Page 15 of Modern Romance Collection May 2024 Books 1-4

The sudden blast of a siren outside reminded him of something. He glanced at his watch and cursed silently. He looked at Erin. ‘I have to go—I have a business dinner this evening. But we’re not done talking about this.’

Erin said, ‘I can meet you when it’s convenient.’

Ajax held out a hand. ‘Give me your phone.’

She retrieved it wordlessly from her bag on a chair, unlocked it and handed it over. Ajax gave it back after a few seconds.

‘You have my number now. Text me so I have yours. I’ll be in touch.’

Within seconds Ajax was gone, seemingly taking all the air in the room with him. Erin went to the window and opened it, sucking in a deep breath. She saw Ajax emerge onto the street below and cross the road, and how the driver hopped out to open the back door of a his car. Ajax slid in and the gleaming silver SUV moved away into the Manhattan traffic.

Erin let out a shuddery breath. So now he knew.

He still wants you.

She shook her head to negate that assertion. He might have come looking for her on a whim, but there was no doubt that the discovery of a daughter he’d known nothing about had doused any desire he still felt.

Erin turned from the window and sent a simple text to Ajax.

Erin.

She got one back almost immediately—a terse acknowledgement.

I’ll be in touch.

She had no idea what to expect next. She didn’t really know Ajax Nikolau at all. In spite of their intimacies. In spite of watching him at work over those intense few weeks. He was as good as a stranger. A stranger who was one of the most powerful men in the world.

And the father of her child.

She was bound to him irrevocably, for life, no matter what happened. But she was determined not to let Ajax upend their lives to suit him. Whatever was coming, she would be prepared.

‘Mr Nikolau is ready to see you now.’

Erin took a deep breath and stood up. It was strange to be back in the building where she’d worked with Nikolau’s legal team. And where, a few floors above them, she and he had—

No, not going there now.

She straightened her suit jacket and flicked an invisible speck of dirt off the silk shirt that was tucked into slim-fitting pencil trousers. She couldn’t look more professional—even if she was quivering inwardly. The briefcase she carried felt as if it weighed a ton, even though it only held paper.

Ajax’s assistant opened the door to his office, standing back to let Erin through. The woman had barely acknowledged Erin, apart from saying the minimum required to greet her and ask her to wait for a few minutes.

Erin stepped over the threshold and it took her a minute to orientate herself. She’d forgotten how big his office was. He was standing at the very far end, near a massive desk, in front of windows that took in a truly intimidating view of downtown Manhattan.

He was wearing a shirt tucked into dark trousers. No tie. Sleeves rolled up. It was one of the things that had appealed to her about him from the start—he was a man who was happy to get stuck into things. It had surprised her, because men at his level usually left it to their minions to do the work, but he’d wanted to be over every little nut and bolt of the negotiations.

And now that memory struck a shard of fear into her. Would he be the same when it came to his daughter? It had been a week since she’d last seen him. He’d sent a curt text the day before yesterday, telling her to give him a couple of options of times for meetings, and now here she was.

The sun was setting over Manhattan behind him, bathing the iconic city in a golden light. But all Erin could see was him. Tall and formidable.

‘Come in.’

What had seemed like a great distance between them now felt minuscule as Erin crossed the luxuriously carpeted floor. She stopped at the other side of the desk. He couldn’t have looked more stern and remote. A million miles from the charming man who had come to her apartment to seduce her again. Now his light eyes were like two chips of ice. She felt it in her blood. Making her cold.

A moment stretched between them, taut with tension. But Erin wasn’t going to say anything until he spoke.

Eventually he asked, ‘Who is minding the baby?’

The baby.

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