My Greek Beast

by Marian Tee

  So she played it smart, she played it safe, and it should have worked if Nathan Callis didn’t have the world on his side.

  She had been sunbathing in Rio de Janeiro when another beachgoer had tweeted a snapshot of her, and Nathan had personally replied to the tweet, thanking the girl in fluent Brazilian for tipping him off.

  Eu machuquei a mulher que eu amo, então eu preciso encontrá-la e fazê-la me amar novamente.

  I hurt the woman I love, so I need to find her and make her love me again.

  And boy did that line fool millions of women into thinking he was a good guy, Alyx thought.

  Since then, life had turned into a cat-and-mouse game between them, with Alyx barely managing to keep a step ahead of Nathan.

  From sailing on the French Riviera to cruising down the Nile River, from making the arduous climb to Machu Picchu to skiing down the slopes of the Alps – he was always there, behind her, after her, waiting for her.

  She would be trying her hand in gold prospecting in the Outback, dune bashing in Dubai, and because the world thought it would be romantic if they were to get back together, he would always find his way to her.

  Sometimes, the situation seemed so hopeless it made her want to laugh and cry at the same time.

  Why did he think she would ever want him back?

  Every night she would torture herself, going over every minute of the time they had together, trying to pinpoint the times when he was so obviously thinking of Rima and not her.

  That time in Hong Kong…

  That time when he couldn’t say ‘I love you’ back…

  That time when he lied about all those calls…

  You see, Alyx, she would tell herself. Rima has always been there. You were in a love triangle without even knowing it. Shouldn’t that make you mad? Shouldn’t that make you feel foolish?

  And it did.

  It did.

  But somehow, the anger and pain didn’t stop her heart from aching at the loss of him. She hated him, but she still loved him, and she just didn’t know what to do.

  She just didn’t know what to do.

  And it was how Nathan eventually found her.

  Or rather she was waiting for him to find her, having made no attempt to hide her whereabouts this time, and they both knew it.

  He came knocking on her door only two hours after she had checked in, and Alyx said wearily, “Come in.”

  The screen doors slid open, and Nathan Callis entered her room, a sprawling suite that boasted of a beautifully minimalist, traditional Japanese setup. Her eyes widened when she took in his attire – he was in one of the hotel’s kimonos, down to the traditional tabi socks and wooden sandals, which he then set carefully aside before leaving the genkan or entrance area.

  She looked so damn tired, Nathan thought grimly. He knew it was largely because of him, and the sight of her wan face was all he needed to be sure he was doing the right thing. He would give everything to have her love him again, but not to the point that it would hurt her.

  Never that.

  And so if this one last time was not enough---

  Nathan breathed hard, telling himself it was not like him to lose hope when he had yet to start.

  But then…he had never needed to fight for something so damn important.

  “Hello, Alyx.”

  She didn’t answer, only watched him lower himself on the tatami fat and fold his long legs under him. A small, low table separated them, but the violent way her heart thudded against her chest told her that the distance wasn’t enough.

  He had to be at least two thousand miles away, she thought, for her to – maybe – stop hurting.

  Taking a deep breath, she asked thinly, “How do we go from here?”

  In answer, he pulled something out from the hidden pocket in his kimono, and she almost, almost smiled when she saw that he had come prepared. He always had all the answers, she thought painfully. Or at least almost always---

  And she couldn’t help rearing back, remembering that one time he had been caught off guard, and he hadn’t known what to do upon finding Alyx in Rima’s hotel suite.

  Her heart constricted.

  Would thinking about them always hurt?

  Nathan didn’t miss the flash of pain in Alyx’s eyes, and his hands tightened around the album he held. He knew – of course he damn knew – what she was thinking, what was hurting her---

  Because he loved her.

  He always would, even if she never believed him again.

  Nathan handed her the album. “Take it.”

  “What’s in it?”

  “My heart on a platter,” he said without missing a beat.

