LITMIR.BIZ

       CHAPTER FOUR

      Present day...

      AS HE SETTLED onto the tarmac Theo eyed the waiting limo. Jaya was smart enough to wait for the blades to slow before leaving the car, but he was anxious to see her. He told himself it was the babies he was worried about, and whether he’d have the help he needed in caring for them. It had nothing to do with the gnawing ache that had stayed with him during the eighteen months since he’d made love to her for hours before she’d hurriedly dressed so she wouldn’t miss her flight.

      His gut knotted. She’d seen him with his defenses blown apart by the family strife he’d been trying all his life to wall off. He’d never been as unguarded with a woman as he’d been that night, usually focusing strictly on the physical pleasure of his encounters and saying as little as possible.

      With her, he’d reveled in the cessation of emotional pain. When she’d left him to the silence of the suite, he’d blamed his plummet back into misery on the return of his dark memories from childhood, but there was more to it. He used to look forward to Bali; he hated it there now. He missed her.

      And he couldn’t imagine how she’d react to this. He glanced back to the passenger cabin, able to see through the open door that his nephew had fallen asleep. His niece stared wide-eyed from a tear-stained face, startled into silence by the return to solid ground and the new noises of shutting down the chopper.

      “I’ll be right back,” he told her, not sure if his words had any impact. He dropped outside to tether the machine. He’d fueled here in the past, so the hangar wasn’t unknown. He still didn’t like leaving his machine without prior arrangements. Choice, however, had been pitched into the Med when he’d flown out to the new Makricosta cruise ship only to see a gunner boat approaching from the horizon.

      His brother-in-law, Gideon, had been all smiles on his arrival, bringing the babies to have a look at uncle’s helicopter. The second Theo had delivered the news he hadn’t wanted to share over the radio, Gideon’s hand had bit into his arm. “You have to get them off this ship.”

      Not only did Theo have no idea what would happen to his sister and older brother, or their spouses, but what in hell would he do with two babies? Especially if this turned into a permanent situation?

      Forget the worst-case scenarios, he reminded himself. Deal with the moment at hand. By his estimation, he had to perform triage for twelve to twenty-four hours before he’d receive new information that would allow him to make a fresh decision.

      The limo driver came around to open the back door. Jaya emerged.

      Until he saw her and his tension bled away, he hadn’t realized how fearful he’d been that she wouldn’t come.

      The rotors had slowed to listless circles, but he was still struck by a sensation of wind gusting him off his feet. She was wearing her hair shorter, just long enough to touch her shoulders and it had a wave in it he’d never seen before. He liked it better than the tight, sleek bun. She looked younger and more carefree.

      Sexy.

      Not to say she wasn’t looking professional and confident at the same time. Her suit was tailored and chic, the scarf at her throat familiar. A deliberately distancing touch, he wondered, since it was not Makricosta colors?

      Are you going to tie me up with it?

      Do you want me to?

      She’d run her fingers through his hair and he’d almost died. Hell, he’d been so needy it was demoralizing.

      She smoothed her hands down her jacket, the navy and ice-yellow smart and flattering on her slender figure. Her big, round sunglasses stayed firmly in place as she waited by the open door of the car, not approaching.

      He motioned her to come into the interior of the helicopter. After a brief hesitation, she walked forward.

      “Mr. Makricosta—”

      He paused with one foot on the step and looked back at her, his ghostly reflection in her lenses a picture of one shielded face confronting another.

      “Theo,” he corrected, tempted to stand here until she said it, which was inane. If he’d had one plan when—if he ever saw her again, it was that he’d pretend they’d never slept together. Unfortunately, he kept hearing her whispery gasps of his name, lightly accented, in his dreams and wanted to know if he remembered it right.

      “Would you please tell me what is going on?” A hitch of panic entered her tone as he let her question launch him up the steps and into the helicopter. She followed, protesting, “I can’t go anywhere. I have commitments. Work and....”

      She didn’t finish, making him wonder what other commitments, but he didn’t press her. “You got my text.

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