The Greek Tycoon's Lover (5 page)

Helen only had wine every few months for special occasions so this was a complete change for her she thought to herself as she sipped the third glass.

“Dimitri!” she said when she opened the door. “I mean, Mr. Theopolis,” she corrected herself. Then smiled brightly as she took in his messed up hair and hands on his hips. “What brings you out here in the rain?” she asked.

“You,” he said, pushing his way into her house. “Where the hell did you go?” he asked.

Helen closed the door and leaned against it, taking another sip of wine.

“Here,” she said, her arms swaying out to encompass the rest of the room. She almost spilled her wine and giggled as she steadied herself. “Oops!” she laughed. “Would you like a glass of wine?” she asked.

“No thank you,” he said. He took in her flushed cheeks and overly bright eyes and asked, “How many have you had?”

Helen looked into her wine glass as if she could find the answer in the dark liquid. “Hmm…not sure,” she replied and smiled up at him. “You’re very handsome, have I mentioned that?” she asked.

Dimitri laughed briefly, immensely relieved now that he could see for himself that she was okay and not hurt and injured. Dimitri couldn’t help it. His prim little Helen was drunk and looking sexier than he could have imagined. And he’d imagined her many times in so many different conditions it was hard to believe he’d missed this one. He smothered another smile as he looked down at her. She wasn’t wearing the conservative cotton robe she’d come out in last night. Tonight, she was wearing the silk robe he’d put out for her. Adding to the allure, she hadn’t dried off before pulling the silk over her slender body so it was now plastered against her skin, giving him a very nice image of her luscious curves. His eyes roamed over her figure, taking in all of her soft, very feminine body. “No, you’ve never mentioned that to me.” His body was hardening as he noted that her nipples were already pointed.

She squinted up at him. “Are you frowning?” she asked, not really sure.

Dimitri shook his head and looked around. “No. Why did you leave the office without saying goodbye?” he demanded. “I asked you to stick around so I could talk to you.”

“You were in another meeting,” she replied and pushed away from the door, only to find it too difficult and leaned back against it. “I didn’t want to disturb you.” She pushed against the door again and this time was successful in gaining her balance. She walked over to him and pointed at him. “You’re in trouble. Did you know that?” she asked.

Without another word, she walked back into the bathroom, already unbelting the robe as she walked.

Dimitri watched her and the aching in his groin intensified. She was taking off her robe! His eyes watched her hungrily as she disappeared into the bathroom and unfortunately, he only was able to catch a glimpse of her bare, sexy shoulder before she disappeared. The robe was all that he could see as it pooled in a pile on the floor outside her bathroom.

Dimitri shoved his hands through his hair and rubbed his neck. What a night! He’d come out of his last meeting only to see Helen’s purse still on the floor but her computer turned off. He’d called her cell phone only to hear it ringing in her purse. Picking it up, he’d called her house but there wasn’t any answer. And no answer for the next hour. He glanced across the room and understood why. She’d taken the phone off the hook.

He shouldn’t have looked around the room. He should have just walked out, knowing that she was okay and she wasn’t lying in a ditch unconscious or in a hospital room somewhere. A gentleman would be considerate and allow her some privacy but he was too enchanted by this side of her. She was more relaxed and the warmth of the bath as well as the extra alcohol had made her cheeks a soft pink instead of the pretty pale color they normally were.

Yes, a gentleman would politely leave. But the glance across the room at the phone revealed a shoe next to the receiver. His eyes caught the skirt she’d been wearing that day draped precariously over the back of the chair next to the phone. Picking up the shoe and the skirt, he searched out the rest and groaned out loud when he spotted her shirt and the lacy bra underneath it. His fingers played with the material as he searched out the matching underwear, finding it halfway across the room.

Just as he’d discovered the previous night, beneath that prim, drab clothing, his little Helen liked to have silk and lace against her skin. It gave him hope that he could eventually find the sensuous woman underneath her shy exterior.

His body hard and aching, he walked toward the door she’d just entered. Not surprised, he found her sitting in a bathtub, the glass of wine half empty. When she sensed his presence, she turned her head and gave him a sleepy smile.

“I’m not sure you should be here in my bathroom,” she said and her smile broadened.

In response, Dimitri sat down on the tiny little pink seat that she stored underneath her counter. “So what’s with the wine?” he asked, picking up the bottle and noting that it was almost empty.

She waved one arm up in the air. “Oh, you know. It’s been a hard week so far and mean females just seem to get me down.”

“What females?” he asked, his stomach clenching at the knowledge that he’d been on the mark on Monday in suspecting that someone had hurt her feelings. Now that her defenses were down, he’d have the name of whoever had hurt Helen’s feelings and would ensure that the person never stepped foot inside the building again.

Helen smiled dreamily in his direction. “Does it really matter?” she asked airily. “I mean, they were right. So why should they be punished simply because they recognized a truth that I had failed to see myself.”

“What truths were they spewing?” he asked, transferring his curiosity from the identity to the crux of the matter.

She squinched up her nose and looked over at him. “I’m boring,” she whispered as if she were revealing state secrets.

Dimitri raised his eyebrows at her explanation. In his opinion, nothing could be further from the truth. “In whose mind?” he asked. Personally, he found her endlessly interesting, fascinating and too damn sexy! Especially when she was relaxing in a bubble bath, naked, with little bubbles popping away, teasing him with the possibilities.

She raised her bare shoulders and Dimitri almost groaned as one soft breast came precariously close to the edge of the bubbles that were quickly disintegrating. “In everyone’s mind, apparently,” she said and sipped again.

“Not everyone’s,” he murmured.

“What was that?” she asked, her eyebrows rising over the rim of the glass.

“Nothing,” he said and quickly diverted her mind. “Do you think you’re boring?” he asked.

