Page 31 of The Billionaire's Seduction Revenge

“Prosecco?” He betrayed no reaction.

Emma nodded, not particularly caring what they drank.

He turned back to the waitress, spoke a few short Italian words then they were alone again.

“Where are you from?”

She instantly bristled, then forced herself to relax. She was a long way from home, from the court case, from the notoriety of her husband’s death, from danger. She’d come to the other side of the world, and while she was being cautious, there was no harm in having an open conversation with Vasilios.

“Sydney. Well, the Blue Mountains, originally, but I moved into the city after school, for university.”

He considered this, his eyes darker as he concentrated. “What did you study?”

Her lips tilted in a sweet smile. “This feels like a job interview.”

“You already have a job, of sorts,” he pointed out, but the mention of her work with Costa was dangerously close to their original animosity. “Are you a nurse by training?” He prompted, into the silence.

She shook her head. “I have the highest respect for anyone in the medical profession, but I actually can’t stand the sight of blood. As in, I pass out if I see it. It would have been a terrible fit for me.” She shuddered, remembering how awful the scene of her husband’s murder had been, then pushing that thought all the way to the back of her mind. It had no place here. She didn’t want to remember.

“Then let me guess,” he murmured, flicking a glance to the waitress as she appeared with a bottle of Prosecco and made a show of opening it. Vasilios took the bottle and virtually waved the waitress away, filling their glasses himself then lifting his eyes expectantly to Emma’s face, thoughtful and considered. “You’re smart and patient. Which would make you an excellent…”

She waited, fascinated to see what he’d say, wondering how wide of the mark he’d be. After all, how could he possibly guess?

“Teacher,” he said, finally. “A primary school teacher.”

She gasped, jaw dropping. “How on earth could you know that?” She demanded, staring at him across the elegant table.

His eyes swirled with something like amusement. “It just makes sense.”

“Costa must have told you,” she said with a shake of her head, before remembering she hadn’t even revealed her career to the old man. Unless she’d said something by mistake? They’d had a lot of conversations. It would have been the most natural thing in the world for it to slip out.

“My grandfather has told me very little about you,” Vasilios corrected, that same curl of disapproval surrounding his words.

“I can’t believe you would simply guess.”

“It seems obvious.”

“No way,” she disputed, but despite herself, she smiled, a warmth travelling through her that he’d somehow intuited something so personal about her.

“So why leave your career behind?” He prompted, sipping his drink with deceptive relaxation, as though the answer was neither here nor there. But Vasilios wasn’t the only one with a finely honed sense of intuition. Emma felt the interrogation for what it was: he was trying to understand her. Because he still didn’t trust her?

That cut through Emma, and she resented him for it.

“I’ve taken a break, not left it behind,” she answered pointedly, glad when another waitress attended their table to take their orders. Emma hadn’t even looked at the menu.

Vasilios leaned over and again, put his hand on hers; electricity sparked through her bloodstream. “Would you like me to order for us?”

Us.

She nodded jerkily, quickly turning to study the view, as the sun slipped lower towards the horizon and the sky grew darker and more magical seeming by the minute. Boats bobbed on the water’s surface, their silhouettes against the dusk sky making them seem almost other-worldly, their lights casting a milky glow across the sea.

She made no effort to listen to Vasilios or the waitress but once they were alone again, turned back to face him. “So you intend to go back?”

“To Australia, or the job?”

She frowned. The latter was a question to which she had no answer. “I have to go home at some point,” she said after a pained pause. “I’m here as a tourist. I don’t have a visa to stay.”

That brought a frown to Vasilios’s face. She wondered what he made of that response?

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