“We’re not talking Olympic moves here.”

“No weights,” he repeated. “I don’t think it’s necessary to stress you, or the baby, that much.”

She opened her mouth to protest but closed it, shrugged.

“The pool is heated,” he added. “I think you’ll find it quite pleasant.”

She leaned all the way back against the cushion and extended her long legs. “Will it be this way for the next three and a half months?”

“What does that mean?”

“Will you be supervising my nutrition along with my exercise?”

He heard the mockery in her voice, and it didn’t anger him as much as stir his senses. She had no idea how appealing he found her. He should warn her. If not for her sake then his. “Yes,” he answered smoothly. “It will be this way.” There was no point denying it. She was here so he could monitor the pregnancy and make sure the third trimester went well.

Her lips curved faintly. Amusement lurked in her eyes. “Then we have a problem.”

“Not if you’re compliant.”

She gave him another long look, one perfect brow lifting. “And is that how Mr. Laurent described me? Docile...sweet...compliant?”

The air was suddenly charged, crackling with tension and resistance.

No, he couldn’t imagine her ever being described as any of those, and he hadn’t been throwing down a challenge, either, just setting forth his expectations. But she was turning his expectations into something more.

Heat rushed through him, hot and heavy in his veins. His body ached. His blood hummed. He was waking up. It felt far too good.

“I don’t believe that was ever Mr. Laurent’s description,” Nikos replied gently, aware of the dance they were being drawn into. “I think my attorney used words like intelligent, gifted, successful, ambitious.”

Her blue gaze held his. She was looking so deeply, so directly, that he wondered what she was thinking...seeing. She didn’t appear threatened. Didn’t seem the least bit uneasy. If anything she radiated confidence. Control.

For being just twenty-four, Georgia Nielsen struck him as a powerful woman in her element.

Not the surrogate he’d expected. Not the surrogate he wanted.

But just possibly a woman he wanted.

Careful, he told himself. Do not be stupid...do not complicate things...

“I’m not accustomed to being told what to do,” she said, her voice pitched low and firm. “And I might be your guest here for the next few months, but I am my own person.”

And he wasn’t accustomed to negotiating with anyone, certainly not a woman. But he found it exciting.