When Christakos Meets His Match by Abby Green Read Free Book Online Page B

for a second.
    She realised two things at once: the car had come to a halt outside the terminal and it must have been the driver who had made the noise to get their attention.
    Alexio’s hands were still on her arms, as if she needed support, and his face was still close, those eyes looking heavy-lidded and glittering with all sorts of decadent promises. All she wanted to do was pull him back to her and kiss him again and never stop.
    Almost violently she pulled free completely. Her cheeks burned. Her hair was loose and coming down. Quickly she scrabbled with trembling hands to put it back up.
    She couldn’t look at him. What the hell had just happened? Mutual combustion?And she’d leapt into the fire without a second’s hesitation. As much as she’d been a willing participant in what had just happened, it scared Sidonie how quickly she’d lost control.
    * * *
    ‘We’re here,’ Alexio said, somewhat redundantly. He was trying to control the clamour of his blood. He felt altered after that kiss. Disorientated.
    Sidonie was avoiding his eye, breathing fast. He saw her throat work. She opened her mouth and already he wanted to cover it with his, taste that sweetness again. There was something so unexpected about her—something that pierced him right through to where he’d never been touched, smashing aside his cynical jaded shell. If he could think for a moment he might even feel suspicious, but right now he was too hot for her to feel anything but carnal hunger.
    She glanced at him and all he could see were the swirling blue and green depths of those luminous eyes. She was still wearing those glasses. Then he saw her hand reaching for the door handle, and everything in him rejected the notion that she was going to leave. But before he could stop her she’d looked away, opened the door and was stepping out.
    Alexio moved so fast that she was only just straightening up when he reached her side of the car. Her eyes were huge and wary. Someone rushed up with her bag on a trolley and Alexio took it, only just restraining himself from snarling at the completely innocent staff member to leave them alone.
    Alexio looked at Sidonie for a long moment, feeling as if he was tipping over a precipice he’d never let himself near before.
    ‘Are you sure I can’t change your mind?’
    For a second he thought she was about to capitulate, and the blood thundered in his head, but then she bit her lip and shook her head. ‘I can’t. I need to get back.’
    Alexio didn’t want to move. ‘You have a job?’
    She avoided his eye. ‘I did... But the restaurant closed down.’
    Alexio’s body grew tight. ‘So there’s nothing to rush home for...?’ Something very unpalatable occurred to him and he bit out, ‘Unless you have a boyfriend?’
    Sidonie shook her head quickly and at the same time shot him an insulted look. ‘No... I would never do...what we just did...if I had...’
    She stopped for a moment, then focused on him again and looked tortured, but it was little comfort to Alexio.
    ‘I just...can’t do this. With you.’ Her chin lifted. ‘I’m not easy, Alexio. I won’t just fall into bed with you because you click your fingers and expect me to.’
    Alexio wanted to smash aside the trolley, rip off those glasses and grab her, kiss her into submission. Kiss her again . Instead he bit out, lying admirably, ‘I asked you for dinner, Sidonie, not for sex.’
    She blanched and avoided his gaze again, slinging her bag across her body. It did little to douse his desire—the strap coming between her breasts made them stand out, defining their pert shape. Theos , what was wrong with him? Had he lost all reason in the past hour?
    Sidonie took the trolley and said, ‘Look...thanks, okay? If I lived in London maybe I’d go out with you, but I don’t, and I have to go home.’
    She was pulling away, taking the trolley with her case on it, and something like panic gripped Alexio’s chest, constricting his breathing. He