Page 9 of The Tycoon’s Affair: Tempted By Desire

Sidonie felt the press of people behind her, all looking to get home, and felt despair.

The official was already dealing with the next person and, despondent, Sidonie turned away.

She went back out through the main doors, half expecting to see Alexio still standing there with an imperious look on his face, but he and his car were gone and Sidonie felt absurdly like crying.

Why had she been so hell-bent on denying herself an evening with the most charismatic man she’d ever met? The ghost of her mother whispered to her, reminding Sidonie of her strong instinct to deny anything that was just for herself. She always had to work for it.

She’d vowed long ago not to be grasping like her mother, who had been oblivious to the pain of others around her—especially that of her husband, who had devoted his life to her in spite of the fact that she’d humiliated him publicly.

In spite of the fact that he’d always known that Sidonie wasn’t even his biological daughter.

And now she had a huge responsibility: Tante Josephine needed her support. She didn’t have the luxury of just thinking about herself. A small voice taunted her. But you could have had tonight. One night.

Sidonie felt a lurch as she thought of how for one second she’d almost given in to Alexio and said yes when he’d asked if she would change her mind.

The one thing that should have held her back was her aunt—but she had gone on her annual two-week holiday with a local charity group.

Sidonie had encouraged her to go, knowing it would take her aunt’s mind off things while she sorted herself out in Dublin.

For an exhilarating second Sidonie had remembered this and thought it might be possible.

..but she hadn’t seized the moment. Too afraid to throw caution to the wind and trust completely.

And it was too late now anyway. She looked down and saw her hand clenched around his card. Her belly flipped. She had an image of him on his way into London to his important meeting. He would have forgotten about her already. An aberration. She’d missed her chance. Maybe she’d even dreamt him up?

A hollow feeling made her ache inside. She turned around again and faced the door, steeling herself to go back into that throng. She would buy a seat on the next available flight and then she would find somewhere to stay—

‘Sidonie.’

Her heart slammed to a stop and the blood rushed from her head to her feet. It couldn’t be.

Sidonie forgot about the trolley and whirled around. Alexio was standing there, as gorgeous as she remembered. Not a dream. Shock mixed with relief and joy jumped in her belly.

‘What are you doing here? You were gone,’ she breathed, half afraid she was hallucinating.

Alexio’s mouth tightened as if he didn’t like admitting it. ‘I doubled back...just in case.’

Sidonie made a gesture behind her. ‘All the flights are full. A rugby match is on between England and Ireland. I can’t get home till the day after tomorrow at the earliest...’

‘So you’re stuck here at the airport? That’s unfortunate.’ His eyes were glinting with that dark humour again.

Incredible joy was bubbling up inside Sidonie. He’d come back. For her . He hadn’t forgotten about her.

She fought back the goofy grin threatening to erupt. ‘I was going to rebook my flight and then I was going to find somewhere to stay.’

Alexio put one hand in the pocket of his trousers. His jacket hung open. He was stunning, blinding. Mesmerising.

‘I happen to have a very spacious apartment here in London. If you were to agree to accompany me to dinner this evening I’d let you stay. And then I’d make sure you got home at the earliest opportunity.’

Warning bells went off in Sidonie’s head again but she ignored them. She was getting a second chance. She’d never thought she’d see this man again, because she would never have had the nerve to call him.

She made a mental decision and took a step into the terrifying and exhilarating unknown.

‘I’ll accept your offer.’

Something within her leapt to see his eyes flare and his cheeks darken with colour.

She held up a hand. ‘On one condition.’

‘What?’ he bit out, clearly impatient now.

‘That you allow me to buy dinner...for letting me stay with you.’

Sidonie had a mental image of her bank account and her already close to maxed-out credit card after the flights she’d had to take back and forth to Paris in recent months. She bit her lip.

‘Except I hope you like cheap Italian, because that’s about the best I can offer.’

Alexio stepped up to her and reached around to get her trolley, taking her small case off it as if it weighed nothing. He took her elbow in his hand and looked down at her, taking her breath away.

‘I’ll tell you what. We’ll eat in—that way we don’t have to worry about who’s paying.’

‘But...’ Sidonie spluttered ineffectually as he handed her into the back seat of his car.

