“There’s a young man I want you to meet,” Samantha Christopoulos confided to her excitedly.

So that was why the older woman was holding on to her arm so tightly, Bobby realized with a grimace. Even so, she tried to pull away. The hold tightened. Bobby sighed. “You know I adore you, Aunt Sam, but this has to stop. I’m not looking for a boyfriend.”

“You should.”

“Does my mom know you’re encouraging me to hook up?”

Samantha looked offended. “Of course!”

It was Bobby’s turn to be offended. “She does?”

“Oh, come on, don’t be mad at her. You know we’re both just worried about you.” Samantha squeezed the younger girl’s arm affectionately. “The problem with you is that you let the past affect you too much.”

Bobby shrugged.

“You didn’t use to be so lacking in self-confidence,” Samantha chided.

“I’m not lacking in self-confidence,” Bobby protested. “I do workshops all the time, public talks---”

“That’s not what I mean and you know it. You used to have more confidence in yourself as a woman.”

“Aunt Sam, I am confident as a woman. I’m just not as blind as I was in the past about who I really am.” Now, she understood perfectly that she was not the kind most men considered attractive. She was too pale, too curvy, and too smart for her own good.

She unconsciously straightened at the thought, as if preparing herself for the disdain of other people. She didn’t care about what others thought, Bobby told herself. What she cared most about was her charity and making sure the children who depended on her would be taken care of for the rest of their lives.

Bobby tried to pull away again, hoping she could take the older woman by surprise, but Samantha was still clinging to her tightly. “Aunt Sam, really?”

Samantha suddenly looked frail, but her voice was strong when she told Bobby, “If you leave me, everyone’s going to think you cruelly abandoned an old woman like me to party.”

Bobby groaned. “You are so sneaky.”

“Just do this for me please, Bobby. Just be nice to him and don’t let your prejudices show. I promise you’ll have fun with him.”

“I don’t have time to have fun.”

“You do. You just don’t want to.” Samantha nodded and smiled at those who greeted her but didn’t bother to stop for any of them. She had been lucky to get Bobby to cooperate with her this far, and she knew it. If she let her guard down even for a second, Samantha was sure the girl would make a mad dash for the exit.

The afterparty of the award ceremony was doing very well, with twice the number of expected guests turning up. It was no doubt because everyone wanted to have a look at her nephew, Samantha thought fondly. The fact that there was another Christopoulos in their midst – and this one single – had everyone excited, from mothers looking for the perfect match for their daughters to younger girls and sophisticated women hoping for a chance to snag him before the whole country became aware of his presence.

“Unlike Derek, my nephew is 100% Greek.”

“Which makes him a chauvinist.”

“Very protective of the women in general, yes,” she agreed smoothly. “He’s pretty famous in Greece because he has won a lot of races.”

“Horse racing?”

“Err---no. Motorcycles.”

Bobby sighed. “It’s just getting worse, Aunt Sam. You should really just quit before this gets embarrassing for all of us. I’m a nerd and he races bikes. How in the world do you think we’re going to deal together?”

“Like fire meets fire,” a dark voice answered.

Bobby’s jaw dropped at the unexpected response, but before she could figure out who it was, she almost bumped into a wall of rock-hard muscles.

“Leandro!”

It was Samantha’s nephew then?

She looked up, and her jaw slackened even more. “You?”

Almost as if on cue, the orchestra playing at the stage started a new song, and Leandro answered by taking her hand and sweeping her into the dance floor.

From behind them, Samantha called out cheerfully, “Enjoy!”

Leandro expected Roberta Granger to try to escape him, and she did. But of course he was ready for her, and his arm simply tightened around her waist. For good measure, he also pulled her close to him, taking her again by surprise. She ended up completely plastered against his body, and as he whirled them around, he looked down at her.

She was spitting mad.

That was…expected, too.

“Try to smile,” he suggested. “Everyone’s looking at us.”

“Let go of me.”

“No.” He whirled them around again.

“I’m serious.”

“I’m just as serious. Before you can make a scene, I’ll be kissing you. Again.”

Her eyes flew back to him in angry disbelief. “Are you serious?”

“Yes.” And his cock rose, as if to affirm how serious he was. His body’s instant reaction towards her proximity and the mention of their kiss required Leandro to reluctantly put a little distance between them. This was not the right place and time for Roberta Granger to realize how much she turned him on – for what reason, even Leandro didn’t know.

Looking down on her, the mutinous look on her oval face made Leandro mentally sigh. “I’m sorry for what happened yesterday,” he forced himself to say.

“Really?”

He said impatiently, “Has no one taught you to be gracious when accepting an apology?”

She flushed. He was right in that score, but she didn’t want to admit it. She shot back, “I’d be gracious if I thought you were being sincere.”

It was his turn to flush. “You never know when to shut up.”

Her eyes flashed. “Is that your way of telling me to shut up? Because let me tell you---”

He kissed her.

Again, he had shut her up by kissing her.

This time, she managed to remain conscious enough to try to struggle. Try being the operative word because her efforts were completely wasted. He was so strong that he made it look like she was not refusing his touch at all. He had stopped in the middle of the dance floor, his arms around her like chains made of burning-hot steel.

She opened her mouth to scream, but stupid her, she forgot that was the one thing she should never do.

His tongue went in for the kill.

And that was…the end. Of her sanity.

Now, her reeling senses took over.

The impact of his kiss, his touch, the heat of his presence – it all hit her at once, and she was left silently gasping against his mouth as he deepened his kiss. They were no longer dancing, and she honestly had no idea where they were. All she knew right now was that this second kiss of his was even more mind-blowing, more earth-shattering, and she couldn’t think of anything else except him.

His lips were soft and firm at the same time, demanding and gentle, the way it moved never leaving any doubt in her shaken mind that he was in control.

His tongue was skillful – too skillful, the way it moved inside her mouth, leaving a lasting impression on every inch it tasted and touched. It sought to mate with her tongue, and she was helplessly drawn into this seductive and passionate dance, her tongue following his command, dancing to his tune.

His hands had first been meant to keep her in place, but now it was meant to support her, to keep her from falling, and they both knew it. One hand clasped her neck, fingers digging into the thick length of her hair while his other hand was settled possessively on the curve of her hip, fingers tightening around her flesh as he leaned forward and she bent backward, the kiss never-ending.

Someone cleared her throat. Several times.

“I’m glad you two get along very well, but you are starting to make a scene, children. Do you think you could continue this somewhere more private?”

The words took a while to penetrate her mind.

And when it did---

Bobby let out a load moan of shock and embarrassment, this time struggling in earnest, forcing Leandro to slowly lift his head and let her go. He at least appeared as dazed as she was, as if he could not believe that they were not somewhere private, with an opportunity to take things further.

She had the strongest urge to slap him for some reason. She knew it was unfair to feel like he had taken advantage of her. He might have had at the start, but in the end she had kissed him back. Even so, she had this strange need to hit him and her hand actually started to move.

His face became dark and a warning glinted in his stormy blue eyes. “Don’t.” He said the word in a low murmur, but there was a lethal tone to it.

Hit me and I will do more than kiss you.

The silent warning made Bobby tremble. With a choked gasp, she whirled away to leave but instead bumped into another person – this time a waiter holding a tray filled with several glasses of wine. They all tumbled down, liquid sloshing past the tray and onto…her.

People around them gasped. Some even dared to laugh. And Bobby could have sworn she heard someone mutter viciously, “Doesn’t she have any shame? She’s provoking him so he'll kiss her again.”

Her eyes squeezed shut in mortification. It was the past all over again.