"That's interesting!'

A familiar voice I could not exactly identify woke me up. I opened my eyes unwillingly, to see that Christopher was standing at my bedroom door, leaning his left shoulder against the doorframe. He could not be there. I was certain I was still dreaming.

His beautiful blue eyes were fixed on me, and his teasing smile sent the sleep instantly away from my swollen eyes. I drew the sheets up to my chest and sat up with a fast move.

'What...How did you get in here?' I asked, glowering at him. My initial confusion had started to give way to fury and exasperation.

He used his hand to shade his eyes, as if he was trying not to look at me, and walked towards my bed. He reached for my T-shirt on the chair next to my bed and then came to sit next to me. His hand was still ridiculously in front of his eyes.

'Kate let me in. She had to rush and she told me to knock on your door.'

'I don't believe it!' I whispered to myself. What was Kate thinking to let him in just like that? His face turned more serious.

'Actually, it was my fault. I told her you were waiting for me. Sorry to let myself in like this, but I've been knocking for more than ten minutes. I was... worried about you.'

'Well, as you see, I'm fine. Quite embarrassed, but fine.' I said in a stiff voice. He took his hand from his eyes and looked at me with his attractive, disarming smile brightening his face.

'Don't worry. I am almost as embarrassed as you are.' he said, but I doubted that.

'I guess you forgot about our meeting.' he went on as he stood up and walked to the door.

'Damn it'! I cursed. I checked the clock on my bedside table. It was eleven thirty. How could I have overslept?

'I'll make coffee.' he chuckled, making for the kitchen.

How many times can a woman make a fool of herself in front of the same man and still hope he fancies her? I asked myself as I got up.

'How can you live on these?' Christopher wondered with his head in the almost empty fridge. 'Do you know there's nothing edible in here ...besides those oysters?' He took one and smelled it before putting it back.

'You don't have to do it, you know.' I said coldly as I walked into the kitchen. I had put on a T-shirt and a pair of loose shorts now. He turned, slightly irritated.

'What do you mean?'

'You don't have to babysit me.'

I was sure he detected the cruelty in my voice but he could not explain it. I could not either. Lack of caffeine in combination with humiliation had turned me into a monster.

'Is that what I'm doing?'

'What else?' I took a long sip of the frappe coffee he had made for me.

'Taking care of you is much better, I gather.' he said.

I looked at him with a frown. 'And why are you taking care of me, Dr Auburn?'

He shrugged. 'As I said, returning your father a favor. Isn't that enough?'

'More than enough. You can tell Daugh next time you see him, that I'm a big girl now. Big enough to take care of myself.'

He closed the fridge door and came to sit on the chair right across. He raised his hand to touch my chin and made me look at him. Once again, his eyes were so capturing that kept me breathless.

'I prefer to think of you as a woman, not as a girl.' he said softly, making my heart beat fast.

'Now drink your coffee. We have a lot to do and it's almost noon.' He stood up and walked towards the cupboard.

'I can manage on my own. You don't have to change your plans.' I insisted.

'I didn't know I had other plans.' he said casually, discovering a box of chocolate biscuits in the cupboard. He seemed to be enjoying my little attack now. He helped himself to the biscuits.

'Mmm, these are really good.'

'I know. They're my favorite.' I said. He put two of them next to my glass.

'As for my plans, Suzan and I haven't arranged to do anything this morning. We're meeting in the afternoon for a swim. Too bad you left so early yesterday. I thought you might have wanted me to introduce you to her.' He scrutinized my face. I did not say anything because I was sure the tone of my voice would betray me. 'She could be really helpful to you in the future, you know.' he added. I shut my eyes, annoyed. Daugh always talked this way about "my future" and "useful people".

'Not another lecture on my future.' I whispered, talking to myself. He laughed, dropping his head back. His musical laughter made him even more attractive.

'I'm sorry. I didn't know I'd hit a nerve.'

I stood up taking the glass of coffee with me.

