CHAPTER SIX

      SOMETHING IN GIANNIS’S voice sent a shiver of apprehension—if she was honest it was anticipation—across Ava’s skin. She did not fear him. It was her inability to resist his charisma that made her fearful, she admitted. She broke free from him and marched into the suite’s only bedroom, intending to lock herself in. But he was right behind her and his soft laughter followed her as she fled into the en suite bathroom.

      Splashing cold water onto her face cooled her heated skin, and she removed the silver clips that were hanging from her tangled hair. But she could not disguise her reddened mouth or the hectic glitter in her eyes. She felt undone, out of control, and it scared the hell out of her. If she was going to survive the next month pretending to be Giannis’s fiancée, she would have to make it clear that she would not allow him to manipulate her.

      Taking a deep breath, she returned to the bedroom but the sight of him in bed, leaning against the pillows, made her want to retreat back to the bathroom. His arms were folded behind his head and his chest was bare. Her heart lurched at the thought that he might be naked beneath the sheet that was draped dangerously low over his hips. She was fascinated by the fuzz of black hairs that arrowed over his flat stomach and disappeared beneath the sheet. Her eyes were drawn to the obvious bulge of his arousal beneath the fine cotton.

      ‘Feel free to stare,’ he drawled.

      Blushing hotly, she jerked her eyes back to his face and his expression of arrogant amusement infuriated her. ‘When you said we would discuss the sleeping arrangements, I assumed that you would spend the night on the sofa,’ she snapped.

      ‘The replica eighteenth-century chaise longue looks beautiful but it is extremely uncomfortable.’ He picked up the big bolster cushions that he’d piled up behind his shoulders and laid them down the centre of the bed. ‘It’s a big bed and I won’t encroach on your half—unless you invite me to.’ He grinned at her outraged expression. ‘I must say that I am encouraged by your choice of nightwear.’

      It was only then that she noticed the confection of black silk and lace arranged on the pillow next to Giannis. She remembered the personal shopper had picked out several items of sexy lingerie, but Ava hadn’t explained that her engagement to Giannis was fake and she would not need them. She guessed that the hotel chambermaid who had unpacked her clothes must have laid out the nightgown. Although gown was an exaggeration, she thought darkly as she snatched the tiny garment off the pillow and stalked into the dressing room.

      The clothes she had brought with her from London were still in her suitcase. She found her grey flannel pyjamas and changed into them before she hung the velvet evening dress in the wardrobe. That was the last time she would dare to wear a strapless dress, she vowed, wincing as she remembered how her breasts had almost been exposed to the photographers until Giannis had covered her with his jacket.

      She had been grateful for his protective gesture. And he’d insisted that he had not expected the paparazzi to be outside the hotel. Ava bit her lip. Perhaps she was a fool but she believed him. After all, he had kept his side of their deal and halted the criminal case against her brother.

      She grimaced as she looked at herself in the mirror. Her passion-killer pyjamas had been designed for comfort and when Giannis saw them she was sure he would have no trouble keeping to his side of the bed. Which was what she wanted—wasn’t it?

      She pictured him the previous night at the hotel in London, his sleek, honed body poised above her before he’d slowly lowered himself onto her as he’d entered her with one hard thrust. Why not enjoy what he was offering for the next month? whispered a voice of temptation. Sex without strings and no possibility of her getting hurt because—unlike in a normal relationship—she had no expectations that a brief affair with Giannis might lead to something more meaningful. Their engagement was a deception but he had been totally honest with her. Maybe it was time to be honest with herself and admit that she wanted him.

      Before she could chicken out, she pulled off her pyjamas and slipped on the black negligee. It was practically see-through, dotted with a few strategically placed lace flowers, and it was the sexiest item of clothing she had ever worn. She walked into the bedroom and the feral sound Giannis made as he stared at her tugged deep in her pelvis.

      ‘I hope you realise that the likelihood of me remaining on my side of the bolsters is zero. You look incredible, omorfiá mou.’

      There was no doubt that his appreciation was genuine. His arousal was unmissable, jutting beneath the sheet, but more surprising was the flush of dark colour on his cheekbones. Ava’s self-confidence rose with every step she took across the room towards him. The light from the bedside lamp sparked off the pink sapphire on her finger as she looked down at the engagement ring, watching its iridescent gleam.

      ‘You can keep the ring after our engagement ends,’ Giannis told her.

      ‘No!’ She shook her head. ‘I am giving you a month of my life but you haven’t bought me. I will wear your ring and pretend to be your fiancée in public. But when we are alone—’ she pulled off the ring and put it down on the bedside table ‘—whatever I do, however I behave, is my choice.’

      His eyes narrowed as she untied the ribbon at the front of her negligée so that the two sides fell open, exposing her firm breasts and betrayingly hard nipples. ‘And what do you choose to do?’ he said thickly.

      ‘This.’ She whipped the sheet away to reveal his naked, aroused body and climbed on top of him so that she was straddling his hips. ‘And this,’ she murmured as she leaned forwards and covered his mouth with hers.

      For a heart-stopping second he did not respond and she wondered if she had misunderstood, that he didn’t want her. But then his arms came around her like iron bands and held her so tightly that she could not escape. He opened his mouth to the fierce demands of her kiss and kissed her back with a barely leashed hunger that made her heart race.

      ‘So you want to take charge, do you?’ he murmured as she traced her lips over the prickly black stubble on his jaw. His indulgent tone set an alarm bell off in her head. Clearly, Giannis believed that he was the one in control, and he was simply allowing her to take the dominant role while it suited him.

      ‘You had better believe it,’ she told him sweetly. Still astride him, she sat upright and ran her hands over his chest. Her smile was pure innocence as she bent her head and closed her mouth around one male nipple, scraping her teeth over the hard nub.

      ‘Theos...’ His body jerked beneath her and he swore when she moved her mouth across to his other nipple and bit him, hard. ‘You little vixen.’ He tried to grab her hair but she shook it back over her shoulders and moved down his body, pressing hot kisses over his stomach and following the line of dark hairs down lower. Very lightly, she ran her fingertips up and down his shaft and he tensed.

      ‘Not this time, angel,’ he muttered. ‘I want you too badly.’

      She flicked her tongue along the swollen length of him and gave a husky laugh of feminine triumph when he groaned. ‘I’m in charge and don’t you forget it,’ Ava told him. ‘I’m not your puppet, so don’t think you can control me.’

      ‘You are so fierce.’ He laughed but there was something in his voice that sounded like respect. And when he moved suddenly and rolled her beneath him he stared into her eyes for what seemed like eternity, as if he wanted to read her mind. ‘You fascinate me. No other woman has done that before,’ he admitted.

      He slipped his hand between her legs and discovered that she was as turned-on as he was. Keeping his eyes locked with hers, he eased his fingers inside her until she moaned. ‘Who is in charge now, angel?’ he teased softly. But Ava no longer cared if she won or lost the power struggle. She reached down between their bodies and curled her hand around him, making him groan. Maybe they were both winners, she thought. ‘You are ready for me, Ava mou.’