Page 24 of Greek's Temporary "I Do"

Helena swallowed, genuinely incapable of speech in that moment. Panic swelled and her heartbeat thundered in her ears. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Of all the people they could have run into.

‘Mina,’ Leo greeted through clenched teeth. ‘What are you doing here?’

They were going to be found out. There was no way that Mina would let them leave without creating the biggest scene she possibly could.

‘Don’t be silly, Leander, you’re not the only one who moves in these circles.’

It took a moment for Helena’s brain to catch up because she genuinely couldn’t believe the woman that Leo had been engaged to couldn’t tell the difference between him and Leander.

‘Just because your brother doesn’t deign to come down off his lofty mountain to have some fun, doesn’t mean that I don’t. But Helena?’ she said, still directing her conversation to Leo, as if even now she was beneath Mina’s consideration. ‘Of all people, you chose to marry her?’

‘I’m sitting right here, Mina,’ she said as calmly as she could, but her pulse was wildly erratic and her hands fisted.

‘Yes, you are. But I don’t understand why,’ she dismissed with a shrug. ‘Everyone knew you had a silly schoolgirl crush on Leo.’

Humiliation crawled up Helena’s skin in angry inches, hating that Leo was sitting right there hearing everything she said. ‘That was a long time ago. Things change.’

Leo cursed. There had been a time when Mina was the woman he’d wanted to spend his life with, to have a family with. Back then, he’d found her avarice amusing; it had been tempered by youth and her insecurity was much better hidden. But age had only made her worse. And that she couldn’t even tell that it was him was shocking.

Mina’s jealousy of Helena was as blatant as it was unpleasant. Looking back, he remembered the shame and embarrassment he’d felt at the conversation they’d had that last Christmas the two families had spent together before Helena’s father had died. At the time he’d thought the feeling was because of his awareness of Helena’s feelings for him. He now realised in a shocking moment of self-revelation that he’d been embarrassed by Mina. And himself, for letting her say the things that she’d said. His stomach turned and he looked at Mina, truly looked at her, trying to find some semblance of the young woman he’d spent nearly three years of his life with, but he found that there was nothing of her left.

‘Things don’t change that much, Lena,’ Mina spat.

‘Don’t call her that.’ His tone was as definitive and unquestionable as his swift and sudden dislike of her use of the nickname for Helena that only he had ever used. And from the look on Mina’s face, she didn’t like it one bit. He should have known that she’d turn on Helena in response.

‘So, when you couldn’t get your hands on Leo you settled for the “other” Liassidis instead?’ she threw at Helena.

Leo barked a laugh and leaned back into the sofa. ‘Other? There’s nothing other about me, darling,’ he said, perfectly impersonating his brother.

‘I. Don’t. Believe. It,’ Mina said, leaning forward, wafting alcohol over them with every word. She was drunk, Leo realised. Very drunk. ‘Whatever this is,’ she slurred, ‘I hope you get found out.’

Warning her to keep her voice down wouldn’t work in the slightest. But he couldn’t let her run around thinking or, worse, saying this to others. He just had to make her believe it.

‘There’s nothing to find out, Mina. This is the woman I have pledged to love for the rest of my life. And I intend to do just that,’ he said, reaching for Helena and hauling her into his lap, facing him.

The look of surprise on Helena’s face lasted a breath’s length before understanding dawned in her gaze. He raised an eyebrow in query. If she wasn’t with him in this, he’d leave her alone, he’d stop the charade and leave the club that very moment.

Subtly, Helena nodded and with his eyes on Mina’s over Helena’s shoulder, he brought her closer and deeper into his lap with his hands on her backside.

Helena pressed her lips together as if trying to control her response to him, but there was no controlling his response to her.

Slowly, so very slowly, he leaned towards her, wanting to give Helena time to stop him if she needed to. But she didn’t. He became aware of the scent of her perfume, something heady and full of citrus, teasing his senses just as much as the heat of her body against his.

His lips were mere inches from hers and Mina no longer existed. The busy, crowded bar receded, the blood rushed in his ears and his heart pounded in his chest so violently he feared the world would hear it.

Want.

He could lie to himself, justify a kiss with the need to keep up the pretence, but he wanted this. He wanted her.

His lips met Helena’s in what was supposed to be just a kiss. But there was nothing ‘just’ about it. It exploded through his body, his lips not content with a simple press, as he gently teased and prised her mouth open to his. Her gasp—surprise or pleasure, he wasn’t sure—poured into his mouth and he was done.

He pulled back, shocked, trying to understand what was happening, but the sight of Helena staring up at him, wide-eyed, flushed and kiss drunk, meant he couldn’t have held back for the world. He claimed her mouth again just as Helena’s hands came to his jacket, clinging to the lapels as if needing an anchor.

Bringing his hand to cup her jaw, he angled her to him and took full advantage of the position. Open-mouthed, his tongue claimed her, thrusting deep into a soft, wet heat that was instantly addictive. He plundered like a Neanderthal, while holding himself back with a ruthlessness that bordered on masochism. She became fire in his arms. Heat and passion rippled between them like a wildfire and it was only the desire to do so much more that brought him to his senses.

CHAPTER SIX

HELENA’S HEART POUNDED as if she’d run a marathon. Breath heaved in and out of her chest. Every part of her was vibrating at an almost invisible level, but altogether it made her whole being hum at a frequency that only Leo could ignite.

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