Page 26 of Penniless Cinderella for the Greek
It was her fault. Guilt was an arrow through her heart. His pain and his need to keep on swimming, up and down, up and down, was his way of dealing with his agonising emotions after she’d accused him of not having deep feelings. How wrong she had been. And how cruel. Because her instincts had told her that the real Dimitris was a far more complex man than the charming, sexy chef he presented to the world.
The truth was utterly heartbreaking. Since he was fourteen—an age when many teenagers were impressionable—he had believed that he was responsible for his parents’ deaths and his sister’s life-changing injuries. And for eighteen years he had not told anyone of his secret torment, until she’d challenged him to reveal the pain he’d carried inside him for so long.
But it had not brought him comfort to finally speak about the accident. She’d been unable to convince him that he was blameless, and he had rejected her sympathy—rejected her. Tonight he had admitted that he desired her, but she’d acted like the teenage girl of ten years ago who had yearned for a fairy tale. Dimitris was not a fantasy prince, he was a man with flaws, but there was much to admire. His kindness when he’d offered her a job so that she had enough money to take care of her mum, his patience and understanding when she’d told him why she had a fear of heights, and he had shown his philanthropy with his charity that helped train young chefs.
He was a flesh and blood man, and she had made him bleed. Savannah closed her eyes, hating herself for being so blind. Dimitris’s self-containment was not because he did not have feelings, it was a defence to hide his guilt and grief.
Where did they go from here? For a start, she could admit that she wanted to make love with him again. She looked back at the pool and caught her breath as Dimitris hauled himself out of the water. Naked, he truly was a Greek god. His toned, tanned body was long and lean, with hard thighs and a broad, muscular chest. He stood under the poolside shower and the spray flattened the whorls of black hairs on his chest. Her gaze followed the arrowing of hairs over his abdomen and down to where they grew thick around the base of his manhood.
Heat unfurled low in her belly, a hunger she could not deny. Life was unpredictable and could be over in an instant in a collision of metal hitting metal. Life could be cruel, as her mum’s diagnosis of a degenerative disease had proved. Life was for livingnow, not worrying about what would happen in the future. Dimitris did not want permanency, but she was prepared to accept an affair with him on his terms. After all, he couldn’t break her heart if she did not give it to him.
His bedroom was on the same floor as hers, but at the front of the house overlooking the sea. She knew he must still be downstairs, and she did not hesitate before entering his room. The sight of the big bed sent a throb of nervous anticipation through her. Dimitris had given her a glimpse of the man behind the mask, and now it was her turn to let him see how badly she wanted him.
A breeze stirred the filmy curtain in front of the open door leading to the balcony. The sound of waves breaking onto the sand enticed Savannah outside. Twinkling lights lined the bay and the night sky was crowded with glittering stars. Minutes later she heard the click of the bedroom door and took a deep breath before she pushed the curtains aside and stepped into the room.
Dimitris froze and his eyes narrowed on her. He was wearing a towel knotted around his waist, and droplets of water clung to his chest hairs. He threw his clothes onto a chair before he spoke.
‘What do you want, Savannah?’
‘You.’
His lack of a reaction did not surprise her. No doubt he regretted revealing the emotions that he’d kept hidden for his entire adult life and he’d spent nearly an hour in the pool re-establishing his iron control over himself.
There was only one way to show him that she was serious. She slid the straps of her dress over her shoulders and shimmied out of the clingy sheath, slowly baring her breasts, her midriff and her hips. The green silk slithered to the floor, and she was left in just a black lace thong.
Still Dimitris said nothing, but his chest rose and fell as if it hurt him to breathe when she walked towards him.
‘One night was not enough for me either,’ she told him. ‘I don’t care how long we last.’ She stretched out her hand and loosened the towel, but when she tried to pull it away he clamped his hand over hers.
‘Are you offering pity sex?’ he growled. ‘For some reason you feel sorry for me and so you’ve decided to sleep with me?’
She shook her head, feeling her heart shatter a little when she thought of the burden of guilt he’d carried for so long. ‘I don’t pity you. I want to make love with you,’ she said simply. She whipped the towel away and curled her fingers around his powerful erection. ‘I’m pretty sure you want me too, but just to be sure...’
Her heart thudded as she sank to her knees in front of him. She had never done this before. But she needed to show him that she was his, utterly, for as long as the fire between them blazed.
‘Savannah?’ His voice was low and harsh, and he spoke her name like a warning—or a plea—when she ran her tongue over the tip of his manhood.
He muttered something in Greek and speared his fingers in her hair as if he intended to pull her head up and prevent her pleasuring him with her mouth. At least she hoped she was giving him pleasure. She was fascinated by the combination of steel and velvet against her tongue and was fairly sure that his ragged groan was of enjoyment, not because he wanted her to stop.
‘What am I going to do with you,mátia mou?’ The huskiness in Dimitris’s voice made Savannah’s heart contract.
She sat back on her heels and looked up at him. The hunger in his dark eyes intensified the ache between her legs and moist heat pooled there in readiness for him. How could this be wrong when it felt so gloriously right? She smiled. ‘I hope you will think of something,’ she said softly.
Theós!That smile. Impossibly, when Savannah smiled she was even more beautiful. Dimitris shuddered as she licked her tongue along his hard length. She was sending him out of his mind.
When he had discovered her in his room, his heart had crashed into his ribs. She was a goddess in her green silk dress that moulded every dip and curve of her body. He had told himself that ordering a dress for her to wear to the party was a reasonable thing to do. After all, she would be promoting his new cookery book. He’d bought the jewellery on a whim when he’d seen the gems displayed in a jeweller’s window in Rhodes Town. The peridots reminded him of the mysterious green of Savannah’s eyes.
But when he’d seen her glide down the stairs before the party, looking so beautiful that he’d felt a tug in his chest and his blood had surged into his groin, he’d realised that he was in trouble. He’d been unable to take his eyes off her all evening, and he had known that Savannah’s prickliness had been her attempt to hide her awareness of him.
He did not understand how she could smile at him after what he’d told her. Hehadbeen responsible for the tragedy that had destroyed his family. His sister had spent years in a wheelchair because he’d been a stroppy, ungrateful teenager who hadn’t deserved his parents love and he did not deserve to find love for the rest of his life.
Dimitris tensed. He could not think properly while Savannah was using her mouth on him so effectively that he realised he was seconds away from embarrassing himself and disappointing her. He never lost control. The truth was that no other woman had tested his control the way Savannah did. She made him feel things he was not ready to admit to himself, and so he shoved a lid on his emotions—he was good at that—and drew her to her feet, pulling her close so that her body was plastered against his.
Her stunning eyes, more green than hazel tonight, widened when she felt his erection jab between her thighs. ‘I want you,’ he told her rawly. He needed to lose himself in her sweetness and forget for a while who he really was, what he had done, and how he could never be good enough for her.
He lifted her into his arms and carried her over to the bed. She was a lightweight, but his heart thudded painfully hard when she looped her arms around his neck so that her breasts pressed against his chest.
‘Are you sure this is what you want?’ he asked when he laid her on the bed. ‘I can’t give you...’