He came around and got in the other side and then just looked at her, and it was so stern that she stopped.

‘Okay—fine. I get it,’ she said a little mutinously, ‘but I just don’t want you to think that I’m not grateful.’

Alexio issued a terse command in a guttural language and Sidonie saw the car’s privacy window slide up silently.

Then he was reaching for her and pulling her sweatshirt up and over her head before she had the wits to stop him.

When she emerged he had his hands in her hair, taking it out of its confines and making it fall down around her shoulders.

Then he plucked off her glasses—which weren’t doing much for her sight anyway.

She slapped at his hands ineffectually. ‘What do you think you’re doing?’

Sidonie hated that her whole body sizzled at his masterful actions, knowing she should be objecting vociferously.

He took her face in his hands, holding her still. Sidonie’s heart skipped and her breath stopped.

‘Much better,’ Alexio breathed approvingly, just before his head bent and his mouth met hers.

Sidonie groaned deeply, because from the moment she’d pulled away from that first kiss she’d craved this again. In her mind she ordered herself to stop thinking and gave herself up to the dark fantasy of Alexio Christakos, who had just turned her world upside down and inside out.

By the time they pulled up outside a huge, impressive building Sidonie felt completely flustered, aching and undone. Alexio’s tie was loose and he looked as feverish as Sidonie felt.

‘Come in with me. Wait for me.’

Sidonie’s mouth felt swollen. She wasn’t sure if her vocal cords worked any more.

She just nodded her head. It was as if in the space of the back of that car, in the space of the increasingly passionate kisses they’d shared, some indelible link had been forged between them.

She was loath to let him out of her sight.

He held her hand walking in, but Sidonie caught sight of her reflection and balked. She jerked in his grip and he looked down at her and raised a brow.

Sidonie blushed. ‘I don’t look exactly corporate .’

His hot gaze swept her up and down and he said throatily, ‘You look perfect.’

But Sidonie knew she was out of place in her chainstore tops, jeans and sneakers the moment the immaculate blonde receptionist sent her a look that could have frozen the Sahara.

When they emerged from the lift there was a veritable entourage of people waiting for Alexio.

Someone took his jacket and coat; someone else handed him a folder.

Someone else was on the phone. And then someone approached her and said, solicitously, ‘Miss Fitzgerald? If you’d like to follow me I can show you where you can wait. ..’

Sidonie was looking helplessly at Alexio, who glanced at her and then waved her off in the direction of her guide. He was already being spirited away in the opposite direction.

Sidonie was led down plush carpeted hallways. She saw the distinctive Christakos logo on the walls and blanched when she realised that this entire building must be his .

The young woman in a pristine trouser suit with her dark hair clipped back showed Sidonie into a palatial office with huge windows looking out over what seemed to be the whole of London. This had to be Alexio’s office, with its massive desk near the window.

The woman spoke with an accent that Sidonie guessed must be Greek. ‘Can I get you anything, Miss Fitzgerald?’

Sidonie looked at her and felt even more mussed up. ‘Er...maybe some tea would be nice?’

‘Of course. I’ll be right back.’ And she left and pulled the heavy door behind her.

Alexio’s scent was in the air, faint and tantalising. Exclusive. Masculine. Sexy . Sidonie took a deep breath in and walked over to the window to take in the view. It was spectacular, breathtaking.

She could see doors leading out to a terrace and opened them. She went out and was confronted with the real vista—not behind a plane of glass. It was in that moment that she had the full, gut-churning sense of the man she’d met only a few short hours before. He was one of the kings of the world.

‘Miss Fitzgerald?’

Sidonie whirled around to see the assistant hovering with a tray. She rushed forward, aghast, and took the tray from the startled woman. ‘I can look after it myself. Thank you so much.’

The woman backed away. ‘If you need anything else I’m just down the hall. Mr Christakos shouldn’t be too long, I heard him say he wanted to keep the meeting short.’

Sidonie’s belly somersaulted. Was that because of her ? She nodded her head and the woman left. Sidonie put down the tray. She didn’t want to sit at Alexio’s desk so she sat at a small coffee table on the other side of the room. She noticed that her hand was trembling when she poured the tea.

Lord. What was she doing here? Sitting in Alexio Christakos’s palatial office, waiting for him. He’d picked her up on a plane .