‘All right,’ he growled, all the reasons as to why this was a bad idea wiped out by thoughts of what lay ahead, which accelerated his pulse and hardened his body. ‘Fine. Just one night.’

With one last dark, smouldering glance in her direction, Leo hit the button in the panel again and said in Greek something that Willow supposed went along the lines of ‘Change of plan—drive us to my house,’ and swamped her with relief.

The intended outcome of their conversation had been touch-and-go for a while. Leo had put up quite the opposition, although she had no idea why. She obviously had limited experience, but how many men turned down the offer of no strings attached sex? Not many, she was willing to bet.

But whatever had been going in his head, he’d succumbed in the end. Her instinct, which had told her she hadn’t imagined the heat of the kiss and that despite his accusations of harassment he really didn’tcome across as the sort of man who could be coerced into doing anything he didn’t want to do, had been right. Embracing tenacity instead of deliberating for too long and losing one’s nerve was definitely the way forward.

Leo was broodingly silent as the sleek car slid smoothly through the dark streets of the city. He stared out of the window, tight of jaw and rigid of body, although whether that was because he was still annoyed at the result of the conversation or simply didn’t trust himself to look at her was anyone’s guess.

Willow tried to settle into the seat, but she was so aware of him, of every breath he took and every move he made, that it was impossible to relax. Her imagination, even though it had nothing to base anything on, was running riot. If not for the presence of the clearly unflappable Stavros on the other side of the partition she’d have scooted over to Leo’s side of the seat and made a start on the night ahead already.

‘So where are we going?’ she said, partly to cut through the sizzling tension, partly because it was a question she should probably have asked earlier.

‘Kolonaki,’ he muttered, his gaze fixed on the world of elegant shadowy buildings and bright city lights beyond the window. ‘I have an apartment there.’

‘Is it far?’

‘Ten minutes.’

Willow shivered. A ten-minute build-up and then, pow! She could hardly wait. ‘Where’s home?’ she asked, deciding that time might pass more speedily with conversation than silence, however sticky.

‘Santorini.’

‘Have you lived there for long?’

‘A couple of years. On and off.’

‘Selene said the business has offices all over the world.’

‘Hundreds of them.’

‘As CEO you must travel a lot.’

‘I do. Tomorrow evening, I’m flying to New York.’

‘Don’t worry,’ she said, getting the message loud and clear. ‘I’ll be long gone by then. What are you doing there?’

‘Discussing a merger.’

‘From one merger to another.’

He slid her a heavy-lidded glance that fired every nerve ending she possessed. The most devastating smile played at his mouth, a glint appeared in his eye, and suddenly her stomach was flipping about all over the place. ‘Quite.’

‘So,’ she said, scolding herself for responding so absurdly to a mere glint and a smile. ‘Is there anything you want to know about me?’

‘Are you always this nosy?’

She wasn’t, but she didn’t much care. Conversation was not only passing the time, it was also keeping her nerves under control, which was a bonus. ‘Only with men I’m going to sleep with.’

‘And is that a common occurrence?’

It wasn’t an occurrence at all. Which was something she should probably admit. Leo had to be far more experienced than she was so he was bound to realise at some point that she hadn’t a clue what she was doing. Surely it would be better to clarify the situation and neutralise any issue he may have with it now than in the midst of the action.

‘No.’ She took a deep breath and mentally braced herself for what was no doubt going to be a pretty excruciating conversation. ‘In fact, this is a first for me.’

There was a beat of silence. The arch of an eyebrow. And then, ‘What do you mean?’

‘I’ve never done this before.’