One Night to Risk It All Read online

  Now she was here, and Alex was definitely touching. And her pleasure was all in his control. It was both exhilarating and terrifying.

  She walked out of the elevator into the hall, her legs shaking. She dug through her purse, trying to find the little key card she’d thrown in there earlier. Why had she been so careless? She hadn’t had this in mind, that’s for sure. She hadn’t known there would be urgency. She had all the urgency and no flipping key....

  She scraped the bottom of her purse with her hand and came up with the card. “Oh, thank God,” she breathed. “That was sacrilege, wasn’t it?” she asked, looking back at Alex.

  “Why?”

  “Thanking God because I found the key so we could...well, this is fornication, isn’t it?”

  “It will be in five minutes,” he said. “Right now it’s just lust.”

  “Pretty powerful stuff.” She turned to the door and slid the key in the slot. The light turned green. “So, I guess we go in now.”

  He stopped and touched her cheek with the tip of his finger, the gesture so tender it shocked her. “You’re very pretty when you’re nervous.”

  Her face heated. “Well, that’s nice of you to say.”

  His blue eyes locked with hers, so sincere, so focused. As if he could only see her, as if she was the only thing that mattered. No one had ever looked at her like that, not ever. “I mean it.”

  She coughed, her throat suddenly tight with emotion. “Well...thank you. But I’m less nervous when you kiss me. Maybe we should go with that?”

  He didn’t have to be asked twice.

  He pulled her into the room and onto the bed. She was flat on her back, the mattress soft beneath her, Alex hard over her. She didn’t have time to be nervous. She was too turned on, too in the moment.

  There was nothing boyish about him now. The humorous light in his eyes was gone, replaced with something dark, feral. Dangerous.

  And she liked it.

  “I will be slow the next time,” he said. “I promise. I like foreplay.” He rose up onto his knees and stripped off his shirt. “And there will be some. Next time. Next time, I promise.” Then he reached into his shorts pocket and took out his wallet, pulling out a condom and throwing the wallet down onto the floor, followed quickly by the rest of his clothes.

  She didn’t have time to be nervous—she was too busy looking at him. He was incredible, so much more than she’d imagined a man might be.

  And she wanted... She just wanted.

  He tugged the top of her dress down, bared her to him, lowered his head and sucked one nipple deep in his mouth as he pushed her skirt up over her hips.

  He hooked his fingers into the sides of her panties and tugged them down her legs, then drew back for a moment, opening the condom and rolling it on quickly before he positioned himself between her thighs.

  He put his hand beneath her bottom and tilted her up to him as he thrust deep inside her. She winced against the pain, fighting the urge to make a sound. Because she didn’t want to ruin the moment. Even with the pain it was the most beautiful moment ever. The most exciting and wild thing that had ever happened to her.

  It was perfect.

  If he noticed, he had no reaction. And she was glad. Instead, he thrust deep inside of her, pushing them both higher and higher until she was gasping. Until she was fisting his hair, the sheets, whatever she could get hold of so she didn’t fly off the bed and shatter into a million pieces.

  The pain faded quickly, every thrust pushing her closer to the point of release. But it wasn’t an easy push. It wasn’t a gentle journey to the peak. It was fire and thunder—her release almost ripped from her as it hit, suddenly and before she could take a chance to breathe.

  She shuddered out her release, clinging to his shoulders, legs wrapped around his calves. She was sure her nails were biting into his skin, but she didn’t care. She couldn’t.

  He went still above her, a hoarse sound on his lips as he found his own pleasure. And then he was up, moving away from her and into the bathroom.

  She lay there on her back, her dress pulled down over her breasts and up past her hips, trying to catch her breath, hands over her eyes. “Oh, dear Lord, what have I done?”

  He came back in, the condom managed, the look on his face grim. “Now, you should have told me that,” he said.

  “Told you what?” she asked, sitting up and trying to put her dress in place. Though he didn’t seem concerned with his nudity at all.

  “That you were a virgin.”

  “Oh. That. Well. I could have told you. It’s just that...”

  “Just that what?”

  “I didn’t want to. How stupid is that?”

  He walked over to the bed and took her left hand in his, holding it up so she was eye level with her engagement ring. “Whoever gave you this? He’s an idiot.”

  * * *

  Rachel came back to the present, her eyes on the ring, just like they’d been in that moment after her first time with Alex.

  They’d been together at least four times in the hours since then. And he’d been telling the truth. He did like foreplay. Not only that, he was good at it. Darn good.

  She put the ring back down, a smile curving her lips.

  She sat up slowly, the muscles in her body complaining. Alex had given her a little bit more exercise than she was used to. That made her smile widen. Which was stupid, maybe, but she felt...different. Giddy. Alive.

  Half in love.

  She closed her eyes. No. She didn’t want that. That was such a stupid cliché. She didn’t actually know the man. She’d been naked with him, that was all.

  Except it was easy to remember how it was to dance with him. How it felt to hold his hand as she walked barefoot down a city sidewalk. How she’d been different with him. More alive.

