Page 14 of Virgin's Night with the Greek

She lowered a hand to the waistband of his trousers and tugged at his shirt. He brushed her nipple with his thumb and she nearly jumped out of her skin. She was trembling with need, mindless with desire, completely ready to sink to the floor with him and take that risk she’d always feared, when suddenly, through the haze of longing, as if it came from far, far away, she heard a dry, amused voice call out, ‘Hey. You two. Get a room.’

As if doused by a deluge of icy water, Leo instantly let Willow go and jerked back, shock and horror reeling through him as reality hit with the force of a sledgehammer.

What was he doing?

What the hell did he think he wasdoing?

He’d danced with her. He’d talked to her and told her things he’d never told another living soul. And then he’dkissedher. Right here on the dance floor, in the midst of all these people. Without Zander’s timely intervention, he’d have set about stripping her naked and he doubted she’d have stopped him. She’d pulled at his shirt and moaned low in her throat, as if desperate to get her hands on his skin, as if she’d been as oblivious to their surroundings as he.

Confusion and appal rushed through him, tightening his chest and coating every inch of his skin in a cold sweat as he thought about what could so easily have happened. The scandal would have surpassed anything his mother had done. It would have shredded his image and destroyed his authority. It would have ruined him. What theyhaddone was mortifying enough. Kissing and groping each other in public? He hadn’t even engaged in that kind of thing as a permanently horny adolescent.

What on earth was the matter with him? At the start of the evening he’d resolved to ignore her and he rarely changed plan mid-course. But the plan had not only changed, it had blown up in his face. In response to overwhelming desire that he should have nevertheless been able to manage, his rigidly maintained composure had crumbled to dust in an instant.

Well, whatever was going on, whatever madness he’d been afflicted by, it would not happen again, he assured himself grimly as he took a step back and removed himself from Willow’s dangerously bewitching orbit. He would not allow himself to be ruled by things over which he had no command. He had no time for emotions with their unpredictability and volatility, the chaos they caused and the pain they could inflict. He might look like his mother, but, as he’d told Willow, he would not act like her. He would not be that weak, that selfish.

Nor would he ever again put himself in a position in which his hard-won control came under threat. He’d never forget the moment he’d learned his father had died and realised that from that moment on he had sole responsibility for his family and the business. He could still recall the onslaught of emotions that had smashed through his weakened defences—the stunning shock, the agonising grief and then the raw, blind panic. The nauseating awareness that he was too young and too unprepared. The crippling knowledge that the shoes he was expected to step into were too big.

For days, bombarded with questions, documents to sign and decisions to make, he’d floundered, terrified that he was going to screw up and let everyone down. A month in and he’d concluded the only way he was going to be able to handle his new role was to bury the wilder side of his nature and the dizzying, unwelcome emotions that had sprung free, and knuckle down.

He’d abandoned his hopes and dreams and given up the yachts. He’d stamped out the bitter, shameful resentment that churned through him like bile because deep down he’d never asked for what he’d been given and didn’t want any of it. Ruthless control would carry him through, he’d figured, and he’d spent years honing it into an impenetrable shield of stone and steel, designed to both protect himself and others and handle the immense burden he bore.

Now summoning up every drop of strength he possessed with the ease borne from experience, Leo felt the familiar blanket of ice-cold calm envelop him, which meant he could banish the events of the last quarter of an hour from his head and forget they’d ever happened. As the mad heat disappeared and reason returned, he could look at Willow’s swollen mouth, her flushed cheeks and tousled hair and her eyes glazed with lingering desire and not respond at all.

‘Enjoy the rest of your evening,’ he said with a tight smile and a brief nod, as if she were any other guest rather than one with the potential to upturn his life and decimate everything he valued. ‘Good night.’

CHAPTER FOUR

WILLOWRATHERENVIEDthe self-possession and stability with which Leo spun on his heel and strode off. She’d never felt less in control of herself in her life. Her head was swimming. Her heart was pounding. It was a complete miracle that her legs were holding her up.

What a kiss...

It had been a kiss to which every other kiss she’d ever had paled in comparison. It had been passionate, all-consuming and mind-blowing. She could still feel the pressure of his mouth on hers and the hard muscles beneath her hands. The hot, heady desire that had taken over her body and turned it into nothing but sensation.

And she wanted more.

Much more.

Because finally, after all these years of anxiety and stress, disappointment and regret, she’d met a man with whom she positivelylongedto lose her virginity. There’d be no awkwardness or embarrassment or frigidity to worry about if things progressed and then went wrong because nothingwouldgo wrong.

How could sex with Leo possibly hurt when he had the ability to melt her bones and turn her body to mush? He just had to look to her and she burned. His touch set her alight. And his mouth...well...it was a wicked, wonderful thing. Willow was no expert, obviously, but surely the chemistry they shared had to be off the charts. It would be glorious, fireworks and ecstasy from start to finish.

But it wasn’t just the physical aspect of what they’d done and what she wanted to do that so appealed. Spending time with Selene and listening to her tales of adventure and passion had emphasised how staid and small her own life was in comparison. Adventure was hard to come by when work was haphazard and income was irregular. Romantic relationships—even love-free ones—were out of the question with the disruption her endometriosis caused and the possibility of infertility.

However, tonight she’d had a glimpse of both adventureandpassion—until they’d been interrupted and he’d spooked, which was understandable, given where they’d been, what they’d been doing and his distaste for scandal. It had been sublime and she couldn’t help thinking, what if they hadn’tbeen heckled by Zander? Would Leo have manoeuvred her into a dark corner to continue with the kissing in private? Would he have taken things even further and given her the experience she so badly wanted?

She didn’t know and quite possibly never would. His parting shot had been definitive and now, with the way he was cutting a determined path through the guests and striding towards the door with only a brief stop for a quick word with the happy couple, it looked as though he planned to leave.

With every purposeful step away from her he took, the hope and excitement whipping through her system withered that little bit more, deflating her by the second. Would she ever again meet someone like him? Someone who had such an extraordinarily intense effect on her? It didn’t seem likely. Men like him didn’t grow on trees.

So why was she standing here like a lemon?

Why wasn’t she going after him and telling him she wanted more?

What was shedoing?

She had nothing to lose and everything to gain from pursuing the passion she’d just experienced. Who cared if they were as different as two people could be? She wasn’t after a happy-ever-after with him. She wasn’t after that withanyone. She just wanted one night.

And if he didn’t?

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