Claimed by the Sicilian Tycoon (14 page)

She
reached for the bags again, and felt her heart give a little thud as she did
so. Official duty or not she was touched. Really touched. She absolutely had
not expected this. Oh, she knew he’d buy her clothes, and then there was the
fried chicken money he’d given her. But these?
 

“Can
I open them?”

He
nodded. “And quickly. You look far too tempting in those shorts.”

Lyra
laughed, the soft sound washing around them, because the shorts—courtesy of the
local flea market and some of the fried chicken money—were
meant
to be tempting, and she was very pleased to note they’d done
their job.

“You
can’t rush present opening, Andros,” Lyra said. “It has to be savored.”

“Oh,
I know.”

She
twisted her head to look behind her, and couldn’t help but smile. Andros’ gaze
was fixed on her thighs, the heat there so familiar, and so obvious. “But you
can delay them…come here.”

He
joined her on the floor, lifting her vest and chucking it to the side in one
quick move. Lyra unknotted his tie, shrugged his suit jacket off, and undid the
buttons of his shirt. Then, when both were topless, she wrapped her arms around
his neck and pulled him on top of her, shimmying forward as she did so. She
kissed him gently at first. Her lips traced a little trail over his, but it
wasn’t long before he deepened it, covering her mouth and demanding more. She
gave it. She always gave it. They tumbled on to the floor together.

Her
shorts were tiny, but there was enough room for Andros to slip a hand inside
them and rub along her clit. He did so using the little flicking motions she
liked. Lyra arched her hips to allow complete access.

“I
love that.”

He
nodded. “I know you do.”

“Know
what else I love?”

“Tell
me.”

She
unzipped his pants carefully, allowing room for his cock to spring free. He
was, as always, hugely erect. Lyra wrapped her hand around him, before pumping
his shaft up and down.

“I
want to make you come like this. In my hand.”

His
finger lowered, slipping inside, gathering moisture, before returning to her
clit. “No condom needed.”

“Exactly.”

Another
kiss, hard, fast, drugging, and Andros wrapped his free arm around her, laying
her against his chest, so that he could lean down and steal more kisses, or
flick his tongue across her nipple. Their arms crossed against one another, he
still rubbing her pussy, she clenching his cock.

Together
they moved, their motions becoming more and more frantic. Andros groaned
against her lips, she moaned back, and both were lost in the little worlds they
were creating within one another.

Lyra
came first. It was inevitable the moment his head lowered and sucked a nipple
into his mouth. An orgasm centered entirely on her clit shot through her. She
couldn’t help but tighten her grip on Andros as her thighs quivered.

“Good
girl,” he whispered. “How it pleases me when you drench my hand.”

He
kissed her hard on the lips again, and she resumed her action, pumping the
length of him, loving the feel of the endorphins flooding her, his lips
demanding, his cock pulsing in her grip.

When
Andros came he did so with a groan, tearing his lips from her. Lyra sucked in a
shocked breath as his come exploded over her, spurting onto her hand, her
belly, her breasts. It felt…she swallowed…it felt
good
. She liked it, liked having him on her, and it made perfect
sense in her mind to run a hand along her body and feel his sticky come on her
skin.

“Jesus,
Lyra,” he groaned. “You make me come so hard.”

“Good,”
she said. “Good.”

They
kissed again. This kiss was relaxed, replete, and Lyra loved it, gloried in it.

“Presents?”
Andros asked when they came up for air, and she laughed. So happy. So content.

“Gimme,
gimme.”

 
It took a few minutes to get cleaned up and
then they were back on the floor, Lyra in her vest and shorts again, Andros
with his shirt back on—though buttoned up wrong, she noted with satisfaction.
He pulled her against him so that she lay between his legs, against his chest.
It was an intimate gesture, she thought, more so than the sex they’d just
shared. His arms were wrapped around her belly, his mouth nuzzling her neck,
but there was no heat in it, just a man enjoying his woman.

What
a scary thought.

“Which
one will you open first?” he asked, placing a kiss on her bare shoulder.

“The
smallest first.” She leaned out of his arms and picked up a little silver bag,
tipping the contents into her hand. The box was small, black, and had a
familiar logo on it. An iPhone. Wow, she’d seen and played on a few in her time
but had never thought to own one. It was the latest model and was sitting in
its own little silver case.

“So
I can contact you,” Andros said. “I have pre-programmed my personal number.”

“Of
course. It’s really pretty.”

He
frowned. “It is not meant to be pretty.”

“Still
is, though.”

The
next box was larger still but bore the same logo. Lyra almost squealed when it
opened up to reveal her very own laptop. “A Mac?”

“So
I can contact you,” he said. “By email if necessary. This building has Wi-Fi.”

She
grinned. “Of course.”

The
other two bags held more tech, a tablet and an iPod. It was pre-loaded with a
bunch of music and Lyra scrolled through the songs, unable to believe what she
was seeing. Penny had an ancient iPod, one of the first gen that they’d found
in a market for a few quid. It hadn’t been working but Penny had managed to
sort it out. Only this one was brand new, it all was, and as Lyra took it all
in she couldn’t help but work out how much it had all cost…and inevitably how
much she could sell it all for when the time came.

 
“So I can contact you,” Andros said.

“On
an iPod?” she asked, ignoring her own mercenary thoughts.

He
grunted.

“This
is all so thoughtful.”

“You
need things to do,” he said with a shrug. “When I am at work. There is much you
can do with this.”

