The Greek's Baby Bargain (11 page)

 

“Why don’t you have them come to you?”

 

“Don’t like traveling, my love?” he asked, raising one eyebrow.

 

“Oh, no! Please don’t get that impression,” she said with feeling. “I love it in fact. This is an extra treat!”

“Confusing, when one assumes that being with me would be the first treat, but that’s not the case, is it Emma?” he said and lifted her leg up so her foot was in his lap. “Rico said you were sore from walking around.”

Emma was grateful that he quickly changed the subject, not sure how she would respond to his comment. “Yes. We waked a great deal today,” she said, slightly breathless as she stared at him with wide eyes. Her foot was in his lap, his lap was completely naked and the water was swirling around them, bouncing against her body. A moment later, she moaned in ecstasy as Dimitri started massaging her feet, her instep in particular was sore from the lack of support in the shoes. “That feels wonderful.” She leaned her head back against the rim, unable to focus on anything when his hands were creating such wonderful feelings in her foot and calf.

“You know Rico is married,” Dimitri said.

Emma smiled but kept her eyes closed and her head against the lip of the tub. “Yes. And he has a little girl. Her name is Deorsay. She’s blond with pretty blue eyes, just like her mother.”

“So you can’t seduce him,” was Dimitri’s answer.

Emma snatched her foot away and looked up at him, hurt but knowing she had no right to be. She’d betrayed him once by leaving. Why should he trust her now? “Yes. I think Rico is a very nice man, but he’s not my type,” she said and then stood up to leave the tub. She quickly grabbed a towel to cover her nakedness.

Dimitri watched as she left the water, the suds floating down her satin skin. He was already hard and ready for her and watching her leave in anger only increased his desire. So many of the women he had dated before and after Emma had bowed down to him, catering to his every whim. None of them had stood up to him and pushed him away. None would ever dare to walk out on him no matter how insensitive he was. None had gotten under his skin like she had.

Damn her!

Standing up in the water himself, he pulled a towel off the shelf and dried, walking determinedly toward the door she’d disappeared through. There was only one bedroom in the suite so he had no worries that she’d disappear into a guest room as she’d done last night.

Sure enough, she was sitting at the dressing table combing her hair, glaring at him angrily in the mirror. “I think we need to set some ground rules for the next six months,” she said, pulling the comb brutally through her blond hair in her anger.

“Such as?” he asked. There was no way he would follow any rules she set out for him. This relationship would be on his terms, unlike their marriage where he’d allowed her to stay home while he traveled, or permitted his mother to hostess their parties. She had the money she’d asked for. As far as he was concerned, he’d bought and paid for her and she would act and dress exactly as he demanded. But there was a certain amount of curiosity in what she would request. He wanted to hear her demands, as amusing as they might be.

Emma took a deep breath and tightened the belt of the robe she was wearing. It was one of the hotel’s fluffy white robes that covered her from neck to ankle but she still felt vulnerable since she was wearing nothing underneath.

“First of all, if the next six months is simply to procreate, there’s no need for us to….” She waved her hand in the air in the general direction of the bed, “you know,” she said when he simply raised an eyebrow enquiringly, “sleep together,” she finished finally, “when it is impossible for me to get pregnant.” Gasping, she looked startled at her words, afraid of what she might have revealed. Quickly, she looked across the room towards is face, trying to gauge if he’d understood her words. When she only saw his impassive face, she let out the breath she’d been holding and turned away. Trying to recover, she said, “I mean, when I can’t get pregnant during the month,” she stammered out, “so there’s no need when the time isn’t possible during the month.”

“Turn around Emma,” Dimitri said with menace.

Knowing he would only come across the room and turn her around physically, she did as he asked, afraid of this touch and what it would do to her. Did he catch her mistake? Was he going to call her on her comment and demand an explanation? She trembled as she faced him, her eyes unable to look up at his face.

Dmitri watched as her face paled. Intriguing, he thought to himself. “So you’re saying you won’t have sex with me now since you can’t get pregnant?” he asked.

