Greek Mavericks: At The Greek's Pleasure. Maisey YatesЧитать онлайн книгу.

       CHAPTER FOUR

      ELLE HAD OPTED to keep her mouth shut from the time she had slowly collected her clothing off the floor of the elevator. She stayed silent as Apollo’s driver took them to her apartment and all while she packed her bags, with Apollo looming in the corner of her apartment, until they made their trek to the airport and boarded his private jet.

      She attempted to keep the awestruck expression off her face as she gazed around the aircraft. She knew that he was rich. She just hadn’t quite realized that he was private jet rich. She had been raised in very fortunate circumstances but, even so, her father didn’t own his own plane.

      Well, he certainly wouldn’t now even if he had before. Because of Apollo. And it would do well for her to remember that.

      The problem was she did remember. While they had made love or...whatever it was you called what the two of them had done, she was aware of who he was. How much he had done to destroy her family’s legacy.

      Still she wanted him.

      She felt... She felt completely and totally frazzled. Somehow, she had ended up kissing Apollo again. And the moment they touched, it didn’t stop there. It never stopped there. It couldn’t.

      Apparently.

      “Do you approve?” he asked, sinking into the plush leather chair next to one of the windows that looked out on the tarmac. “Or am I to take that expression to mean you are terrified of your surroundings? It’s very difficult to say.”

      “I like the plane. I’m a little bit afraid of being alone at thirty thousand feet with you.”

      “Afraid you’ll join the mile high club?”

      Dammit, yes. “I think we can both agree that whatever has been going on between us is not a good idea.”

      “It’s a terrible idea. Take your seat so that we can ready for takeoff.”

      She looked around, elected to sit in the chair farthest from his. “For the record, I still hate you.”

      “Oh, I’m well aware,” he said. “I think that was what you screamed in my ear only a few hours ago. Oh, no, I think what you actually screamed was ‘more’ and ‘harder.’”

      “It isn’t like you weren’t complicit.”

      “Complicit. Explicit.”

      “What exactly is your goal here, Apollo?” she asked. She didn’t trust him. Not one bit. She was not in a position to refuse his command that she fly with him to Greece. Neither did she entirely trust his explanation.

      “That depends,” he said, leaning back in his chair, his body all leashed power and tension. “Are you speaking of business—” his gaze raked over her body “—or pleasure?”

      “I thought we both agreed that the pleasure angle is a poor one for the two of us to take.”

      “It is. It’s a terrible idea, agape. We hate each other. As you have stated many times. Or, more to the point, you hate me. I have no such strong feelings about you.”

      “No,” she said, her tone biting, “you don’t feel anything for me or my father. You simply destroyed us for your own pleasure.”

      “Your father’s company was hemorrhaging money long before I came by to deal with it.”

      “So why didn’t you help him?”

      “That’s a complicated issue, Elle,” he said, his words hard.

      “I don’t have any trouble understanding complexities. Go right ahead and explain.”

      “There is more between your father and I than you know.”

      “Enlighten me,” she said, the words escaping through clenched teeth.

      “Not now. But understand what I’m doing is for a bigger purpose.”

      “Your ego? Honestly, you’re unbelievable. He gave you everything. He loved you best from the beginning,” she said, voicing the words that she never had before. Words she had long believed. “And now you’ve betrayed him for money.”

      “Love,” he spat. “What is love, Elle? Tell me that. Is it what your father feels for you? As he moves you around like a pawn, desperate to put you between me and his queen? Did he love me, or did he see me as another tool he could use? I don’t put any stock in love. It has never done anything for me, so I will hardly defer to it now.”

      Her heart was pounding hard, her throat tight. And she knew what she wanted. She hated herself then, more than she had ever hated him. “What do you want from me?”

      “In the short term? I intend to burn this thing out between us. A fire can’t keep on forever, can it?”

      “Are you suggesting we sleep together while we are away from New York?”

      “I’m doing something much stronger than suggesting.”

      Rage turned to excitement, flickering at the center of her being and radiating outward. The idea of being with him again, of touching him again, made her hands shake. “I didn’t realize you got off on coercing women into your bed.”

      “We both know I didn’t have to coerce you into it at all. Also,” he said, his tone pointed, “we have never made it to a bed.”

      The thought of being in bed with him seemed...luxurious. The chance to explore his body at her leisure, rather than finding herself at the mercy of the explosion that occurred between them every time they touched. The force of it propelled her, made it impossible for her to think, impossible for her to resist. What would it be like to make the decision to have him? To give herself all night to indulge in that long-held desire for him.

      She had always wanted him. And she had hated him for it. She’d been so angry that he was so...untouched. So utterly uninterested. So she’d pushed at him, tried to make him angry if she couldn’t make him want her. She’d taunted him. And finally, she’d decided to taunt him sexually.

      She could remember very clearly choosing the smallest, brightest bikini she could possibly find—one that absolutely clashed with her red hair, but one she felt would get her the attention she desired—to try to catch Apollo’s eye when he came home to the family estate over break.

      He had approached her as she’d gotten out of the pool and she’d felt... Naked. Alive. Afraid. So she’d defaulted to her usual position.

      She could remember turning to him, her lips curled. They’ll let anyone into the estate, won’t they? How my family’s standards have fallen over the years.

      His eyes had blazed then. With anger. And he’d grabbed hold of her arm. She hadn’t been afraid, though. She’d been...electrified.

      He had held her there, looked at her hard, and for one moment, one desperate moment, she had imagined that she had seen lust in his eyes. That she had seen interest. But then, he had released her and turned away, leaving her there as though nothing at all had happened.

      But now, somehow, for some reason, he wanted her, too. This is your chance. To put it behind you once and for all so that you can move on.

      “All right,” she said, ignoring