‘But not the lobby,’ he reminded her grimly.
She closed her eyes, remembering the way they’d seemingly embraced for minutes, bodies melded together in an undeniably intimate fashion.
‘No,’ she whispered.
‘Then you can’t cross your fingers and hope he won’t find out. He’ll see the photos.’
She worried her lower lip between her teeth, anxiety spiralling through her.
‘The world will see the photos, and your name will be linked to his. It’s impossible to avoid, I’m afraid.’
Her gut rolled, because he was right.
‘You have two options, Genevieve.’
‘Really? I feel like I have zero options.’
He crouched down in front of her. ‘Don’t do that.’
She blinked at him.
‘Don’t give up. You survived being capsized during a brutal storm then hiked for miles in the pouring rain, scaling cliff faces in a dark, unfamiliar forest. Not to mention two nights in a cabin with me. You are a fighter. Don’t let that piece of shit make you forget it.’
Her heart twisted at that. His words, and his vision of her. It was so warming, so uplifting, she found herself almost forgetting the nightmare of her situation, simply so she could revel in the way he saw her.
‘The cabin with you was really no hardship,’ she felt compelled to say.
He squeezed her legs. ‘Either you face up to him, and suffer the consequences. On your own, if you insist,’ he said, before she could argue. ‘Or you let me help you.’
Her heart twisted as she shook her head. ‘I can’t, Nikos. We barely know each other.’
His expression darkened. ‘That is not how I would characterise our relationship.’
‘That’s because you’re a hermit,’ she muttered. ‘And help me how? I don’t want your money.’
‘I willloanyou the money,’ he said. ‘And you can pay me back whenever you’re ready. I cannot see it’s any worse than owing him.’
She shook her head. How could she make him understand? She didn’t want to owe anyone anything. ‘Even if you did, he’d still go to the press about Dad. Don’t you get it? He’s got me over a barrel. He always did.’
A muscle ticced in his jaw. ‘Yes,’ he said, after a beat. ‘Which is why we’ll get engaged.’
If she’d been drinking, she would have spat it out. She spluttered her surprise, coughing because then she lost her breath.
‘I amnotmarrying you. Or anyone. Ever. No way.’
‘I have no intention of getting married either.’
She blinked at him through the tears her shortness of breath had produced. ‘I don’t understand.’
‘Being engaged is not the same thing as getting married. We’ll enter into a fake engagement, so your husband knows that if he messes with you, he gets me, too.’
She stared at him with total shock. It was not, in fact, the worst plan she’d heard. Knowing James, the misogynistic jackass, as she did, only the presence of someone bigger, stronger and richer would ever have a chance in hell of cowering him. While she absolutely despised the reality of that, she knew it to be the case. If she took option A, and confronted him alone, she had no doubt James would let all hell break loose. Including humiliating her father’s memory, for the sake of it.
But with Nikos apparently in her life and by her side, she doubted James would be stupid enough to do anything.
‘I can’t ask you to do that,’ she said, shaking her head, even as the possibility spread through her.
‘You are not asking. I am suggesting it. If I thought it appropriate, I would insist upon it, but it would be better for both of us if you came to the decision yourself.’
