Acquired By Her Greek Boss

CHAPTER THREE

ON THURSDAY EVENING, Alekos checked the gold watch on his wrist and frowned when he saw that he and Sara needed to leave for the board members’ dinner in the next five minutes. Usually when she accompanied him to work functions she was ready in plenty of time. He was annoyed that she had not been waiting for him when he’d walked out of the private bathroom next to his office, where he had showered and changed.

He wondered what she would wear to the dinner. He remembered that a few months ago it had been a particularly busy time at work and Sara had stayed at the office until late, only dashing off to change for the staff Christmas party ten minutes before it was due to start. She had emerged from the cloakroom wearing what he had supposed was a ball gown, but the long black dress had resembled a shroud and had the effect of draining all the colour from her face.

He had been tempted to order her to go and buy something more cheerful. The shop windows were full of mannequins displaying party dresses for the festive season. But then he’d remembered that Sara was grieving for her mother, who had recently died. For once he had studied her closely, and her pinched face and the shadows beneath her eyes had evoked a faint tug of sympathy for his PA, who reminded him of a drab sparrow.

Alekos turned his thoughts to the present. The board members’ dinner was a prestigious event that called for him to wear a tuxedo, but he refused to be clean shaven. He glanced in the mirror and grimaced as he ran his hand over the trimmed black stubble on his jaw. No doubt his nemesis Orestis Pagnotis would accuse him of looking more like a pirate than the chairman of a billion-pound company.

Behind him the office door opened and Sara stepped into the room. His jaw dropped as he stared at her reflection in the mirror, and he was thankful he had his back to her so that she couldn’t see the betraying bulge of his erection beneath his trousers.

The drab sparrow had metamorphosed into a peacock. Somewhere in Alekos’s stunned brain he registered that the description was all the more apt because her dress was peacock-blue silk and the long skirt gave an iridescent shimmer when she walked. The top of the dress was high-necked and sleeveless, leaving her shoulders bare. A sparkling diamanté belt showed off her slender waist.

From the front, the dress was elegant and Alekos had no problem with it. But when Sara turned around to check that the espresso machine was switched off, he saw that her dress was backless to the base of her spine. A hot haze of desire made his blood pound through his veins.

‘You can’t wear that,’ he rasped, shock and lust strangling his vocal cords. ‘Half the board members are over sixty and I know for a fact that a couple of them have weak hearts. If they see you in that dress they’re likely to suffer a cardiac arrest.’

She looked genuinely confused. ‘What’s wrong with my dress?’

‘Half of it is missing.’

‘Well, technically I suppose that’s true. But I don’t suppose the sight of my shoulder blades will evoke wild lust in anyone.’

Don’t bet on it, Alekos thought grimly. He would not have believed that a woman’s bare back could be so erotic. The expanse of Sara’s skin revealed by the backless dress invited him to trace his fingertips down her spine and then spread his hand over her tempting nakedness.

Theos, what he actually wanted to do was stride over to her, sweep her into his arms and ravish her thoroughly and to their mutual satisfaction on top of his desk. That particular fantasy had been a common theme for the past four days, which had frankly been torturous. Sara had turned up for work each morning wearing outfits that had sent his blood pressure soaring. Her stylish skirts and blouses had hugged her curvy figure without being too revealing, and somehow the hint of her sexy figure beneath her clothes was much more exciting than if she had worn a miniskirt and boob tube.

He checked the time again and realised they would have to leave immediately or risk being late for the dinner. ‘God knows what the board members will make of you dressed like a glamour model in a men-only magazine,’ he growled as he held the door open and then followed Sara into the corridor. ‘You know how conservative some of them are.’ He shoved his hands into his pockets out of harm’s way, but he could not control the hard thud of his heart, or the hard throb of another part of his anatomy, he acknowledged derisively.

‘Nonsense, they’ll think I’m wearing a perfectly nice dress,’ she said serenely. ‘The board members like me. They know I work hard and I would never do anything that might harm the company’s image.’

