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Because he was beginning to accept that things between him and Odessa might not be as cut and dried as he’d intended...
CHAPTER SIX
‘KALIMERA.’
The voice was close. Low and husky enough to draw from her a shiver, then rain down on every scintillating memory from last night and the early hours of this morning.
‘You can pretend to be asleep, but your body betrays you,’ Ares rasped.
A very unladylike curse spilled from Odessa’s lips before she could stop it, drawing mocking laughter from the man whose arm circled her waist, pinning her in place.
‘Good morning,’ she said, cringing a little when her voice emerged far too husky.
Feeling heat rising into her cheeks, she pressed her face deeper into the pillow.
‘Do you plan on ignoring me for ever?’ he asked, just before his lips trailed down the shell of her ear.
Her shrug was a vain attempt at pretending she was unaffected, when deep inside her body was already rousing, melting for him.
‘You’ll have to excuse me. I’m not used to the morning-after thing.’
She wasn’t sure what she expected when she chanced a furtive glance at him. It certainly wasn’t for his humour to vanish...for his nostrils to flare in blatant displeasure.
She opened her mouth to do something stupid, like ask him what was wrong, but Ares was already moving. She hated it that she immediately grew cold, craving his warmth.
Dragging the sheet up to her neck, she sat up.
He stood at the side of the bed, his narrow-eyed stare fixed on her.
‘What have I done now?’ she blurted.
He seemed reluctant to voice his thoughts, the rise and fall of his chest quickening as he stared at her. ‘Tell me that idiot wasn’t your first,’ he grated out, hot Greek temper leaping wildly in his hazel eyes.
‘You’ll have to be specific. You seem to believe any man I interact with who isn’t you or your father is an idiot or a bastard.’
‘I only go on the evidence I’m presented with,’ he said haughtily.
A shadow of amusement lightened his eyes. Then they hardened again into condemnation almost immediately, at whatever he was thinking.
‘I mean Paolo Romani—that fool I saw you kissing on your eighteenth birthday. The man your father had been taunting me with for months.’
The reminder chilled her further. ‘You saw everything?’
Her first mistake had been to throw herself at Paolo Romani in desperation. Little had she known that it had all been cleverly orchestrated by her father—that Paolo had been a willing participant in setting her up so that Ares would witness it. By the time she’d come to her senses, Ares was gone.
His features hardened further, his eyes no longer amused. ‘I saw enough,’ he breathed. ‘You should thank your lucky stars that my father counselled restraint. I would’ve ripped you from his arms, then throttled you both.’
It explained a few things—although she suspected Ares hadn’t seen the last part when, horrified with herself, she’d pushed Paolo away, then fought even harder when he’d pinned her against the wall. Labelled her a tease. It had necessitated her knee to his groin before she’d been able to make her escape.
More than discovering that Ares had seen that error of judgement, born solely out of desperate loneliness, confusion and defiance, it was knowing that his father had witnessed her behaviour too that made her cringe. ‘Ares—’
‘Did you enjoy it? Did he make you feel the way I do? The way I did back then?’
His words were like shards of glass, slashing at her to dig out secrets. Exposing truths she couldn’t hide.
‘No.’
His eyes narrowed, his body tight with tension. ‘Don’t lie to me.’
