Modern Romance November 2019 Books 5-8. Dani Collins

judgement. One I regret,’ he intoned solemnly.

      The unequivocal apology had the same effect as the one earlier. My jaw dropped. ‘You…do?’

      ‘Ne,’ he drawled.

      For another charged moment he stared at me. Then his gaze dropped to my phone.

      Almost dazedly I stared at it. ‘You can stand down your spies. I was simply calling Sophia to check on my son.’

      A deeply possessive look glinted in his eyes. ‘He’s our son, pethi mou. Yours and mine and no one else’s.’

      The very idea of Andreos being anyone else’s child but Axios’s was so profoundly impossible I almost laughed out loud. And then that notion faded under the weight of the electrified atmosphere crackling between us. The feeling of being caught on the edge of a lightning storm that never quite went away.

      It didn’t take a genius to see that Axios was in an equally edgy mood.

      Attempting to dissipate it, I waved the phone at him. ‘He’s fine, by the way. According to Sophia, he went down without a fuss.’

      Axios shrugged. ‘He’s almost four months old. I believe that as long as he’s warm and well fed he has very little to worry about.’

      ‘It’s a little more complicated than that. He needs love and laughter. He’s also at the stage where he’ll really start recognising his mother’s absence.’

      Bleakness flashed across his face, momentarily slashing my insides. ‘What about his father’s? And whose fault is it that I’m not fully equipped with that information, Calypso?’ His voice throbbed with raw emotion.

      ‘Axios—’

      His hand slashed through the air a split-second before he closed the gap between us and settled his hands on my shoulders. ‘I want to move on from this. But there are questions you still haven’t answered.’

      My heart dipped. ‘Like what?’

      ‘What’s the big secret about your whereabouts? I hunted for you high and low. My investigators visited Nicrete—discreetly, of course, since I had to protect my family from untoward gossip. The general consensus there was that Calypso Petras was far too level-headed, far too considerate to have made such a selfish move. At least without assistance or coercion of some sort. Perhaps from a source no one had considered.’

      ‘What source?’

      His tension heightened, his whole body seemingly caught in a live electric feed. ‘You tell me.’

      ‘Maybe a secret admirer? Perhaps even another man?’ I taunted.

      A fierce little muscle ticked in his jaw. ‘Was it? Considering you were a virgin, I wasn’t inclined to think you would jump into another man’s bed that easily. Tell me I wasn’t wrong,’ he bit out.

       He hadn’t thought the worst of me.

      The idea of it left me nonplussed for several seconds, considering he still had no idea of my whereabouts for the past year. Considering he had to have overheard some of the blatant whispers at the party.

      ‘Why the interrogation? I thought you were all about keeping up appearances? Convincing the world that my absence was a well-orchestrated plan?’

      ‘That’s been taken care of. The results will be evident soon enough. Let’s discuss us,’ he said, then immediately frowned as if he hadn’t expected to say that.

      Perhaps he hadn’t. After all, wasn’t he the man who’d never engaged in a relationship that lasted more than a few weeks?

      ‘Us? Are you sure? You seem as surprised by that word falling from your lips as I am to hear it.’

      For the longest time he stared at me. Then he shrugged. ‘Only a fool stays on a course that’s doomed. Perhaps I’m embracing new changes. Attempting to be…different.’

      My heart lurched, even as I tamped down fruitless hope. All this meant nothing. Not if my prognosis was as dire as my senses screamed that they were. Not if this marriage was ticking down to dissolution.

      ‘Can we not do this here? I’d like to go back in.’

      ‘Why? So Stavros can succeed at working his angle?’

      I blinked in surprise. ‘What are you talking about?’

      He edged me back a step, following me so we were wedged against the stone balustrade. ‘Just a heads-up. His marriage is on the rocks. He’s attempting to raise his stature by undermining my authority every chance he gets—chances which, unfortunately for him, haven’t been readily available. I’d rather not see you be his pawn,’ he breathed, his voice absolutely lethal while being so soft.

      Too late, I accepted that the fire inside me was building out of control. His body surged closer, reminding me in vivid detail of the hard-packed, streamlined definition of muscle beneath his bespoke suit. And the fact that his body could render me speechless with very little effort.

      ‘You can stand down. I can take care of myself.’

      ‘Ne, I’m beginning to see that,’ he murmured, and again there was the barest hint of grudging acceptance in his eyes.

      But I didn’t get the chance to explore the discovery because his head slowly lowered.

      Hot, sensual and commanding, his lips slanted over mine. With a gasp that was way too husky and way too revealing I threw up my hands. Somewhere in the back of my head I was aware that I’d dropped my phone. But it didn’t seem to matter, because his tongue was delving between my lips, seeking entrance I was helpless to deny.

      He tasted me with a brazenness that struck a match to the desire that had been straining to be freed after that episode on his sofa. With effortless ease he set it ablaze between one snatched breath and the next.

      His tongue stroked mine with a possessiveness that took control of my whole body, so that when one hand slid from my shoulder and down my back to draw me into sizzling contact it felt as if I was made of warm, pliant dough, ready to mould myself to any shape of his bidding.

      When his other hand angled my head to deepen the kiss it was all I could do to slide my own hands around his neck. To hold on tightly as the dizzying journey zipped like a rollercoaster ride I never wanted to end.

      With a helpless moan, I parted my lips wider, strained onto my toes the better to absorb more of the experience.

      Ax made a gruff sound that disintegrated beneath our frenzied kiss. His hold intensified until we were plastered together from chest to thigh. Until the unmistakable imprint of his thick, aroused manhood blazed hot and potent against my belly.

      My fingers convulsed in his hair as the memory of him inside me, possessing me, surged into life. Feverish need pooled between my thighs, hunger prising another moan from my throat.

      Before it could be anywhere near sated Ax was pulling away, his gaze searingly possessive as it moved from my damp and tingling mouth to my eyes.

      ‘Now that we’ve shown the world how hot we still are for each other, will you come inside with me and dance with your husband?’ he asked, his tone husky but firm.

      Did he really want to dance with me or had he kissed me just for show?

      The eyes burning into mine seemed to be attempting to read me just as hard as I was trying to reading him.

      What was he looking for?

      What was I looking for?

      My scrambling senses flailed, and I was aghast at how easily and completely he’d overtaken my senses. How even now, with a few snatched breaths, I still couldn’t think beyond the need to experience that kiss all over again. Yearning for more than just a kiss.

      Realising he was awaiting a response, I scrambled the appropriate words together. ‘Yes. If I must.’