Markos eyed her ruefully. ‘Your opinion of the Lyonedes family isn’t very high, is it?’
Eva felt the warmth of colour enter her cheeks. ‘I don’t know any of you well enough to make a sound judgement.’
‘Yet.’
‘Ever,’ she stated with finality.
‘I’ll go and make us some coffee while you look round,’ Markos suggested lightly.
‘Okay.’ Eva was relieved to be able to turn her attention to her surroundings as she began to sketch in her pad.
Markos stood for several moments and admired the way Eva’s denims clung so lovingly to her curvaceous hips and thighs. The firm swell of her breasts was clearly visible beneath a fitted green blouse, her long dark hair brushed back and secured in a ponytail that made her look younger than her years.
Markos smiled wryly as he realised she had become so absorbed in her work she seemed to have forgotten he was even there. ‘Cream and sugar?’
‘Fine.’ The tip of her tongue was caught between her teeth as she frowned in concentration.
Markos felt his shaft stir at the thought of all the more sensuous uses the moistness of that tongue could be put to. ‘Or alternatively I could lie naked on the bed and wait for you to join me?’ he said huskily.
‘Fine.’ Her eyes had a faraway look as she continued to sketch in her pad.
‘Or maybe swing naked from the chandelier?’ he added with amusement.
‘What did you say?’ She looked up sharply, her cheeks blushing a fiery red.
‘Never mind.’ He was still chuckling softly to himself as he walked down the hallway to the kitchen.
Eva felt the warmth of the colour in her cheeks as the rest of Markos’s conversation now penetrated the concentration that always enveloped her at the start of a new project.
Except she wasn’t going to start a new project.
Was she…?
That certainly hadn’t been what she had intended when she’d arrived promptly for this evening’s appointment—but one look at the blandness of what should have been a magnificent penthouse apartment and she had instantly been assailed with visions of how wonderful it could and should look.
Still, that didn’t mean she had to be the one who instigated those improvements…
‘Mmm—you were right the other night. Your percolator does make a delicious cup of coffee.’ Eva gave a satisfied sigh half an hour later, having taken her first sip of the strong brew.
The two of them were now sitting on stools across from each other at the breakfast bar in the sterile black and white kitchen.
‘Now you know where to come the next time you want a decent cup of coffee in the middle of the night.’ Seductive green eyes looked across at her in challenge.
Eva straightened, her expression rueful. ‘Seems a little extreme when there’s a coffee shop directly across the street from my own apartment building.’
‘I doubt it has the same fringe benefits,’ he drawled.
‘Oh, I don’t know—the young guy who serves behind the counter at weekends is pretty hot.’
It was Eva’s turn to laugh as Markos growled low in his throat, but that laughter faded as she became aware that it was the first time for a very long time that she had felt so relaxed in a man’s company she was actually allowing herself to flirt with him. And Markos was the very last man she should be feeling relaxed or flirtatious with!
She straightened on the barstool. ‘He’s about nineteen years old, and probably not into older women who could do with losing a few pounds,’ she said dryly.
‘Are you serious?’ Markos gave her a disbelieving look.
She gave a perplexed frown. ‘Sorry?’
He gave a shake of his head. ‘Eva, that nineteen-year-old in the coffee shop probably has his tongue hanging out the whole time he’s serving you your coffee!’