  Happy.

  So maybe it wasn’t so stupid that she felt half in love. It was scary, though. She’d been...not in love, but infatuated with a guy before, with hideous results. But that had been different. It felt like another lifetime. Like it had happened to another girl.

  She’d changed over the past eleven years. In ways that were necessary, but in ways that had left her feeling like she was trapped in skin that had become far too small.

  And sometime last night, she’d changed again.

  She got out of bed and stumbled to the bathroom, taking care of early morning necessities and looking at herself in the mirror. She looked... Her hair was a wreck. She was pretty sure the dark mark on her neck was a hickey.

  She smiled. She should not be enjoying this. But she was.

  Real life could be dealt with later.

  She pushed her hair back and walked out into the hotel room again, and stopped when she saw Alex’s wallet on the floor. It was open, from when he’d taken out the condom and thrown it onto the ground. After that incident, he’d procured protection from the concierge. Much to her chagrin.

  Well, and delight, if she was completely honest. She’d absolutely benefitted from the acquisition of a box of condoms.

  She bent down and picked his wallet up without thinking. It was an expensive wallet. Black leather with fine stitching. Like something her father, or Ajax, would own. Strange because his clothes were so worn. Because he worked on a boat.

  Her eyes skimmed over to his ID. He had an American driver’s license. Which seemed odd. Because he was Greek, no question. Though, perhaps his employer was American.

  Okay, snoopy. Not really your business.

  And it wasn’t. They weren’t trading life stories so it wasn’t really fair for her to be looking at his personal property.

  Before she could snap the wallet shut and put it on the table, she read his name. Not on purpose. But she saw it, and then all she could do was stare.

  She
knew his name.

  And for a full thirty seconds, she didn’t know from where.

  Alexios Christofides.

  She heard the name in Ajax’s voice. A growl, a curse. He’d been nettling Ajax for months. Buying shares in his business, reporting him to the IRS for suspected tax wrongdoing, reporting him to environmental agencies. All false accusations, but things that had cost time and money.

  He wasn’t a cabin boy, that was for sure.

  And he wasn’t a stranger.

  She’d been seduced by her fiancé’s enemy.

  She thought the floor might shift beneath her feet and fall out from beneath her like sand, dropping her back into the past, in a moment so close to this one it made her want to scream.

  Colin, so angry over her refusal to sleep with him, revealing who he really was. What he really wanted from her.

  If you don’t want to put out, that’s fine. But I have all those nice pictures of you. A very compelling video. Of what you did for me. I don’t need sex. A little money from the media will be even nicer.

  She’d thought she was smarter. More protected. Different.

  She was the same foolish girl she’d always been. Worse, even, because this time the villain had succeeded in his seduction. He’d more than succeeded.

  What she’d done with him...what she’d let him do to her...

  “Alexios?”

  The man in her bed stirred and Rachel tried not to pass out. Tried not to vomit. Or run screaming from the room.

  She had to know what had happened. She had to know if he knew who she was.

  Of course he does. Like he’s here by accident? You can only be a naive fool to a certain point, moron.

  “Alexios,” she said his name again and he sat up, a wicked smile curving his face. When he actually looked at her, the smile faded.

  As if he knew, even half asleep, that he wasn’t waking to the postcoital scene he was hoping to be a part of. As if he knew that his response to the name had been wrong.

  He’d probably already forgotten which woman he’d been in bed with. Which hotel.

  That made her want to be violently ill. Or just violent.

  But for the moment, she had to stay calm. She had to get answers.

  “Rachel,” he said, his voice as strong as whiskey and good sex, going straight to her head and making her toes curl. “You should come back to bed.”

  “I don’t... No.” She put her hand on her forehead. “Not right now. I...”

  His eyes met with her hands. Where her fingers held his wallet. He looked back up at her, one black brow arched. Something in his manner changed. In an instant, he changed.

  He pushed his dark curls off of his forehead and for a second she thought she was looking at a stranger. A naked stranger.

  Then she realized that was what he was. She didn’t know this man. Not at all. She’d fooled herself into thinking they’d shared something. That their souls had met, or some such idiocy. But they hadn’t.

  It only underlined her stupidity. Her weakness.

  Last night, she’d felt like herself. Freed from all the layers of protection and expectation. Somehow slipped free of those well-meaning, soul-binding words spoken by her parents all those years ago. She’d felt real. Well, real Rachel was, it turned out, incredibly stupid. There was a reason she’d been kept in hiding.

  “You know who I am, don’t you?” she asked.

  He stood, the covers falling from around his waist, his body, his beautiful hard body, on display for her. And even now it made her heart leap into her throat. Like it was trying to climb out so it could get a look at the view.

  “Why were you looking at my wallet?”

  “It was on the floor. I picked it up. I thought, ‘nice wallet for a cabin boy.’ Clearly far too nice. So now you might as well tell me the truth.”

  “I know who you are,” he said. “Imagine my surprise when you found me before I could find you. Imagine my further surprise when I realized I didn’t need a week or a special event to seduce you. You were a lot easier than I expected.”

