Page 13 of Greek's Temporary "I Do"

‘Don’t be so juvenile, Leo.’

‘I want—the board wants—you to sell back your shares and leave Liassidis Shipping completely. And then? I want never to see you again.’

More words and more anger had filled the room that night, all of which had been shocking to the sixteen-year-old, already grieving Helena, so much so that she rarely thought about it. Leander had been the only member of the Liassidises to keep in touch with her afterwards. Helena had sometimes wondered if it had started to spite Leo, but theirs was a true friendship, a bond that had strengthened into one of love. Just not that kind of love.

In her heart, she’d always believed that Leander and Kate would make the perfect couple but, despite all her best intentions to get the two together, they had only met last week when she and Kate had travelled to Greece for the wedding.

But they’d had such a great week together, Helena thought. So she couldn’t understand what had caused Leander to disappear. It hurt that he’d not been able to tell her. Leander was her friend, one she loved like a brother. Yet, instead, he’d chosen to rely on the person he hadn’t spoken to for five years.

‘And now we welcome Mr and Mrs Liassidis to the dance floor for their first dance as husband and wife!’ exclaimed the wedding planner, pulling her awkwardly back to the present.

Leo had stood and was gesturing her towards the dance floor and suddenly she wanted to be anywhere but here. She didn’t care about the money, she didn’t care if she failed as the charity’s CEO. She just couldn’t be this close to Leonidas Liassidis, who had made it painfully clear how much he disliked even the thought of touching her.

But she didn’t have a choice.

They approached the dance floor as the opening bars of At Last by Etta James played out across the reception hall and she determined to get through it without incident. But when she placed her hand in his and he slipped his arm around her waist, his palm splaying delicately at her back, a shiver rippled through her. He couldn’t have missed it, yet his focus was firmly, almost disdainfully, on the guests.

And, just like that, she was a fifteen-year-old girl again and he was the older boy she had a crush on. The one whose girlfriend had spat venom and caused her friend to become a cold stranger. One who couldn’t bear to even look at her.

‘And you thought I was going to be the one having trouble keeping up this façade,’ he whispered and it was all the warning she got before he pulled her against his chest, much to the tittering delight of the guests watching.

Her breasts pushed against his firm chest, the outline of his body indelibly inked on her skin, the heat of his palm on her back pressing her gently against him, keeping her there even if she could have pulled herself back.

How could her body betray her so? Her pulse leapt to his touch, arousal filling her core with an ache that was indecent. She leaned back to glare up at him but was struck by the unflinching intensity in his gaze. His eyes glowed, shards of gold pulsing deep within the rich mahogany of his gaze.

Could it be that he felt it too? The wicked energy in the air between them. The want.

In response to the shift in their positions, his hand curved around her ribcage, the tips of his fingers perilously close to the underside of her breast. She felt the flush of heat on her cheeks and hoped that no one could see as he bent his head to the shell of her ear.

‘Just think of all the money I’m going to give you,’ he whispered, returning her earlier taunt back to her. And, just like that, whatever sweet heat had built in her body flamed to ash. He had misread her body’s reaction as anger? Had she been fool enough to misread his anger as something else entirely?

Perhaps it was better that way, because he was right. She did need to think of the money he was going to give her. Money that she would use to save the charity that had once saved her. She used that thought to give her strength. She needed to get access to those shares. And to do that she needed this marriage to seem real.

Leo clenched his jaw, bracing against the impact of soft, warm hands on his body. He might not remember the last time he’d held a woman like this, but he knew it hadn’t felt so...incendiary.

He’d not quite been able to give his trust to another woman after the breakdown of his engagement to Mina, but that hadn’t stopped him from engaging in mutually pleasurable affairs with women who valued discretion and honesty.

Helena was as far from those two things as he could imagine. But as she pressed one hand against his heart and raised the other to curl her fingers in his hair, his body didn’t care that it was a calculated move for appearances’ sake.

And his mind and heart wrestled between pulling her closer and pushing her away.

He risked a glance down at her, a flash of silver catching his attention. He nearly tripped when he caught sight of the silver necklace Helena wore.

‘Leo...’ Helena whispered, her grip tightening on his hand.

Pasting on a bright smile for the guests, he shrugged and twirled her away from him and back to buy his racing thoughts some time to calm.

‘What is it?’ Helena asked, settling back into the rhythm of the music, her face flushed from the dance.

‘I’m surprised you’re wearing that today.’

Helena’s gaze snapped back to his, holding just a little too long before she looked away, cutting him off before he could discern her thoughts.

‘My necklace? Why wouldn’t I? It was a gift. From Leander.’

From Leander?

And, just like that, he remembered. He remembered how his brother, at home during one of his rare visits since he’d left, had ended up claiming responsibility for the Christmas present he’d bought the fifteen-year-old Helena all those years ago.

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