Her lips paled with his words and she shook her head frantically, her hand shaking as it came up to push her damp hair behind her ear. “No, that’s not what I said. I said there’s no need to have sex when the time of the month is not conducive to conceiving,” she clarified almost frantically.

Dmitri continued to watch, waiting. He didn’t understand the significance of her words but he would file them away and analyze them later, he thought. “What other rules would you like to suggest?” he asked smoothly.

Nervously, the breath of air that she’d been holding slowly exhaled when he didn’t continue with that line of questioning.

 

Clasping her hands together, she looked at the bed. “In the same vein, I need my own bed. I won’t sleep with you for the next six months.”

 

He chuckled at her words. “I don’t remember sleeping much last night. Moreover, besides the first time, I wasn’t the one initiating the sex.”

 

Emma quickly turned away. “Yes, well, that was just…” she searched again, desperate to keep her emotions out of this relationship, “memories,” she finished.

 

“Nice memories,” he laughed.

“Stop it!” she cried, spinning around and moving toward him, her anger uppermost in her mind. “I hate it when you do that! It isn’t fair. You don’t know anything so just stop it!”

She flailed at him, wanting to hurt him just as much as she was hurting but instead of hitting hard muscle, her wrists were captured mid air and her body pulled against him. “I know that you left me and ran to the arms of another man! I know that you gave me no explanation and showed up on my doorstep, figuratively speaking, asking for a handout. So don’t tell me I don’t know anything, Emma. I know enough! I also know that I’m not taking any rules from you. You made your deal yesterday. There were no ridiculous conditions when you took my money and no qualms about spending it immediately. So don’t try to lay on ridiculous demands now that the deal has been struck.”

Her whole body froze and her terrified eyes looked up into his angry ones. “How do you know that I’ve already spent it?” she demanded.

His hands which had been holding her wrists, slid down to her waist, pulling her against his hard body, bending her backwards. “I have my sources, Emma. Never doubt that. It took less than twenty four hours before all the money was gone.” He pulled her closer, twisting so she was off balance and had to lean into him or fall to the carpet. “What did you spend your money on, my darling wife?”

“None of your business,” she said, but her eyes showed her fear. “Stay away from my accounts, Dmitri. I never ask you how you spend your money. Don’t ask me how I spend mine.”

“Ah, but that’s the heart of the matter, I think. Because, my lovely little cheater, you’re spending your money on your lover, and that, I simply won’t have. So get rid of him,” he said. A moment later, his mouth covered hers in a ravenous kiss and no matter how much she wished she could stop him, the desire flared up, overwhelming her and pushing out all rational thought.

As soon as she started to respond, he lifted his head, triumph reflected in his eyes as he said, “Unfortunately, my dear, we can’t continue with this delightful little interlude. We are meeting some clients for dinner tonight.” He stepped away from her, dropping her hands and turning his back on her passion glazed complexion. “Get dressed. It’s formal.”

He disappeared into the dressing room and Emma stood in the middle of the room, shaking with both anger and desire. How could he do that to her so easily?

Groaning, she turned on her heal and walked to the opposite side of the room where her clothes had been stored. Surveying the selection, she started to reach for a yellow dress that draped across the model yesterday when she viewed it. “Wear the red one,” he said from directly behind her and reached around to pull the red, chiffon dress off the hanger, shoving it into her arms as if it were a stuffed animal instead of a designer original that had cost him more than six months of her previous pay.

Glaring at his back did no good and, to be honest, she didn’t care if she wore the red or the yellow. Deciding to pick her battles, she slipped the robe off her shoulders and pulled on underwear, sliding the beautiful red dress on over the sexy red lace panties. Since the dress had spaghetti straps, she couldn’t wear a bra, but the dress had enough support that it wasn’t needed anyway.

Thankfully, the store had thought to send along shoes with each of the outfits and she pulled on a pair of sandals that looked like nothing more than pieces of satin going across the tops of her feet.

