Playing by the Greek's Rules by Sarah Morgan Page A

hung up. ‘Don’t ever,’ he said with silky emphasis as he turned to face her, ‘answer my phone again.’ But he was talking to an empty room because Lily was nowhere to be seen.
    Taken aback, Nik glanced towards the bathroom and then noticed the note scrawled on a piece of paper by his pillow.
    Thanks for the best rebound sex ever. Lily.

    The best rebound sex?
    She’d left?
    Nik picked up the note and scrunched it in his palm. He’d been so absorbed in the conversation with his father he hadn’t heard her leaving.
    The dress from the night before lay neatly folded on the chair but there was no sign of the shoes or his shirt. He had no need to formulate a plan to eject her from his life because she’d removed herself.
    She’d gone.
    And she hadn’t even bothered saying goodbye.
    * * *
    â€˜No need to ask if you had a good night, it’s written all over your face.’ Brittany slid her feet into her hiking boots and reached for her bag. ‘Nice shirt. Is that silk?’ She reached out and touched the fabric and gave a murmur of appreciation. ‘The man has style, I’ll give him that.’
    â€˜Thanks for your text. It was sweet of you to check on me. How was your evening?’
    â€˜Nowhere near as exciting as yours apparently. While you were playing Cinderella in the wolf’s lair, I was cataloguing pottery shards and bone fragments. My life is so exciting I can hardly bear it.’
    â€˜You love it. And I think you’re mixing your fairy tales.’ Aware that her hair was a wild mass of curls after the relentless exploration of Nik’s hands, Lily scooped it into a ponytail. She told herself that eventually she’d stop thinking about him. ‘Did you find anything else after I left yesterday?’
    â€˜Fragments of plaster, conical cups—’ Brittany frowned. ‘We found a bronze leg that probably belongs to that figurine that was discovered last week. Are you listening to me?’
    Lily was deep in an action replay of the moment Nik had removed the mask from her eyes. ‘That’s exciting! I’m going to join you later.’
    â€˜We’re removing part of the stone mound and exploring the North Eastern wall.’ Brittany eyed her. ‘You might want to rethink white silk. So am I going to hear the details?’
    â€˜About what?’
    â€˜Oh, please—’
    â€˜It was fun. All right, incredible.’ Lily felt her cheeks burn and Brittany gave a faint smile.
    â€˜That good? Now I’m jealous. I haven’t had incredible sex since—well, let’s just say it’s been a while. So are you seeing him again?’
    â€˜Of course not. The definition of rebound sex is that it’s just one night. No commitment.’ She parroted the rules and tried not to wish it could have lasted a little more than one night. The truth was even in that one night Nik had made her feel special. ‘Do we have food in our fridge? I’m starving.’
    â€˜He helped you expend all those calories and then didn’t feed you before you left? That’s not very gentlemanly.’
    â€˜He didn’t see me leave. He had to take a call.’ And judging from the reluctance he’d shown when she’d handed him the phone, if it had been left to him he wouldn’t have answered it.
    Why not?
    Why wouldn’t a man want to talk to his father?
    It had been immediately obvious that whatever issues Nik might have in expressing his emotions openly weren’t shared by his father, who had been almost embarrassingly eager to share his pain.
    She’d squirmed with discomfort as Kostas Zervakis had told her how long it was since his son had come home. Even on such a short acquaintance she knew that family was one of the subjects Nik didn’t touch. She’d felt awkward listening, as if she were eavesdropping on a private conversation, but at the same time his father had seemed