"I wouldn’t have had to disturb your connubial bliss," Kal drawled, completely unaffected by Darian’s rising temper, "if you had not done the disappearing act on me. I had to half seduce your location out of your poor secretary. Very uncharacteristic of you, Darian. Your staff is petrified that you might be dying.Darian turned to her. "Do you want to get dressed, Kassandra?""She should hear this. I wouldn’t have barged in just for anything, Darian. ""What is it, Kal?""Tobias Ralston showed up on my yacht today. My security tried to grab him but they weren’t successful. "Suddenly cold, Kassandra shivered. Throwing his arm around her, Darian pulled her into his warm body.Tobias had been Rhode’s on-and-off boyfriend. "Tobias, you sent him to jail after Rhode...""We found that he was the one selling drugs that day. "He had a long record of possession and substance abuse," Kal replied, while Darian remained stubbornly silent."I thought you did that because..." The words trailed off
"But all my stuff is..." She stopped, his words slowly registering with her.His cell phone rang, and he finally looked at her. "I will ensure that Rosa packs up your stuff with the utmost care."Rosa was going to pack her stuff; she was going to leave for New York...Kassandra stared at the empty space he left behind for a few seconds. The shock gradually faded, leaving nothing but panic in its wake.Throat dangerously close to tears, she found him in the study that offered a breathtaking view of the Eiffel Tower.He was on the phone, listening, but his gaze stayed on her face. And that’s when Kassandra noticed the white pallor on his skin.She would have welcomed his blistering contempt, or even his lacerating fury. But the resignation in his gaze... as if he had lost something precious. as if he had finally given up.The minute he disconnected the call, she stepped inside."If he comes for me, he has to get through you, doesn’t he?" She demanded, anger coming to her rescue. She wou
Rhode had been so wrong in not trusting him, in doubting his love, so painfully unknowing of her own brother... But Kassandra understood him finally. She knew what a complex and honorable man her husband was.And knowing Darian meant loving Darian, loving his generous heart, his sense of duty, even his rigidly autocratic dictates.Why else had she risked everything she had always been scared of this past month? How else would she have thrown herself into this madness with such relish? "After all these years, I didn’t think the reasons for Rhode’s death mattered anymore. Not when I was finally able..."When you were finally getting what you wanted," he finished, and utter fury filled her.She gasped as it unfurled inside her, this new feeling, sinuously breathing courage into her very veins, filling her with tremendous energy.Reaching him, she refused to let him dismiss her so easily. "When, finally, you saw me for what I was, and let me see what kind of a man you were. I thought I sh
Her collection at the Independent Fashion Week in New York had gone better than Kassandra could have imagined in her wildest dreams. Her designs had been called modern, colorful, yet sophisticated. Just last week, with Helene’s advice, she had invested a load of money into creating a lookbook that incorporated line sheets, one that gave buyers and fashion magazine editors a view into her brand.After a crazily hectic two weeks, she had returned to Athens. When she had knocked at Mrs. Kovlakis’s door and requested the keys to her old flat and the dragon had simply handed them over, she had been both shocked and relieved. One look at the news and she found Kal and Darian and herself at the front and center of it.Hiding and barely eating, she had slept for a week. All of a sudden, she would find herself awake and looking at her phone, before she realized she was waiting for his call.Had he so thoroughly washed his hands of her? Had she truly meant nothing to him?She had cried until sh
He blocked her way. "Kal told me that you attended the board meeting. That you caused quite a stir. A walking powerhouse, that’s what he called you."She sent a silent thanks to Kal for hiding the ugly crying from Darian."Are you surprised? I will not slink away from what is mine like a coward anymore. I will sit on the Katrakis board, I will launch my label from Athens. I will not hide as if the fiasco of our marriage is my fault."I won’t let you browbeat me into anything I don’t want to do ever again."He looked tortured, his mouth pinched. "Forcing you to marry me was the biggest mistake I have ever made. I can’t believe—"She had no idea that she had thrown herself at him. That with her weight and fists she had pushed them farther into the rear room of his private suite. Pain, and ache and a bone-deep hunger, everything deluged her.Tears flew freely down her cheeks as she continued attacking him.How dare he call knowing her a mistake? How dare he hurt her when all she had want
She ran shaking fingers over his brow, pushing back his hair. "When I’m with you, I’m unafraid. All I want is to take risk upon risk, all I want is to live and love you.""Then let’s do it."Burying her face in his neck, Kassandra nodded, her head dizzy with euphoria, fear beating a tattoo. He pushed them both off the bed and brought her to the edge of it. While she shivered all over from the intent on his face, he knelt in front of her.Looked at her with such love in his eyes that fresh tears fell on her cheeks."Will you marry me again, Kassandra?" he asked against her lips. "Will you...choose to spend the rest of your life with me?"Kassandra buried her mouth in his throat, swallowed the tightness in hers. "Yes, Darian. I’ll marry you... Tomorrow, if you can arrange it.""No, not tomorrow," he said, tugging her face up to his."Why not? Are you having second thoughts already?"The ache in his eyes undid her. "I...want you to have the wedding you’ve always wanted. I want to take yo
Cheers to the beginning of another love journey!!!TITLE: THE CEO'S SEX MATE‘Nicoli’s here!’A shiver of anticipation went around the lavish hotel reception—starting with a nod from the doorman to warn the concierge, who in turn signaled to the receptionists—and Brianna noticed everyone’s backs seemed to straighten just a touch more, hands all moving to flatten ties or hair, as a sleek limousine pulled up outside."The question is," Dylan, the manager, blinked nervously as he flicked his fringe back off his face, "which one?"The answer was, for Brianna, more relevant than Dylan could possibly realize.Here on work experience, shadowing the staff and being completely supernumerary, it shouldn’t have mattered a jot to Brianna which one of the dashing Nicoli twins was pulling up outside—after all, both were legends.Elmo and Elpido Nicoli both headed up the sumptuous Nicoli chain of luxurious international hotels—and, along with their sister, were heirs to the vast wealth their father
"And she has been dealing with guests?""Yes," Dylan croaked. "Well, she’s been closely supervised, of course.""She has been bringing up details for paying guests."‘Er, yes…’ Dylan nodded. "But, as I said, only with supervision." which wasn’t strictly true—Dylan had been out for more smoke breaks than Brianna could count. Still, she was hardly going to tell Elmo that."If she is good enough for my guests," Elmo responded, with the martyrdom only the truly pompous could muster, "then she is good enough for me."If he called her again, Brianna decided, then she’d jolly well give him a piece of her mind.As his black eyes fell on her, Brianna recanted.Well, maybe she wouldn’t actually say anything. Still, she could think it—divine he might be to look at, but he was a loathsome, arrogant, chauvinist brute. Blushing with a mixture of annoyance and embarrassment, she furiously backspaced as she spectacularly mistyped. After an exceedingly long moment, Raymond Phillip’s details finally fl