last time theyâd met for dinner his father had actually lectured him on his lifestyle as if Nikâs lack of divorces suggested a deep character flaw.
Nik closed his eyes briefly and wondered how everything in his business life could run so smoothly while his family was as messy as a dropped pan of spaghetti. The truth was heâd rather endure the twelve labours of Hercules than attend another of his fatherâs weddings.
This time he hadnât met his fatherâs intended bride and he didnât want to. He failed to see what he would bring to the proceedings other than grim disapproval and he didnât want to spoil the day.
Weddings depressed him. All the champagne bubbles in the world couldnât conceal the fact that two people were paying a fortune for the privilege of making a very public mistake.
* * *
Lily dumped her bag in the marble hallway and tried to stop her jaw from dropping.
Palatial didnât begin to describe it. Situated on the headland overlooking the sparkling blue of the sea, Villa Harmonia epitomised calm, high-end luxury.
Wondering where the rest of the team were, she wandered out onto the terrace.
Tiny paths wound down through the tumbling gardens to a private cove with a jetty where a platform gave direct swimming access to the sea.
âIâve died and gone to heaven.â 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 sheâd 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 wouldnât make it.
âOh no, are they hurt?â 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. âSo if it normally takes four of us four hours, how is one person going to manage?â
âConcentrate on the living areas and the master suite. Pay particular attention to the bathroom.â
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 didnât 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 sheâd 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, sheâd 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, Iâm going to have sex in a bed like this.
Brittany texted back, I donât 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