Tempting the Tycoon

Chapter 13

She was late, like always. Alexios paced just inside the valet entrance, staring out at the circular drive where cars and people swarmed. There was no way in hell he was going to stand outside in that triple-digit heat waiting for Sydney to show up for their dinner date.

He should have insisted on picking her up. Then he wouldn't be wearing a hole in the lobby carpet, plus he would have seen where she lived. He had to admit he was curious, and not just so he could see how long it took him to drive there from the hotel. A home told a lot about a person.

Was there clutter, or was everything hidden away from prying eyes like his? Perhaps there would be pictures of Sydney growing up lying about on tabletops, hanging on the walls. Would they show her with her mom? Or as a little girl? She'd probably made a pretty child, with that long, blonde hair tied up in ponytails.

Yes, he definitely would have preferred to go get her. But she'd managed to slip away during that fiasco with Felicity. Alexios wiped a hand down his face. That hadn't been a pretty moment, getting caught with one woman by another. He usually had more finesse than that. Since Sydney had come into his life he'd been behaving badly on all fronts. He hadn't handled the aftermath of his and Felicity's confrontation very well, though he had had the common sense to pull her into the lead valet's cubicle for privacy.

Felicity hadn't yelled and screamed, thank God, but she had accused him of two-timing, which he'd laughed at. Hadn't he seen her the other night cozying up to one of the high rollers in this very hotel, putting her arm around the rich old goat's waist and giving him an eyeful of all her manufactured charms? Hadn't she disappeared from sight with the same geriatric gambler? Alexios had been too busy running the casino and lounge to give her another thought, but he remembered.

Glancing out at the drive one more time and tamping down the resulting irritation at not seeing Sydney yet, Alexios was glad that at least Felicity was in his past. She didn't want to share him, even though he was supposed to turn a blind eye to her sexcapades. "But I need a lot of sex," she'd whined when he'd pointed out her infidelities. He'd told her she could get as much as she needed now, just not with him.

She'd stormed off in a cloud of Jimmy Choo fragrance, and he'd heaved a sigh of relief. Sex with Felicity had been getting too rough, anyway. He liked a little kinky, but her tastes had been bordering on bondage lately. Heaven help that old geezer she'd latched onto...

Alexios narrowed his eyes on the queue of cars outside; on one in particular. The blue Saturn that wove through the line of vehicles right up to the valet station. One of the runners grabbed the driver's door, and Alexios started forward. Then he paused, focusing on Sydney as she hopped out of the driver's seat. She was laughing up at the young man, and he was grinning like a fool under her attention. Alexios felt a spike of jealousy pierce through him as he continued out the automatic door.

Refusing to ponder the significance of that stab of envy, he kept his eyes on her face as she gathered her purse and an unopened bottle of wine, obviously her hostess gift. But when she rounded the Saturn and headed between the cars in his direction, he couldn't help but give her an admiring once over. And then repeated it.

She was wrapped in lace, but not too covered, because he could see a whole lot of those fantastic legs he'd fantasized about being twined around his hips. Her lacy dress stopped at mid-thigh, modest enough to meet his parents, but short enough to have him wishing she'd drop her purse.

It was the same with her neckline. A discreet vee-neck that nevertheless made his mouth water because it was made entirely of lace, hinting at those luscious breasts he'd had the good fortune to taste, and longed to sample again.

His gaze finally landed on her face. And all the irritation, all the lust he'd been feeling disintegrated at what he saw in her expression. It was caution. Caution and doubt. She was unsure of him, or of her presence here, it didn't matter which. And it probably had to do with that scene between him and Felicity. He needed to reassure her, so he strode toward her, with one eye on the cars idling under the portico.