As the cab wove through the Manhattan traffic, Eva wondered if a person could actually die from curiosity; Ari had said nothing about where they were going, or what he wanted to show her, merely insisting that he would explain when they arrived at their destination. “If you’re not angry with me, or upset at me, why can’t you tell me what you’re about to show me?”

“Because that would ruin it,” Ari said simply. Eva thought she could see amusement in his eyes, but he glanced out through the window in the next moment. “I have some things I want to discuss with you, as well, but we need to get there first.” He looked at her for just an instant before turning his attention out through the window once more. “We’re almost there.”

“I feel like I might actually die from not knowing,” Eva said. “I got practically no sleep last night, and then the whole thing with the Al Akanish people…” She shook her head.

Ari turned his head and held her gaze for a long moment.

“Okay,” he said finally. “I will tell you one thing about what we’re doing.”

“Please.”

“You didn’t give me much of a chance to reply to you last night, about what you said,” Ari explained.

“Well—it wasn’t just that I didn’t give you a chance,” Eva pointed out. “There was the whole issue of the eavesdropper that interfered.” She frowned. “Why would you need to reply?”

“For a lot of reasons,” Ari said with a slight smile. “I wanted to answer to a few of the things you said.”

“Go ahead, then,” Eva said, feeling a mixture of confusion, doubt, and hope.

“The first thing is that I want to apologize—deeply, truly apologize—for giving you the impression that things were nothing but business between us. At least…on my end.”

“You know how I feel,” Eva protested. “I told you.”

Ari nodded. “I do know how you feel. But you don’t know how I feel, because I didn’t get a chance to explain.”

“I’ll be quiet then,” Eva said wryly.

“I wanted to tell you that I feel the same way,” Ari told her quietly. “If I had thought that you actually wanted to see me—really see me, not just as my pretend wife, but as the woman I love—then I would have told you right away, instead of trying to invent an excuse to keep seeing you.”

Eva stared at Ari in shock.

“You—you have feelings for me?”

Ari grinned. “You cannot be a very good con artist—or all that great at reading people—if you couldn’t tell that I am absolutely and stupidly in love with you,” he said.

“You’re in love with me? But we’ve only known each other for a week!”

Ari laughed. “Eva, we spent that week getting to know each other well enough to pretend to be married. I think we know each other well enough to know if we’re in love.”

Eva considered that for a moment and then laughed, shaking her head.

“You’re right,” she agreed.

Before she could say anything more, Ari’s arms wrapped around her, and he pulled her face up to his for a passionate kiss. Eva hadn’t known how much she had wanted that kiss until she felt Ari’s lips pressed to hers, until she felt the heat of his body sinking into her through their clothes. The question of where they were going dissolved from her mind, and for a few moments Eva could only think of how good and how right it felt to be in Ari’s arms, how relieved she was to know he felt the same way that she did, how much she wished that they were somewhere alone, where she could show him just how strongly she felt.

The car came to a stop, jolting Eva out of the sensual reverie of her embrace with Ari.

“We’ve arrived,” the driver said, and Eva pulled back from Ari’s lips, from his body, feeling hot and cold flashes as the blood rushed through hers, flooding her face and then shifting down to her hips in a confusion of messages.

She suddenly remembered that she had been consumed with curiosity about where Ari was taking her, and looked through the window. Ari stepped out on the other side of the cab, and Eva stared in confusion as her eyes took in the sight of the entrance of the building she had worked in a mere week before.

The door to the cab opened, and Eva numbly accepted Ari’s hand, letting him help her up out of the back seat. She stood on the sidewalk, staring at the building, trying to understand why Ari would have brought her there. She turned, giving him a silent, querying glance.

Ari grinned at the utter bemusement on her face. “I have a surprise for you, like I said. Come with me.”

He took her hand and led her into the building. Eva followed in his wake, trying to work out why Ari had brought her to the place where they had first met. She remembered the apartment that had kicked off their whole relationship as he ushered her onto an elevator and pressed the button for the top floor—the penthouse apartment.

“Why are we going to the apartment?”

Ari’s eyes glittered with mischief and anticipation as he grinned at her.

“You’ll see,” he said. “Stop trying to ruin my surprises.”