'I'll be ready in two minutes. Why don't you wait for me in the car?' I said as mellow as I could. I turned my back at him and walked to my room. Why was he here anyway? I was so angry! I wanted to hit him, hit him hard until I made him feel as hurt as I was feeling. Superficially, that is. Because that other part of me was really enjoying his presence in my house, feeling obscurely that this is exactly how it should be.

He stood up instantly. 'Of course.' he said willingly and walked outside.

'Still angry?' he asked with the most angelic smile on his face as soon as I got into his car.

'No, I wasn't angry. Just...surprised.'

'Furiously surprised.' he corrected me.

'Never mind that. It's over now. Mostly, it had to do with me. I'm not used to oversleeping you know. Punctuality is important to me.'

'Typical British.'

'Where do you come from?'

'I'm half Swiss, half Canadian.' he said coldly, the broad smile suddenly leaving his face.

'Suzan just called.' he had featly changed the subject again. ' She's invited us to lunch. What do you say to that?'

'Suzan? You mean the gorgeous blonde who was with you at the beach?'

'Yeap.'

'So, how come she's invited me?'

'She just wanted to meet you. Is that so bad?'

I thought the real reason for Suzan's prompt invitation would be to set a boundary line between me and Christopher or to check how dangerous a competitor I might be. She would soon find out that the balance turned to her side.

'So, are you coming?'

'Sure.' He cast me a surprised look.

'We can go together after we've finished with your presentation.'

'She's a beauty.' I said, realizing too late that I was expressing my thoughts loudly.

'She most certainly is.' he agreed. He gave me another quick look.

'How long have you known her?' I asked in a fake-conversational manner, looking out of the window.

'Just a few years.' I was sure by his tone he was not going to be more explicit.

But then he went on. 'We're just friends you know, besides being colleagues of course.'

I smiled, shaking my head in disbelief.

'What's this all about?' he frowned.

'Come on. How can you be just friends?' I teased him bitterly.

'It's true Emma.' His voice had suddenly changed, becoming softer but his tone was stern, as if stating an established fact.

'Look Christopher, I'm really sorry. I don't even know why we're having this conversation. You don't have to explain yourself to me.'

'I know. But...it just feels the right thing to do.' he whispered.

He was right. I had only known him for three days, and here I was, questioning his personal life. It would sound ridiculously outrageous to anybody else. But with him, it was different because I felt like I had known this man for a long time.

It was as if we had been together in some other life, if I believed in reincarnation, which of course wasn't the case. Judging by his last words, this feeling had to be mutual. If he was feeling the same, he must have identified the strange bond between us. Physical attraction was a big part of this bond, but I wondered what else was lying at its root.

We were already outside the UniversityMainBuilding. He parked the car at the lot and walked up the marble stairs, next to me. The reception desk was empty as well as the two corridors. He walked towards the lift and pushed the button.

I suddenly realized that we would be all alone inside the small cubicle and panicked. I did not have time to think of an excuse to avoid this because the lift door opened instantly.

Once we were inside, I held my briefcase tightly in front of my chest, trying to hide its fast movement, as I was afraid it'd jog due to the fast beating of my heart.

He stood right across, leaning against the lift wall. I knew he had his eyes on me, but I tried to focus on the floor number indication on my right. Could this lift be any slower? I should have gone for the stairs, I thought.

When I was about to gasp for air, the lift door opened again.

'I wouldn't think you're claustrophobic.' he remarked.

'I'm not. It's probably the heat.' I was hoping I had sounded convincing enough.

He walked into the office and turned on the air-conditioner immediately.

'Why don't you sit down?' he pulled Harry's chair for me.

Then he came to sit right next to me. Were we going to be sitting so close? I was terrified. I was sure he would soon discover the reason for my nervousness and I would not be able to fabricate an excuse this time.

He turned on the computer in front of me and I took the Cd out of my briefcase, with slow, careful movements. The damn Cd case would not open. My hands started to shake and I wished he hadn't noticed.

'Ouch!' My thumbnail was broken, losing a big piece of it.

'Let me help you with this.' he said, taking the Cd case from my hands.

'You're just trying the wrong side.' Great. I was so pathetic!

He inserted the Cd in the computer and turned to take my hand in his.

