‘Like it seemed obvious that I was going to change Tsaliki Shipping’s name?’ he dropped in casually.
‘Obvious to me,’ she agreed. ‘What else was there if you weren’t prepared to dismantle the whole organisation?’
‘Doesn’t it bother you at all? When it’s gone, your family name will diminish into nothing.’ Her brother Alexis had a multi-billion empire of his own but none of the businesses under its umbrella bore his name.
‘A little bit, but that’s more for my father’s sake than mine. He’s a lousy father, but he’s still my father and he built the business from the ground up. And I’m sorry but the Tsaliki name isn’t going to diminish into nothing, not for generations. I can imagine being in my nineties and people still associating my name with wildness and debauchery.’
He couldn’t disagree with that. Of all the Tsaliki offspring, Athena’s name was the one everyone knew. It didn’t matter what the truth behind the façade was—her reputation preceded her and she would carry it for the rest of her life.
Delevingnes was an upscale French restaurant in the heart of San Jose with a no-phones policy that meant patrons had to talk to each other rather than bury their faces in their screens. For a semi-formal business dinner, it was perfect, and Athena spent an age poring over the menu, mostly to avoid Diego Guardiola’s stare.
She’d seen the recognition in his eyes even before the introductions were made, seen the cynical smile that had played on his lips as he weighed her up. She knew his sort, and a few months ago she would have made eyes back and flirted outrageously with him, would have let him believe she wanted him and then taken great pleasure in stringing him along, followed in short order with dumping him.
It wasn’t just that she didn’t want to be that woman any more—and she didn’t—it was that she didn’t think she couldbethat woman now. The thought of even brushing cheeks with another man made her stomach turn.
The only person she wanted to flirt with was Draco. The only person she would ever want to flirt with was Draco. Unfortunately, the way they’d been placed around the cosy round table, with Draco two to her left, meant direct eye contact was difficult unless specifically looking at each other. It was Diego, sitting to Draco’s left, who was directly in front of her and, though the bulk of his conversation was with Draco, his stare rarely left her. It made her skin crawl.
Sandwiched between Grace and Diego’s PA Josefina, she felt like a spare wheel. Josefina spoke excellent English and spent the meal talking over Athena to pepper half-English Grace with questions about American working practices and customs in comparison to European ones and whether her boss should take the plunge as she was encouraging him to do and move his business to California.
Having zero interest in working time directives and corporate sustainability, Athena tuned them out, only perking up and zoning back in when she detected flirtation between the two women. Who knew a decent haircut and an eyebrow and moustache threading—Athena had pretended her non-existent one needed doing so Grace would feel more comfortable and natural doing hers—could give someone such instant confidence? Grace looked amazing and she knew it, and it had lifted her, making her glow from the inside out.
Maybe she could start her own makeover business, Athena mused. Take a dowdy, unconfident woman and coax her into being the best version of herself. She could work on Evangeline in the finance department next. She was quite sure Evangeline walked with her head bowed because she knew her clothes were all wrong for her and not because she was worried about tripping over her own feet. Next payday, she’d badger Evangeline into going shopping with her and steer her into the stores that catered for the fuller figure with more than racks of unflattering colour-clashing tents for their customers to choose from.
Yes, a makeover business could be feasible. She loved her art, but it was also a stress release and a way of expressing her bottled-up emotions. She didn’t want to make a career of it because then it would become work and all the things that made it special to her would be lost.
She had a very strong feeling that when the time came to say goodbye to Draco she’d need her charcoal more than ever.
The deal Draco was chatting through with Diego Guardiola could, if the stars aligned, be an incredibly lucrative one. However, if Diego didn’t stop looking at Athena as if he wanted to eat her, Draco might just give in to the urge to break his wrist, and then the only lucrative thing would be the lawyers’ fees when Diego sued him for assault.
He could understand why the Spaniard was taking such a blatant interest in her—Athena was beautiful, and that evening the V-necked purple wrap dress she wore showcased her spectacular figure while managing to be reasonably demure. She looked incredible. But just because he understood Diego’s interest did not mean he had to like it and he especially did not like the predatory nature of it.
It was when Athena had disappeared to the ladies’ and the coffee was being poured that Diego casually said in an undertone, ‘Is the Tsaliki girl staying at the Hemsworth?’
Draco’s hackles, already on alert, rose to red flag, but he didn’t let his amiable expression change, smoothly replying, ‘Athena is staying in my home as my guest.’
Diego looked him up and down. ‘Is that what you call it?’
‘Athena is my employee,’ he said through teeth he only just stopped himself from gritting.
Diego dropped his voice and leaned into him. ‘If she was my employee I’d move her into my house too. I hear she goes all night and then demands more for breakfast.’
Now his teeth did clench, and it took all his control not to clench his fists with them. ‘I can assure you, the stories you have heard about her are wide of the mark.’
‘I doubt it. That one has no morals. She seduced her brother-in-law.’
‘She doesn’t have a brother-in-law.’
‘Thanasis Antoniadis,’ Diego answered with a knowing smile. ‘He’s married to her stepsister. She was seen leaving his office weeks before the wedding. Rumour has it, he had lipstick on his collar.’
‘And where did this rumour originate, other than in the gutter?’ he asked icily.
‘Don’t shoot the messenger. I’m just relaying what I’ve heard and, from what I’ve heard, the rumours originate from within Antoniadis Shipping.’ He laughed. ‘You can’t be surprised by it—that slut will sleep with anyone.’
The anger that had been rising morphed into a scalding rage that pumped every muscle in his body and contorted his face into a snarl. Bringing his face right up to Diego’s, he spoke in a quiet, venomous tone. ‘You should know better than to repeat rumour as fact and if I hear you repeat it I’ll break your wrist, and if I ever hear you speak about Athena again in such a degrading way…if I even hear her name from your mouth… I’ll break your fucking neck.’
As he rose to his feet, ready to draw the waiter’s attention and tell him to give the bill to the Spanish bastard, he turned his head and saw Athena stock-still, barely two feet behind him. From the tightness of her features, her bat hearing meant she’d heard every word.
CHAPTER TWELVE
