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The black jeans and white blouse had a closer fit than she liked over her opulent curves, and she frowned When a fire had broken out at her last address she had lost al to build up a neardrobe by buying from charity shops, it wasn’t easy on a low income As she turned away from the mirror her attention fell on the photo of her late sister by her bed, and she scolded herself for being so precious about her appearance when she was lucky to have her health
‘Look on the bright side,’ had been her grand up
‘Every cloud has a silver lining,’ her grandfather had often chipped in with determination
Yet Maddie and her grandparents had known a lot of heartbreak in their lives Suzy, Maddie’s beloved twin, had been diagnosed with leukaehth birthday The stress of coping with Suzy’s illness had destroyed their parents’ e, supporting Suzy through her gruelling treates of her life And ultiet the ht Maddie the i on to a cheerful outlook
As she waited at the bus stop Maddie was struggling to subdue a juvenile tingle of exciteht a gliain Honestly, when she thought about hiirl than a twenty-three-year-old grown-up! It was e to recall that she had once cherished a newspaper photo of the startlingly handsoer, and she’d developed a hopeless crush on him
Petrakos Industries was a towering contemporary office block in the City of London Maddie had never worked anywhere quite so i before, and the standards deh she was only a teenerally entrusted with only menial tasks, her lack of qualifications had produced frowns on her first day As always, she tried to co and enthusiastic She would have done just about anything to get a permanent job with such a co difference to her life
‘Another five hundred jobs are being moved to Eastern Europe to cut costs,’ a feed in inputting onto a coo mental over it—’
‘Petrakos Industries is in the top three most successful coly ‘Giannis Petrakos may be a ruthless bastard, but he’s invincible in business Don’t forget that his shark-like instincts are likely to deliver us an even bigger bonus this year’
‘Do you ever think about anything other than uy with about as ranite’
Maddie was teuise as an unwilling eavesdropper she knew she could scarcely do so What wasGiannis Petrakos’s praises, it was certainly not her place to talk about his private endeavours Suppressing a sigh, she returned her attention to the database
After lunch she and her agency co-worker, Stacy, were sent to the top floor to help out A brunetterefresh
‘I’naciously
‘Your role as a temp is to do as you are asked,’ Annabel retorted crisply ‘Petrakos Industries requires a high degree of flexibility from all employees—’
‘I’m not an employee…I’m a temp—and I don’t serve the tea—’
‘Not to worry,’ Maddie slotted in hastily, keen to bring the battle to an end before Stacy argued both of them out of a job ‘I’ll do it’
In receipt of that offer, Annabel defrosted only led a pointed look of disapproval at Maddie’s jeans ‘The company dress code doesn’t allow jeans, but I suppose you’ll have to do’
‘You should’ve slapped thatso cheeky about your clothes,’ Stacy opined theher a favour’
Maddie grimaced ‘It was a fair comment But with my skirt in the wash I only have jeans left to wear’
‘I bet she’s just jealous of your looks,’ Stacy contended with scorn ‘Thoseout of the lift couldn’t take their eyes off you, and she didn’t like it’
Maddie went red with e’
‘You should ot,’ Stacy told her i it in as a glamour model or a lap dancer’
Inwardly cringing at the concept of that a So body, for she was very uncolass curves
As she crouched down to remove a china tea-set from the cupboard where it was stored, Annabel thrust wide the door to issue further instructions ‘Mr Petrakos will be present at theWhen you enter the boardroom, serve the refreshments quietly and quickly’
Striding past in advance of his personal staff, Giannis caught a glimpse of the redhead just before the boardroom kitchen door flipped shut on her In that split second a razor-sharp ileaainst her pale alabaster skin and fell in splendour halfway down her spine; the luscious pout of voluptuous breasts that segued down into an iain into the ripe fullness of a very feminine derrière
A powerful wave of testosterone-charged response assailed Giannis He always controlled his sexuality, and he was startled by the heady rush of blood to his groin He assumed his response was a rude reminder of a private truth: he liked women with a little more flesh than the very slender models who invariably cae of sexual arousal irritated hie of her froed, he just needed a woman
Taut with nerves at the prospect of finally seeing Giannis Petrakos again, Maddie immediately doubled up the a and very sweet: that was how he liked it For just a moment memories took over and she s at the back of her eyes
Under cover of the spirited dialogue taking place round the vast conference table, she eased the trolley into the boardrooently closed the door Only then did she allow herself to look in the direction of the h she had prolance, she was transfixed In the tailored perfection of a black pinstripe business suit, he looked downright nificent
If anything, Maddie conceded rather dizzily, he was even ly beautiful than when she had first seen him Nine years had eradicated all trace of the boy fro face, and his powerful muscular frame had filled out But he still held his proud dark head at an inized, and his eyes were unforgettable As dark as bitter aloes and set deep below straight ebony brows His gaze was coolly trained on the current speaker He had incredible eyes: in certain lights or when he laughed they were the sailded bronze
‘Why aren’t you serving?’ someone hissed in her ear
Maddie unfroze, and jerked as though she had been slapped As she reached for the first cup and saucer Giannis Petrakos glanced at her, and she stilled again Her tu it hard for her to breathe For the space of a heartbeat her surroundings vanished All she was conscious of was the unfamiliar heaviness of her breasts, the dryness of herits presence felt low in her pelvis She lowered her lashes in an instant of genuine confusion It shook her that it took an almost physical effort to force her attention back to her task
Coffee—strong, black, sweet, she reminded herself, while she wondered what on earth had coiant wave of sha up from her throat all the way over her disoodness, she would never dare to look at hi in a jerky breath, she poured his coffee, alar, stirred it, and forced her feet in his direction
Giannis had been bored, but now his ennui had fled Had he not seen her again, he was sure he would not have thought of her But her presence a scant twenty feet away put paid to that possibility In a fluid movement he sat down at the table Was she a private caterer? Or aat her, he speedily lost interest in the finer details of her identity Although she was decidedly pocket-sized in the height departeous face, and the lushness of her full pink lips was a fittingsymmetry of her abundant curves Her eyes were the colour of the green glass he had collected as a kid from the seashore His shapely mouth curled as he recalled his exquisite ift, but when he read the tiny curvaceous redhead’s reverent gaze that unpleasant recollection of his disturbing childhood totally vanished