“That’s not the point.” He folded his arms on his chest. “The point is there’s something wrong.”

  They stared at each other for a moment, a silent battle of wills. But he wasn’t going to let her wave away his concern this time. He’d tried a couple of times in the last few days. Tried to crack through to what was going on with her. Yet she always succeeded in changing the subject and he hadn’t pushed.

  Tonight he was going to push.

  “There’s nothing wrong.” Her gaze fell from his face down across his shoulders, to his chest.

  She made that sound, deep in her throat. The sound was pure sex and, as usual, his body responded. She noticed that too, the observant female. Her focus went right to the burgeoning tent in the sheet.

  She laughed, husky, sexy.

  Her hand reached out—

  He caught it in one of his own.

  “Tamsin.” He glared at her. “I asked you a question.”

  “And I answered.” Tugging her hand from his, she splayed it on his chest, making his heart pick up a beat.

  She leaned in and kissed him.

  And like all the other times, he wondered who else she’d kissed. Who else she’d been with.

  The first time, the very first time he’d entered her, he’d known it couldn’t be many. Not by the tight squeeze of her muscles when she’d settled onto his body. Not by the way her face had pinched in the moonlight as if it had been a long time. The satisfaction he’d felt at that moment had been medieval, primitive, and foolish. Still, the realization hadn’t stopped the satisfaction flowing through his veins along with the lust.

  Now, though, was not the time to be thinking of all of that. He wanted to get this, whatever this was, out in the open and done with.

  “Tam—”

  She cut him off with her tongue. Her talented, tempting tongue. It twined around his own, then slid across the ridge of his teeth. “Touch me, Rafe,” she whispered on his lips.

  His name, said with her familiar, sensual slurring, finally broke through his mind’s determination. His desperate body took over.

  He clasped her arms and tugged her onto his body. The silky sweetness of her skin moving along his made him sweat. The musk of her excitement, mixed with his, swirled around them, making him heady with need.

  Leaning in, she nipped at his lower lip.

  He growled.

  She laughed.

  Her green eyes met his, brimming with heat and mirth and triumph. For a moment, his brain yelled at him for losing track of the conversation, letting her win using her feminine wiles.

  Then, a softness came over her—her mouth tipped into a gentle smile, the muscles along her jaw relaxed, her leafy eyes went dreamy with something. Something he’d seen long ago in these same green eyes.

  Something he needed even more than her body.

  Her body suddenly slid across his, a sensual challenge he couldn’t ignore. All thoughts whipped away as she moved her lower body on his. The thin sheet between them did nothing to diminish the electric zap of connection.

  His cock went completely erect.

  She laughed once more, a taunting call to his masculinity.

  With a surge, he reached for the bedside table and jerked at the drawer.

  “Let me.” Her hand grabbed the condom from his grasp and ripped the packet open.

  Rafe pushed the sheet away, exposing everything to her.

  His lover smiled, a loving movement of her lips.

  Lover. Loving.

  The chug of what he felt, yet didn’t want to acknowledge, pumped through his blood. Before he forced himself to confront his new reality, her hand moved to his cock and he lost all focus. “O Theós,” he groaned as he arched into her grip.

  Laughing again, she swung her leg over him, preparing to take him.

  Something inside him rebelled. The something tied to the love he didn’t want to look at or take in. The something tied to the deep, dark fear that she’d done it again, made him love and lust and lose himself in her to the point of madness.

  Grabbing her hips, he swung her beneath him and slid between her legs. A thrust, harsh and needy, wanting and desperate and hoping, one thrust and he was inside her.

  She locked her intent gaze with his as she wrapped her smooth legs around his waist.

  “Tammy,” he whispered as he drew himself out and then back into her core.

  Her hand smoothed along his shoulder to his jaw. As if to comfort him or calm him. Comfort wasn’t what he wanted from this woman. A man didn’t need to be comforted by his lover.

  Did he?

  A smile crossed her face, a wistful, bittersweet smile that clenched his heart.

  He wasn’t calm. Far from it.

  And yet, the only thing he could think to do was use his body. To answer her comforting touch, to turn her smile into something more. To calm them both, God help them. His body quickened its pace while inside, something frantic and broken turned, pushing on the barriers against the hurt he’d built so long ago.

  “Rafe.” Her voice came to him, delicate, feathering along his those barriers, sending shivers down his spine. “Rafe.”

  She lifted her hips into his rhythm, matching his pace, giving him what he needed. What his body needed. He needed something else, O Theós na ton voi̱thí̱sei. Something just out of reach.

  “Raphael,” she gasped, rearing up, her face contorting in ecstasy.

  He needed something God couldn’t give him. His body pounded while his heart raced. He needed something from her, this female gazing at him as her orgasm faded, her body relaxing beneath him, her hot core still warm and willing and wet as he moved in her.

  His pleasure surged, tightening his muscles, making his blood roar in his veins. His brain whirled with physical need, twining around the something deep inside he still needed to find before he could be full and whole.

  Her hand swept across his mouth, then to his shoulder. A simple gesture that left him gasping for breath. The leafy-green eyes grew dark, drawing him in, farther and farther. Into her, into this something he searched for.

