Claimed by the Sicilian Tycoon (Criminal Seduction #3)(22)

He expected no less.

“I have clothes though,” Lyra said. “I can go get them whilst you’re at work.”

“Mistresses are provided for. It will please me to dress you in silks and such. And this is what you asked for.”

“Yes…”

“What you came after me for. Why you schemed and planned for.”

She rolled her eyes. “I did not scheme.”

“The register?” he reminded her.

“Okay, well, just a little. How else would someone like me be able to get the attention of someone like you? And it wasn’t huge amounts of scheming anyway. Nothing shady.”

He shook his head. “With your looks, Lyra, you would only have had to walk past me in the street. That would have been enough.”

“Say I did,” she asked, her eyes twinkling. “What would you have done?”

“If you walked past me in the street?”

“Uh huh.”

“I would have stopped you and escorted you to my car,” he said. “Events would then have played out very much like last night.”

Was it just last night? It felt like a long time ago to him now, such was Lyra’s allure.

“What if I refused?” she asked.

“You would not.”

“And how do you know?”

“Because we would not be here now if that were the case.”

“True.”

His cell vibrated again, and he frowned. “I must leave. Come, kiss me goodbye, and I will see you tonight.”

She did, but the kiss was nowhere near enough. If anything, it only inflamed him into wanting more.

“Don’t stay away too long,” she whispered against his lips, and his cock throbbed. Andros wondered if that was going to be its permanent state from now on.

He nodded stiffly and strode off towards the door. As he closed it on his mistress’ new apartment he saw her sink down onto one of the ridiculously plush couches, and his only thought was that he would very much like to be in there, sinking with her.





Chapter Eleven



Lyra couldn’t sit still for long. There was too much to explore, too much to look over. She waited until Andros was gone and leapt up, eager to learn about the new world she’d been catapulted into. Well, maybe not catapulted. She’d launched herself head first, and part of her couldn’t actually believe it had all come together.


She had him. Exactly where she wanted him. The hard work was done.

It was time for some fun.

And oh lord, there was certainly going to be lots of that, she thought, unable to help the grin spreading across her face. Andros was sexy, sculpted, he was everything she imagined and more. Her muscles still ached slightly as she moved around, and she paused to kick off her heels, padding barefoot into the kitchen.

A coffee machine stood in the corner, and Lyra rooted through the cupboards until she found a few packs of instant along with some dried milk. There was nothing else but a few bottles of water, her stomach grumbled.

She was hungry.

Famished in fact, the sexercise having given her appetite a firm shove. She walked back into the living area, and opened up her little clutch purse. In total there was fifty-three pounds in there, enough for some lunch certainly, but Lyra was loathe to waste money when she could hold out until dinner. Andros was bound to take her somewhere and there was coffee to quell the hunger pangs.

She thought about what she’d said, about how she never needed to diet to stay trim. The truth of it was, though, that money was never something she and her sisters had a lot of. They got by on the bare minimum they could bring in through their jobs. Waitressing, cleaning, bar work. It was minimum wage stuff and once they pooled it all, paid their bills, and whatnot, there was very rarely a lot left for fancy food. They ate the basics and were grateful for it. After all, they’d lived in some rough places where food was a luxury, and that attitude had carried them into their later years.

Then, too, was the fact that over the last few months they’d saved desperately, constantly, for enough money to carry out their missions. Penny had needed her specialist equipment, Rachel enough money to carry off her deception—it had soon mounted up. Only Lyra had insisted that she was fine with a few quid in her purse and a sex bomb outfit. Did she feel weird expecting Andros to feed her?

She thought about it for a moment but shook her head. This was what she’d asked for. Him to look after her and there seemed little point in feeling shameful about the fact. She was giving him exactly what he wanted and he would do the same in return.

She headed back into the kitchen and set the kettle on. Soon the smell of coffee—instant or no—filled her nostrils. It made her stomach gurgle, but Lyra ignored it. She took the coffee and a glass of water and settled onto the couch. Thinking.

About him. About her. About how soon she could ask for the money for The Point. A week? Two? A month? Maybe she wouldn’t even need to ask, she thought. If a whole month went by then Andros would probably have had enough. He’d give her a parting ‘gift’ and whatever it was she’d sell it to get the funds she needed.

She flicked on the flat screen, wondering as she did so if Penny was home yet. Her mission had a very quick turnaround. She needed only to break into Sebastian Demetrious’ safe and steal the cash they needed. Lyra herself had scoped out the house weeks and weeks ago. It had been easy enough. She’d simply hired on to one of the big cleaning firms that serviced his home on a regular basis. Like Andros, Sebastian was not a man who enjoyed being surrounded by staff.