Chapter 18
Danielle
True to his word, a car arrives for me outside the hotel half an hour later.
I hadn’t taken off my makeup after the ‘auction,’ so it wasn’t as though I had a lot to do in order to get ready to go out again. The biggest problem came from deciding what to wear.
“Something stunning” wasn’t exactly the clearest dress code that I could follow. After all, I’m stunning in sweatpants.
But in the end, I opted for a light blue Prada dress that I initially bought to wear to a rooftop party back home for all the members of the New York Times and some honored guests.
If I remember correctly, I had a recently divorced A-list celebrity staring at my breasts all night. Clearly, he was a fan of more than just the last article I had written.
If it was good enough for Hollywood, it’s good enough for Janus O’Connell.
I wait for my file to send before locking up my laptop and the data we had found in the safe.
The bottle of champagne and strawberries should be good in the mini-fridge for when I return.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t hoping to go in Janus’ room instead of mine tonight.
When I think about how well we work together, my mind doesn’t stop when it reaches the end of our business contract.
I’ve never met a man who knows how to make me come as hard or as often as Janus did in South Sudan. He understands women—he understands me and my body.
He knows how to make me come undone.
I’m ready for it to happen again.
When I step out of the hotel, I see a car waiting for me and a nearly uniformed chauffeur holding a piece of paper with the word “Dani” written on it in familiar handwriting. I approach him, and the driver the silently opens the rear passenger side door.
He says nothing to me on the car journey, and instead, remains hidden behind the tinted partition. I look out the window instead, trying to mentally picture where we are on the map.
Then I realize I’m sucking the fun out of my surprise, and I stop.
We’re not driving for long, anyway. The restaurant could only have been a couple of blocks away from my hotel. But we pull up outside a relatively small and what looks to be a family owned restaurant—and yet everything is empty.
My spidey senses begin to tingle as the driver opens the door so I can exit. True, this place is off the beaten path and therefore wouldn’t be a tourist hot spot, but I’d expect it to be crawling with locals.
But there’s no one.
As my white sandal heels click onto the curb, that’s when Janus appears.
He’s changed out of his clothes from earlier, too. Now he wears a clean dress shirt with a subtle floral pattern, the first two buttons undone. His hair is elegantly disheveled—no longer slicked back; rather, it looks like he’s run his hands through it a few times.
The lazy smile on his face and the light in his eyes could’ve tricked me into thinking that he was just a rich tourist. He looks like a man on holiday. But after the massive victory we’ve just had, I don’t blame him for wanting to have a little bit of a vacation.
He pushes open the glass doors and stands in the entrance. I feel his eyes rake over my body, traveling up my legs until they reach the hem of my dress.
Then I watch those baby blues linger on my breasts, and I know that this dress has worked its magic.
“Stunning.” Janus says, smiling. “Not that I expected anything less from Danielle Robinson.”
If he thinks flattery is going to silence my questions, then Janus knows me less than he thought.
“So, where’s everyone?”
“We have the place to ourselves tonight.”
“What?”
I look past him into the restaurant. A young female hostess and a small team of waiters are waiting patiently for us to walk into the restaurant so that they can have something to do.
“I thought after the day we’ve just had, you might want a little bit of time alone. Or, well, alone with me.” Janus winks and then steps to one side so that he can usher me inside.
As I pass him, I place my hand gently on his chest and enjoy feeling his muscles clench beneath the fabric at my touch.
“Is there anything else you want to tell me before I agree to sit down with you?”
“Oh, please, Dani, you’re going to want to sit down with me.”
“And what makes you so sure?”
“Wait till you see the view. It’ll knock you off your feet.”
Janus leads me through the restaurant with two waiters in tow. We climb up an iron spiral stair case in the back, which makes me glad I’m wearing a chunky heel and not a stiletto, before he pushes open a door to the roof.
The roof area is wreathed in fairy lights, twinkling like fireflies around the entire rooftop. One lone table sits in the middle of the space. A single red rose sits in a vase, and there’s a small collection of tea lights that illuminate the space further.
It’s certainly romantic, but hardly as inspiring as he made it out to be.
Then I lift my head and look up past the scene that Janus has constructed in front of me, and that’s when my jaw really drops.
It’s the whole Parthenon, lit up and glowing in the early evening sky.
“How did you even find this place?”
“I’ve been here once or twice when I was in the area. The owners know me quite well, and they’re good people.”
“So, why are we really alone?” I ask as we sit down at the table.
It’s hard to focus on Janus’ face with the beautiful backdrop, but I manage—somehow.
“Because I thought you wouldn’t want to be overheard.” Janus says calmly as a waiter approaches us.
We’re speaking in English, and it’s obvious that none of the wait staff really understand a word we’re saying to each other.
In Greek, I order stuffed grape leaves for starters, and then moussaka. Janus orders a selection of tzatziki and fava dip with souvlaki for his starter. We order our drinks, and the waiter quickly brings me a glass of Merlot and places an ice-cold beer in front of Janus.
“What do you think is our next move, then?” I ask once we’re alone again.
“We’ve found evidence that there is a trafficking ring, but there’s still no names to put to the faces we saw. Don’t you want to find out who’s really behind all this, Dani?”
“I do, of course I do.” I say, leaning forward slightly over the table.
Janus’ eyes dip down to my breasts again as I push them towards him accidentally.
“If we can find out exactly who’s at the top of this ring, we can shut it down for good.”
There’s so much passion in Janus’ voice as he’s talking about shutting down the trafficking ring. That kind of energy is sexy in a man.
“Now you’re speaking my language.”
I lean across the table and steal a strip of his pita breads. I dip it in the tzatziki and maintain eye contact as I slide the whole thing into my mouth. Janus stares for a moment then, and I know that I’m turning his thoughts towards skipping desert.
“So, how are we going to find those in charge, Janus?”
“I’m gonna reach out to a couple of friends of mine later and see what they can dig up after showing them what we’ve found.”
“I like a man who’s prepared.”
“Oh, Dani, you’re going to love me.”
The rest of the meal passes almost torturously slowly. After a while, we stop talking about work and just chat about what else we’d do in Greece if we were here on pleasure rather than business.
Halfway through the main course, I begin to stroke my foot up the inside of Janus’ calf, inching as high as I dare whilst he eats and tries not to choke on his beer.
By the time we’re finished, the tension in the air is palpable. Janus’ hand has gently brushed over my thigh two or three times, inching my dress up higher and higher each time.
The promise of what is to come hangs heavily in the air, and I can feel myself beginning to stir with arousal.
We’re standing on the curb, waiting for Janus’ chauffeur to arrive, when the tension breaks.
Suddenly, Janus grabs me. He takes me by the waist and by the cheek, pulling me into a deep kiss.
I feel his lips crash hungrily against mine, and I lift my hands to his face, holding him tight against me. I pull at his shirt, desperate to take it off—despite the fact we’re in public.
As Janus’ tongue starts to explore my mouth, the car pulls up to the pavement.
We collapse into the backseat, and I wonder if we’ll make it to the hotel in time.