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She shrugged and tried desperately to just treat him like any other work colleague. ‘I went to visit my sister in France for a week.’
‘I didn’t know you had a sister.’
‘Didn’t you?’ She couldn’t stop herself from flicking him a pointed look. ‘Perhaps because our conversations always revolved around work; in fact, you don’t know a lot about me at all.’
Something about the way she said that struck a cord in him. To a certain extent she was right; he’d tended to focus on their work connection more than anything else. He didn’t do deep and meaningful; he’d been happy with the equation the way it was—but so had she. He’d noticed on more than one occasion that she’d used work to hide behind.
He’d noticed the way she had looked sometimes—the unguarded vulnerability in her eyes when she thought he wasn’t watching her. ‘I know that when we met you’d been hurt by some guy in the past.’
The observation took her by surprise. She had mentioned Carl once very briefly at the start of their relationship—but she hadn’t thought he was paying that much attention.
‘Now, what was it you said…?’ He frowned. ‘Ah…I know. You said you’d been in a serious relationship and had had enough hearts and flowers, and that sex and straight talking would do nicely instead.’
Katie looked at him in consternation. She couldn’t believe she had said that—but she had, the first time he’d taken her to bed. It had felt so good in his arms, and afterwards when he had reiterated something about ‘not doing hearts and flowers’ she’d made that glib reply.
‘Trust you to remember that!’ she murmured with acute embarrassment. ‘But you can’t remember I have a sister!’
He gave her a teasing look that made her want to melt inside. With difficulty she zoned out from the feeling. Melting around Alexi wasn’t recommended.
Alexi smiled. ‘By the way, remind me later to look out the figures we were discussing at the meeting this morning,’ he remarked casually as he glanced at his watch. ‘We need to fine-hone any problems with the timetable.’
She’d almost forgotten the way he was always able to switch back to business at a snap. How one moment he could play the consummate, arousing lover and the next the steel shutters of his mind could come crashing down to the focus of his real agenda, the real heart of his life: business.
‘Yes, of course.’ She nodded and tried to make herself sound as cool as he did.
They were arriving at the airport. She noticed that the warm June evening looked grey and wintry through the tinted glass. Amazing how your senses could be deceived by an illusion.
She’d deluded herself into thinking she could handle an affair with Alexi. The truth was she had been ensnared by that mesmerising way he had of turning her on with just a look, and she’d started to read things into it that hadn’t been there. He’d never lied to her, he’d never told her that she was special or led her on in any way—yet his kisses and his love-making had done the lying for him. Being with him had been somehow addictive, and to get her fix she had reassured herself that her emotions were not in any way involved, hence those glib remarks when she had first slept with him. But the truth was she had found it harder and harder to disconnect her feelings.
She bit down on her lip as she admitted the full extent of her mistake. Some sort of madness must have possessed her. Or maybe on a subconscious level she’d lied to herself as self-preservation against getting involved with someone who was clearly a heartbreaker.
At least she had pulled herself back from the brink before any real disaster. And she had to differentiate between what was real and what was an illusion now.
Alexi the steely controlled businessman was real—Alexi the warm, passionate lover was not.
The car pulled to a halt by the edge of the airfield and the driver came round and opened the door for them. Katie stepped out into the warmth of the evening. The company jet was standing on the tarmac ready and waiting for them with the steps down.
Someone came over to speak to Alexi. There were a few formalities, and moments later they were proceeding up the steps into the luxury of the aircraft.
Katie had travelled on board the aeroplane with Alexi just once before when they’d been attending a conference in Paris. She didn’t want to think about how they’d spent that one-hour flight now. It was definitely better forgotten when she had hours alone with him stretching ahead.
She took some papers out of her briefcase and put them on the seat beside her before placing the case in the overhead compartment. Then she sat next to the window and fastened her seatbelt.
Alexi was talking to the pilot. The door was open between the cabin and the cockpit, and Katie tried to pretend that she had been focusing on the dials and lights of the controls rather than on Alexi as he turned towards her.
He was too damn handsome, she thought distractedly. At thirty-five, he was definitely a man in his prime. The suit sat perfectly on his broad-shouldered frame, the white shirt emphasising the olive tones of his skin, the darkness of his hair and eyes.
He took the suit jacket off and tossed it casually over the arm of the seat before putting his case overhead. There wasn’t a spare inch of flesh on him; he was lean and muscular and incredibly fit. She wrenched her eyes away as he took the seat opposite.
‘We should have a smooth flight; the weather forecast is good,’ he told her as he fastened his seatbelt.
One less thing to worry about then, she thought dryly. Now if she could just keep her mind on work and not on how attractive she found him, and how pleasurable that hour had been in here last time, she’d be OK.
