Claiming His Hidden Heir: Claiming His Hidden Heir

‘Work it?’ Cecelia laughed and called out from the en suite where she was collecting his cologne and things. ‘Were you a cabana boy?’

‘Yes.’

‘Really?’ She came to the door smiling, her hands full of toiletries. ‘I was actually joking.’

‘It’s true, though. I used to head down there after school or during the holidays. It wasn’t as luxurious then as it is now. There was a different owner then—Geo.’

‘What was he like?’

‘Lazy and a gambler,’ Luka said, and he looked at her standing in the doorway and thought of all she had told him last night.

And all she had not.

There was a lot he hadn’t told her either. He thought of her little jab yesterday about not everything being about money. She thought he’d had it all handed to him on a plate.

Everyone did.

He would have two weeks solid of it now; his father swanning around as if he had rebuilt the stunning complex from scratch, and—one thing that really annoyed Luka—complaining about the food when he feasted at the restaurant. Theo would sit there loudly stating that he made it better himself, when in truth Theo Kargas could not make his own coffee, let alone run a high-end kitchen.

Luka rather guessed that the uptight Cecelia might not be a forgiving audience for the story of his beginnings, and not the first person he would choose to share it with.

Luka wasn’t used to sharing anything.

In business and in private he chose to take rather than to give.

Yet she had told him so much last night and the guilt of his past gnawed at his gut like a cancer—not that he would ever admit it.

‘I would pick up the towels and get drinks and things. Then, when I finished school I got a job in Reception.’

Cecelia zipped up his toiletry bag and put it in his case and was just about to ask him about footwear when he said something that made her frown.

‘Of course, I still worked the pool but it was in my own time and it wasn’t towels that I was picking up.’

She looked up and met his eyes. ‘Meaning?’

‘Because I worked in Reception, I knew who the richest women were because they had private access to the beach and the ocean view.’

‘I’m not with you...’

‘I think you are, Cece.’

She added a belt to his case and did not look at him but he could see two pink spots on her cheek.

In fact, she was embarrassed, wondering if it was because of the fact that sex was constantly on her mind around Luka that she was misinterpreting things.

‘I made a lot of money, and I saved all of it. I made enough that when Geo lost a small fortune and was desperate for cash, I put in an offer for the restaurant and it was accepted.’

‘You bought the restaurant?’

‘Yes,’ Luka said. ‘I bought it and gave my father a share, so he might finally work in his own restaurant, as he had always said he wanted to do. Growing up, we had no money and he said there were no jobs but there were jobs. Pot-washing jobs but, still, it was work. He got really angry...’ Luka didn’t add that he’d got the worst beating of his life that night. ‘My mother said he was a chef and that washing pots was beneath him. So, when I had the money, I bought him a share in a restaurant, one with the Kargas name on the door.’

‘But how on earth did a pool boy get the money to buy a restaurant?’

‘It wasn’t the establishment it is now,’ Luka pointed out.

‘But even so! Are you saying you were a gigolo?’

‘If you choose to call it that then, yes, I was,’ Luka said, expecting her to snap his case closed and walk away.

Yet she didn’t.

‘But how?’ Cecelia asked. ‘I mean, how does it work?’

Luka shrugged. ‘A smile, a nod. Often they would buy me a drink.’

‘I thought it would be the other way around.’

‘No.’

‘And did you name a price?’

‘Of course not,’ Luka said. ‘That would be in poor taste.’

‘But how?’ she asked, intensely curious. ‘I mean, I just can’t imagine...’

‘What?’ he said. ‘You can’t imagine naming your wants?’

‘No!’ Cecelia admitted. ‘I can’t.’

‘Perhaps you should try it before you knock it!’

‘No, thank you,’ she said primly. ‘And I can’t imagine giving the cabana boy a wink and a nod.’

Luka smiled. ‘The first time it happened was a surprise. I got chatting to one of the guests. She was a widow. I didn’t really know her but she asked me to join her for dinner. I said no, Geo would not like me dining with the guests. She said we would dine in her suite then. And so I went up and we ate and then we...’ He smiled. ‘I’m sure you can guess the rest.’

