back into her life he’d done nothing but support her, and had taken the news of her pregnancy on board with admirable equanimity.

And what had she done? Thrown everything back in his face.

..scared in case he got close enough to see how deep her feelings ran for him.

Scared in case he’d see how flimsy that hatred was because she knew she still loved him and hated her own weakness.

He’d paid off the debts to ease her aunt’s mind and to take the burden of pressure off her . And even though that still made Sidonie feel uncomfortable she knew that he’d undoubtedly done it out of concern for her health and the baby’s.

Those debts were a drop in the ocean for him, But she was still concerned enough to make a case for paying him back. The thought of just letting him pay off debts her mother had been responsible for made Sidonie feel faintly ill.

But after last night—surely something had shifted between them? Maybe something of what they’d had before hadn’t been irretrievably lost...?

Sidonie’s heart beat fast at that. Maybe the lines of communication could be a little more open now. Surely he would respect her desire to pay him back?

When Sidonie went in search of Alexio and found him reading a newspaper at the breakfast table she had a smile on her face. It soon faded, though, when he looked at her with a cool expression, his face unreadable.

‘Good morning.’

‘Morning...’ she said faintly, wondering if this clean-shaven epitome of elegance in a dark suit and shirt was the same man who had driven her to the brink of her endurance three times last night.

Now she didn’t feel so bad about leaving his bed.

The sense of rawness and vulnerability was back with a vengeance.

The housekeeper who worked for a few hours every day, preparing meals and cleaning the apartment, bustled in with breakfast for Sidonie and she sat down silently.

The doctor had recommended a diet full of nutrients to help her get back on her feet but she couldn’t stomach anything now. She felt a little sick.

‘Okay?’ Alexio’s question was cool.

Sidonie nodded and avoided his eye, picking at the food. It was as if nothing had happened.

He finished his coffee and put his paper down. ‘We should talk...’ he said.

Sidonie gave up pretending to try and eat and pushed her plate away slightly.

She looked at him and wished she could block out the images from the previous night.

The way he’d looked so intense... And she wished she could block out her feelings too, but it seemed as if now she’d admitted how she felt to herself she’d opened a dam.

‘Talk about what?’

Alexio looked serious. ‘About us...where we go from here.’

Something went cold inside Sidonie. She’d imagined a conversation like this, but not with Alexio sounding as if he was about to discuss profits and losses. Foolishly she’d imagined something altogether more passionate.

In her silence, he clarified, ‘We can’t go on in this state of limbo... You’re feeling better. I have to get back to work. We need to figure out the logistics.’

Limbo . Was that what he thought last night had been about? While Sidonie had been realising how much she loved him?

She slid out of her chair and stood up. Alexio stood too, instantly dwarfing her. She moved back.

‘I don’t think I’m quite getting your meaning.’

His hands curled around the back of his chair. ‘What I’m talking about is where we’ll live—how we will proceed. I’ll have to buy a new house, of course. The apartment isn’t suitable for a baby... Or maybe you want to be here? Near to your aunt?’

Sidonie’s mouth had fallen open at the way he’d laid everything out so starkly. There was no emotion involved. She recovered her wits and felt anger rising at his cool arrogance.

‘This baby is not logistics —it’s a baby. Our daughter.’

Those words pricked her heart. She put her hands on her belly, the by now nearly constant fluttering comforting her.

‘I don’t expect us to proceed anywhere. I do expect me to go on with my life, though.’

Alexio looked every inch the powerful tycoon in that moment. ‘This isn’t up to you, Sidonie. You will allow me to provide for you and the baby.’

Sidonie cursed herself for ever having cast him in the role of benign benefactor. Emotions bubbled over. Enough for the both of them.

‘Her name is Belle. Not the baby . And I stupidly thought that after last night something had changed...that—’ She stopped and cursed herself silently. She’d said too much.

Alexio looked disgusted. ‘Our daughter is not going to be called Belle—what kind of a name is that?’

Sidonie replied faintly, ‘It’s Tante Josephine’s favourite name.’

She felt dazed at how na?ve she’d been. Again . Nothing had changed.

That green gaze narrowed on her. ‘You thought what had changed?’

Sidonie shook her head, feeling sick at how she’d almost given herself away. Disgusted with herself for allowing some confessional conversation and some hot sex to melt away her feelings of anger. She’d only ever been a transitory visitor through Alexio’s bed. And now he was stuck with her.

‘Nothing. I’m not doing this, Alexio—committing to some sterile arrangement just for your benefit.’

‘We desire each other. Last night proved that beyond a doubt.’

Sidonie felt as exposed as if he’d just stripped her naked. A few hours ago he had.

Lifting her chin, she said tautly, ‘That was hormones.’

Alexio looked comically confused for a moment. ‘Hormones?’

Sidonie nodded, desperate to convince him that he had it wrong. ‘It’s in my pregnancy book—you can read about it. It’s very common for pregnant women to feel more...’ Sidonie faltered. In spite of her best efforts she blushed fiercely. ‘More...amorous. It’s because of all the extra blood.’

The confusion left Alexio’s face and now he looked livid. A muscle throbbed in his temple. ‘Hormones...? Extra blood ? That was chemistry—pure and simple.’ He was almost roaring now. ‘Are you trying to tell me that any man would have done to satisfy your urges last night?’

Sidonie’s face burned, but valiantly she affected as much insouciance as she could and with a small shrug reiterated, ‘I’m just telling you what’s in my pregnancy book.’

Alexio’s face was rigid with rejection, and even she felt the sting of her conscience.

‘You wanted me as much as I wanted you. There might have been extra hormones involved, but it was inevitable.’

Sidonie cursed silently. So much for hoping to convince Alexio that any man would have done. As if . Even now she wanted him, in spite of his being so arrogant that she wanted to hit him.

Sidonie clenched her hands into fists and glared at him for making her love him. For making her want him. For humiliating her.

‘Nothing has changed, Alexio. We’re exactly where we were when you arrived in Paris. The only difference now is that I owe you money instead of a bank.’

Alexio looked livid again. ‘Stop saying that. You owe me nothing. I want to try and make this work, Sidonie.’

Sidonie felt bitter. ‘ This is not a car, Alexio. And I can tell you that it’s not working.

Desire or no desire. That’s not enough. I won’t allow you to put me and our daughter up like some kind of discarded mistress and her child.

I am not a sponger. I will work to pay my way for me and my child, like millions of other women around the world. ’

Alexio’s mouth was a tight line of displeasure. ‘Millions of other women around the world haven’t had the sense to fall pregnant by a billionaire.’