Eva pressed her lips together, more questions gathering on her tongue, but she could tell that the Greek wouldn’t answer them, no matter how much she protested.

The corridor where they emerged from the elevator was vacant—unlike the night that they’d met. Ari led her down the short hallway, and Eva felt her heart beating faster and faster with the memory of everything that had happened there: the lawsuit that the realtor wanted to bring against her, the embarrassment of having to talk to the police, the pique she had felt when Ari had seen right through her at the open house.

Ari took a key out of his pocket and unlocked the door. “I picked these up this morning—I was worried I’d end up being late to see the Al Akanish group off, actually,” he explained as he opened the door and ushered Eva through it.

“So you managed to convince her not to sue me,” Eva said with a smile, looking around at the furnished entryway and into the living room.

“When I told her that I was more than willing to pay the hundred million you’d promised for the unit, she was happy to consider the matter settled,” Ari told her. He paused and grinned before continuing. “Of course, I may have also implied that if she tried to wet her beak further by suing you on top of getting my money for the unit, I would clobber her in court with the most expensive attorney available.”

Eva laughed, shaking her head. “I should have guessed it would come to that,” she said. “So is the surprise that you’re now the proud owner of this apartment? Because that’s not really a surprise.”

Ari snickered. “Come into the living room,” he told her.

Eva nodded, following him into the spacious center of the apartment. It was exactly the way that she remembered it, save for the fact that the catering equipment and the people were gone. The fireplace in front of which she and Ari had engaged in a bidding war looked just as magnificent as it had before. Ari led her towards it, coming to a stop almost exactly where he had stood during their first altercation.

“Okay, now what?”

Ari grinned irrepressibly. “Close your eyes.”

Eva sighed. “You’re really milking this, I hope you realize that.”

“Just close your eyes, Eva.”

She did as she was told, and heard a muted, metallic clatter.

“Hold out your hand.”

Eva hesitated for just a moment before complying. She heard the metal clink once more, and then something cold and hard connected with her palm.

“Open your eyes.”

Looking down into her hand, Eva saw a set of three keys, attached to a keychain with a tag that bore her initials.

“What’s this?”

Ari shook his head when she looked up to hear the answer.

“It’s your copy of the keys to the apartment,” Ari told her, grinning broadly. “I picked them up this morning, too.”

Eva looked from the keys to Ari, over and over again, trying to understand what he had just said.

“You got me a copy of the keys?”

Ari nodded, still smiling.

“You—you want me to live with you?”

“I thought I had made myself clear,” Ari said. “I’m in love with you. I want to see you, not because you’re pretending to be my wife, but because I enjoy being around you.”

Eva nearly dropped the keys from her nerveless fingers. Fumbling with them, she put them into her purse, and shook her head, looking at Ari once more.

“You really mean it,” she said, making it not quite a question.

“I wouldn’t have spent a hundred million dollars, and gotten you those keys, if I didn’t mean it.”

Overcome with emotion, Eva threw her arms around him, rising up onto the balls of her feet and bringing her lips up to his.

Ari’s arms wrapped around her waist, and he pressed her body against his even as he began to kiss her. Moment by moment, the kiss deepened, and Eva found herself trembling, heat flowing through her veins, tingling through her nerves as Ari’s hands began to wander over her body. She explored the lines and planes of his back, his arms, his chest, remembering every detail underneath the fabric of his clothes, feeling the heat of his body, the ripple of his muscles as he moved.

Ari broke away from her lips, and Eva made a querying sound, looking up into his eyes.

“One of the things that I thought of, when I was looking at this place,” he explained, his lips only inches from hers, “was what it would be like to use that absolutely stunning bed.”

Eva grinned. “Use it as in sleep in it?”

Ari raised an eyebrow. “Eventually,” he replied. “But right now, I’d rather test out other aspects.” His hands tightened on her waist. “If you’re interested, that is?”

Eva nodded, not even pausing to consider, and Ari kissed her again, exploring the curves of her body, teasing and caressing her. Eva melted against him, arching and twisting as he touched her all over, as if they hadn’t already had sex more than once; as if it was their first time together.

