by Marian Tee
“Stavros Manolis was there at the school when I broke my engagement to Alina.”
For once, the name of the girl who once had the right to stand next to Damen did not make her wince, Mairi’s attention completely focused on the name that she hadn’t ever expected to hear again in connection with her.
Gazing unseeingly down at her lap, she said slowly, “I knew of a Stavros Manolis once—”
“He is the same Stavros that you know of.”
Her head jerked up. “How could you know?”
He shrugged, lying, “I saw him at the school. There was something on his face that told me he knew you.”
He waited for her to continue from there, to let him know about her past with Manolis, but she didn’t. Finally he asked, “What are your plans for today?” The guilty look that darted towards him made Damen’s fists clench. She had been so lost in her thoughts of another man she had fucking forgotten he, Damen Leventis, was here with her.
Mairi mumbled, “I’m going to, umm, work out.” Exercise had become therapeutic, the way things that used to be confusing became suddenly clear by the time she had run herself to the ground. And this time, she was more confused than ever but Damen probably wouldn’t like knowing that.
She was trying to hide her thoughts from him. Damen knew her too well for it to work, but it was a fact Mairi would not likely believe because of their short and pain-filled past.
He heard himself saying, “I’ll work out with you.”
Her surprised gaze flew to him. “Y-you will?”
Damen answered with a careless shrug, “I don’t see why not. I do not have anything scheduled for the day.”
She blurted out, “But you hate working out with me.”
Color stained his hard high-boned cheeks. “I did not exactly say that—”
“You practically did then,” she said, still bemused at Damen’s unexpected announcement. “The last time we jogged, you told me I was slower than a turtle.”
“I meant it like an endearment—”
“And the last time we went to the gym and I was on the treadmill, you told me that I didn’t know how to run properly—”
“Your breasts shook too much—”
Mairi threw her hands up. “How can I stop them from shaking?”
Knowing full well he had been and was still being unreasonable about the topic concerning her breasts – which really shook too much, making the sight exceptionally arousing for any man – Damen said flatly instead, “Just tell me if you do not care for my company.”
At the words, Mairi snapped her mouth shut with a sigh.
He was so sly.
“You know I always want to be with you,” Mairi mumbled.
And again, he was disarmed.
She was so sly.
Wordlessly, Damen closed the distance between them and his hand clasped her nape. When she turned towards him, his lips took hers in a kiss that soothed whatever had to be soothed. For once, passion didn’t flare up, the kiss remaining sweet and tender between them.
Even so, when Damen lifted his head, her eyes were wide with wonder and she said dreamily, “Hi.”
He laughed.
She really was so sly, the way she got under his skin all the time, but he was not complaining.
“Hi,” he said huskily. “We’re okay now, matakia mou?”
She nodded, a dreamy expression still on her face.
“Good. We’ll work out as you planned.” She nodded in the same obedient manner, making him laugh. “It will not be a problem to appreciate this submissive part of you.”
“Anything you want,” she told him.
His gaze became hooded, Damen being ruthless enough not to let that promise slip by. “Anything?”
She nodded dutifully.
“Good. Then you will tell me about Stavros, won’t you?”
Chapter Four
“So we were in high school…” Her voice bounced off the walls of the vast basement gym, its décor and range of state-of-the-art exercise equipment at par with the world’s most popular fitness centers.
The words caused a rather inelegant snort to come out from Damen Leventis, a Greek billionaire who used to be famous for his irreproachable manners.
Seated on the floor, knees pulled up, Mairi shook her head in exasperation at the sound, her ponytail bouncing as she did. “I haven’t even said anything about him!”
Damen’s broad shoulders moved in an arrogant shrug. Crouching down on one knee, he said with a grunt, “Just get on with the story.” Positioning himself to assist Mairi with her sit-ups, he placed his hands on her feet, applying a small amount of pressure.
This close, she couldn’t help but gape. He wore nothing but jersey shorts and trainers, making him a mouthwateringly sexy sight that even now kept Mairi’s throat dry. All those rippling muscles and golden skin…
Did he really think she would be able to work out properly when he looked like that?
When Mairi didn’t respond, Damen glanced up and caught her staring.
She blushed, immediately averting her gaze, but it was too late.
Damen said wickedly, “Maybe you’re in the mood for another kind of exercise?”
She shook her head.
“You’re sure?” He caressed her knees.
The simple move had her jerking. “Damen! I really need to work out!” She had gained a few pounds after vacationing with him for only a week.
With a reluctant sigh, he released her sensitive knees and went back to holding her feet down. Mairi had a tendency to cheat when doing sit-ups, with her feet lifting off the floor to take away some of the pressure on her abs.
“Start working out then and,” he added gruffly, “—while you’re at it, tell me about the man from your past.” Damen knew he needed to fucking hear her story about Manolis like a hole in the head, but he also knew that he would never be at peace until he heard it straight from Mairi.
She protested, “He’s not what you make him sound.” Why did he insist on making it sound like she had this wild teenage affair with her old classmate?
