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    to… which tells you exactly how much money he has."
    She looked to Arik, whose face was completely stoic. "And he's your brother?"
    "Yes."
    Brian cleared his throat. "Well, if you get those permits, I'll reconsider my backing."
     
    That meant a lot to her. Without his backing, they wouldn't have any choice except to pack up and go
    home. "Thank you, Brian."
    He inclined his head to her before he left them alone.
    Arik offered her a seductive smile. "Are you happy now?"
    "I don't know if ' happy' is the right word. I'm still suspicious of you and your motives."
    He clucked his tongue at her. "After all this, how can you continue to mistrust me?"
    Was he serious? "Can you blame me? I still don't know you and here you are making grand gestures for
    no reason. Why would you be willing to help me?"
    "Because I find you fascinating. You were so passionate in grad school, and now you're on an
    impossible quest, just as I am. One has to admire that. Not to mention the small fact that you saved my
    life. Helping you with the permits is the least I can do." There was something in his eyes as he spoke that
    glinted and glowed. She felt like a snake with its master charmer who was luring it from its basket to the
    highway for it to be run over by a Mack truck.
    "What do you want from me? Really?" she asked.
    "Just a simple smile. Nothing more."
    "I find it hard to believe something so small would satisfy you."
    His grin turned wickedly warm. "It would at least tide me over for a bit."
    Geary wasn't sure what to make of him. On the one hand, he was helping her out in a way no one else
    could. He didn't owe her anything at all, and yet…
    Could it be as simple as he was repaying her for saving him? He was Greek and it made sense when put
    in that context. The Greek people had a strict code of ethics about what was right and wrong.
    Repayment would be something they would do without hesitation. Perhaps she was being too harsh with
    him.
    "Okay, Arik. I'm sorry I've been so irritable to you. I just don't trust people as a rule, especially those I
    don't know."
    "I understand and we did meet under extremely odd circumstances."
    A tiny smile spread across her face as she remembered hauling him on board. "True."
    His features softened to the most seductive look she'd ever seen from any man. "Shall we start over?"
    He held his hand out toward her. "I'm Arik Catranides."
    She shook his hand. "Geary Kafieri, and I still want to know how you ended up in the sea."
    He lifted her hand to his lips so that he could place a whisper of a kiss to her knuckles. "And I promise
    you that one day you will learn the answer to that mystery."
     
    She wasn't sure why, but the hairs on the back of her neck lifted as an eerie chill went down her spine. It
    was followed by the memory of her dreams where Arikos had bathed her in chocolate whipped cream
    that he'd licked off her body slowly and easily. But this wasn't that man who'd seduced her.
    Was it? Could it be that somehow her subconscious had held on to his memory all these years and it
    was only now that she needed him that she'd remembered him?
    It didn't seem feasible. Yet how else could she explain his presence here on the boat and the fact that
    he'd been in her dreams these past weeks? She must have remembered him.
    And now that she was more relaxed, there was something about him very calm and peaceful. Something
    that soothed her.
    Except for his eyes. They spooked her. They seemed somehow omniscient and powerful. Probing and
    deadly.
    "So where exactly do you live?"
    He didn't answer. Instead, he moved behind her and wrapped his arms around her. It was what her
    dream lover had done a thousand times.
    She stiffened in his embrace. "Who are you, Arik? Why are you really here?"
    He rubbed his cheek against hers so that his whiskers sent chills over her. "You want Atlantis, yes?" He
    all but purred that into her ear as desire burned through her.
    "Yes."
    "Then what else matters?"
    The heat in