‘But I can’t,’ Cecelia said, for she wanted to know more, and in her curiosity she found herself sitting down on the bed. ‘How old was she?’

‘A good bit older than I was then. In her thirties, I think,’ Luka said. ‘She was my first.’ He looked at her. ‘Who was yours?’

‘I don’t have to answer that.’

‘If you want to know more you do.’

‘Gordon.’

He wrinkled his nose and Luka was surprised as something that felt like it should be called jealousy surged in his chest.

Which was ridiculous when he was telling her about his own depraved past.

‘Well, my first was actually stunning—a divorcée. She was there with friends but had her own villa. I was there every night until morning and I thought I had found the keys to heaven. The morning she left she came into Reception and when Geo wasn’t looking she gave me an envelope. I thought it was a letter. When I opened it there was a whole load of cash. Until that point I had thought it was a romance.’

‘Were you hurt when she paid you?’

‘Hell no,’ he said. ‘To tell the truth I was already starting to get restless.’

Cecelia suppressed an eye-roll and refrained from saying that perhaps it was an indicator of things to come, as Luka spoke on.

‘I was trying to work out how to break it off but had decided to do so after her holiday. I was the naïve one back then.’

Cecelia gave a wry smile at that. ‘I doubt you were ever naïve. And after she’d gone there was another?’

‘Of course, although it wasn’t always cash. Sometimes they would take me shopping for a watch or such like. Once a car...’

‘A car?’

She started to laugh. An embarrassed laugh, but she was also very curious. ‘Luka!’

‘What?’ He shrugged. ‘I was always careful and it wasn’t all sex.’

‘What else?’

‘Romance. Dinner. Shopping. But mainly talking.’

‘You mean, saying what they wanted to hear?’

‘Yep.’

‘Did you care for them?’

‘Some I did,’ Luka said. ‘Mostly it was work.’ He met her eyes. ‘They didn’t all care for me, Cece. They paid for the full Luka Kargas treatment.’

For a few years the pool had been his playground and the pickings had always been rich.

‘Anyway,’ he said, ‘once I had bought the restaurant I hired a decent chef and changed the décor.’

‘What about your father?’

Luka didn’t answer directly.

It felt disloyal to his mother to admit that his father hadn’t so much as lifted a saucepan.

‘The restaurant started to do well and was too busy for one chef. Though it didn’t do too well—I made sure of that.’

‘Why?’

‘Because I knew it wouldn’t be long until Geo blew things again and would be forced to sell. When that happened I had planned to be in a good enough position to put in an offer on the resort. With help, of course...’

‘Financial help?’ Cecelia checked.

‘No, one of the women I was seeing helped me get my papers in order to go to the bank.’ He didn’t add that the woman had also warned him not to bring his father into the hotel side of things.

It was advice for which he would be grateful for ever.

‘How old were you by then?’

‘Twenty-two. Once the resort was safely mine I hired the best chef I could find and things really started to happen. As the guests came in I started to buy up the houses and land around it. Out of all the hotels I own, it is still the jewel in my crown. From humble beginnings it’s magnificent now.’

She looked at him. He mesmerised her, he truly did. And she was nervous too, for the more she knew him, the more she wanted him.

‘Is your father still your business partner?’

‘Not fully.’ He shook his head. ‘The hotels are mine, the restaurants belong to us both.’ And then, a touch unguarded, he admitted a little more. ‘I should never have gone into business with him.’

‘I agree about not going into business with family,’ Cecelia said, because she had seen such things go wrong in her work before. ‘And, Luka, I also think it’s a really bad idea getting involved with an employer.’ It was Cecelia who brought it back to them. ‘I’m not saying that I regret last night, but it should never have happened. I take my career very seriously.’

‘I know you do, but you’re leaving anyway.’

‘Yes,’ she agreed. ‘But I still don’t think it’s right and I don’t want Bridgette or anyone knowing that something once happened between us.’

