Page 16 of Penniless Cinderella for the Greek
One night, already half gone, to sate himself on Savannah’s gorgeous body. He’d never expected to meet her again, let alone reacquaint himself with her silken skin and delicate curves. When he’d pushed his shaft into her, she had been so tight that he had almost lost control there and then. He wondered how many lovers she’d had in the past ten years. His instinct told him not many, and there was no reason why that should have pleased him.
Dimitris concentrated on giving Savannah pleasure. Her breasts were especially sensitive, and he loved the moans she made when he used his mouth on her nipples, licking and sucking the swollen peaks while she dug her nails into his shoulders. He slipped his hand between their joined bodies and discovered the hidden nub of her clitoris. She tensed as he rubbed his thumb across her feminine heart while he continued to thrust into her with long, deep strokes.
With a sense of shock he realised that he was about to come, and he gritted his teeth, desperate to hold back the tidal wave. Itneverhappened to him. He enjoyed sex but he was always in control. He stilled, and made himself wait, dragging oxygen into his lungs as he stared down at Savannah.
She was so beautiful, her face flushed with passion and her lips reddened from his kisses. Her eyelashes lifted and her eyes were more green than hazel as she stared back at him in a silent communication that went beyond words. Something moved inside Dimitris then, and an emotion he dared not define squeezed his heart.
‘Please,’ she whispered, locking her legs around his hips as if she feared he would leave her.
‘I will please you,mátia mou,’ he rasped. It was a promise rather than a boast. He pulled back almost completely and gave a powerful thrust, claiming her utterly. She sobbed his name and tremors tore through her as she climaxed hard. Her internal muscles convulsed around him, velvet on steel, and it was too much. The wave crashed over him in an unstoppable, uncontrollable tsunami before throwing him onto the shore, and he was dazed to realise he had survived the storm. But as his heart-rate gradually slowed, his cool logic returned. Sex with Savannah had been amazing, but he hoped she understood that he could not offer her more than physical satisfaction.
Savannah’s face was buried in the pillow and she was lying on her stomach. As she came fully awake, memories of the previous night made her feel hot all over. Dimitris had made love to her three times and the night had been a blur of incredible pleasure.
She turned her head cautiously, afraid to meet his too-knowing gaze. To her relief, he was sprawled on his back, his eyes were closed and the steady rise and fall of his chest indicated that he was deeply asleep. Thank goodness for small mercies. Sex with Dimitris had been amazing, beyond compare, although she did not have any other experiences to compare it with.
Still, it had just been sex. Emotion had played no part in their night of passion, she reminded herself. Even when they had lain in a tangle of limbs, breathless, their hearts racing after another shattering orgasm, she must have imagined a connection between them that had felt deeper than their physical compatibility.
At eighteen she had believed that Dimitris’s devastating charm and flashes of tender affection were signs that he loved her. But she had witnessed his charisma when he hosted his cooking shows on TV or appeared on chat shows. He was charm personified, the handsome, sexy, hot chef. No wonder women fell in love with him in droves. No wonder she had been besotted with him as an impressionable girl.
It would be easy to fall in love with him again. She longed to waken him with a kiss and arouse his body with her hands and mouth until he took charge and rolled her beneath him or lifted her on top of him and the magic started all over again. But the deal she had made with him and herself had been for one night only. Now it was morning and the cage door was open, ready for her to fly.
Trying to ignore the hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach, she slid carefully across the bed, hoping he wouldn’t stir, secretly praying that he would. She located her knickers but couldn’t find her bra. The shirt Dimitris had worn at dinner was on the floor and was still damp from the rain, but it was better than nothing, and she slipped her arms through the sleeves.
The problem of getting herself home without her clothes or transport was resolved when she crept out of the bedroom and found her laundered trousers and tee shirt neatly folded on a chair on the landing. Her trainers were there with her handbag and laptop. She dressed quickly, and when she ran down the stairs she met the housekeeper’s husband John in the entrance hall.