He smiled at her. ‘We’ll get through some of that paperwork as soon as we take off. Then hopefully there will be time to relax, get some sleep.’
She remembered him telling her that these huge seats folded down into beds. However they had never actually got round to converting the seats, they’d been in too much of a hurry. They’d just folded down the armrests, and then Alexi had reached for her…
Her stomach dipped with a sudden surge of adrenalin. Don’t think about it, she warned herself fiercely.
The door between them and the pilot closed, sealing them in alone. Then the engines fired up and after a few moments they were taxiing out along the runway. She glanced out of the window. Dusk was falling fast. Night flights were good, she told herself positively. After the day she’d had, she would probably have no difficulty sleeping.
They halted at the start of the runway as they waited for take-off clearance.
Her eyes met with Alexi.
‘Do you remember our flight to Paris?’ he asked her suddenly.
She felt that dipping sensation in her stomach again. ‘No. Not really.’
He smiled, and she realised her reply didn’t fool him for a moment.
‘And I’m surprised you remember it,’ she continued swiftly. ‘I mean, one dalliance at thirty-five-thousand feet must be like another to you.’
One eyebrow rose at that. ‘You think?’
She shrugged and looked away from him.
He said something to her in Greek suddenly. Although his looks were Mediterranean, it always surprised her to hear him speak his native language, possibly because he spoke such perfect English.
‘What does that mean?’ she asked him, trying to ignore how the sound of his voice sent provocative shivers racing through her.
‘It means that I thought our time together that day was pretty spectacular.’ He laughed as she flushed a deep shade of beetroot. ‘And I’m glad now that I didn’t tell you the exact translation—otherwise you might set the cabin on fire.’
‘Stop it, Alexi!’ she muttered in embarrassment. ‘The past is forgotten, OK? It’s a taboo subject—a different planet.’
He shot her a mocking look as the aircraft-engines roared, and suddenly they were thundering down the runway. ‘Time for take off.’
He seemed to be taking a perverse pleasure in deliberately winding her up, she thought uncomfortably.
How was she going to get through this time alone with him?
She didn’t think she would ever be able to be at ease with him again. It was too…dangerous. He’d made her behave in a way that was totally out of character for her. Made her desire him…and need him. She didn’t want to remember that. But being around him made it almost impossible to forget.
The plane lifted off the ground, and for a moment there was a weightless sensation as they floated up through the clouds.
The lights of London disappeared, and a little while later the seatbelt sign was switched off.
‘Do you want a drink before we get down to things?’ He glanced over.
‘No thanks.’ Even the way he was wording things was sending her nervous system into orbit. Everything was going to be OK, she told herself steadily, as long as she kept her senses firmly in the land of reality and the present.
Alexi got to his feet to take out his briefcase from the overhead compartment. ‘So, you didn’t tell me—what part of France does your sister live in?’ he asked idly as he snapped it open and took papers out.
‘The southwest; a small village called Aviger.’
‘Is she married to a Frenchman?’
‘No, Lucy is single.’
Her sister was as bad at picking men as she was, Katie thought wryly. In fact they had both decided not long ago that it was the curse of the Connor family. Her mother’s bad choices in men were legendary, and they had suffered considerably in childhood as a consequence. They’d been dragged from one bad situation to the next. No wonder they were both wary of giving their hearts, and both fiercely independent.
Katie had always been determined not to be like her mother. When she had got involved with Carl she had done so believing him to be the steady, dependable type. It had been ages before she had invited him into her bed. She’d wanted to be sure about him.
But how could you be sure about anybody? It had turned out that he had just seen her as a challenge. Once he’d taken her to bed and the thrill of the chase had gone, he’d been ready to move on to the next conquest.
Life was one big learning curve, she thought now as she looked across at Alexi. And she didn’t want to learn anything more about heartache.
‘We need to get on with those timetables.’ She changed the subject swiftly away from the personal angle. She needed to take her lead from Alexi and be motivated solely by business. ‘And I’ve been thinking about what plans we could incorporate to make the strategy for increasing business greener.’
‘Have you, now?’
‘Yes, and I have a few ideas that I think we should explore.’
‘I’m remembering now why I wanted you for this job.’
Was he being facetious, or was he just thinking about work? It was hard to tell.
The colour in her skin heightened slightly, but she continued on, her voice brisk and determined. He watched as she picked up the papers she had left on the seat beside her. He noticed the way she bit down on her lower lip as she scanned through the pages.
He’d forgotten that she did that when she was trying to focus. Forgotten how businesslike she could sound, and yet how vulnerable she could look. How confident and grown up she could act and yet how lost she could seem.