“Yep,” she said and nodded her head so quickly that her hair flopped forward, a long lock covering the top of her left breast.

“So what are you going to do about it?” he asked, trying to keep his gaze away from that pretty curl. It was difficult and eventually, he gave up the struggle.

She put a finger on the edge of her lip, her tongue coming out as she considered his question. “First of all, no more suits,” she said decisively if also slightly slurred.

“What are you going to wear instead?” he asked, thinking she looked absolutely perfect just the way she was now. Or maybe a few less bubbles would be better.

“I don’t know exactly. I’m going to go shopping and find more feminine clothes.”

Dimitri nodded his head. He could go along with that. He’d even like to suggest some designers he’d like to drape her cute little derriere in. “Okay. What else?” he asked. Mentally, he was already ordering a dozen outfits that he’d make sure were delivered to her by tomorrow.

“Sex,” she said with a nod to her head.

Dimitri did a double take at her bald statement. “What?” he demanded.

She ignored, or just didn’t even hear, the instantaneous anger in his voice. “Yep. I’m going to learn to have sex.”

He didn’t like that at all. No one was going to touch his Helen except himself! “What the hell do you mean?” He tried to keep his voice to a normal tone but he was too furious. The idea of someone else touching her made his question come out more as a roar.

Helen drained her glass and held it out farther for him to fill up with the remaining wine. “I need to know how to have sex.”

He didn’t oblige her by filling up her glass. He was too intent on finding out what her plans were. “So you’re just going to go out and have sex with someone?”

“Of course,” she said, laughing slightly.

“Like hell you are!”

That caught her attention. She smiled mischievously. “Don’t worry. I won’t use you for the teacher,” she said.

“What?” Dimitri was trying to understand what was going on but he was slowly losing the thread.

She giggled at his outraged expression. “Or maybe I should,” she considered, looking him up and down. “You’re good at sex, aren’t you?” she asked.

Dimitri was having difficulty following this conversation. He was still stuck three sentences back. “Excuse me?”

“Sex. You could teach me everything I need to know, couldn’t you?”

Dimitri watched as her eyes started to close. “You want to learn to have sex?”

Helen yawned widely. “Of course. Barbara said you wouldn’t like virgins.”

“Why the hell would Barbara say something like that?” This conversation was becoming more strange by the second.

“Because she knew how I felt about you. She’s the only one, though.”

The whole conversation was completely out of control but his body froze with her last statement. “How do you feel?” he asked coaxingly. He knew he was pushing his luck but couldn’t help it.

She smiled and inhaled deeply. “Oh, you know. Since you’re the reason for all this craziness, it is only fair that you fix it and make me into the kind of woman….” She started off, only to drift off to sleep.

Dimitri stared at the woman who had just fallen asleep in the bathtub. What had she been about to say? Dammit! She’d haunted his dreams for so many nights and, looking at her now, all warm and rosy from the bath, he was going to have many more fantasies about bubble baths not to mention tormenting ideas about what she had been about to say.

He watched her for a long moment, staring at her full, red lips. Then his eyes traveled down her body, hidden by the bubbles but still sexy as hell. And now she was asleep. A part of him was telling him to just leave her in the bath tub, that he wouldn’t be able to deal with getting her out. The gentleman in him knew that he’d never be able to walk away from her in this kind of position but the man with the aching erection wished he could.

With grim determination, he moved over to the tub and stared down at Helen. Then he rolled up his sleeve and lifted the plug, allowing the water to drain out of the bath. Quickly gathering a towel, he placed it over her naked body, but not before he’d seen the perfection of her skin, of her breasts and the apex of her thighs. Helen had long, perfectly shaped legs that ended with cute, pink painted toe nails. That was another thing he hadn’t known about her and he liked it. He liked it a lot. Groaning out loud at her perfection, he covered her with a large, fluffy pink towel before lifting her into his arms.

As he carried her to the bedroom, he was amazed at how little she weighed. He looked down at the dark circles under her eyes and the long, thick lashes. What had made her so tired? She’d lost weight too, he realized. He’d have to work this through. But not tonight. Pulling the covers down with one hand, he carefully laid her down, then pulled the covers back over her.

Turning off the light, he walked out of the house, making sure all the doors were locked as he left.

Chapter 4

The pain woke her up. She’d never experienced such a headache before. The throbbing started behind her eyes, then slashed to the back of her head in wave after wave of pain. Putting a hand to her forehead, she started to roll over, then stopped as more pain washed over her head, ending somewhere toward her neck.

The phone ringing only made things worse, if that was possible. She lifted the handle just to stop the ringing.

“Good morning, Helen. How are you feeling today?” the deep voice at the other end of the line asked cheerfully.

Helen closed her eyes and tried to concentrate. “Mr. Theopolis?” she gasped as soon as her mind started working. Images of him standing over her in the bathtub came back to her but she couldn’t remember if they were a dream or if he had really been here last night.

His deep chuckle made her skin tingle despite the awful pain throbbing along every bone in her body. “No going back Helen. It was ‘Dimitri’ last night. You’re just going to have to get used to using my first name.”

“Oh no,” she gasped, then sank deeper into the soft pillows as even that movement caused her additional pain. It hadn’t been a dream. He’d been here, in her house while she’d been too inebriated to filter her thoughts and words. What had she said? Had she embarrassed herself beyond redemption? She couldn’t remember and the effort to remember was causing more pain to slash through her head.

“Yep. Are you out of bed yet?” he asked cheerfully.

Helen opened one eye, not sure how to answer him. Was she in bed? She didn’t remember walking to bed last night. But then she didn’t remember much of anything except answering the door and letting him in. Everything after that was a blank. “Um…yes,” she lied.