Alekos had to admit she was right. Even his main critic Orestis Pagnotis approved of Sara and had remarked to Alekos that he should consider marrying someone as sensible and down-to-earth as his PA.

The trouble was that Sara no longer looked like his sensible PA. She looked gorgeous and unbelievably sexy, and while Alekos certainly had no thoughts of marrying her he couldn’t deny that he wanted her—badly. He was not used to denying himself. But the rules he had made about not getting personally involved with any member of his staff meant that she was forbidden. To a born rebel like himself the word forbidden acted like a red rag to a bull. It was a fact of life that you wanted most what you couldn’t have, Alekos brooded when they were in the car on the way to the dinner. It was also true that rules were made to be broken.

The restaurant was at a five-star hotel on Park Lane and a private dining room had been booked for the board members’ dinner.

‘Alekos!’ A high-pitched voice assaulted Alekos’s ears as he walked into the private function suite, and he swore silently when a young woman ran over to him and greeted him enthusiastically by kissing him on both his cheeks.

‘Zelda,’ he murmured as he politely but firmly unwound her arms from around his neck. Orestis Pagnotis’s granddaughter was as exuberant as a young child but there was nothing childlike about the eighteen-year-old’s physical attributes. Alekos was surprised that Orestis had allowed his granddaughter to wear a gold clingy dress with a plunging neckline. But he knew that Zelda was her grandfather’s favourite grandchild—a fact she used shamelessly to get her own way.

Zelda had developed a crush on Alekos the previous year when he had spent a few days meeting with some of GE’s senior board members aboard the company’s flagship yacht, Artemis. One night, Alekos had found the teenager waiting for him in his bed. He had managed to persuade her to return to her own cabin and had done his best to avoid her since then.

But the gods were ganging up against him tonight, he decided as Zelda linked her arm possessively though his and he had no choice but to escort her into the salon, where champagne cocktails and canapés were being served. He looked around for Sara and his temper did not improve when he saw her chatting with the new whiz-kid CFO. Paul Eddis was in his early thirties, and Alekos supposed that women might consider his blond hair and rather delicate facial features attractive. Sara certainly looked happy in his company, and Eddis was staring at her with a stunned expression on his face as if he couldn’t believe his luck that the most beautiful woman in the room was giving him all her attention.

The evening went from bad to worse when they were called to take their places for dinner and Alekos discovered he was seated next to Zelda. Sara had arranged the seating plan and he’d specifically asked her to put him on a different table from Zelda. Had Sara decided to have a joke at his expense? Alekos glared across the room to where she was sitting at another table. But she was facing away from him and white-hot fury swept through him when he noticed the waiter ogling her bare back.

He forced himself to eat a little of his cheese soufflé, which was as light as air but tasted like cardboard in his mouth. ‘Shouldn’t you be at school, studying for exams?’ he muttered to Zelda as he firmly removed her hand from his thigh.

‘I’ve left school.’ She giggled. ‘Well, the headmistress insisted I leave because she said I was a bad influence on the other girls. But I don’t need to pass exams because I’m going to be a model. Pappoús is paying for me to have my portfolio done with a top photographer.’

‘If you don’t behave yourself, perhaps your grandfather will refuse to fund your modelling career.’

‘Oh, Pappoús will give me anything I ask for.’ Zelda leaned closer to Alekos. ‘If I don’t behave, will you punish me?’ she said artfully.

He would like to punish his PA for putting him through an uncomfortable evening. Alekos’s furious black gaze bored into Sara’s shoulder blades. And yes, they could send a man wild with desire, he discovered. The hellish meal ended eventually but as the band started up and he strode away from the table—ignoring Zelda’s plea to dance with her—he was waylaid by Orestis Pagnotis.

The older man glared at Alekos with his gimlet gaze. ‘Keep away from my granddaughter. Zelda is an innocent young woman and I will not allow you to corrupt her, Alekos. I’ve always been concerned that your womanising ways would bring the company into disrepute. I’m sure I don’t need to remind you that you need the support of every member of the board to implement the changes you want to make within GE.’

Alekos struggled to keep his temper under control. ‘Are you threatening me?’