  His hips beat faster and faster.

  He felt his balls tighten, his leg muscles contract.

  His jaw clenched as he came to his peak.

  “I love you.” Her words filtered through him, pouring over his sexual excitement like a potent alchemy.

  Finally, he’d received the something he searched for. He spilled himself inside her.

  Complete.

  * * *

  She had to put a stop to this.

  She had to.

  Tamsin stared at her phone as if it could answer her one big problem.

  A problem who kept calling her on this phone.

  Haimon had insisted on two more meetings during the last two weeks. Two more times she’d slid around security and given him every penny she had. Not much, and he stated his dissatisfaction in a way that scared her, but she’d at least managed to keep his threats at bay.

  For now.

  She lifted her head and gazed out the kitchen window. Her guys were in the pool, as usual. Aarōn laughed at something Rafe said and Isaák jumped on his uncle’s back with a wide grin on his face.

  A tight wrench in her gut made Tam suck in her breath. She felt as if she were walking on a very thin line in the sand. One step wrong and she’d land in a quagmire on one side or quicksand on the other. If she didn’t meet Haimon this afternoon like he’d demanded, he’d hurt her boys. If she decided to put an end to this and told Rafe what was going on, he might strike back at not only the old man, but her.

  Could she trust Rafe to believe her story? Could she trust him to listen to her before acting against his enemy and maybe even herself?

  A sick feeling in her gut told her no.

  She hated that. Hated that she didn’t trust.

  Even though she loved.

  Yet the fact Rafe hadn’t acknowledged her admission last night lay like a fog of indecision and fear over her body.

  I love you.

  He hadn’t said it back.

  Swinging away from her laughing guys, she wandered down the hallway and into her bedroom. The bedroom she no longer slept in. Closing the door behind her, she bent over and pulled out her battered suitcase from under the bed.

  The green velvet bag was old, threadbare in places, the silk ribbon fraying at the edge.

  Tears built behind her eyes, but Tam pushed herself to open it.

  The bracelet was a child’s. The freshwater pearls were laced with blue stone beads and sterling silver tubes. The silver twinkled in the shaft of Greek sun slanting through the blinds. The bracelet her real father had given her when she’d been too young to even know who he was. She slumped on the floor, leaning her back on the side of the bed. She hadn’t taken the jewelry out in years.

  Too busy. Too painful.

  A huff of aching regret escaped her and one tear dripped onto the edge of her sleeve. Before she lost all control, she stuffed the bracelet back into the bag and stood.

  She didn’t know of any pawn shops in Sparti or Athens. Still, she’d bet her last euro, or in this case, her last possession, that Haimon did. Value was in the eyes of the beholder, but her mom had always had an eye for any piece of jewelry. Skylla had been clear: the small bracelet had been worth a significant amount of money.

  Thank goodness Tam had been smart enough to hide it away as soon as they’d landed in London. She had no doubt her mother would have taken it without a second thought.

  This was all she had. All she had left of her real father, and it was the last thing she was going to give the man who had never been her father. Once she let him know—there was no more—he’d walk away.

  He had to walk away.

  Chapter 17

  “Here.” Tamsin shoved the velvet bag across the wine-stained table. She ignored the lurch in her heart as her fingers slid along the plush fabric for the last time.

  Haimon eyed the bag with disdain. “What is it?”

  “It’s the last thing I have to give you.”

  He glanced at her, his wily grey eyes narrowing. She’d worried he might reject her offering outright, but to her surprise, he gingerly opened it and shook the jewelry into his hand. The silver caught the light of the bulb hanging above their table, making it sparkle.

  “Hmm.” He lifted the bracelet closer. “A nice piece.”

  A nice piece? The only piece she had of her real father was merely nice? A scream of anger and pain nearly escaped her, yet she had other goals.

  More important goals.

  If she had to give the last piece of her father away in order to drive this one-time father figure away, then she would. Gladly. “Take it and leave me alone.”

  Haimon jiggled the bracelet in his hand, as if weighing its worth. “I could get a few euros selling this.”

  “Go ahead and—”

  “A few.”

  The two words spiked into her heart like two jagged cuts. “I’ve given you all the money I have and this is the only thing left to give you.”

  “Like I’ve mentioned before, you live with a billionaire.”

  “His money is not my money.”

  “In a way, though—” He eased back in his chair, rubbing his hand over his bald head. “—it is. Isn’t it, Tamsin?”

  “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “What I mean is I don’t forget where any of my money goes. Ever.”

  She met his challenging look with a blank stare. What was the man talking about?

  “Ten years ago, you forced me to give you quite a large sum of money.”

  His meaning became clear and with it, came a great gush of fury. “We made a deal.”

  “Deals. Blackmail. However it happened, it was my seed money Vounó used to start his precious company.”

  His contorted logic was so ridiculous, she should walk away. But she needed his assurance he’d leave them alone forever and until she got it, she had to stick with this absurd conversation. “What happened years ago has no relevance now.”

  “Really?” His mouth tightened. “I think it does.”

