He gave a humorless laugh. “Ne, I do. You’re not smart enough to be cautious around me. At times you bait me, wanting a reaction. Now you know better.”
“I can take care of myself,” she said as she walked to the kitchen. “And you.”
Stergios scowled. That was the last thing he wanted. He did not want to rely on Jodie Little. She was unpredictable and seductive. Trouble. He was safer on his own.
* * *
Stergios woke up abruptly. He jackknifed up and looked around. He was on a sofa in the main room. There were ashes in the fireplace and light was blazing from the lamps. He glanced outside and saw that it was night. He heard the downpour outside but he didn’t hear the whistle of the trees in the storm.
Checking his wristwatch, he saw it was past midnight. Stergios sat forward and rubbed his hands over his face. He didn’t feel refreshed from his nap. He was mentally exhausted and on edge.
The lights must have woken him. He remembered Jodie went to bed a few hours ago after she gave up on talking with him. He had been defensive and uncommunicative. He had shared something personal, something he wouldn’t have shared with anyone, and now he was waiting for the backlash.
He rose stiffly from the sofa and stretched. The way his shirt was creased, he guessed his sleep had been troubled. It usually was if he thought too much about his time in captivity.
Stergios needed to move around. Think about something else and the memories would vanish for a while. Grabbing the dirty dinner plates from the side table, Stergios walked into the kitchen. He went still when he saw Jodie by the sink.
The ivory slip she wore was innocent and seductive. It looked delicate, as if it would fall apart under his touch. Stergios swallowed hard as he noticed how the silk clung to her curves and angles. Lust smashed into him as his gaze followed the lace edge that emphasized her cleavage.
“Oh, you’re awake,” she said as she drank water from a glass.
His hands gripped the plates so tightly that he thought they would crack. “What the hell are you wearing?” His voice lashed in the electric atmosphere.
She glanced down. “What’s wrong with it?”
He strode to the sink and tossed in the dishes. From the corner of his eyes, he saw Jodie flinch from the loud clang. “You were going to wear that at Dimos’s wedding?”
“Well, not at the ceremony.” Jodie set her glass in the sink. “When I was in my room and sleeping. Alone.”
He didn’t believe it. That was the kind of lingerie a woman wore when she had seduction in mind. “A woman does not wear that when she’s sleeping alone.”
“That’s enough, Stergios.” She gave a tired sigh and held her hands up to stop him. “You no longer think I had my eyes on Dimos, so what gives? Are you trying to start an argument?”
He was and he hated that Jodie had called him on it. He felt exposed. To Jodie, who knew his secrets and his dreams. She knew how to hurt him and worse, how to make him feel stronger. She had the ability to be his most dangerous enemy, and the one person who stood her ground when others would retreat. He had to create some distance.
Stergios towered over her. “You think you know me, but you don’t.”
Instead of backing down, Jodie rose on her tiptoes and met his gaze. “From what I understand, you have a problem with what I sleep in.”
“I do.” His gaze flicked along the low-cut nightie. His skin burned as he imagined trailing his fingers down the valley between her breasts. “What man bought it for you?”
She settled back on her feet, obviously surprised by his question. “I bought it because I like it.”
“You were thinking about a man when you bought it.” Jealousy, hot and corrosive, bled through him. No other man should have the privilege to see her like this.
She gave a huff of exasperation and gestured at the ivory silk. “What is it about this nightie that you find so offensive?”
“That you’re in it,” he bit out.
He saw the angry spark in her eyes. She set her hands on her hips and the silk pulled at her curves. His tongue cleaved to the roof of his mouth as he stared at the outline of her hard nipples. He was tempted to snap the thin straps with his fingers and watch the silk glide off her body and pool at her feet.
“Would you like me to take it off?” she asked sweetly. “Right here, right now?”
His stomach clenched as he imagined her striptease. “It’s that attitude that got you banished from the Antoniou family.”
Her chin jerked up. “Is that right?”
“Gregory has always been embarrassed by your sexual behavior,” he told her as the lust pounded through his veins. “How many schools kicked you out because of boys? Do you think your father was proud of that?”