'Now, whatever are we going to do about that?' he smiled, examining the damage. My heart just stopped. I took my hand away from his hastily, although it needed a lot of strength to do so. His warm hand was attracting my skin like a magnet. Christopher laughed loudly at my silly reaction.

'There's no need to be so edgy Emma, for God's sake!'

He stood up. 'I'll ask Tina to get us some refreshments.' he said, reaching for the phone. Tina was a pretty, Greek brunet, who worked for the University as a secretariat clerk and temporary secretary for Harry and Christopher.

'Strange. She's not here yet?' he wondered, as no one answered the phone.

'She's getting married in two weeks, so she's probably got a lot to do. I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't show up at all.' I told him, waiting for his reaction.

'Is that so? Well, I should go to the canteen and get the lemonades myself then.' He hung up. 'Do you need anything else?'

'No, lemonade is fine.' I watched him leave the room, amazed, wondering if I would ever find any defect to him.

There's no such thing as the perfect man, Emma, control yourself! I reminded myself.

By the time he came back, I had already been able to regain control of myself. I was very absorbed in the computer screen and had managed to distract myself with polishing my paper. He put one glass of cool lemonade on the desk next to me.

For the rest of the morning, I was busy turning my paper to a presentation format, whereas he used the computer on his desk to check the videos I wanted to include in it and put them in order according to the relevant parts of the text. Then, he examined the Project-Em files that I had left on his desk.

'Damn!' I cursed. I had tried for the third time to copy-paste a long passage into the Power Point program, but it turned out in the wrong format.

'What's wrong?' he asked from his desk and, before I was able to assure him that everything was under control, he was over me, his head almost next to mine. He looked at the screen and put his hand over mine, covering the mouse.

'Let's see. Let's try this, shall we? And now this. See? It wasn't so difficult.'

He moved the mouse with my hand still under his. I could not even look at the screen anymore. All I could see was jumping letters in front of my eyes. Just the feeling of his hair touching mine, just smelling his masculine scent blended with a deep woods perfume, put me in a daze. The warmth of his body on my back was urging me to lean on his chest and let myself loose.

'It should be okay now.' He had turned his head towards mine, his lips only a few inches away. I craved for his lips, I desperately wanted to taste them. I closed my eyes and tried to hold my breath.

'I don't think I can do this anymore.' I muttered.

He drew back immediately. 'You don't feel well? We've been on the computer for more than two hours. That's too much. We'll finish it off tomorrow.' He checked his watch. 'It's time to meet Suzan anyway.'

I stood up. 'I'll be back in a minute.' I said and almost ran to the bathroom. Pull yourself together Emma. What's wrong with you? I told the image of myself in the mirror. I washed my blushed face and the cool water felt soothing on my cheeks.

When I got back, I saw that he had put my things back in my briefcase and was waiting for me by the door.

'Are you any better?' he asked, obviously concerned.

'I'm fine. Let's go.' I said quickly, avoiding his stare.

I prayed not to be alone with him in the lift again and for the first time I was happy to see Rose standing in front of it. She held the door for us.

'Thank you Rose.' he smiled. Ignoring my presence, Rose started talking to Christopher in her usual fast manner. I was not able to follow their conversation as I was trying to think of Colin again to distract myself.

'Dr Auburn?' Tina called him as we were about to leave the building.

'Yes Tina?' he turned to her.

'Hi Emma!' she greeted me and then turned to him. 'I'm terribly sorry for being so late today...' she said in the most sincere manner. 'You know I'm....' 'Yes, I know. Emma has told me about your wedding. Congratulations! Don't worry, we didn't need anything. You can take tomorrow off too, as far as I'm concerned.' Tina was amazed by his generous, undemanding attitude, and so was I.

'Thank you, Dr Auburn. I'd like to give you this invitation. It's for my wedding. Nikos and I will be really happy if you can come.'

'Thank you, Tina. Of course I'll come.' he said excitedly.

She turned to me. 'I' m certainly expecting you Emma, right?'

'Well, I...'