  “I’ve just given you a piece of valuable jewelry. That should be enough to sustain you for several months.”

  “I appreciate the gift.” He slipped the bag, and her bracelet, into the pocket of the drab cotton shirt he wore.

  Tamsin stood. “Now what I want from you is your promise—”

  “Gifts. Promises.” The old man chuckled. “We are a happy family, aren’t we?”

  Her hands tightened on the handle of her leather purse. “No. We aren’t.”

  “No?” He gestured at her, a sharp slash. “Sit down, Tammy.”

  “I’ve got to go—”

  “We’re not done.” His tone went flat.

  Every atom of her demanded she leave except one, her instinct. Because the look in Haimon’s eyes told her the truth.

  They weren’t done. Not at all.

  “What?” She eased down on the hard wooden chair.

  “I’ve decided I’m no longer interested in the paltry amount of money you’ve given me.”

  “I don’t have access to any more.”

  “I’ve also decided it’s time I get a dividend from the investment I put into Viper Enterprises so long ago.”

  She leaned across the table, anger surging in her blood, swamping her fear of this man. “You had nothing to do with it. Rafe did it on his own.”

  Haimon snorted. “Without the money he was given when we left for London, he would never have got his company off the ground.”

  Even though she believed Rafe shouldn’t be running his company, Tam was still so proud of what he’d accomplished. The gall of this man sitting in front of her, to claim any part of Rafe’s success, made the anger inside swell until it burst. “He wouldn’t have had to launch the company at all if you hadn’t stolen from his father and driven him to his death.”

  The accusation shot through the air. The old man lurched back, his eyes going blank, his mouth slackening.

  That hadn’t been smart, but Tam didn’t care. The words had spilled out of her like a poison she needed to expunge before it destroyed her.

  “So.” Her stepfather recovered quickly. “He’s been spewing lies and you believe him.”

  “Rafe doesn’t lie.”

  You do.

  The unsaid accusation lay between them.

  He finally chuckled, a soft, chilling sound. “I guess what you said is true. We aren’t a family anymore.”

  “After what you’ve threatened to do to the boys—”

  “This makes it easier in many ways.” His grey eyes grew cold and hard. “I no longer have to worry about your too-tender heart.”

  Long ago, she had thought he cared; had hoped. But the ugliness she saw in front of her drove the last of her hope into death’s maw. “I have no heart for you, Haimon. I have nothing.”

  “Except access to my money.”

  It was her turn to snort. “None of Rafe’s money is yours. Or mine.”

  “I provided the seed money.” His gnarled hand rose to brush across his mouth.

  “No, it was mine. Bought and paid for when I made the deal with you.”

  “The deal that, in a way, Tam, you’ve broken.”

  The fading blare of a car horn echoed in the silence that fell.

  “What are you talking about?” She’d begun to think this man might be deranged. Which only heightened her fear of him. Mixed with her growing anger, the combination made her feel like her insides were going to break apart.

  “Our deal was you were to split with Vounó for good. Then you got the money.”

  “I did exactly that.”

  “Yet, here we are, many years later, true. But still, you are back in his arms, in his life.” He tutted under his breath as if she were still a child needing to be chastised.

  The fear and anger broke free once more and flooded her caution, drowning it in a sea of frustration and wrath. “What do you want?”

  “A portion.” He slid his hand over his head again. “A minor portion of what your lover has.”

  “How am I supposed to get this for you? I don’t have access to his bank account.”

  “Yet you do have access, don’t you?” The old man hummed under his breath. “Don’t you, Tammy?”

  An aching dread threatened to leave her limp. “Spit it out.”

  “So impatient.” Waving at the waiter, he ordered more coffee for both of them. After the waiter had finished filling their cups and shuffled away, he turned his focus on her again. “I have had a conversation or two with Tobba Laboratories.”

  “Who?”

  “Vounó’s biggest competitor.”

  “So?”

  “They are extremely interested in the neuron-electronic device your lover is testing at this moment.”

  A flash of memory swept through her. The visit to Rafe’s work. The cancer shot that her brothers had been so interested in.

  It’s used with a neuron-electronic device that we’re also testing.

  She sucked in a breath.

  “Ah,” Haimon murmured. “You know of it.”

  “I know nothing.” She kept her composure. “Nothing that would help your friends at Tobba Laboratories.”

  He ignored her claim. “Vounó is about to bid on the device. Tobba wants to know what that bid is going to be.”

  A sick brew of fear and dread swirled in her stomach. “I have no idea what that bid would be.”

  “Once I deliver this information to them, they’ll pay me a substantial fee.”

  “I can’t help you.”

  “Then, Tammy, then you’ll have what you want.”

  Another silence fell. She felt the threat, the demand running through her, a wash of ugliness she couldn’t escape.

  “I’ll be gone for good.” He smiled, a sinister, slick move of his lips. “That’s what you want, don’t you?”

  “Yes,” she said. “That’s what I want.”

  “I suppose I should be hurt.” He mournfully shook his head. “After all the years we were a family.”

  Should she shriek at him? Should she strangle him?

  “However, business is business and I understand why you want to latch onto your rich lover while you can.”