  “Where’s the knife?” she quipped.

  Silence.

  And then her lips slowly started to curve, even as her eyes started to shine.

  And his heart never ached as hard as it that moment.

  “I’m sorry,” Nathan said hoarsely. “I’m so damn sorry I broke my promise about protecting you.”

  And the tears started to fall.

  “I’m not perfect, sweetheart. I wish I could be for you. But I’m not. All I can do is work harder at making you happy, at never making you cry again. All I can do is find all the ways to show you that I love you.” His jaw clenched. “And it will always be you, only be you forever.”

  His words were so beautiful, and she was equal parts desperate and terrified to believe them.

  He pushed the album towards her once more. “Please.” His voice was ragged. “Please take it, sweetheart.”

  She reached for the album with shaking hands, not knowing what to expect, but when she saw what was on the first photo, she almost dropped the album.

  “Are you for real?” She half-laughed, half-choked on a sob.

  The first page was a photo of Rima and him together, and when she flipped to the next page it was still the two of them together. Nathan was much younger of course, but handsome as ever, and unsmiling.

  “If this is all to make me realize you and Rima are this lifetime’s OTP,” she snarled under her breath, “I swear I’m going to kill you.”

  “You’re my OTP.”

  Her cheeks turned the lightest shade of pink. “Ha!” But her voice was so weak, almost giddy, and Nathan blinked while Alyx jerked.

  Oh my God, she was supposed to be convincing him he had no chance – NO CHANCE – with her, and here she was, showing in every way that she was his for the taking!

  Alyx cleared her throat, and then she said very firmly this time, “Ha!”

  Nathan only stared at her in amazement. Did she just try to redo the last five seconds?

  Alyx flipped the pages, and it was on the sixth page that the photos changed, and it was of Nathan and her this time.

  All of the photos were of them together, and---

  She snapped the book shut. “I’ve seen enough.” Her voice shook.

  “No,” he said steadily. “You haven’t.” And he forcibly opened the album for her again. “Finish it.”

  “No. I don’t see any point. It’s---”

  “Finish it.”

  It was the first time for Alyx to hear something akin to a shout from Nathan, and when she allowed herself to look at him---

  Her lip started to tremble. “W-why are you looking at me like that?”

  “How,” he asked hoarsely, “am I looking at you?”

  She shook her head.

  “How, sweetheart?” he pressed. “Tell me how.”

  “Like…” Her voice faltered, and she bit her lip hard.

  “Say it---”

  “Like I’m your tomorrow.” The words spilled out of her in a sob.

  A ghost of a smile touched his lips. “Because you are.”

  Another sob escaped her. “I’m so tired, Nathan. And scared. I don’t know---” Her body shuddered in an effort to control her pain. “I don’t know if I can do this one more time.”

  “You can.” And because he couldn’t take it anymore, he shoved away th
e table between them, and even as it crashed against the wooden wall, she didn’t look up.

  She was crying so hard, all the noise was drowned out by her tears.

  He hauled her to his lap, saying hoarsely, “Just one more time, sweetheart.” He cupped her cheeks and kissed her tears away. “I need you to forgive me just this one time, to fall in love just one more time – and I swear. I swear on my life you’ll never have any reason to doubt me.”

  He guided her fingers back to the album, flipping it open to where their photos started. “You see it, don’t you?”

  He felt her inhale sharply, her body trembling so hard he knew how much it was costing her not to break apart.

  He pressed his lips to her forehead. I’m sorry. He placed his hand over hers, gripping her fingers tightly. Trust me one last time.

  And he heard her say, “I see us.”

  Ah.

  “I see you and---”

  He met her eyes, asking rawly, “And what, sweetheart?”

  “And you’re smiling.” And she tried to give him a smile of her own. “You’re smiling in every photo…”

  “Like I never had in the past,” he said emphatically.

  “Like you never had in the past,” she echoed in a whisper.