'Of course she's coming.' Christopher interfered. 'You will escort me, Emma, won't you?' he smiled innocently, completely regardless of my disinclination.

'Great!' Tina said before I could speak. 'I'll arrange the two of you to be seated together at the wedding reception.'

'You do that Tina!' Christopher said, enjoying his triumph.

As we walked to the car, Christopher seemed overexcited about the wedding. As for me, I was really frustrated, as I had just started to realize what had just happened. Christopher got into the car whistling but I frowned.

'Christopher, I don't think I should go... to the wedding. I mean... I was planning not to.'

'Why?'

'Well, Tina's fiancé is a friend of my ex-boyfriend's and...'

'Nonsense. If he's your ex, why worry about him? Is he going to be there after all?'

'No, I don't think so. From what I hear, he's still in London.'

'See then? Don't worry. We'll have a great time. It's my first Greek wedding. You won't just let me go by myself, will you?' He knew I could not refuse him, not only out of courtesy. I was too predictable.

'No, of course not.' I replied, so easily defeated. 'So where are we going?'

'Suzan's hotel, the Poseidon.'

The most expensive hotel in the area. It is so like her kind! I thought.

It occurred to me that it had been a good idea to put on my long, white, cotton dress that morning. I had also chosen a pair of dull-gold sandals and a matching bag. I might have been overdressed for the tutorial but it was certainly the right dress to wear for lunch at the pool bar of an expensive hotel.

Suzan was not at all as I had expected. She seemed really excited about meeting me and throughout lunch she expressed genuine interest in my studies and Project-Em.

'I'm so excited the two of you are going to work together! You really make a good couple.' Christopher cast her a warning look and she went on apologetically.

'Professionally talking, of course.' She took a sip of wine.

'I have to warn you though, Emma. Once his mind is set on something he can be very persuasive. So be careful.' Christopher frowned and gave her another angry look.

'I think I've already found that out.' I said, playing with my food, avoiding his mystified look.

I found Susan to be a very interesting person apart from being a beauty. Even though I had initially been prejudiced towards her, I could not but like her company. We talked about the attractions of Greece, which, for Suzan, would be mostly found in Greek men. I felt very comfortable with her and I had managed to keep myself well under control during the whole time.

'Well? Are you convinced now?' Christopher asked on the way back.

'About what?'

'That Suzan and I are just friends.'

'Why is that so important to you?' I teased him.

He smiled. 'In case you haven't realized yet, I've been trying to make a good impression on you.'

'You don't have to try hard for that, believe me.'

'Well, that's encouraging.' His breathtaking smile dazzled me again.

'So, are we meeting tomorrow, same time?' he asked, pulling over outside my apartment. I thought about it for a minute.

'I have a morning class tomorrow. How about later in the evening? At about six? But I'll drive there. You don't have to come and get me again.'

'I see your point.' he smiled widely. He waited for me to unlock the front door before he sped off.

The following two weeks continued like that. I met him every evening for two or three hours until every detail of the presentation was covered and I had rehearsed it more times than necessary. That was the good part. The worst part was that each time I met him I had to fight against myself in order to remain composed, as the attraction I felt for him was growing day by day. I practically experienced physical pain every time he came close to me and I had to restrain my strong urge to touch him. I would have thought that, by time, I would have become more immune to him, but this was only a wishful aspiration. Of course, I was always careful enough to keep a safe distance between us and I drove my car to the university every day instead of having him pick me up. I also made sure I would not be into the lift alone with him again.

Saturday was the conference day. Christopher had insisted on driving me to Athens, where the conference was taking place. I had realized that during all this time he had been such a distraction for me that I was not experiencing any stress at all. Normally, I would rather die than speak in front of an audience of ten people, let alone a full auditorium. Come to think of it, if it hadn't been for Christopher, I would most certainly have canceled the presentation, under the pretext of having been unwillingly driven into this by Daugh. That, of course, would displease Daugh and my mum but it would also make a point: I did not want to be manipulated.

However, I had eventually decided to go along with this and spare myself the rebuke. Christopher had played a major role in my resolution to get this over with.

My presentation was scheduled for late in the evening. When it was my