“Sure
is,” Lyra agreed, though in truth she had other plans for her days whilst
Andros was absent. No need to tell him that, though. “Thank you.”

“My
pleasure,” he said, pulling her back into his arms and nuzzling her neck again.
“There is one more gift.”

“Is
it more tech?”

“No.”

“A
poodle?”

“In
this apartment?”

“Point
taken.” She twisted around so that she knelt before him. Placing a kiss on his
jaw Lyra shot him a sultry look. “Tell me.”

“I
will show you instead.”

He
leaned across her and grabbed the suit jacket she had had pulled off him just a
half hour ago. He was always in suits, Lyra thought, and wondered exactly what
Andros would look like in jeans and a tee. Or even in sweats and not much else.

“Wear
jeans tonight,” she said as he reached into the pocket of his jacket.

“Sorry?”

“You
said we were going out? That I could choose where, seeing as how the chicken
was so good?”

“I
did.”

“Let’s
go to that sushi bar you mentioned and you wear jeans.”

He
gave her a puzzled look. “Why?”

“Because
you’ll look gorgeous.”

“I
have no casual clothes here.”

“Then
perhaps you should bring some? Leave them here I mean,” she suggested, then
held her breath as Andros paused to give her a look she couldn’t quite
decipher. She hadn’t been back to his home since the first day. Their entire
affair was being carried out in this little apartment overlooking London. Lyra
didn’t mind. She hadn’t expected to be welcomed into his actual life, but it
made sense to her that he should bring a little bit of himself into the world
he’d created for her.

“That
is a good idea,” he said after a moment, and she released the breath, a weird
relief shooting through her. “I will have some delivered tomorrow. Now, this is
for you.”

He
passed across a box. It was long, thin, blue, and was stamped with a name even
Lyra recognized. “Andros,” she whispered, her heart suddenly giving a little
thump.

“Open
it,” he commanded.

She
did so with shaky hands, and the moment the present inside was revealed Lyra’s
little heart thumps became
big
heart
thumps. It was a necklace. Perfect in every way, it was platinum maybe, or even
white gold, and the diamonds…Lyra swallowed unsteadily as she took in the many,
many diamonds threaded throughout the delicate chains that made up the
necklace. They winked and sparkled and screamed their opulence at her.

“This
is…”

“It
is flashes of fire,” he said. “Just like you.”

Flashes of fire.
Bigger
heart thumps. Lyra met his gaze and what she saw there made her melt. How could
one man be so gorgeous? And he was
hers
.
For this little space of time, this incredibly good looking, talented, man was
hers. It was a weird feeling. Sometimes Lyra had trouble believing it had come
together, that her plotting and planning had worked.

“It’s
more than that,” she said, reaching out to touch the diamonds. “So much more.
It’s beautiful.”

“I
was inspired.”

“I
love it.”

“So
I can contact you,” he said, his tone serious, and Lyra laughed, just as he’d
wanted her to, the tension—where had it come from?—dissipating slightly, but
not completely. Because even as the diamonds winked and blinked, cool beneath
her fingers,
 
making her want to sigh,
Lyra was torn between two thoughts.

One,
this was not an official mistress gift. Andros had not bought it for her
because he needed to call her, or wanted her to have things to do. He’d bought
it because he wanted her to have it—for whatever reason that might be.

Two,
and though it killed her a little to admit it, it was expensive, very
expensive. The jewelers in question sold only high end products. These diamonds
were flawless. And as much as Lyra loved the thought of wearing it against her
skin, she couldn’t help but be thinking exactly what the resale value was
likely to be and how that might contribute to the end goal. The end of the
game.

The
mission.

The Point.

Chapter Sixteen

A
week and a half later and Andros was finishing up yet another meeting. For some
reason they had been constant of late, more constant, at least, than he liked.
This one in particular had been trying. He’d met with a group of youngsters who
were trying to convince him to invest in their website. It was a novel idea,
but they were so green he didn’t know if he could bear it. Worse they’d taken
him to a God awful, trendy restaurant, and he frowned as he extracted himself
from the group, intending to make his way to the bar in the other side of the
building, down a much needed drink, then head on home.

Home
or Lyra’s?

He
frowned some more as he waved his goodbyes to the eager youngsters, strode over
to the bar, and gestured to the man behind it. The service in this part of the
business was significantly better, and Andros gave his order, settled on to a
bar stool and took a deep breath.

Lyra…

He’d
spent every night with her since the first night, and it seemed like it was
more than several days. The days had bled together and it felt almost like Lyra
being part of his life was something that had been in place for months. It had
become perfectly natural for him to finish up his day and then head to her
apartment, where she pleasured him in ways he could not describe.

More
than that, though, they talked. She was smart and funny, and she obviously
spent a great deal of time on her tech, because she was full of thoughts and
opinions. What did he think of this news story, what were his thoughts on this
new government policy, did he know that this country was in the middle of a
coup? He found it refreshing in the extreme to hear her opinions, to speak with
someone outside of his close circle. It was all so fucking confusing! Never had
he spent so much time with one woman. Never had he felt the need to constantly
do so.

He
found himself thinking about her at odd moments. Wondering what she was up to.
Texting and emailing her to ascertain her whereabouts. More often than not, she
was in the apartment, surfing the net, watching a movie. Other times she
wandered the area. Down to the park, across to the market. She did not shop
properly as far as he could tell, despite the fact he’d had her cards delivered
with huge limits against them. And she never mentioned seeing anyone outside of
him. He wondered if she met with her sisters, or any of her friends, but she
never spoke of it, and he did not ask.