  “My mind might not have known it then, but the rest of me – my heart, my body, even my lips knew, Alyx. The rest of me knew I belonged to you.”

  She jerked.

  “I held back from loving you out of fear. Out of shame. I didn’t want to end up a loser again, I didn’t want to risk another rejection – a part of me couldn’t take the possibility that you’d choose Nik Alexandropoulos over me.”

  “Oh, Nathan.”

  “And though many years had already passed, there had never been closure between Rima and me, and I didn’t want to risk hurting you until I was absolutely certain nothing in me would want to get her back.”

  He cupped her face. “That’s why I had to go, sweetheart. I wanted to be whole for you. I wanted to be completely yours.”

  “Oh, Nathan.”

  But this time they came out nearly incoherent because she was kissing him, and he was kissing her, and all the while she was crying because she knew.

  These things didn’t have to be said.

  They were felt.

  But even so, Nathan gave her the words anyway.

  “I love you, Alyx Marshall, and my love will always be yours.”

  Epilogue

  Alyx And Nathan

  Nathan knocked on the bathroom door, asking in a puzzled tone, “What are you doing in there?”

  “What do you think?” But Alyx was just hedging. Whatever guess he came up with, it was unlikely to be correct, and that was that---

  SHE WAS FREAKING OUT!

  But in a good way, of course.

  Her gaze flew to the mirror. This is the look of an engaged woman. But even as she repeated the words to herself, the truth just had a hard time sinking in. So many things had happened ever since they had gotten back together, and although a year had already passed, there were times – like now – Alyx just wanted to be alone with herself and try to wrap her head around things.

  She had moved in with Nathan, and living with him had been outrageously fantastic in the sex department. He was insatiable, and since she was, too, there was not a room, a table, a chair, or any surface in his penthouse that they hadn’t made love in – on – at.

  And that was just in a month.

  On the other hand, he also made the most unbelievably annoying housemate. He was so damn teeth-grindingly perfect, and Alyx hated it. He never got mad, no matter how bitchy or petty she was. Like that one time in the kitchen, Nathan had teased her about her burnt pie and because she had been so stressed over work, Alyx had just flipped and threw the pie smack at his face.

  Right away, she had known it was the wrong thing to do of course, and she had steeled herself for Nathan’s anger or, worse, his disappointment.

  But instead he had gotten even in the most cringingly sweet way possible. “I know, sweetheart,” he had murmured softly after getting rid of the burnt pie and returning it to the tray. And to her utter confusion, he had pulled her into his arms. “It’s stress, isn’t it?”

  She had nodded stiffly against his chest, and he continued in the same soothing voice, “You didn’t really mean to do that, did you?”

  Slowly, Alyx had shaken her head.

  “So now…” He had tipped her chin up. “You want to make it up to me, don’t you?”

  She…did? Alyx had remembered being even more bemused, but the way Nathan’s gray eyes were gleaming down at her was making Alyx feel lightheaded, and she had heard herself say, “Yes.”

  “Good girl,” he had crooned. And then he had hoisted her up on the counter, torn her panties away, and moments later he was sliding inside of her, and she had gasped at having herself suddenly filled with his rigid hotness.

  “Now,” he had panted. “Make it up to me.”

  “H-how?” she had panted back, his thrusts so wondrously forceful she would have slid off the granite counter if she hadn’t clung to him.

  “What you’ve always wanted to do,” he had purred into her ear.

  Aaaaah.

  With his breath caressing her sensitive lobe, and with him using that devastatingly sexy-soft accented voice of his, Alyx had known she would be willing to do whatever he wanted---

  “You’re going to talk really dirty, sweetheart.”

  Huh?

  “And it will be all about me…” He had emphasized the last word with a rather deep thrust of his cock, making Alyx throw her head back with a whimper.

  And after, she had done what he wanted, what he knew she would want as well.

  Your cock’s so fucking big!

  Fuck me harder!

  Fill me with your cum!