  “To what end?” she asked, her heart thundering, her hands shaking. “Why would you... Why...?”

  “Because I want what he has. Everything. And I’ve had something very special to him now. Now we both know I’ve had you first.”

  “You bastard,” she said, scouring the room for her clothes. “You...! This is my hotel room.” She stopped collecting her clothes and started getting his instead. “Get your clothes and get out.” She threw his shorts at him, then his shirt. “Out!”

  He started dressing. “I don’t know who you think your fiancé is, but I know who he is.”

  “And I know who you are! A... A... I can’t even think of a bad enough word for what you are. And you’re no kind of man.”

  “You and I both know I am.”

  “The ability to trick a woman into letting you put your hard penis inside of her does not make you a man!”

  “Did I trick you? Or did I, like you, not tell you everything. I hardly forced you into bed.”

  No, he hadn’t. And that meant it was her fault. Her stupid, stupid fault.

  “But you...seduced me knowing that you would ruin my engagement. With the express intent of doing it!”

  “And you thought my seducing you would leave it intact? Is that it? Or are you just pissed because I planned it?”

  “Yes! I am pissed that you planned it. I thought we had something... I thought...” Her throat closed off, emotion, anger choking our her words.

  “Such a virgin, Rachel,” he said, his tone dry.

  “No, I’m not, and I think we both know it. Because of you!” And even before that she’d lacked innocence. Which meant she should have known, she did know. But he’d made her forget.

  “Because of you, agape,” he said, tugging his slacks up and doing the button. “You made your choice. Don’t be angry with me because I outed you as being faithless.”

  Before she could measure her response, his wallet was sailing out of her hands, skimming his ear, hitting the wall behind him. “Out!” she screamed.

  She had just destroyed her engagement. The future of her family’s company. All for sex. Sex with a man who’d been using her. Tricking her. Trying to hurt Ajax...

  Ajax, who hadn’t deserved this treatment at all. Who cared for her. And her father... After all he’d done for her...

  She pressed her palms into her eyes, trying to keep the tears at bay. “Out. Out. Out,” she said.

  “Rachel...”

  “You ruined my life!” she screamed, flinging her arms wide. “I thought you were different. I thought you made me...feel something and you were just lying. I blew up my life for you and it was a lie!”

  “I never promised you anything. You made a mistake. Unhappily for you.”

  “Don’t call him,” she said, her stomach sinking. “Just don’t call him.”

  “I don’t have to,” he said. “You won’t marry him.”

  “One night with you and I’m going to leave the man I’ve been engaged to for years? I hardly think so,” she said. Only a few moments ago, she would have. Just a few short moments ago.

  She would have exposed herself to scandal, exposed her family to it. She would have destroyed everything she’d spent years rebuilding for him. What had she been thinking?

  And now...what had she done? What was wrong with her? She hadn’t thought, not for a moment. She’d been feeling. Lost in some inane fantasy that had no hope of ever coming true.

  Now she was sitting here, all of it burned down, ash at her feet, the hero of the story revealed as a villain.

  “Just go. And please don’t contact me. Please don’t call him, don’t... Don’t.”

  “Now, why,” he said, his lip curling,
“would I agree to that? I got exactly what I wanted. I am a man who makes careful plans, agape, and I don’t plan on changing them just because you shed a tear.”

  He strode across the room, to the hotel door, and walked out. He didn’t even look at her again. Didn’t spare her one more glance as he closed the door behind him.

  Rachel sank onto the floor, her knees giving out entirely. And it was then she realized that she was still completely naked. But it didn’t matter. Putting on clothes wouldn’t make her feel less exposed. Wouldn’t make her feel less...dirty.

  That’s what it was. She felt dirty.

  She’d betrayed Ajax.

  That was the truth no matter who Alex really was. But his betrayal was like salt in her wounds, as they would be salt in Ajax’s.

  Ajax...

  She would have been prepared to end the relationship if there had even been a chance that...

  That Alex wasn’t a lying, horrible, hideous bastard. But there wasn’t. He was. And that meant she had to go back home. The wedding had to go forward. Her life had to go forward. As if this hadn’t happened.

  This was why she’d avoided passion. This was why she’d avoided doing things that were risky, and crazy. Because when she took chances, she got hurt. Because when she trusted, it came back to haunt her. On her knees, her chest burning so bad she could hardly breathe, she remembered exactly why she’d taken to hiding herself.

  Never again. She would go back to Ajax, to safety. And if Alex told him about tonight, she would beg for his forgiveness. She stared ahead, eyes dry and burning like her insides.

  She would forget the heat and fire she’d discovered tonight. She would forget Alexios Christofides.

  CHAPTER THREE

  HE’D TOLD HIMSELF he wasn’t going to the wedding. He’d told himself so as he’d boarded a plane in New York that was headed for Greece. He’d told himself so as he’d reclined in first class, accepting more glasses of wine than he normally would during travel.

  He’d told himself so as he drove from the airport to the Holt Estate, where he knew the wedding was being held.