Page 56 of Seduced By Contract

"I don't want to be to you what all the others were. Like there's some kind of relationship checklist: jewelry, check; new clothes for my temporary woman, check. I'm not a doll, Zeus. I don't care about presents; I just want the time we spend together to be good."

I crouch down again to pick up the bag, and after taking a pair of panties from my backpack, I rush into the bathroom.

"Are you wearing a bikini underneath?" he asks as I descend the marble staircase.

"No. Just panties."

His eyes flick to my breasts because the dress obviously reveals that I'm not wearing a bra. "You look beautiful, but we're going on a boat."

"I'll go back upstairs to get the bikini."

"Or you can just be naked on the yacht."

I don't know if he's joking. If I had to guess, I'd say yes, but his eyes tell me he'd like me to be naked all the time.

"Hmm . . . tempting, but I don't think I'm that brave." Instead of going back up the stairs, I walk over to him. "I don't want to fight. I mean, we'll argue from time to time because both of us have difficult temperaments, but I don't know if I made myself clear when I said those things upstairs."

"I’ve never bought clothes for a woman, Madison. It didn't even cross my mind. I wasn't celibate before you. I've had many women but nothing involving a relationship beyond dinner and the bedroom."

My foolish heart races because, although the little jealousy bug gnaws at me inside, Zeus is trying to tell me something.

"I'm not demanding promises. I understand that I'm just another lover in your life, but you'll never be just another lover to me; you're my first everything. I just want the time we spend together to be special." I look down, embarrassed at having exposed myself like that, to risk him thinking I'm a needy fool.

He lifts my chin. "I've never experienced anything like what's happening between us, so when it comes to being just another lover to me, nothing could be further from the truth."

We gaze at each other in silence, and I'm the first to break eye contact because I know how dangerous believing in words can be. So as much as I want to jump into his arms, I flee for the second time this morning to get my bikini.

"I'm definitely a fish," I say, climbing the steps of the yacht after my tenth dip in the sea.

The afternoon is fading, but I begged him not to return to the shore just yet.

"Do you want to spend the night on the boat?"

"Can we?"

"We can do anything."

"Is that because you’re Zeus Kostanidis, the king of the gods?"

"That too," he says with the arrogance that I'm increasingly captivated by, "but mostly because I don't want to share you with anyone."

My heart races, and though I try to fight the effect of his words on me, I can't.

"We're alone," I say, as if what he just said was no big deal.

"But sometimes people from the neighboring properties show up, and I don't feel like having my friends drooling over you."

“I don’t even know how many eyerolls that comment deserves. First of all, I have men looking at me every night, and I’ve never desired any of them.”

He grimaces in disgust but then extends his hand to me. "Come here."

"I'll get you all wet."

"I don't give a damn. I want to hold you for a bit."

I'm crossing a line I set for myself by snuggling in his arms. In my self-preservation pact with myself, I promised that my time with Zeus would be about pleasure only. When he holds me like he’s doing now, with my back against his chest and his arms around me, I feel cared for, and I'm scared of becoming dependent on it.

"What would you do if you didn't have to work at the club?"

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