Adonis in Athens - Page 27

“Ksekoliaris,” he muttered under his breath. Asshole.

“I don’t know what that means, but it’s probably not something I should learn this early in my Greek lessons.” She tried to smile but couldn’t quite manage.

“Just means asshole,” he said gently, sitting beside her and reaching for the zipper at the back of the dress. “Come on, get comfortable and we can talk.”

“I’m not really in the mood anymore…” she murmured sadly.

“I didn’t say anything about sex, did I? I’d have to be an idiot not to know that the mood is ruined for you.”

“I’m sorry.” She sighed as he unzipped the dress and gently pulled it over her head. Even though she was in nothing but her panties and strapless bra, she barely noticed that she was half-naked in front of him; all she could think about was having to leave him in a few days.

“So what did your boss say?” he asked softly, leaning back against the pillows and bringing her with him so she could rest against his chest.

“That of course my personal and professional life are separate, but that these types of sales make management happy and could mean another nice bonus for me.”

He grunted. “How much of a bonus? I’ll give you the money to stay!”

“About two thousand dollars.”

“That’s it?” He shook his head. “You’re definitely wasting your talent there, Paige. The way you wowed Pio and Fabrizio tonight, you should be running a marketing department at a big company somewhere.”

“I need a few more years of experience under my belt before anyone like that would hire me.”

“I’d hire you in a heartbeat.”

She smiled wanly. “You want to sleep with me.”

“I’d hire anyone who did what you did at dinner tonight.”

She just sighed again, nuzzling into his chest. “I don’t want him to manipulate me,” she whispered. “But I don’t want to get fired. Even if everything fell into place and I could stay here forever, I’d want to leave my job like a professional—and a lady.”

Pride surged through him as he listened. Damn, she was something else. Though he wanted her to stay with him, he respected her desire to leave her job in good standing; that showed integrity and told him a great deal about who she was on the inside. He’d already sensed that about her, but hearing it made him want her even more.

“So how did you leave it?” he asked after a moment.

“I said that I hadn’t used all my vacation last year and wound up losing several days, and that I felt Tom was trying to manipulate me into getting back together with him. He asked if I would consider coming back for the meeting and perhaps returning to Greece later in the summer.” She rolled her eyes. “Not that he offered to buy me another ticket!”

“So you’re being forced to return on Monday?”

She nodded miserably.

“You know, sometimes you have to fight for yourself,” he said slowly. “This morning, Pio and Fabrizio put me through hell. They asked every dumb question in the book and then came up with more ways to waste my time and delay the deal. Finally, I’d had enough and told them so. I explained that I would talk about the contract or answer specific questions about the deal itself, but otherwise the meeting was over. When I did that, Pio laughed, said he liked a man who stood up for himself or some such shit, and the meeting was over. Maybe they’re testing you because they can. Is there a higher-up you can contact?”

She frowned. “I have a good relationship with the team’s general manager, who’s essentially everyone’s boss, but I think it’ll piss off my immediate supervisor if I go over his head.”

“Your boss sounds like a greedy jerk who doesn’t see what’s happening here. If you and Tom remain broken up, is he going to force you to go out with him once a year so they renew their season tickets? You’re setting a bad precedent going forward—and I’m sincere when I say that, Paige. I can easily afford to buy you a ticket to come back later in the summer if you truly want to get back to make this deal. But it feels smarmy to me.”

She nodded slowly. “It does to me too.” She looked up into his face. “Thank you.”

“For what?” He looked surprised.

“Listening. Not judging. Giving me genuine, practical advice that not only shows respect for me, but also for my job. I know you want me to stay, but you didn’t try to make me feel bad or tilt the situation in your favor. You’re the most amazing man I’ve ever known.” She leaned up so she could touch her lips to his just as he reached down to run his fingers through her hair. Their mouths came together slowly, eyes locked, breath getting shorter as they touched.

“Baby, if you start this, I’m not going to be able to stop,” he whispered.

“I don’t want you to stop. If I have to leave…we only have 48 hours left to make love and I’m not sure that’s long enough.”

“I thought you weren’t in the mood?”