There was something almost innocent about her. He remembered thinking that the first time he’d taken her to bed. Despite her glib words about being happy with a no-strings affair, he’d always suspected she’d spoken the words to mask a bruised heart.
She hadn’t been a virgin, but she’d been untutored in the art of love-making. She’d been almost tentatively afraid of giving herself to him, yet at the same time eager and willing for his kiss, his touch.
He’d found the combination explosive, had enjoyed drawing her out, teaching her how to please him.
Just thinking about it now made him want her all the more.
She looked up at him and he forced himself to concentrate on what she was saying. Work had to come first.
However, one thing was clear—he couldn’t wait too long before taking her to his bed again; his body was getting impatient. He felt edgy with need. And that was a situation he was very unused to.
CHAPTER FOUR
WHEN Katie opened her eyes and glanced out of the aircraft window she could see the lights of Manhattan shimmering against the darkness of the sky.
‘We’ll be touching down in twenty minutes,’ Alexi told her as he packed away the papers he’d been working on.
She must have fallen asleep, she realised with a start. How had she managed that when he’d been sitting opposite her working all night? She’d been determined not to give in to the overwhelming waves of tiredness—even when Alexi had told her to put her work away and make the seat into a bed she had resolutely refused. She hadn’t wanted to let her guard down around him for even one minute, had wanted to remain confident and poised. Now look at her! She self-consciously put a hand up to her hair, trying to smooth back the long, silky strands that had escaped to curl around her face. She felt a complete wreck.
Her eyes connected with Alexi’s across the narrow divide, and she felt the tension that had twisted between them all night flare instantly into life again.
‘Gosh, I didn’t mean to fall asleep,’ she murmured. ‘Did you finish the timetable?’
‘Yes, it’s all in order. You probably should have got your head down properly. I hope you can function at our meeting.’
The cool words irritated her. Typical that he should only be worried about the business that lay ahead and not about her welfare!
‘If you can function, then I’m damn sure I can,’ she murmured.
Her sparkly determination made him smile, and for a moment he allowed his eyes to slip over her. She’d been curled up like a kitten within stroking distance, and she had been driving him out of his mind—so much so that he’d had to ban himself from looking at her, because no work had been done whilst he’d been drinking her in like a mind-altering drug.
The smooth perfection of her skin had fascinated him, as had the long, thick darkness of her lashes, the soft curve of her lips. He even liked the messed-up way her hair was curling around her face. It was saucy and sexy, and that was before his eyes had travelled downwards to her sumptuous curves.
With difficulty he concentrated his gaze upwards and noticed suddenly that she seemed very pale.
Katie looked away from him and tried to concentrate on something other than the wave of nausea that had unexpectedly swept over her. What on earth was the matter with her? She couldn’t be ill, not here. Not in front of him! How embarrassing would that be? Panic-stricken, she took a few deep breaths, and to her relief the feeling started to subside. She was just tired, she told herself soothingly. Apart from the hour’s sleep, she’d been almost permanently on the go for the last twenty-four. A new job, a high-pressured meeting followed by piles of paperwork and then a flight to New York—all that plus Alexi. No wonder she didn’t feel well!
And the time spent working with Alexi had been difficult, to say the least. After the initial conversation, they’d hardly exchanged a word that wasn’t connected with what they were doing. The ease with which they had once worked together had definitely gone.
Katie tried to tell herself that the worst was behind her now. A long, refreshing shower and a sleep in a comfortable bed for a few hours would probably sort her out.
She looked at her wristwatch and adjusted the time back five hours to New York time. It was like that film Groundhog Day, she thought; just when you thought the long hours of darkness were nearly over, it was back to the small hours of the morning.
She glanced over and found Alexi still watching her. ‘What time is our meeting?’ she asked awkwardly.
‘Nine-thirty. So we’ll have time to get to my apartment and catch some sleep.’
‘Your apartment?’ She tried to make her voice light. ‘I assumed we would be staying at a hotel!’ Preferably with rooms on different floors, she thought frantically.
‘No, I have an apartment by Central Park. It’s very convenient.’
The jet was making its final descent, the engine noises screaming a bit like her nerves. But at least it covered the tense silence that now lay between them. She closed her eyes and tried to pretend she was somewhere else—anywhere else but here with him.
But instead of thinking relaxing, comforting thoughts her mind was now racing over the fact that they were going to be alone in an apartment.
The plane touched down on the runway with a heavy thud and a screech of brakes. As it taxied to a halt, they started to gather their belongings, ready to disembark.
‘You know, Alexi, I really think I should stay at a hotel,’ she said suddenly.
He looked amused. ‘Why?’
‘Because…I feel this is an awkward situation, that’s why.’
‘My apartment has more than one bedroom, Katie.’
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