Page 25 of The Billionaire's Seduction Revenge

“That’s not the same as believing me. It’s validating my story.”

“Fine, yes. But given what I was contemplating, I needed to know beyond a shadow of doubt.”

“Do you honestly believe I would sleep with a grandfather and then his grandson? What exactly do you think of me?”

“I don’t know,” he said, and there was anger and irritation in his words. “That’s the problem. From the moment I met you I feel as though my instincts have deserted me. One minute I believe one thing and the next another. I just know that you are like some kind of drug and I can’t get enough.”

She stared at him, totally, utterly powerless in the face of this honest declaration. “Vasilios,” his name was shaky in her mouth. “Please, stop. I can’t—you can’t—,”

“But you want to,” he pushed, moving deeper between her legs, staring up at her, so she closed her eyes because the sight of him there was so powerfully seductive, she wanted, more than anything, to simply succumb.

“Please,” she whimpered, no longer certain what she was asking of him. “I need you to understand…”

“Then make me understand,” he said gently. “Tell me who you are, Emma.”

“I’ve told you—,”

“Your name, but nothing more.Whoare you?”

It was too hard. All too hard. Trauma from that life made her want to bury it deep inside, and though her marriage had been a disaster in the end, she had, at one time, believed herself in love, and speaking about her late husband here, with Vasilios, was like a betrayal, not just of him, but of the life they’d once wanted, and of his family, who were still grieving.

“I’m someone who needs a fresh start,” she whispered. “Who I was before doesn’t matter. You don’t need to know about that, except to understand that what I’ve just been through, what I’ve come from, was messy and difficult and there were times when I was scared for my life. I don’t know when I’ll stop looking over my shoulder, when I’ll start to feel normal, but I do know I’ll never be ready to fully relax again.”

He stared at her for a long time, and the air between them grew thick and heavy, buzzing with crickets and the soft sound of splashing water, and finally, his hands moved to her thighs, held her there.

“Okay,” he let the word fall rich and deep between them. “Then how about this? No pressure, no expectations, but seeing as we both clearly want this to happen, why don’t we let it?” He pressed a kiss to her thigh and Emma whimpered. Pleasure was an explosion deep in her belly.

“But you’re—,”

He kissed higher, finding the silkiest skin right at the top of her leg, flicking it with his tongue. Emma could hardly think, let alone speak.

“You know why I avoid relationships,” he said against her flesh. “I am not like them,cara.I made myself as different as possible, at least when it comes to women. I don’t sleep around, and when I do, I’m clear about what I want.”

“Which is?”

“This,” he lifted his eyes to hers as his hand traced lines up her leg to the elastic of her underpants and then pushed it aside.

She was frozen to the spot, her body slicked with hot need that only intensified when he pressed his finger against her sex and then inside her body.

Emma threw her head back and stared at the stars, desperately wishing she hadn’t switched on the pool lights. But Costa would be in bed; there was no one to see this. They were alone, completely free to abandon themselves to this desire.

Jack was in the back of her mind though, the man she’d thought she loved enough to marry, the man who’d been so different to what she’d believed, who’d betrayed her and made it impossible for Emma to trust, but he was a small part, distant, hidden in the recesses. Emma wasn’t his widow now, she was her own woman, free to make her decision about what she wanted, to act in her own interests.

And she was very, very interested in Vasilios.

She pressed a hand to his shoulder, needing to hold on, trying to grip reality, and then said, thickly, “Vasilios, I need—,”

He made a throaty noise of encouragement. She squeezed her eyes shut, desperately trying to focus. “I need to say this, please. I don’t want Costa to know about this. I don’t want him to think we’re…he’ll worry. He worries about me. He wouldn’t like it.”

Something shifted in Vasilios’s eyes, something dark and impossible to interpret and then he dipped his head once. “I have never been inclined to kiss and tell, particularly not to my grandfather. This will be no different.”

Her stomach swished.

Was she really going to do this?

“It has to be light. I can’t do heavy. I can’t do serious.” God, she was done with heartbreak and hurt, for the rest of her life. But something casual and fun? Maybe it was just what she needed. “Do you promise me, do you promise…”

“I promise you the world, Emma, just don’t make me talk anymore.”

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