‘Once?’ he checked, and he took her hand to move it to the sheet beneath which he was hardening, but she resisted and her palm came to rest on his flat stomach.

There was no solace there for his skin was warm and she could feel the silk hair that led from his navel to paradise and she ached to move her hand lower.

So much had changed since yesterday.

Not just that she was leaving.

And not just that they had slept together.

He was creeping further into her heart.

‘Luka, I really think we should just draw a neat line under what happened and when you come back from Xanero we’ll go back to how we were.’

She was trying so hard to hold onto her heart, while at the same time sitting on his bed and looking into his eyes.

He pulled her head towards him, and she let him, and they shared a lingering kiss. He was leaving this morning, Cecelia told herself.

Order would soon be returned.

Just not yet.

Their tongues explored each other and their mouths were hungry for sensations.

He kissed down her neck and then moved the collar of her linen jacket and kissed the shoulders that had been revealed to him only yesterday, tracing her clavicle with his tongue until her neck arched.

‘Don’t leave a bruise...’ she said, but he ignored her, biting into her flesh and sucking as his hand pushed between her thighs, which were pressed together.

‘Come to bed,’ Luka said.

And without hesitation she nodded.

Cecelia stood and his eyes were on her as she undressed. He watched as the navy jacket came off and he just stared as she removed her top to reveal the purple mark on her shoulder.

She slipped off her skirt and sandals and then straightened up and removed her bra. She could see he was hard beneath the sheet, and, in response to the command from her hungry eyes, he kicked it off.

He loved that he did not have to persuade her—that he did not have to slowly remove her bra and kiss her while sliding down her knickers.

Instead, she took care of that.

For this was no accident.

Her delicately shaped curls, which he had not had time to appreciate last night, had a coppery tinge that he stared at as she removed her bra. For the first time in years he was hungry to taste a woman, and reached for her to join him in bed.

‘After this morning...’ she warned, but he hushed her with his mouth. ‘I mean it, Luka,’ Cecelia said, pulling hers away.

‘Sure,’ he agreed, ‘so this morning we make the most of it.’

Instead of kissing her, he knelt and lowered his head to her breast.

His tongue swirled around her nipple while his mouth closed and created a delicious vacuum. He sucked hard and Cecelia felt herself clench down below.

‘Luka...’

‘Nice?’ he asked, removing his mouth and blowing on her erect nipple. Cecelia didn’t know how to answer.

It was beyond nice, it was bliss, yet his moves were so practised and sure. She closed her eyes and then his mouth moved down her stomach.

‘Am I getting the full Luka Kargas treatment?’ she asked.

There was a moment of arrested silence while he paused, his mouth hovering over her stomach. What she didn’t know was that in Luka’s world the tables had turned many years ago. He no longer went down on women.

His start had been sex and Luka had long ago perfected his routine.

But now that his wealth exceeded theirs...

Well, he paid for their favours.

Not directly, of course.

With jewels and exotic weekends.

Now they went down on him instead of the other way around.

But not this morning.

It had been years since...

Years since her pleasure had mattered.

This morning it did.

‘No,’ he responded to her question. ‘You’re getting me.’

He kissed her stomach, not lightly but as deeply and intently as if it were her mouth, and Cecelia found her breath held in her throat as his hand slid between her closed legs. ‘Open them.’

She did, just a little, and she lay there, determined almost not to enjoy it. To remind herself that this was his skill.

His thumb was intent and his fingers were inside her but Cecelia’s throat was tight as he teased and stroked and rubbed, for she brought up her knees in an involuntary movement.

Women had paid him for this, she told herself as his tongue set to work alongside his thumb.

There was a moan building but she held onto it, yet he read it, for he moved between her legs to increase the intensity.

Luka heard her low moan and forgot his practised moves of old for this was new.

He heard her gasps, and finally learned the scent and taste of Cecelia on his tongue.

Her thighs were shaking as he probed deeply, and her hand pressed on his head, pushing him away. He knew she resisted pleasure.

So he upped the intensity again.

‘Luka...’ she sobbed, because it was too intense. His tongue was penetrating and he growled—and knew the moment she felt it. She wanted to come, but knew she would come so deeply that she was terrified to let herself go.

