Page 34 of The Heir Affair

Because always assuming her life would just fall into place, that things would work out okay in the end, if she worked hard and kept her options open and didn’t let the doubts get her down, had also left her without a coherent plan now—because how exactly was she supposed to protect herself and her baby from kidnappers? When she didn’t even have enough money at the moment to get back to the UK, or fix the roof on her mum’s old cottage in Kent where she’d had some vague plan of living?

‘You will come back to Parádeisos with me, then?’ he asked, although it didn’t really sound like a question.

‘Yes, okay… Yes.’

‘Excellent…’ The fierce frown became an even fiercer smile. ‘I will have to work occasionally, but the island is beautiful at this time of year, and I have spent no time there. So I will make time to explore it with you.’

Before she had a chance to process his meaning, he skimmed a proprietorial finger down the side of her face. ‘And we can also enjoy more of the chemistry that created our baby.’

The familiar jolt of arousal hit all her erogenous zones at once.

‘No.’ She jerked away from his touch. ‘I… I don’t think us sleeping together is a good idea. It will just complicate things even more.’

‘How does this complicate anything?’ One eyebrow rose in a quizzical expression. Maybe she was—because the echo of pleasure from that morning was pulsing in those damn erogenous zones again too. ‘Surely this is the only thing which is very simple,’ he said. ‘We both enjoy making love to each other. And we are good at it.’

Except they wouldn’t be making love.

They’d be scratching an itch. Unfortunately, she was a lot less experienced at scratching those itches, and she’d certainly never scratched them with a man who could do it so well.

He wasn’t the first man she’d ever slept with, but he was the only one to make her forget everyone but him. She could so easily become addicted to his touch, his taste, the way he made her feel cherished and important while he was bringing her to orgasm with ruthless efficiency. He’d done it that morning, when, for a few precious, terrifying moments, he’d held her. And while she’d been steeped in afterglow, she’d almost fallen back into the trap of believing their spectacular connection meant something more.

She couldn’t afford to go there, especially now she was having his child.

After Fig Gate, she knew he could use their chemistry like a weapon against her. And remain aloof. If he ever found out exactly how fast and hard she had fallen for ‘Alex’, how easily she’d confused their physical intimacy that day for something else, and all the hopes and dreams she’d poured into a relationship that had never existed, she would be even more vulnerable than she was already.

But how to tell him she didn’t want to ‘enjoy their chemistry’ without him realising exactly how vulnerable their physical connection made her feel?

‘Honestly, I’m just pretty exhausted,’ she finally said, not honestly at all, because she was mostly over the fatigue that had hit during the early weeks of her pregnancy.

‘I see.’ His brow furrowed, but when twin flags of colour appeared on his cheeks, she knew she’d used the right tactic. Because for the first time since she’d met him, he looked unsure. ‘But you are well?’ he asked.

‘Absolutely. I’m fine.’ She dismissed the trickle of guilt that he had been concerned about her health. ‘But making a baby is a lot of work. It would be nice to take some downtime, a proper holiday… Just sit around the pool and concentrate on the baby-making when we’re not busy discussing stuff. And get lots of early nights.’

In truth, she couldn’t think of anything more tedious than sitting around a pool doing nothing—or more boring than going to bed early, because she’d always been a night owl.

But she could explore the island she loved while he was working, and if she recalled correctly—from when they’d crept into the palatial villa he’d built there—he had an impressive entertainment suite and a huge library. She’d just have to hope the games and films and books in there weren’t all in Greek. And that hopefully he’d be far too busy growing his already enormous shipping empire to notice she was busy avoiding him.

The crease on his brow became a chasm, and she had the disturbing thought he had already smelled a rat. But then the waiter arrived with a service trolley, laden with a mouth-watering array of local foods and an enormous pizza. The delicious scent of grilled mozzarella and garlic had her empty stomach growling loudly.

He sat back in his chair, still studying her with the intense scrutiny that made her feel totally transparent, while the waiter sliced up the pizza and reeled off the toppings the chef had added.

But once the server had left again, Xander’s sensual smile had heat eddying down to her core.

‘Eat,’ he said, his voice so husky it brushed over her skin like a caress. But as she lifted a slice to her mouth and bit into the heady combination of thin chargrilled bread, sweet tomatoes and creamy, chewy cheese, it wasn’t just the flavours of her first authentic Neapolitan pizza that had her whole body exploding with sensation. It was the intensity in his eyes as he watched her eat.

‘We must ensure you keep your strength up,’ he said as he helped himself to a slice of the pizza.

But as she watched him fold the slice and devour it with equal gusto, she had the strange feeling that, instead of keeping herself safe from any misguided emotions where the father of her baby was concerned with her white lie, she’d just thrown down a gauntlet to a billionaire player who never lost a challenge he wanted to win.

CHAPTER NINE

Three days later

‘I met yourprincess last night, Xander. She’s a lot more…intriguing than I was anticipating.’

Intriguing?Xander frowned at his brother over the video call. Why did that sound like a euphemism for something else entirely? And why did Theo look a lot less relaxed than usual?

‘She’s not my princess any more, Theo,’ he clarified, deciding not to question his brother further. Theo might be a player, but he was not the type to seduce virgins, especially not regal virgins who came with irate fathers attached.