She barely realized that Ari was leading her towards the bedroom until they were nearly at the door; someone had left it closed, and Ari broke away from Eva’s lips, one of his hands sliding away from her body to let them both into the room. Eva struggled to focus, pawing at the buttons on Ari’s tailored blazer even as she felt her own jacket peeling down over her arms under her lover’s more expert and assured hands. Bit by bit, her clothes came away from her body, and Eva managed to get Ari’s blazer off, along with the dress shirt underneath.

In what felt like a mere moment, Eva tumbled onto the bed, in nothing more than her bra and panties. Ari stood at the edge of the bed, unbuttoning and unzipping the fly of his pants as he looked down at her.

“What do you think?”

Eva frowned in confusion before her lust-fogged mind recalled what Ari had said about testing the bed out.

“Feels good to me,” she said, bouncing slightly on the firm, resilient mattress. “No squeak,” she added with a grin.

“Not yet,” Ari countered, pushing his trousers down over his hips. He left his briefs on, and Eva caught sight of the firm bulge at the front, the fabric straining under the hardness of Ari’s erection.

Ari climbed onto the bed and covered Eva’s body with his own, shifting his hips against hers and leaning in close to kiss her briefly. “We really should be thorough,” Ari told her in a playful whisper. “If we need to replace the bed with something better, we should find out as soon as possible.”

“I agree,” Eva said, pushing her hips down to rub herself against the hard, tantalizing bulge of Ari’s cock. “Wouldn’t want to waste…time…”

Ari’s lips trailed down from her mouth along the line of her jaw, to her throat, and Eva moaned as the friction between their bodies sent crackling jolts of pleasure through her body. She played her hands over his back and shoulders, kneading and caressing, even as she writhed underneath him, trying for better contact. She was already soaking wet, hot rushes of sensation flowing through her in familiar tingles as she became more and more turned on by the moment.

Ari kissed a path down to her chest, peeling the lace of Eva’s bra down over her breasts and claiming one of her nipples with his lips and tongue. Eva shivered, rocking her hips steadily in time with his thrusts, moving along with him as Ari worshipped her breasts steadily. He switched from one nipple to the other and back, sucking and licking; it felt to Eva as if the jolts of sensation shot straight down to her hips, intensifying the tension she felt there with every lap of his rough tongue and every press of his hot, soft lips.

She lost herself in the sensations coursing through her body, kissing and touching everywhere she could reach, tasting the sweat that began to form on Ari’s warm, olive skin and contrasting it with the sweeter taste of his lips and tongue when he brought his mouth up to kiss her again and again. He lifted her up from the bed slightly and unhooked her bra, casting it aside quickly before kissing her as if he wanted to devour her whole.

Eva reached down between their bodies and brushed her fingers against the hard, hot bulge in the front of his briefs. “We—we had a talk about patience,” she said, panting for breath.

Ari laughed, kissing her chest lightly. “Did you not have breakfast this morning? You seem hungry,” he murmured, reaching down to hook his fingers in the waistband of her panties. He tugged them down over her hips, pulling back enough to pull the fabric along her legs, and Eva cooperated, lifting her hips up to hasten the process. She felt as though she might actually die if she didn’t get better contact between her body and Ari’s. But instead of taking his briefs off, Ari brought one hand up between her thighs and cupped her soaking wet folds, rubbing the heel of his palm against her slick labia.

“Hungry—hungry is one word for it,” Eva said absently, reaching down to continue touching Ari through the fabric of his underwear. Ari’s fingers slid up and down along her labia, teasing her.

“Poor, impatient little wife,” Ari murmured. His fingers slid up to barely brush against her clitoris, and Eva shivered with need.

“I told—told you, that’s a terrible nickname,” Eva told him, twisting her hips to get better contact with his fingers. “I’m going to…have to…school you.”

“I’m a quick learner—I think you told me that,” Ari said, and then his lips connected with hers once more, leaving Eva unable to reply.

His fingers worked her steadily, teasingly swirling around her clitoris one moment, before sliding along her inner labia the next, increasing the tension deep down between her hips moment by moment. Eva moaned out, twisting and writhing underneath him, pawing at the waistband of his briefs to get at the thick, hot, hard erection she already knew so well.

