Page 164 of Love Among the Ruins
CHAPTERFORTY-THREE
DOMINIC
He arrived back in Athens late in the evening, his time in Santorini had been highly productive.
But, at the back of his mind was Eleni. She still stole moments of his time throughout the day, between meetings and swimming and working out at the villa—whatever he tried to distract himself with wasn’t working.
He’d wanted to call her, had wanted to see how she was, but he’d reminded himself that Eleni was the one who’d left. She was the one still hung up on her boyfriend. What they’d had was only sex. If she’d thought about him, she would have called him.
The ball wasn’t in his court.
As the plane took off in Santorini, he briefly flirted with the idea of going to her hotel room, but it would be late in the evening, too late to make a casual visit. There had been nothing casual about their time together. What would he say to her?
But there had been no communication between them since she’d left, and he couldn’t get her out of his mind. He needed to know; did she feel the same way?
No, asshole. She already told you.
On his first day back at the office, after almost a week away, he stopped by the reception desk to collect urgent messages and mail from Miranda. He wanted to be left alone, uninterrupted, locked away in his office.
“You... you’ve got a tan,” Miranda commented, blushing more than ever. He scowled at her as he reached for the batch of postal mail she had for him. A part of him wondered what Eleni might have said to her.
“Yes?”
“It ..it ... suits you,” his PA continued.
He lifted an eyebrow but said nothing as he rifled through the pile.
Miranda lifted her chin. “Was the wedding good?”
His eyebrow shifted up even more. He hadn’t said a thing to her about it. It was in his schedule, because he always had to state where he was and how long he was away for, but he hadn’t actually talked to her about it. “I never mentioned it.”
“You did once.” Her voice was short and breathless, as if she’d run a mile and stopped.
He’d wanted to keep the wedding quiet. No good having rumors flying around this place, especially now that he had good reason to be wary.
What had Eleni said? The two of them were good friends. Maybe she’d let something slip.
“Mr. Galatis’ secretary has been calling since yesterday. Mr. Galatis is most anxious to see you.”
He was perplexed. This was interesting. But Dominic had no intention of being at the man’s beck and call. The only reason he was in this mess—the only reason he’d taken Eleni to the wedding—was because this crazy old fool had hinted that he was slowly inching towards a deal. Dominic didn’t hold it against him that he’d been busy with his family, but he wasn’t ready to see Hector yet. “Can’t do it.”
Miranda blinked at him. “But youalwayssee him.”
“Not today. I don’t want to be disturbed.”
He marched into his office and dove straight into getting caught up on emails and phone calls.
His father had called not even five minutes after Dominic had sat down. The pressure was mounting; his father wanted an update on the weekend, on Galatis and the deal. Information and progress that Dominic had nothing to report on, but he’d skilfully managed to deflect the conversation to the new business deals he’d made recently and was able to end the call with his father sounding somewhat appeased.
He took a few moments to sit still and contemplate, and in the solitude of his room he was reminded of who he was again—Dominic Steele, a member of the billionaire Steele family. A man who had come here for a specific reason. Not to lose his head over a woman.
Eleni was here in the same building, maybe even in the hallway right now, talking to Miranda. His gut tightened and his body filled with dread at the thought of running into her again.
Forcing himself to forget about her, he started to go through his most urgent messages, but not an hour had passed when a loud knock on his door disturbed him again. He slammed his hand on the table. “I said I was not to be disturbed.”
The door opened and Miranda’s red face peeked around it. She opened her mouth to speak, but Dominic beat her to it. “I said I didn’t want to be disturbed,” he growled.
“But ... it’s–”