‘Come, Cece,’ he said, his voice rumbling through her. It was a command, an order her body could not ignore. Her back arched and her orgasm shot through her like lightning and earthed to his mouth.

He coaxed every flicker from her so that she was flushed and near crying when her body came down.

Never had it tasted this good. This was not like the work he used to do. This was different.

He slid up her body, Cecelia pulling him those final inches. They drank from each other in a desperate kiss that was both deep and heady. Luka came up on his arms but she pulled his head back down to claim a deeper kiss.

It was nothing like either of them had known before.

He was practised to the core and she was so new to passion, yet it was fire that they made together. She did not want him to be this good.

‘That wasn’t work,’ he told her. ‘That was bliss.’

And so was this.

He was there at her entrance and nudging a little way in. ‘Come with me,’ he said to the shell of her ear. ‘To Xanero...’

Luka did not want to go and now had been presented with a way to make it more bearable.

She liked the thought of fourteen nights of this. But she held back.

‘No,’ she said, and he pulled out. ‘I mean, no to Xanero...’

But yes to this.

Her eyes were closed as he slid in deep, all the way in. If she could have examined her thoughts she feared she would rediscover her self-control, and the part of her that knew this was wrong.

And so did Luka.

But they were past caring.

The feel of him unsheathed and stretching her was sublime.

And for Luka too, for she was slippery yet tight. He drove in deep and she let out a moan that he wanted to turn into a scream.

He reached for her leg and wrapped her calf around his thigh, pushing into her again. She was more open than she had ever been.

He thrust slowly and could feel the intimate welcoming grip of her.

Her nails dug into his buttocks and she moved with him until they were lost to each other and the moment.

‘Luka...’ She could barely breathe, yet at her plea he took her harder and faster, making her dizzy. She could feel her climax building and this time she welcomed it.

He angled himself and took her deeper and then he tipped into rapid, rhythmic thrusts from which there was no return. It was her scream that brought him back to consciousness.

It was her first scream in bed, Luka knew as his stomach lifted and he pulsed into her, shouting his release.

Her cry came from a place she had never known, and her orgasm was so intense that for a moment she felt possessed. As if her body had been taken over by someone else, by a woman who knew how to be free.

Yet as she gloried in the sensation, his weight atop her reminded her starkly that soon she would have to dig her way out of the ashes from the fire he had brought to her heart.

CHAPTER SIX

‘COME WITH ME to Xanero.’

As the mist was clearing he said it again. His weight pressed down on her even as he still rested inside her. If there was ever a weak moment this was it and Cecelia knew she was about to say yes when Luka spoke.

‘Not to the resort or anything,’ he added, pushing up onto his forearms. ‘Or my mother would think we were serious or something. You could stay on the yacht.’

Cecelia slid out from under him and rolled to her side. He did the same.

She had almost said yes.

In a delicious weak moment she had almost succumbed, and she failed to keep the bitter edge from her tone when she responded to his invitation. ‘You mean, come to Xanero as your plaything.’

‘I’d work you by day...’ He smiled, completely unfazed as he toyed with her breast, still throbbing from his previous attention, for this was the life he led. ‘And then make up for it by night.’

‘So while you’re on the island I’d be cooped up—’

‘Hardly cooped up. It’s not a tin boat with a gas stove....’

‘I have seen your yacht, Luka.’

Well, she had seen pictures of it and had seen some of the accounts for it. It was a luxury resort in itself, and of course she knew all about the wild parties that were held there.

And now she was being invited into the playboy’s bed.

Oh, the dewy mist of his lovemaking was most certainly starting to clear for suddenly Cecelia pulled herself away and sat up.

And it was then that realisation kicked in. ‘Luka, we didn’t use anything...’

In a life spent not making mistakes, Cecelia had just made a huge one and there was no excuse.

For either of them.

‘Are you on the Pill?’