Ari slid two fingers inside of her, wriggling them, rubbing along her inner walls even as his thumb pressed against her pleasure center, and Eva gave herself up to the pleasure of his teasing caresses, barely focusing enough to continue stroking Ari as she trembled and arched and squirmed underneath him. Over and over again, Ari brought her to the edge of orgasm and then retreated, slowing down until Eva’s shivering began to subside, kissing her on the lips until she thought she might drown. She was so close to climax that she could have sworn she could taste it, but Ari—expertly—kept the best pleasure at bay, leaving her reeling and almost whimpering with need.

By the time Ari lifted himself off of her, falling onto the bed at her side and tugging his underwear down to let his erection free, Eva thought she might die if she didn’t achieve orgasm soon.

“You know, I think it’s not that I’m impatient,” she said, watching him slip out of the last piece of clothing on his body. “I think it’s that you’re a damn tease.”

Ari chuckled, tossing his briefs away without a shred of concern for where they landed in the room. He reached over for her, pulling Eva over, lifting her off of the bed.

“If you’re so worried about it, why don’t you call the shots for a while?”

Eva frowned in momentary confusion, but as Ari began to maneuver her, hauling her on top of him, she realized what he meant. She straddled his hips, balancing her weight on her knees and her hands, and looked down at Ari with a grin.

She rocked her hips against his, rubbing her slick folds against the heat and hardness of his cock, and Ari’s hands wandered over her body slowly. He gave her breasts a lingering, eager squeeze and played his thumbs against her nipples, teasing them until they hardened into tight, little nubs. Eva teased Ari for as long as she could stand, building up speed as she slid along the length of his erection, pressing her clit against the tip of him. Ari moaned, pulling her face down to kiss her hungrily, and Eva struggled to keep herself in control; she wanted revenge for his teasing.

When Eva couldn’t stand it anymore, she shifted on top of Ari’s body and guided the tip of his erection against her folds. She sank down onto him, taking him inch by inch, letting him fill her up as slowly as she could make herself go.

They both moaned out, clutching at each other, touching and kissing each other as they found their rhythm. Eva rode Ari slowly at first, raising and lowering her hips to take him deeper and deeper inside of her. She marveled at how deliciously full she felt, how hot and perfect Ari felt buried in her, rubbing along her inner walls. Gradually, she began to move faster, leaning in to kiss everywhere her lips could reach on Ari’s body, letting her hands wander over him as she shifted her balance from one to the other arm, twisting her hips.

If Eva had marveled at how perfect their first times together had been, the sensations were only better with the knowledge that Ari wanted her for more than just sex and a cover story. They murmured praise and pleas to each other as they moved together, and Eva struggled to hold back the orgasm she could feel building deep down between her hips, tension mounting every moment.

All at once, the tension broke, as if someone had cut through the knot she could feel buried deep down between her hips. Eva rose and fell, riding Ari harder and faster as wave after wave of pleasure racked her, so intense it might have been pain. Ari held onto her hips with a viselike grip, thrusting up to meet her movements, and Eva lost herself in the pleasure of her climax, moaning out over and over again as spasms of sensation jolted through her.

She barely felt the telltale twitching of Ari’s erection buried deep inside of her, and the tension in his body as he came closer and closer to his own orgasm. When she heard Ari moan out, long and low, Eva’s climax intensified, and she rode him as hard and fast as she could, even as she felt the hot, slick gush of his fluids flooding into her.

Eva fell to the bed at Ari’s side, panting and gasping for breath, trapped in the warm, soothing aftermath of her climax.

“What am I going to do with myself?”

“Hmm?”

Eva rolled her eyes. “I mean—you have work, and this apartment won’t need that much in the way of cleaning. I’ve never really been the housewife type.”

“You don’t have to be,” Ari told her. “Has it escaped your notice, Eva, that I’m incredibly wealthy?”

Eva snorted. “That did not escape my notice,” she told him.

“I will do whatever I need to do to make and keep you happy,” Ari told her, beginning to caress her once more.

Eva could feel her desire heating up once more, and knew that it would be only a matter of minutes before they tested the new bed even more aggressively.

She wasn’t sure what the future would hold, but she knew that whatever happened between the two of them, she wanted to be with him, and he wanted to be with her. They would be able to hold together through just about anything, considering what they had already been through. And Eva knew—even more certainly—that she was never going to be involved in another con job or scheme for the rest of her life.