Page 24 of The Billionaire's Seduction Revenge

Danger sirens blared but so too did desire, kicking up a notch, reminding her of how she’d felt after lunch.

This was madness.

She stood, uncertain, but something propelled her forward, carrying her feet across the tiled floor of the pool house and through the glass doors, to the steps that led to the pool. He was braced against the coping, illuminated only by the moonlight. She flicked the lights on as she passed, eager to see more of him, and was rewarded because he was so handsome and her eyes had craved their fill.

“How’s the water?” She asked, aiming for something like professional friendliness and instead sounding husky and seductive. She squeezed her eyes shut, took a deep breath.

“Come in and find out.”

But Emma shook her head. It would be too much, too sensual. The feeling of the water against her skin, the distinct lack of clothing, the nearness of his half-naked body…

“At least sit on the edge and keep me company,” he suggested.

She swallowed past a huge lump in her throat. “I thought you liked being alone.”

“Sometimes I do. Right now, I’d prefer your company.”

Emma toyed with her fingers. She had to get control of this. “Vasilios—,” his name on her lips was a plea. “I’m not—what happened this afternoon…” she begun haltingly.

“Si?”

Her heart skipped a beat.

“I’m not someone who just goes around making out with random men.”

His eyes bore into hers and she felt stupid and embarrassed, childish and gauche. Unsophisticated, just as he’d said.

“If you thought that I kissed you because I wanted—as a prelude to, um, you know, something more, I have to be honest with you: that’s not going to happen.”

He swam to the tiles right beneath her and wrapped a hand around her ankle.

“I think you kissed me because you desired me. Am I correct?”

Mortification heated her cheeks. “Maybe it’s better if we don’t talk about it?”

“Is it such a big deal, Emma? It was just a kiss.”

“That’s my point,” she grasped onto that statement with relief. “It was just a kiss, and that’s all it can ever be. I can’t…there’s no way I can let anything else happen. It’s too complicated.”

Curiosity was obvious in his features. “Would you care to explain why?”

Her lips tilted with quiet sadness but she shook her head. In a concession to this conversation though, she moved to sit on the coping, dangling her legs into the pool. The water was so delightfully warm, she ached to go all the way in.

“Everything in my life is complicated,” she said with a lift of her shoulders. “I need this to be simple.”

“Costa says this is your sanctuary.”

Her eyes jerked to his. “You’ve spoken to him about me?”

Vasilios moved between her legs and Emma trembled all over, not remotely minding the intimacy even when it was in direct contradiction to what she was saying. “This afternoon,” he agreed with a small nod. “All I could think about was wanting more than that kiss, Emma. I needed to be sure, absolutely sure, that you and he weren’t, and never had been, anything more than…friends.”

Her lips parted, shock rioting through her for many reasons. “I don’t believe this,” she sought refuge in anger but in fact, his mention of wanting more than the kiss had practically skittled all her rational thoughts. “Itoldyou—,”

“Yes, but there are many things you haven’t told me, and trusting someone—anyone—does not come naturally to me, let alone a person who is determined to keep so much of herself hidden.”

“So because I’m not an open book, I must be lying?”

“I wanted to believe you and so I asked Costa.”

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