  Oh, the things she had said then. There was even something that had to do with making her his cum tank---

  Remembering made Alyx turn red with an involuntary squeak of embarrassment.

  Had she really said such things, for real?

  Hearing her squeak, Nathan said abruptly from outside the bathroom, “I’m coming in.”

  Alyx turned towards the door, startled at his words. “Huh? It’s locked---”

  The door opened.

  Or not.

  “These locks are fairly easy to pick, sweetheart,” Nathan said mildly.

  Her mouth opened and closed. So his already massive repertoire of skills and talents also included picking locks? Was the damn man really perfect?

  “What have you been doing?” Nathan was asking as he took her hand and led her out.

  “What do you think?” Alyx retorted.

  He dealt her a thoughtful look.

  Oh no. She yanked her hand out of his hold and hurried away from him, not wanting to give the ex-model too much time to look at her. She knew people would think she was being silly, but after living with Nathan Callis for almost a year, Alyx was mostly convinced that the man could read minds.

  Especially when he gave a person that look.

  Nathan caught up with her in moments, and she shot him a dour look. It was so unfair that he was so tall and moved so swiftly, too.

  “What’s the hurry, my beautiful love?” he asked with an innocent smile.

  And of course he had to ask that just as they were boarding the private shuttle bus that would take them and their friends to Jigokudani Yaen-Koen, a park made famous by its natural hot springs and the snow monkeys that had taken to bathing in them during winter.

  Everyone in the shuttle bus heard it, too, causing the men to smirk and the women do their polite best to hide their laughter.

  Alyx glowered. “It’s not funny.” She tried to brazen it out, saying, “I am beautiful, and I’m his---”

  “Love,” Nathan supplied courteously. “But you’re also my heart, my soul---”

  Aaaargh!

  She took the last remaining seat on the shuttle and did
her best to cover her ears as everyone laughed. Yes, she had asked for words from Nathan, but wasn’t this a little too much?

  Nathan slid into the seat next to her, a grin on his handsome face.

  “I hate you.”

  “I know,” he acknowledged. “You’ll always hate people who tend to be better than you.” He gave her a consoling pat on the hand. “You’re terribly competitive, sweetheart, but it’s okay. I love that about you, too.”

  Aaaaargh.

  There really was no winning over him.

  It was a rather long ride to the park, followed by a thirty-minute trek in freezing temperatures before they could make it to the hot springs.

  “Why are we doing this again?” she heard Daria groan as they huffed and puffed in the snow.

  “It’s part of the engagement party, sweetheart,” her husband replied.

  “Oh.” Daria grunted. “Remind me not to ever attend any of her other parties again, okay?”

  Alyx’s shoulders shook at the conversation, but when she glanced at Nathan to share her amusement, she was surprised to find a rather grim look on his gorgeous face.

  She automatically reached for his hand. “Nathan?”

  His expression cleared, and he smiled down at her.

  “Is something wrong?” she persisted.

  He shook his head. “Nothing can be wrong.” He pocketed her hand in his, saying, “I love you.”

  Ah. How easy it was for this man to say the words now.

  “I feel the same,” she mumbled.

  He laughed.

  Alyx’s cheeks burned. “Maybe when we’re married, I’ll get better.”

  The ex-model tightened his hold of her fingers inside his pocket, saying cheerfully, “I doubt it.”

  Her shoulders slumped. “Yeah.” She kinda doubted it, too.

  “I don’t mind. It’s also what I love about you.”

  She sent him an exasperated look. “Seriously? It’s like you love every bad thing about me.”

  “I do, indeed,” he agreed without hesitation. “I’m perfect, you see, so all your imperfect traits are unusual and fascinating to me.”

  Aaaargh!

  Yanking her hand out of his, she bent down, scooped snow into a ball, and threw it at him, just because she had to hit him or she’d go crazy. But Nathan being perfect, he only laughed and retaliated by brushing his lips over hers.