Free When Christakos Meets His Match by Abby Green Page A

neither am I half as promiscuous as the press would like to paint me. When I take lovers I’m always up front. I don’t offer anything more than mutual satisfaction. I’m not into relationships right now.’
    Sidonie looked at him with that incredibly direct gaze that seemed to sear straight through him.
    ‘Okay...’ she said, and smiled, showing that gap between her teeth.
    Alexio wanted to throw her over his shoulder so that he could take her upstairs right now and to hell with dinner.
    She grinned then in earnest, and bent down to do something. Alexio saw her shoes being kicked off on the floor and her height dropped by an inch.
    ‘Well, seeing as you’re not making an effort to wear shoes,’ she clarified, ‘I don’t see why I have to go through the pain.’
    Before he did something to inadvertently demonstrate how off-centre she made him feel, Alexio tugged her towards the dining area, where a table had been laid for two, complete with lit candles. It was by the window, with a view of London lit up by night beyond the river and the bridge.
    The chef’s assistant was setting out their starters and Alexio said, ‘Thanks, Jonathan. I think we can take it from here. Say thank you to Michel for me.’
    The young man exited swiftly.
    Alexio had done this many times before—for business meals in his apartment as well as for women—but tonight it felt different. Sidonie was looking at everything with such wide eyes.
    ‘I presumed you were joking earlier about being a vegetarian.’
    Alexio lifted the platter’s lid to reveal confit duck dumplings and saw Sidonie’s eyes gleam with anticipation. It had a direct effect on his body, and he wondered if she would have that same hungry look when they made love.
    She had the grace to glance at him sheepishly. ‘I had you figured for a chest-beating carnivore who would be horrified at the thought of watching me chew a lettuce leaf for half an hour.’
    Alexio held Sidonie’s chair out for her so she could sit down, and said in a low, throaty voice as she did so, ‘I had a vegetarian option lined up just in case...but don’t you know by now that nothing you could have said would have put me off?’
    He was rewarded by pink cheeks when he took his own seat opposite her. He raised his glass of white wine and she took hers. ‘Yiamas.’
    Sidonie repeated the Greek phrase. They both took a sip of their drinks and Alexio dished out the starter.
    * * *
    ‘Don’t you know by now that nothing you could have said would have put me off?’ Alexio’s softly delivered words still echoed in Sidonie’s head. The steel behind them...
    He had just taken their dessert plates into the kitchen and Sidonie was standing on the small terrace which hugged the side of the building, leaning on the railing, with the Thames moving beneath her feet somewhere in the dark.
    In all honesty she couldn’t have recalled, if asked, what they’d just eaten except to know that it had been exquisite. She’d been too mesmerised by her charismatic dinner companion and how easily the conversation had flowed. Like on the plane, once they’d started they hadn’t stopped. Every now and then a tiny jolt of electric shock had run through her at the realisation of where she was and with whom... She’d met him only hours before... She should be back in Dublin, reorganising her life...
    She still wanted to cringe when she thought of the way Alexio had looked her up and down when she’d arrived downstairs in her jeans and T-shirt, acutely conscious of how tatty she must look. The fact that he was equally dressed down had been little comfort, because she’d almost melted on the spot at seeing him in the faded hip-hugging jeans and white shirt. He epitomised cool, laid-back elegance.
    To give him credit, he hadn’t made her feel uncomfortable. Just hot and bothered...
    She heard a noise in the kitchen and turned round to see Alexio putting plates in a dishwasher. She shook her head wryly. Who would have