Claimed by the Sicilian Tycoon (Criminal Seduction #3)(46)

Dios…

“Lyra!” He spat the word out and both she and Rimeria turned at the same time.

Andros didn’t have time to take in the shock stamped across her face, or the fact that her eyes widened and her lips parted. Instead, his attention was focused on Rimeria alone.

“Dominic,” he growled.

The other man nodded. “Andros.”

“You two know each other?” Lyra said.


“Of course we do,” Andros snapped. “What is going on here? Lyra, why are you here?”

Dominic looked back and forth between them. “I take it you are also acquainted?”

Andros glared. “Quite.”

“Oh…” Dominic raised an eyebrow. “It all makes sense.” He turned to Lyra and shook his head. “What you said in the office…about there being three. One for each.”

She nodded. “Yep. You’re quick. I’ll give you that.”

“Then you will excuse me, I have a fiancée to see.”

“You make sure you behave yourself!”

“Unlikely.” The Italian grinned. “I will see you soon, Lyra, and thank you.”

“Don’t make me regret it.”

“I won’t.”

Baffled by their odd exchange Andros glared at Rimeria as he headed back into the office, before reaching forward and gripping Lyra’s arm. His hand immediately felt warm in an inexplicable way, but his frown deepened. “You have lost weight.”

“And hello to you too.”

She tugged on her arm, hard, leaving Andros no choice but to let it go. He raked his eyes up and down her, taking in everything like a parched man seeing water for the first time in days.

She looked so f*cking beautiful. A little thinner maybe, dark smudges under her eyes, her hair not as bright as he remembered, but…Andros shifted, his hard-on immediate. How he wanted her still. The months away had done nothing to dim that. Why the f*ck had he imagined they would?

“What is going on here, Lyra?” he demanded.

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me,” he said, the rage expanding. “I cannot believe this. I look across the street and my eyes refuse to believe what they are telling me.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Believe what? And that’s not even how the analogy goes.”

“This.” He waved a hand towards Rimeria’s office block. “You and him.”

“Me and him what?”

“It clearly did not take you long to find yourself another protector,” he snapped, goaded into divulging his thoughts, his chest burning at the thought.

She gaped. “That is not what I was doing!”

“Do not lie to me! What other reason could you have for visiting Dominic?”

“Andros—”

The rage expanded even further as she spoke his name. How many times had he heard it falling from her lips as he plunged his dick inside of her? How many times had he made her sigh and scream, and for her to forget all that so f*cking quickly!

“I will not be made a laughing stock,” he grated, grasping her arm again. “I know that man; we have done business together on numerous occasions.”

“And?” she snapped.

“And he must have been aware at some point that you and I were together,” Andros roared.

“Why would he be?” Lyra asked.

“London is not a big city. Not in circles like ours.”

“Yours you mean. It’s not my circle anymore.” She threw her bag over her shoulder, pulled her arm free again, and shot him a look he couldn’t begin to decipher. Not in his present mood at least. “You didn’t want me in it,” she whispered, and then she turned and, she f*cking strode off.

Panic hit. Andros cursed. “Where the f*ck are you going?”

“I’m leaving,” she said, and he marveled that her voice was so cool. “I have things to do. It was nice seeing you again, Andros. You’re looking very tanned.”

“You are going nowhere.”

She turned slightly, shooting him a taunting look. It was the old Lyra he remembered, and his heart raced painfully. “And you’ll be stopping me how?”

“You need to even ask? Stay right where you are,” he demanded. “We need to talk.”

She did not stop walking. “You said everything you needed to say, I think. I heard it all, and it finished with something like goodbye.”

“Not goodbye.”

“It certainly felt like that way to me.

He growled. “It was...I was…come…”

“Come where?”

“Home with me,” Andros said, and realized the moment he did so that the suggestion made perfect sense. “Now.”

At those words, Lyra did halt in the street, turning on the spot, and sending him a nasty look. “How about f*ck off?”

The rage combined with the desire, and neither one of them were helping to keep Andros in check. “Don’t make me tell you again.”

She gaped. “Are you even serious?”

“Do I look like I’m joking?”

“You can’t order me around,” she said.

He stepped forward, closing the distance between them. “What choice do I have? You clearly cannot be trusted by yourself.”