Playing by the Greek's Rules

‘I’ve died and gone to heaven.’ Disturbed from her trance by the insistent buzz of her phone, she dug it out of her pocket. Her simple uniform was uncomfortably tight, courtesy of all the delicious thyme honey and Greek yoghurt she’d consumed since arriving in Crete. Her phone call turned out to be the owner of the cleaning company, who told her that the rest of the team had been involved in an accident and wouldn’t make it.

‘Oh no, are they hurt?’ On hearing that no one was in hospital but that the car was totalled, Lily realised she was going to be on her own with this job. ‘So if it normally takes four of us four hours, how is one person going to manage?’

‘Concentrate on the living areas and the master suite. Pay particular attention to the bathroom.’

Resigned to doing the best she could by herself, Lily set to work. Choosing Mozart from her soundtrack, she pushed in her earbuds and sang her way through The Magic Flute while she brushed and mopped the spacious living area.

Whoever lived here clearly didn’t have children, she thought as she plumped cushions on deep white sofas and polished glass tables. Everything was sophisticated and understated.

Realising that dreaming would get her fired, Lily hummed her way up the curving staircase to the master bedroom and stopped dead.

The tiny, airless apartment she shared with Brittany had a single bed so narrow she’d twice fallen out of it in her sleep. This bed, by contrast, was large enough to sleep a family of six comfortably. It was positioned to take advantage of the incredible view across the bay and Lily stood, drooling with envy, imagining how it must feel to sleep in a bed this size. How many times could you roll over before finding yourself on the floor? If it were hers, she’d spread out like a starfish.

Glancing quickly over her shoulder to check there was no sign of the security team, she unclipped her phone from her pocket and took a photo of the bed and the view.

One day, she texted Brittany, I’m going to have sex in a bed like this.

Brittany texted back, I don’t care about the bed, just give me the man who owns it.

With a last wistful look at the room, Lily tucked her phone carefully into her bag and strolled into the bathroom. A large tub was positioned next to a wall of glass, offering the owner an uninterrupted view of the ocean. The only way to clean something so large was to climb inside it, so she did that, extra careful not to slip.

When it was gleaming, she turned her attention to the large walk-in shower. There was a sophisticated control panel on the wall and she looked at it doubtfully. Remembering her disastrous experience with the photocopier and the coffee machine, she was reluctant to touch anything, but what choice was there?

Lifting her hand, she pressed a button cautiously and gasped as a powerful jet of freezing water hit her from the opposite wall.

Breathless, she slammed her hand on another button to try and stop the flow but that turned on a different jet and she was blasted with water until her hair and clothes were plastered to her body and she couldn’t see. She thumped the wall blindly and was alternately scalded and frozen until finally she managed to turn off the jets. Panting, her hair and clothes plastered to her body, she sank to the floor while she tried to get her breath back, shivering and dripping like a puppy caught in the rain.

‘I hate, hate, hate technology.’ She pushed her hair back from her face, took it in her hands and twisted it into a rope, squeezing to remove as much of the water as she could. Then she stood up, but her uniform was dripping and stuck to her skin. If she walked back through the villa like this, she’d drip water everywhere and she didn’t have time to clean the place again.

Peeling off her uniform, she was standing in her underwear wringing out the water when she heard a sound from the bedroom.

Assuming it must be one of the security team, she gave a whimper of horror. ‘Hello? If there’s anyone out there, don’t come in for a moment because I’m just—’ She stilled as a woman appeared in the doorway.

She was perfectly groomed, her slender body sheathed in a silk dress the colour of coral, her mouth a sheen of blended lipstick and lip-gloss.

Lily had never felt more outclassed in her life.

‘Nik?’ The woman spoke over her shoulder, her tone icy. ‘Your sex drive is, of course, a thing of legend but for the record it’s always a good idea to remove the last girlfriend before installing a new one.’

‘What are you talking about?’ The male voice came from the bedroom, deep, bored and instantly recognisable.

Still shivering from the impact of the cold water, Lily closed her eyes and wondered if any of the buttons on the control panel operated an ejector seat.

Now she knew who owned the villa.

Moments later he appeared in the doorway and Lily peered through soaked lashes and had her second ever look at Nik Zervakis. Confronted by more good looks and sex appeal than she’d ever seen concentrated in one man before, her tummy tumbled and she felt as if she were plunging downhill on a roller coaster.

He stood, legs braced apart, his handsome face blank of expression as if finding a semi-naked woman in his shower wasn’t an event worthy of an emotional response. ‘Well?’

That was all he was going to say?

Braced for an explosion of volcanic proportions, Lily gulped. ‘I can explain—’

‘I wish you would.’ The woman’s voice turned from ice to acid and her expensively shod foot tapped rhythmically on the floor. ‘This should be worth hearing.’

‘I’m the cleaner—’

‘Of course you are. Because “cleaners” always end up naked in the client’s shower.’ Vibrating with anger, she turned the beam of her angry glare onto the man next to her. ‘Nik?’

‘Yes?’

Her mouth tightened into a thin, dangerous line. ‘Who is she?’

‘You heard her. She’s the cleaner.’

‘Obviously she’s lying.’ The woman bristled. ‘No doubt she’s been here all day, sleeping off the night before.’

His only response to that was a faint narrowing of those spectacular dark eyes.

Recalling someone warning her on her first day with his company that Nik Zervakis was at his most dangerous when he was quiet, Lily felt her anxiety levels rocket but apparently her concerns weren’t shared by his date for the evening, who continued to berate him.

‘Do you know the worst thing about this? Not that you have a wandering eye, but that your eye wanders to someone as fat as her.’

‘Excuse me? I’m not fat.’ Lily tried vainly to cover herself with the soaking uniform. ‘I’ll have you know that my BMI is within normal range.’

But the woman wasn’t listening. ‘Was she the reason you were late picking me up? I warned you, Nik, no games, and yet you do this to me. Well, you gambled and you lost because I don’t do second chances, especially this early in a relationship and if you can’t be bothered to give an explanation then I can’t be bothered to ask for one.’ Without giving him the chance to respond, his date stalked out of the room and Lily flinched in time with each furious tap of those skyscraper heels.

She stood in awkward silence, her feelings bruised and her spirits drenched in cold water and guilt. ‘She’s very upset.’

‘Yes.’

‘Er—is she coming back?’

‘I sincerely hope not.’

Lily wanted to say that he was well rid of her, but decided that protecting her job was more important than honesty. ‘I’m really sorry—’

‘Don’t be. It wasn’t your fault.’

Knowing that wasn’t quite true, she squirmed. ‘If I hadn’t had an accident, I would have had my clothes on when she walked into the room.’

‘An accident? I’ve never considered my shower to be a place of danger but apparently I was wrong about that.’ He eyed the volume of water on the floor and her drenched clothing. ‘What happened?’

‘Your shower is like the flight deck of a jumbo jet, that’s what happened!’ Freezing and soaked, Lily couldn’t stop her teeth chattering. ‘There are no instructions.’

‘I don’t need instructions.’ His gaze slid over her with slow, disturbing thoroughness. ‘I’m familiar with the workings of my own shower.’

‘Well I’m not! I had no idea which buttons to press.’