‘Yes, I’m on the Pill,’ she snapped as she tried to remember if she’d taken it last night, because it hadn’t just been putting out her clothes for the morning that had fallen by the wayside. But surely if she went home now and took it, then she’d be fine.

But pregnancy wasn’t the only thing on her mind.

‘It’s not just that, though.’ Cecelia turned and looked over to where he lay and saw that his expression was equally grim.

He’d just told her he’d once been a gigolo—she could not believe she had been so careless.

‘Cecelia, you don’t have to worry about anything there,’ Luka said as he moved to reassure her. ‘I always use protection.’

‘Well, clearly you don’t!’

It was as much her fault as his, Cecelia knew that, and her angry tone was aimed more towards herself.

‘You’ll be fine,’ he said, which might have sounded dismissive, but neither did he want to admit just how impossibly rare this lapse was.

She gave a terse nod and headed for the shower while Luka lay there, his hands behind his head, trying to fathom what had just taken place.

This morning he’d forgotten the rules. This morning he’d been so wrapped in the feel of her, the feel of them, that he’d forgotten the care he usually took.

He had complete control in the bedroom, for though he was wild he was not reckless.

Yet this morning he had been.

Not only had he invited her to come to Xanero with him—at least he had quickly reacted and told Cece that she would only be on the yacht—but for a moment he had glimpsed it. His dream, showing off the first Kargas restaurant and the now stunning resort which was by far his proudest achievement to date.

And he had told her how his ascent to the top had started.

Luka wasn’t particularly close to anyone.

He kept work and family neatly separated, and certainly he had never invited an employee, albeit one who had resigned, to join him there.

The yacht was for escape, for parties and fun. It had never been used as a couples’ retreat.

She came out of the shower and dressed quickly. He was relieved that she seemed as keen to leave as he now wanted her gone, for she had messed with his head.

‘I’d better take your case in to the office,’ Cecelia said.

‘Please.’ He nodded. ‘I’ll be in later.’

No, he wasn’t a perfect gentleman, for he did not tell her to leave the case and that he would take it.

And neither would his driver magically appear.

She could take the underground.

Cecelia had said herself that she wanted to draw a neat line and get back to being his PA.

That suited him just fine.

Last night had been amazing.

So had this morning, and yet now he was left feeling deeply unsettled.

Luka chose not to get close to anyone, but this morning he had.

* * *

Xanero really was hell in paradise.

For Luka, the first week there had been a protracted nightmare—his mother seemed resigned to her fate and his father continued to lord it over the restaurant and resort.

And he had found out that his father was bullying the staff.

Bastard!

While Luka disliked how his father had rewritten history to suit the image of himself he wanted to believe, Luka could live with it if it made life easier on his mother.

But bullying would not happen in one of Luka’s establishments, and for all the lies and wealth that shaped his mother’s life, she was finding it no easier that he could see.

Luka had taken the yacht out over the weekend, but the pop of champagne corks and the sound of music skimming over the Mediterranean had soon grated and he had cleared everyone off except the crew as he mulled things over. Now, back on Xanero, and midway through the second week, on the Wednesday morning his decisions were made and he was ready to execute them.

He walked through the alfresco area of the restaurant where diners were enjoying the morning sun and through to the cool darkness of the main restaurant.

Theo Kargas was at the bar, speaking with the bar manager, and Luka could feel the young man’s tension from across the room.

‘Hey,’ he said to his father. ‘We need to talk.’

‘About?’ Theo asked, even as he crammed whitebait, crisped to perfection, into his mouth. He was utterly relaxed, for any angry words from his son always took place out of earshot of the staff.

Yes, Luka’s door was always closed.

Not so today.

‘I want to discuss your appalling treatment of my staff and your inexcusable conduct towards my mother.’

Theo almost choked, but then attempted a recovery. ‘Your staff? We are partners. I gave you—’

‘You gave me nothing,’ Luka said, and got right in his father’s face. ‘You actually believe your own lies. Now, as I said, we need to talk...’ He gestured to a table, for he too would prefer privacy for this but the fact he had first addressed the issues in front of the bar manager had been deliberate.

Theo would listen, or Luka would act.