Page 111 of Modern Romance September 2025 1-4
THERE WAS REALapprehension weighing down Lydia’s chest when they took the elevator from Alexis’s apartment block’s underground car park up to his penthouse, and it had nothing to do with being hidden away in it for the best part of a week to look forward to. Her apprehension came from meeting his staff. Three months ago his butler had been on duty when they’d arrived back from the club and had been the one to deliver food to their room, while a maid had directed her to the elevator that took her down to the block’s lobby when she’d done thewalk of shameas Alexis had called it. She didn’t know what would be worst—seeing or not seeing a flicker of recognition. If they didn’t recognise her then she really had been just another interchangeable face to emerge from Alexis’s bedroom, but if they did then she would have to live with them thinking God knew what about her. She knew she shouldn’t care what strangers thought of her but she did care, deeply.
‘You’re sure your staff can be trusted to keep their mouths shut about me?’ she whispered, as if the elevator had hidden microphones the staff were listening in on.
If he was annoyed at having to answer the same question for the thousandth time, he hid it well. ‘I pay them too well to talk and even if they wanted to, the non-disclosure agreements they’ve all signed are watertight,’ he reassured her for the thousandth time.
‘I’m sorry. I just couldn’t bear for my family to hear about us from anyone but me.’
He squeezed her hand. ‘They won’t.’
The elevator door opened and they stepped into the small, unfurnished room she had only the vaguest memory of.
‘Tomorrow, I will have your eye-print added and give you all the access codes to the building,’ he said, indicating the retinal scanner beside the reinforced steel door. ‘It will allow you to come and go as you please.’
‘I won’t be going anywhere for a week, but thanks.’
‘If you find yourself getting cabin fever you can always go out in that brown wig.’
‘I’d rather not risk it, but thanks.’
‘The option’s there if you want it.’
‘Thanks.’
Instead of putting his eye to the scanner, he narrowed his gaze. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘Nothing?’
He raised both black eyebrows. ‘I can feel your tension. What’s wrong? Tell me or else I can’t fix it.’
She smiled, the weight lifting a fraction. ‘Alexis, you can’t fix everything.’
‘Want to bet?’
‘Some things I have to fix myself. I’m worried about what your staff are going to think about me, which is a me problem not a you or them problem.’
His stare held hers, that flicker in his eyes making a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance, and then he smiled and pressed a chaste kiss to her mouth. ‘My staff will love you, I promise.’
He put his eye to the scanner. The green light flashed and the door opened, taking them through to the first of the many sprawling reception rooms in his impressive apartment. Not that Lydia had paid much attention to the apartment during her one visit to it before—on the way in they’d been too intent on making it to the bedroom for her to notice anything and on the way out she’d been too intent on just leaving without bursting into tears to take in any of the décor or furnishings.
The weight in her chest lifted a fraction more to find warmth in the eyes of the staff she was introduced to. The maid who’d shown her the way out wasn’t there but the butler was, and, though she caught recognition from him, the warmth of his welcome was enough to put her fears in this regard to bed.
‘Your cases have been delivered and unpacked for you,’ the butler said once the others had disappeared.
‘Already?’ There wasn’t much difference in flight times from Kos to Athens as from Agon to Athens, but she’d only given Maya’s details to Alexis a couple of hours ago.
‘You should know by now that I only employ the best people,’ Alexis murmured. ‘Let me show you the rest of the place and then we can shower before dinner.’
It came as no surprise that the two-storey apartment was a strong contender for the Ultimate Bachelor Pad of the Year award, coming complete with games room, cinema room and party room—the disco ball on the ceiling away gave its purpose—that were all interlinked with bars in each of them. The main living areas were all high ceilings, sash windows, dark leather sofas and glass tables. Everywhere they went were splashes of original pop art, from Warhols and Hockneys to colourful, eye-popping work created by more modern, contemporary artists.
‘You can study them all tomorrow,’ Alexis said, tugging at her hand when Lydia found herself enthralled with an utterly bonkers red apple on a seesaw. ‘I’ve got a surprise for you.’
‘What surprise?’
He gave her a stare. ‘It wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you, would it?’
They took the marble stairs to the top floor where Alexis’s bedroom was, but instead of going through its door, they carried on past other doors to the end of the wide, light corridor. He flung the final door open for her with a flourish.
To Lydia’s bemusement, she’d been shown to an office. A very nice office, with three huge desktop computers set out on a horseshoe desk, a coffee machine, sofa and six more pieces of pop art on the walls, and with an amazing view of the Acropolis. She assumed it was the view that was the surprise because she could think of nothing less thrilling than an office.
