Page 57 of Modern Romance Collection May 2024 Books 1-4

‘This...’ Heat came into her face. ‘Sex.’

The air seemed to throb with the tension between them.

Eventually Ajax said ‘So what, you’re saying you want more now? A real relationship? Love?’

‘Maybe...would that be so bad?’

‘I’ve told you I can’t offer that.’

‘I know.’ Erin felt hollow.

At Ajax’s stony expression she said, ‘Maybe we should just go back to New York?’

But he shook his head, ‘What about the event with my family? They should meet Ashling, at least.’

She wondered why, after everything she’d just said, she was feeling a sense of relief that he wasn’t agreeing to put her on the next plane out of Greece.

He said, ‘The event is this weekend. We’ll be travelling to another island not far from here for a couple of nights. In the meantime I’ll have my PR team assess the situation in New York—and, yes, I think you should be able to go back to New York after that.’

Erin looked at him. ‘I think that would be for the best. And then we can establish a routine that suits Ashling.’

Everything in Ajax was rejecting Erin’s, oh, so cool reaction to his proposal. He—Ajax Nikolau—had justproposed! But he realised in that moment how arrogant he had been to assume Erin would be impressed enough to collapse at his feet in a heap of acquiescence.

This was Erin. Had he learnt nothing?

But as for her assertion that they wouldn’t have sex again...

The thought made him feel feral. Dangerously unmoored.

How could she stand there and say that when the flush of their lovemaking was still on her skin? After that...conflagration? This woman uniquely had the ability to turn him from civility to primal instinctiveness within seconds.

She’d talked about love. Of course he didn’t love her. Theo’s death had almost destroyed him. He knew that if anything happened to Ashling it would destroy him all over again, but all he could do now was put blind faith in the universe not to be so cruel for a second time.

But as for Erin... The thought of allowing himself to feel for her what had almost destroyed him...

No.His blood went cold at the thought.

Erin was looking at him, waiting for a response. He could deal with everything else she’d said in time, but as forno sex...

He walked closer to her. Close enough to touch. He saw how her eyes widened and flared. The way the pulse beat hectically at her throat.

He said, as coolly as her, ‘I know this proposal has come as a bit of a surprise, and I wasn’t expecting to talk about this here...now... But I would just ask that you think it all over before making a final decision.’

Her jaw was tight. ‘Okay. Fine.’

Quickly, before she left, he said, ‘As for the other thing...not making love again... I’ve never forced a woman in my life and I’m not about to start. But if you think this is over between us, then you will have to prove you have the control to resist it.’

She went red in the face. Ajax imagined that if steam could come out of her ears it would. With that, he sauntered away and into the villa, leaving her standing there.

But it was a pyrrhic victory, because he was very much afraid that she would prove to have far more control than him.

A few days later, Erin was still stewing over Ajax’s parting bombshell after that cataclysmic moment in the pool. He’d all but dared her...told her that she couldn’t possibly hold out against him.

Luckily, she hadn’t been tested. Since that night he’d spent most of his time in his office, working, and had appeared only briefly for meals, or to play with Ashling—who was now his biggest fan.

Seeing her bonding with her father made Erin both delighted and terrified at once. Because with every day that their bond deepened and became stronger the stakes were rising. And if he ever walked away from Ashling...

And the proposal. Had that really happened? Or had she dreamed it? In any case, it hadn’t been a proposal—not in any romantic sense. It had been a proposition:We get on, we have a kid, we should get married.

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