‘I thought I’d try your car again this morning and, to my surprise, the engine started,’ he said, handing her the key. ‘It could be an intermittent fault with the ignition. I suggest you drive straight to a garage and have a mechanic check the car over.’
‘Thanks, I’ll do that.’
But as Savannah drove away from River Retreat she knew she couldn’t afford to spend money on her car while her finances were in a precarious state. At least she would be paid by Philpot’s for the photoshoot, but her conscience pricked that she should buy Dimitris a new phone to replace his that she’d ruined. She had the unsettling thought that he’d taken his revenge by giving her more pleasure last night than she’d known it was possible for her body to experience.
With a murmured excuse Dimitris moved away from the group of party guests he had been chatting to. It was not the first social occasion in the past six weeks where he’d struggled to make small talk, and his jaw ached from forcing a smile. The death of his grandmother a month ago partly explained his dark mood, but his grief forYιαγι?Hestia, who had been nearly ninety after all, was not the only reason for his restlessness.
He walked over to the wall of windows that ran the length of the hospitality suite at Philpot’s headquarters in central London. The views from the twenty-second floor were spectacular, especially at night when the illuminated city was spread out in front of him. But he barely noticed the blaze of twinkling lights and turned his gaze towards the door once more, hoping that Savannah would appear. Philpot’s PR executive Tara Brown had told him that Savannah had accepted an invitation to the evening’s event to mark Dimitris’s appointment as the supermarket chain’s brand ambassador, and publication of the magazine featuring his recipes and her photographs.
When he’d woken the morning after the incredible night he had spent with Savannah, he’d told himself he was relieved that she had gone. But over the past weeks he’d found himself thinking about her too often for his liking. He could have contacted her through the photographic agency, but he’d resisted. What would be the point? He would not risk having an affair with her. She had meant something to him ten years ago, but he’d hurt her. That was what he did. He damaged the people he cared about.Theós, his sister had spent years in a wheelchair because of him.
Dimitris scowled at his reflection in the glass. He’d flown to Rhodes the day after Savannah had left him in Richmond and had spent much of his time testing recipes for his new cookbook. But for once he’d been uninspired by his work, and he had not found solace in the peaceful solitude of his villa overlooking the turquoise Aegean Sea.
He glanced towards the door again, and his heart slammed into his ribs when Savannah walked into the room. She looked stunning in a black velvet cocktail dress that moulded her slender figure and those pert breasts that he had discovered fitted perfectly in his palms. Her hair was caught up in an elegant chignon, and he longed to remove the pins and thread his fingers through the blonde strands.
She gave no indication that she’d noticed him and smiled at a guy who Dimitris recognised had been a lighting technician on the photoshoot at the Richmond studio. He told himself that he was relieved there would not be an awkward situation following their night of no-strings sex. Savannah had evidently moved on, and so had he.
Some forty minutes later his patience had expired after he’d watched Savannah flirt with the men who crowded around her. She laughed often, causing heads to turn in her direction. It struck Dimitris that there was something different about her. A self-confidence she had not possessed at eighteen or even six weeks ago.
He strode towards her with a purposefulness that made her bevy of admirers move away. To his annoyance, his heart was pounding when he stood in front of her. ‘You were so late to arrive this evening that I thought you were not coming to the party.’ He managed to sound casual but inside he was fighting an urge to sweep her into his arms and carry her off, caveman style, to somewhere where they could be alone.
Her hazel-green eyes widened, and Dimitris felt a surge of satisfaction that she could not hide her reaction to him. ‘I’m surprised you noticed me. You’ve been knee-deep in attractive women for most of the evening.’ Her tart voice only made him want her more.
‘You were attracting a lot of male attention.’ He was appalled that he sounded jealous. It was an unfamiliar emotion.
Savannah gave him an enigmatic smile worthy of the Mona Lisa. ‘I’m enjoying my freedom. I was late because my car broke down and I had to make the rest of the journey by bus.’
‘I’ll drive you home.’
‘It’s okay, Alex has already offered to give me a lift.’
‘If Alex is the guy who has been trailing after you like a puppy dog, he has been drinking and is probably over the limit to get behind the wheel of a car.’