She applied a light coating of makeup and started to brush her hair, intending to pull it into a twist on her head. But his bark, “Leave it down,” riled her enough so she pulled it back into a tight bun, making sure no wisps of hair escaped to soften the look. She did it only to rile him because he was being so arrogant and autocratic. And also because he left the room at that moment so he couldn’t see her disobedience and counter it immediately. It was a small, cowardly action but it made her feel better to thwart him in some small way.

He’d told her that they had to leave by seven thirty for their eight o’clock reservations. So she stepped into the living room where he was waiting for her at exactly seven thirty, forcing herself to wait until that moment so there would be no time to change her hair. She’d contemplated changing into the yellow dress after the hair command, but wasn’t going to push him too far.

As soon as she closed the bedroom door, he spun around, his eyes narrowing when he saw her hair pinned up. “I told you to leave your hair down, Emma. Go back and change it,” he ordered.

Emma pulled the shawl higher on her shoulders and looked away from him. “No. I don’t think I will,” she said, trying to appear calm, meanwhile, she was a roiling mass of nerves. She’d never pushed him before. She’d disagreed with his opinions on certain subjects but that had only amused him. This was the first time she’d directly disobeyed an order from him. Actually, it was the first time he’d ever given her a direct order. So they were even, she thought.

“Emma, you don’t want to go there,” he warned, his voice silky smooth, but dangerous as he walked across the living room toward her. His eyes were dark and intent as he took in her pale complexion. He could see the signs of nervousness even when he was several feet away.

Emma looked up at him, daring him to touch her. “I thought we had reservations for eight o’clock. Are we going to wait?”

 

He crossed his arms over his chest and glared right back. “We might,” he countered.

 

“Fine, then you’ll need to change your tie.”

 

That stunned him into speechlessness for all of five seconds. “Why the hell would I change my tie?” he demanded.

 

“Because I like the paisley one better,” she explained.

Dmitri almost laughed out loud at her audacity. He restrained himself, but barely. He didn’t want to go to this dinner tonight. He wanted to pick her up and toss her onto the bed in the other room and make love to her until she couldn’t argue any longer.

“Why do you like the paisley one?” he asked, subduing his amusement to better understand her.

 

Emma shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. The solid one just looks a little more forbidding. And you definitely don’t need any more menace to your image.’

Dimitri laughed but he didn’t argue with her about her hair any more. He put a hand to the small of her back and led her out the door. “You win this round, little one. But don’t get too cocky. And next time I tell you to do something, I expect you to obey me.”

Emma bit her lip and shrugged her shoulders slightly. “I might,” she said, gaining confidence despite his threat since she’d won this round. She couldn’t believe Dimitri had backed down. Well, he hadn’t actually backed down as much as he’d just ignored her defiance. But she would take the small victories.

Emma looked at her reflection in the mirror nervously. The soft pink dress flattered her complexion and hugged her slim waist, making her feel pretty. It had been two weeks since she’d returned and so far, Dimitri had given her a wide berth. On the night after that first evening out, she’d fallen asleep in the limousine on the ride home, his shoulder acting as her pillow. He hadn’t made love to her that night, nor any night since. They’d even had separate bedrooms. She knew that was what she’d asked for, but to actually get it was making her crazy with need for him.

She glanced up when Dmitri walked into the room and a noticed his survey of her appearance. Turning away from the mirror, she pretended to ignore him but it was almost impossible. Each time he entered a room, all her thoughts were centered on him, her body completely attuned to every move he made. She wished it were different but had to face reality and come up with a way to protect herself.

“You look lovely,” he said.

Emma jumped. She hadn’t been expecting a compliment. Turning to look at him, she smiled tentatively. “Thank you.” Looking at his amazing body in the tuxedo, she couldn’t help but reply, “You look pretty nice yourself.”

His eyes didn’t change but they held her gaze captive as he approached. “Why aren’t you wearing any jewelry?” he asked when he was less than an inch away from her.

Emma’s hand instantly went to her bare neckline. “I don’t have any,” she said quickly, tearing her eyes away from his. She stepped back and walked around him, needing air.

“I gave you several pieces that would go well with that dress. Why don’t you put one on?”

 

Emma swung back to him. “I didn’t take them with me,” she gasped. “I only left with what I brought.”