Damen pushed her back on the floor, a hard look on his beautiful face. “Get on with it.”
With a frustrated sigh, Mairi clenched her abs and started her sit-ups. “So, Stavros was a Greek billionaire like you...”
As he watched her move gracefully up and down, her breasts once again shaking like a damn invitation for fucking, he heard himself say, “And so you fell in love with him because of that?”
Mairi paused midway, hands clasped behind her head. “Damen!”
He moved forward and surprised her with a hot open-mouthed kiss, which was over all too soon, leaving her blinking.
The kiss calmed him somewhat, working like a reminder that no matter what happened in the past, it was his ring that the beautiful Mairi Tanner wore and she was by his side where she belonged.
“I won’t interrupt you anymore,” he said magnanimously.
She snorted.
Damen raised a brow, a silent remark at how uncouth she was with the sound she was making. It was as if he hadn’t made the same sound himself, the jerk! She shook her head. Too bad she was in love with him, even with him being a jerk.
With a sigh, she continued, “Anyway, Stavros and I became friends because we bonded over, well, Greek mythology lessons.”
“How…sweet.”
She tried not to laugh. Never had she heard the words spoken with such disdain, like sweet was synonymous to days-old shit.
“So…we were really just friends but unfortunately, there was this girl in my class who didn’t believe it. She got really jealous and spread nasty rumors about me that caused my expulsion.”
“And Manolis did not keep you from being expelled?”
“It happened too fast and everything was decided in a day.”
“But if he was the reason—”
“He was not the reason why I was expelled, Damen.” Mairi’s voice was gentle but firm. “It was the other
girl who chose to misinterpret things, her blindness and jealousy that made her see something between us that didn’t exist.” She looked at him straight in the eye. “I don’t blame him for what happened. It’s not his fault.”
“How…forgiving.”
This time she couldn’t help but laugh, the way Damen’s lip curled at the last word, making it sound like she had just announced her intention to attend church wearing an outfit Lady Gaga would be proud of.
Biting her lip, she said, “So earlier, when those reporters—”
Deciding that a distraction was called for, Damen crouched down on both knees and whipped her shirt off after.
She forgot what she was about to say. “Damen!”
But he wasn’t done, quickly whipping her sports bra over her head and tossing it aside as well.
Mairi immediately crossed her arms over her chest. “What do you think you’re doing?”
He looked at her innocently. “It’s a new way to exercise.”
She choked. “Exercise with my top off?”
“Yes.” He gently pushed her back on the floor, making sure that her hands were clasped behind her head once more. This left her breasts completely bared to his appreciative gaze. He took his time studying it, and soon her pretty rosy nipples hardened in response.
“Stop staring,” she begged him.
“Never.” This time he pried her legs apart so he could kneel between them. Bending down, he took one nipple in, sucking hard and loud, not stopping until he heard her moan.
At the sound, he released her nipple and bent back. “Now do your sit-ups, darling.”
Her eyes whitened. “Like this?”
Damen purred, “Let my kiss be your incentive.”
Oh my God.
It was an incentive she could never…resist.
She forced herself up, Damen obediently sucking her nipple passionately every time her nipple came close to his mouth.
Up, suck, down. Up, suck, down. Up, suck, down.
She was so wet by the time she had finished one set. Dimly, she heard a rustling sound. Her eyes fluttered open.
Damen was naked.
Oh my God—
In a move that was so fast she was left blinking, he dispensed with the rest of her gym attire, leaving her as naked as he was.
Oh my God—
He said thickly, “Again, sweetheart.”
When she forced herself up once more, he moved her hips down and his cock slid into her pussy, which welcomed his thickness wetly, snugly.
The routine became more complicated, more arousing, guaranteed to drive her insane. She moved up, and he would thrust in the same time his mouth captured her nipple, alternating between both breasts.
Up, thrust, suck, down.
“Damen.” She couldn’t take it anymore, her arms curving around his neck as her legs went around his waist. “Take me.” She sounded near tears. She was begging him. And she didn’t care.
Chuckling, he whispered into her ear, “Done exercising?”
She answered with a sob and a nod.
Tightening his hold around her, he thrust up and hard into her. Hands clasping her waist, he bounced her up and down on his cock. Each thrust had her reeling, pushing her further and further towards that place of no return.
Taking her mouth in a kiss, he whispered against her lips, “You’re mine, aren’t you, Mairi?”
She shuddered at the words, and she completely lost it when his fingers slid between their bodies to tease her pleasure nub and stimulate her into orgasm. She came as she cried out, “Yours. Always, always, always yours.”
****
Always, always, always yours.
The words played in her mind as she found herself drifting closer to sleep, Damen carrying her to their bed. As Damen temporarily left her, she fumbled for her phone out of habit, checking her messages.
There was one message that had her heart beating madly and she quickly typed, Yes, I understand. 10AM sharp.
And then she heard footsteps and quickly deleted the message.
Damen asked as he joined her in bed, “Someone texted you?”
“Just my aunt,” she lied, her heart beating madly again, but for a different reason this time.
Always, always, always yours.
