Chapter Two

LUKAS KNEW SOMETHING had changed the moment he walked inside the lobby of his apartment building in San Antonio. This wasn't the first time he had been away for over a week. But this was certainly the first time he had come home and had just about everyone smile at him like he was their all-year Santa Claus.

What the hell?

Even Conrad, whose expression was usually a mask of aloof courtesy, actually appeared human as he greeted Lukas.

"Welcome back, Mr. Tsaldaris."

"Has anything happened recently?" the billionaire asked bluntly.

"If you could be more specific, Mr. Tsaldaris?"

Lukas shook his head. "Never mind." He was probably imagining things. Negotiating his most recent business deal in Athens had taken longer than he expected. Maybe it was only now that exhaustion and jet lag had begun to set in.

An elevator to which only he had access whisked him up to his penthouse apartment in mere seconds, but even this, too, felt suffocatingly long. Ennui seemed to have claimed his soul, with everything in this world having lost its luster.

He pressed his thumb on the scanner when he reached his door, and his security system immediately granted him access. He stepped inside...and was unable to take another.

What the—-?

Lukas closed his eyes. That's it. He was definitely a lot more tired than he supposed, to the point that he had now started seeing illusions in his own damn living room.

Just sleep it off, he told himself, and everything should be normal again.

Since he had already started walking forward even before he opened his eyes, Lukas ended up tripping over his own feet when he realized the illusion...was not an illusion at all.

What the hell was a young boy doing in the middle of his living room? The kid was staring at him with big, green eyes. Lukas expected him to start crying as he came nearer, but the kid was fearless. Lukas loomed over his underaged intruder as his steps slowed to a halt, and the boy's lips ever so slowly...formed a smile that revealed several missing teeth.

Shit.

Lukas inhaled sharply as a torrent of emotions suddenly stormed his being. He had consciously avoided looking at kids since that day. And for a time, he had been able to live his life as if they didn't even exist...until now.

"Who are you?"

Lukas had no idea if kids his age were already capable of talking to him, but he soon had his answer when the boy chortled as if he had just cracked a joke.

Just as his chest tightened at the sound, the truth hit him at the same moment, and Lukas' lips angrily pressed in a straight line.

A joke.

This had to be someone's idea of a joke, and only one name came to mind. He turned away, his mind already busy considering various litigious strategies. But just as he reached for his phone, he heard someone gasp.

You gotta be kidding me.

His head jerked up, and his gaze instantly collided with that of his second intruder: a petite green-eyed blonde...who immediately fumbled her hold on the towel she had been trying to wrap around her body.

"Aaaaaaaaaaah!"

The towel fell around her ankles, and Lukas' throat dried at the creamy perfection of her milk-swollen breasts and the bare folds of her womanhood.

"I'm so, so s-sorry, Mr. Tsaldaris!"

Lust further clouded his senses at the way she stammered, and he fell deeper into her thrall as he watched her bountiful breasts jiggle as she hurriedly bent down to grab her towel from the floor.

Panic had her straightening back up in a rush, and Lucas bit back a groan when the rashness of her movement had her breasts almost violently swinging. It was almost as if she was begging and taunting him to reach for her tits—-

Wait a damn minute. Did she just call him...'Mr.' Tsaldaris?

Lukas' blood turned cold as her identity finally became clear.

Work had so consumed his thoughts in the past week that he had forgotten about the contract that Charlotte had him sign, of which she was the outcome.

This woman was none other than the housekeeper he had agreed to hire sight unseen...and provide both employment and lodging for the next two months.