‘I suggest you think hard about what I’ve said,’ Orestis warned.

Sara stood up as Alekos approached her table. ‘What’s wrong? You don’t look like you’re enjoying the party.’

‘I wonder why that is?’ he snapped. ‘Do you think it could be because you placed me next to Zelda Pagnotis at dinner, after I’d expressly asked you to seat her away from me? Or perhaps it’s because Orestis believes that I have designs on his granddaughter, who he thinks is as innocent as a lamb, incidentally.’

‘I didn’t seat you next to her.’ Sara looked puzzled. ‘When we arrived I even popped into the dining room to check that the seating plan had been set out as I had organised it... Zelda must have switched the name cards around.’

Alekos’s frustration with Orestis’s manipulative granddaughter, and his anger with Orestis for threatening to withhold his support at the next board meeting, turned to a different kind of frustration as he stared into Sara’s guileless green eyes. Across the room he saw Zelda heading purposefully in his direction. He caught hold of Sara’s hand.

‘Dance with me,’ he ordered, pulling her towards him. She gave him a startled look, but Alekos was too stunned by the fire that ignited inside him when he felt her breasts pressed against his chest to care.

It was impossible to believe that this was the same Sara who had held herself stiffly and ensured that no part of her body touched his when he’d felt duty-bound to ask her to dance with him at the Christmas party. This Sara was soft and pliant in his arms and he was conscious of the hard points of her nipples through his shirt and the surprising firmness of her thighs beneath her silk dress as she moved with him in time to the music.

‘I noted that you made sure you were sitting next to Paul Eddis at dinner,’ he bit out. The memory of watching Sara leaning her head towards the CFO when they had sat together for the meal evoked an acidic sensation in his gut. Theos, was it jealousy that had made him want to walk over to Eddis and drag the guy out of his seat? Alekos had never been possessive of a woman in his life, but he felt a burning urge to drape his jacket around Sara’s shoulders and hide her naked back from view. ‘You are meant to be on duty this evening, not flirting with other members of GE staff, or the waiters.’

Twin spots of colour stained her cheeks and he could tell she was fighting to control her temper. The thought excited Alekos more than it should. He wanted to disturb her composure like she disturbed him.

‘I haven’t flirted with anyone. You’re being ridiculous.’

‘Am I?’ Alekos succumbed to the demon called temptation and slid his hand up from her waist to her spine. The bare skin of her back was as smooth as silk but, unlike cool silk, her skin was warm and as he spread his fingers wide he felt the heat of her body scald him. ‘You must be aware that every man in this room desires you,’ he taunted her.

Her eyes widened and he thought he might drown in those mysterious deep green pools. ‘Even you?’ she taunted him right back.

Her refusal to be cowed by him had earned Alekos’s respect when she’d been his prim, plain secretary. But now her sassy tongue shattered the last vestiges of his restraint.

‘What do you think?’ he growled as he pressed his hand into the small of her back so that her pelvis came into contact with his. The hard ridge of his arousal could leave her in no doubt of the effect she had on him.

* * *

‘Alekos...’ Sara licked her dry lips. Her intention had been to remind him that they were on the dance floor in full view of GE’s board members and senior executives. But, instead of sounding crisply efficient in her best PA manner, her voice emerged as a breathy whisper as if she were starring in a soft porn movie, she thought disgustedly.

‘Sara,’ he mocked, mimicking her husky tone. The way he said her name in his sexy accent, curling his tongue around each syllable, made her toes curl. When she had danced with him at the Christmas party she’d been so tense, terrified he would guess he was all of her fantasies rolled into one. But he’d caught her off guard when he’d pulled her into his arms just now. Dancing with him, her breasts crushed against his broad chest and her cheek resting on the lapel of his jacket, was divine. Beneath her palm she could feel the hard thud of his heart and recognised that its erratic beat echoed her own.