The words mocked Damen in his mind as he watched his fiancée sleep. He reached for her phone and checked her inbox.
The only message on her inbox was indeed from aunt but it was sent hours ago, and something she had already replied to.
He looked back at Mairi, his face drawn.
Have you ever been mine, matakia mou?
Chapter Five
Velvet: Stop torturing yourself with these stupid applications.
Mairi winced at her friend’s words, but before she could answer it, another reply came in.
Mandy: What she means is that you’re going to be Damen’s wife now. You really don’t need to work, and if you do want to work then you can afford to wait for a job you love.
Mairi: You don’t understand. I NEED to do this. I don’t want anyone to think I’m freeloading or anything.
Velvet: If he thinks you’re a gold digger—
Mairi: He doesn’t think I’m a gold digger, but others do or could think I am. And that’s why I need to find a job ASAP.
Mandy: I hate to say this, but I don’t think that’s possible.
Her fingers paused midway while typing as Mandy’s answer popped up. Mairi hated to think her practical but tactful friend was right, but Mandy probably was. All fifty-two rejection emails in her inbox were proof of it.
Esther Leventis and the Kokinos family made a formidable opponent.
No employer had stated outright that they were avoiding hiring her as a consequence of Damen’s decision to break off his engagement. But anyone who read between the lines would know it was the reason no school or company in Greece was willing to touch her with a ten-foot pole.
Velvet: Mairi?
The tiny beep from Skype had Mairi jerking and she looked down at her phone’s screen blankly.
Mandy: Are you okay? Want us to come wherever you are?
Her friend’s question had Mairi hastily typing a reply.
Mairi: No, I’m good. I was just trying to rehearse my answers for the interview.
She paused, thinking, then started typing again.
Mairi: I have to go now. I’m being called for the interview. Catch up with you two later!
She quickly signed out from Skype, knowing that her abruptness might not just confuse her friends but hurt them, too. Despite knowing that, Mairi knew limiting contact with them was for the best.
The tabloids had taken to calling her Greece’s Most Famous Mistress, and the fact that she already had Damen’s ring on her finger didn’t seem to change their opinions about her. If the rumors were to be believed, Mairi was a professional con artist from America who had cold-bloodedly used her teaching job to find a billionaire to target and seduced him with her Mata Hari skills in bed.
Absolutely no way would she ever let her friends be embroiled in her trouble, and they would be if the paps caught a picture of them together. If it came to that, her friends might also be dismissed—
“Ms. Tanner?”
Realizing belatedly that Dean Frangos had finally arrived in his office, Mairi nervously scrambled to her feet. In her haste, she wasn’t able to prevent her iPhone from sliding off her lap and red-faced, Mairi bent down once more.
The position caused her pencil-line skirt to ride up, and the sight of her long bare legs made the dean wet his lips. Cleon Frangos had known that Mairi Tanner had been waiting for him at his office since eight. It was near lunchtime now, and yet she was still here.
If she truly was a mistress to Damen Leventis, then she would not have cared to wait for so long for such a low-paying job in his faculty.
But that she had—
Lust had his groin aching, his small fat dick swelling into unimpressive proportions at the thought of
being able to make a young and beautiful girl like Mairi Tanner his to command.
When Mairi looked up, pale and even more apprehensive, there was nothing on the dean’s face to reveal his thoughts. His secretary Eugenia had a similarly bland look. She, too, suffered from her employer’s advances but said nothing about it, knowing that Cleon held a lot of clout. Going against him would mean losing her job, and that she could not afford.
His tone deliberately brusque, Cleon muttered, “Follow me inside, Ms. Tanner.” As he turned, he told his secretary, “I do not wish us to be disturbed in any way.”
Eugenia nodded even as she suffered a pang of conscience. Those words did not bode well for Ms. Tanner.
The younger woman glanced her way before following the dean into his office, her lips forming a shy but friendly smile that said, Old curmudgeons would always be old curmudgeons.
Shit, but this woman was too nice.
Eugenia wanted to speak up, but the thought of her two young kids flashed through her mind. What would happen to them if she lost her job?
Swallowing, Eugenia gave the other girl a curt nod.
Mairi Tanner’s smile faded.
Eugenia looked away. When Mairi went inside the office, Eugenia slowly took her seat again. As she reached for her pen, she realized her hand was shaking.
She was not doing the right thing. But...with her kids’ futures on the line, who would tell her it was wrong?
****
Mairi pressed her clammy hands on her lap, wishing they weren’t so wet. Dean Frango was her last hope. He was the only one who acquiesced to give her an interview. If she did not get this job, then—
She mentally shook the depressing thought away. No. She wouldn’t think like that. She just had to be strong, had to have more hope, and things would be better for her.
“Ms. Tanner?” He was seated next to her on the couch. It was a strange arrangement for an interview, but she didn’t dare say a word about it.
“Yes, sir?”
“I will not beat around the bush. The fact that you have been expelled from GAYL and the circumstances surrounding your dismissal—” Cleon clucked his tongue. “It doesn’t paint a good picture of you.”
