He took her keys from her numb fingers and unlocked her door.
Helen laughed, genuine humor for the first time today. “You’re a little relentless, aren’t you?”
“Of course,” he said, grinning unrepentantly. “That’s how I get what I want.”
She chuckled at his reply. “I know. And you always get what you want, don’t you?”
Dimitri looked down at her but could only see her shiny hair. He put a hand under her chin and lifted her face so he could see her eyes. “Always,” he replied seriously.
Helen wasn’t sure what to say in response. His eyes were blazing but surely it wasn’t her that he wanted. Couldn’t be! But oh! The fantasy!
Helen shook her head. “Yes…well…thank you.”
In response, he walked into her house and turned on the lights. “This is nice,” he said, looking around at her cozy house filled with books and soft lights with a flowery sofa and matching chairs. There was a coffee table filled with magazines and pretty curtains he guessed she probably made herself. Their soft, delicate look reminded him of her hair, he thought.
Now that he was inside her house, he didn’t want to leave. He looked around and spotted the kitchen. “What are you having for dinner?” he asked, moving in that direction and turning on the light. “You mentioned soup or a salad but,” he started to say as he walked into her kitchen, “it doesn’t sound too nourishing.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” she said quickly, afraid he might look into her cabinets and see that they were almost completely empty.
Which, of course, he did. “There’s no food, Helen.” He turned and looked down at her, admonishing her for lying to him earlier.
Helen peered around his large frame into her cabinets. “Of course there is,” she said. There’s a can of soup right there.” She pointed towards the two cans of soup that sat alone on the shelf.
“That’s not a meal,” he replied. Spinning her around by her shoulders, he said, “Go get in your bath and soak while I get you something to eat.”
Helen panicked. “Get in my bath?” she asked. “What do you mean?”
Dimitri’s reply was to walk out of her kitchen and search through the only other door. “Mr. Theopolis, what are you doing?” she asked, wishing she could pull him by the coat and stop him as he entered her bedroom.
Flicking on the light, Dimitri looked around. Yellow. A soft, pretty buttery yellow. “This is very ‘you’, Helen,” he said and walked through the open door that obviously led to her bathroom.
He pulled off his suit jacket and tossed it onto the bed while Helen watched in fascinated horror. She heard the water start and then silence. It took him several moments before he came back out.
“Okay, everything is ready. Go ahead and relax and by the time you get out, I’ll have something for your dinner,” he said and waited.
“What are you doing?” she asked nervously.
“Waiting for you to undress and get into the bathtub,” he explained patiently, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning against the doorjamb.
Helen’s hand immediately flew to her throat, covering the small amount of skin revealed by the dull, brown suit. “I can’t undress with you watching me,” she replied, her face red for the third time that day. He probably thought she had a blood pressure problem.
Sighing, he pushed away from the door and closed the space between them. “Okay, I’ll leave you but if I suspect that you aren’t in that tub relaxing, I’ll come back in here and undress you myself.”
He looked intently down into her blue eyes to make sure she understood he was serious. Then he left, closing the door softly behind him.
Once she was alone, Helen finally relaxed and almost melted into the bed. The smell of her bath salts wafted to her nose and she quickly pulled off her suit, then stripped off the rest of her clothes, leaving them in a trail behind her as she walked towards the bathroom.
Sinking into the bubble bath filled with soft, lavender scents, she closed her eyes, placing the towel under her head that he’d rolled up and left on the edge of the bath. This man had obviously prepared other women’s baths before. That thought only hurt a little as the tension slowly ebbed from her body and the warm water did the trick.
Chapter 3
Helen almost fell asleep. But just as consciousness was about to leave her, she heard the front door of her house open and close. She hadn’t