Every day at the office for the past four days had been a refined torture as she’d struggled to hide her awareness of him. It had been easier when he hadn’t noticed her, but since she had returned to work after her holiday she’d been conscious of a simmering sexual chemistry between her and Alekos that she had tried to ignore. To be fair, he had seemed as if he was trying to ignore it too and a lot of the time they had been so stiff and polite with each other, as if they were strangers rather than two people who had built up a comfortable working relationship over two years.

But sometimes when she’d stolen a glance at Alekos she’d found him staring at her in a way that made her uncomfortably aware of the heaviness of her breasts and the molten heat that pooled between her thighs. That heat was inside her now, flooding through her veins and making each of her nerve endings ultra-sensitive. She was intensely conscious of his hand resting on her bare back. His touch scorched her skin as if he had branded her, and when she stumbled in her high-heeled shoes he increased the pressure of his fingers on her spine and held her so close that she could feel the muscles and sinews of his hard thighs pressed up against hers.

‘Sara...look at me.’ His voice was low and seductive, scraping across her sensitised nerves. Impossible to resist. She jerked her gaze upwards as if she were a marionette and he had pulled her strings. Her heart lurched as she was trapped by the dark intensity of his eyes. This had been building all week, she realised. Every searing glance they had shared had throbbed with sexual tension that was now threatening to erupt.

His face was so near to hers that she could feel his warm breath graze her lips. She had never been so close to his mouth before and, oh, God, its sensual curve compelled her to lean into him even closer and part her lips, inviting him to cover her mouth with his.

But she must not allow Alekos to kiss her. Certainly not in front of the board members of GE and the senior executives. Her sudden recollection of their situation shattered the spell he had cast on her. It was acceptable for Alekos to dance with his PA, but not to ravish her in public as the sultry gleam in his eyes warned her that he wanted to do.

The band finished playing and Sara took the opportunity to step away from him, murmuring an excuse that she needed to visit the ladies’ room. She resisted the urge to glance back at him as she hurried across the dance floor but she felt his dark eyes burning between her shoulder blades, exposed by her backless dress. Luckily, the bathroom was empty and she stood at a basin and held her wrists under the cold tap to try and cool her heated blood. Thank goodness she had stopped him before he had actually kissed her.

The dull ache in the pit of her stomach mocked her for being a liar. She had wanted him to kiss her more than she’d wanted anything in her life. But her common sense reminded her that if he had, they would have crossed the line between employer and employee into dangerous territory.

She knew she couldn’t put off returning to the party for much longer but she whiled away a few more minutes by checking her phone for messages. Her heart missed a beat when she saw that she had a text from her father.

Five minutes later, Sara stared at her white face in the mirror and willed herself not to cry. Not now, when she must go back and smile and chat to the party guests as her job demanded. She would have to wait until later, when she was alone, before she could allow her tears to fall. She read Lionel’s text one more time.

After considerable thought I have decided that it would be unfair to tell Frederick and Charlotte that they have a half-sister at this time. They were very close to their mother and are still mourning her death. The news that many years ago I was unfaithful to my wife will, I fear, be a great shock to my son and daughter. I hope you will understand my decision. It is not my intention to upset you, Sara, but I must protect Freddie and Charlotte and allow them time and privacy to grieve for their mother. Unfortunately, my position as an MP and public figure means that any revelation that I have an illegitimate daughter would attract a great deal of press interest.

In other words, her father had decided that protecting the feelings of the children from his marriage was more important than publicly acknowledging that she was his daughter, Sara thought painfully.

Was it because she was as much of a disappointment to her father as she had been to her mother? All her feelings of self-doubt came flooding back. Maybe she wasn’t clever enough, or pretty enough, for her famous father.

And maybe, Sara thought grimly, she should have worn the boring black ball gown to the dinner that she’d bought last year specifically to wear to work functions. The dress was a sensible classic style that did not draw attention to her. Instead tonight she’d worn a daring dress that she had secretly hoped would capture Alekos’s attention. What had she been hoping for? Did she really want an affair with Alekos when she knew it would mean the end of her job? She’d felt the evidence of his desire for her when he had held her close while they were dancing. But she did not kid herself that his interest in her would last any longer than with his numerous other mistresses.

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