Page 23 of The Billionaire's Seduction Revenge

“Testing me?”

Of course Costa was too astute and saw right through it. “Yes.”

Costa grinned. “You and I are cut from the same cloth, you know.”

Vasilios stiffened instinctively. In many ways, that was true, and Vasilios was grateful for it, but in other ways, he wished there was more of a point of difference between them. Vasilios had spent his entire adult life running from his father and grandfather’s behaviour when it came to women. He never wanted to be responsible for the sort of destruction they habitually left in their wake, nor to find himself in a relationship, or worse, marriage, in which he daily inflicted the sort of pain on a partner that his grandfather had on his grandmother.

“I watched her for days. She would always sit on the same bench, at the same time. There was something so sad about her—unnatural for a young woman, so beautiful and with the world at her feet and her life all in front of her. What I wouldn’t give to be so young again,” Costa’s sigh was a muted breathsound. “She was so withdrawn, so frightened, I became obsessed, I suppose you could say, with drawing her out of her shell. I like a challenge, you know, and Emma was determined to stay reserved, to give me nothing.”

“You seem to have worked some kind of magic then.”

“I suppose I did. I’m very gratified by that.”

Vasilios leaned forward, propping his elbows on his knees, looking his grandfather in the eyes. He still wasn’t convinced that Emma could be trusted, but he was self-aware enough to acknowledge that his mistrust had a hell of a lot more to do with his own experiences in life than anything to do with Emma and what she’d said or done. Just because she was guarding some parts of herself fiercely didn’t mean she had bad intentions.

“So you and she have never been intimate,” Vasilios pushed, needing to hear it in black and white in order to be able to give his own thoughts and desires free rein.

“Cristo,Vasilios. What’s the matter with you? I’ve answered that question, why can’t you accept it?”

He couldn’t say. Something was humming in the back of her mind and then, at the perfect moment, he remembered. “She said there’s a picture of me in your bedroom. How would she know that?”

Costa stared at Vasilios as if he’d lost his mind. “Because some nights she helps me to my room. Sometimes I need it, other times I just like the company. She’s even sat with me before, and listened to a podcast for a while. She’s my companion, Vasilios, why do you find it so strange that she should actually keep me company?”

It was an innocent explanation given easily enough, so Vasilios was finally able to accept that at least they hadn’t been in a relationship.

Which left only the lingering suspicion that even without that, it was possible for Emma to be playing on Costa’s feelings and sympathies, hoping he might be persuaded by affection to leave a large amount to Emma in his will?

Again, he had nothing rational to base that on, it was only the belief that had formed inside of him as a child and hardened to stone throughout adolescence that their vast fortune made the Valenti men particularly vulnerable to women who had dollar signs in their eyes.

Cynical, yes, but not always wrong.

It was a status quo that Ricardo and Costa had been happy enough to exploit but for Vasilios’s part, he couldn’t imagine ever letting his pride go to the point he could accept a woman’s attention just because of his bank balance. He was careful who he chose to become involved with, and guarded with all aspects of himself: his affections and finances, always.

Vasilios was drawn from his thoughts by a movement at the door to the terrace.

Emma.

Every cell in his body began to reverberate and he couldn’t help allowing his gaze to sweep her body, to take in the gentle lines and undulations, to remember the way she’d tasted, the way she’d felt, pressed against him. He was so engrossed in the sight of her that he wasn’t aware of the way Costa studied him, eyes narrowed, assessing, missing nothing.

“Oh,” Emma’s lips parted, sweet, lush, full lips, forming a perfect ‘o’, so that if he hadn’t already been thinking of kissing her he would be now.

“I’m sorry.” She raised a hand in the air, fingers slightly fluttering. “I didn’t realise you were—that you were together. Don’t let me interrupt.”

She disappeared again before Vasilios or Costa could say anything, though for his part, Vasilios stood, his body immediately surging forward, to go after her, to tell her she should join them.

Belatedly, he remembered he was with Costa, and took his seat again.

“There is a lot about Emma I don’t know,” Costa said, after a moment, shifting in his seat, wincing a little from pain. “She is private and careful, in a way that tells me she’s been through something, something serious. But I trust her, I like her and I care for her, Vasilios. I invited her to stay here because I felt she needed a sanctuary, and that’s exactly what this place is. Whatever your feelings towards her, be they borne of animosity or something else, do not upset her. I promised her she’d be safe here, I intend to honour that promise.”

* * *

It was a book she’d read many times in her life, but that wasn’t why Emma was struggling to pay attention. Feet curled up on the sofa, doors to the pool house wide open to make the most of the balmy summer evening air, she heard the splash the moment Vasilios entered the pool, and every fibre of her body went on high alert.

Having seen him in the pool earlier, watched him pull through the water almost as though he were at one with it, it was impossible not to visualise him now, not to feel his strength and beauty, to see both in her mind.

She lifted her fingertips to her lips, remembering the warmth of his kiss, the perfection of that moment, and groaned softly, putting her book aside and giving up completely on the idea of reading.

She sat still and upright, listening, eyes trained on the pool for many minutes, perhaps even ten, before she was aware that the splashing noise had stopped and his voice called to her. “Are you going to just sit there staring,cara, or would you care to join me?”

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