by Marian Tee
By the time he stood in front of her, he had become her whole world and all she could see was him. It didn’t matter how much she suffered for him and for their love. She would gladly suffer a thousand lifetimes more as long as it meant she would be able to see his face before she slept, his face the first thing she would see when she woke up.
“Damen.” She couldn’t help whispering his name.
He stiffened, but he did not look at her and was instead gazing at Ioniko. In no uncertain terms, he said, “I am taking my woman now.”
Chapter Eight
“I need to meet with Alina tomorrow.”
Mairi did her best not to look gutted at the first words Damen had spoken since he had whisked her out of the library. Did he really need to meet with his ex-fiancée?
The uncomfortable silence between them persisted. She badly wanted to get rid of the distance separating her and Damen even though they were seated on the same row inside his limousine. But she couldn’t, his aloofness a physical barrier that kept her away, making Mairi feel like she was a virus he didn’t want to be infected with.
Damen did not say anything else, forcing Mairi to ask haltingly, “Why?”
A part of him was tempted not to answer, but Damen knew refusing to do so would be an act of a child. Another part of him still wanted to demand why back. Why had she been with Ioniko Vlahos – again?
He was jealous, so fucking jealous he knew he was being unreasonable. But he could not stop himself from feeling it. Love was such a strange emotion, and powerful, too, the way it messed with his head. He had never been the emotional type, which was unsurprising for someone raised by a cold fish like Esther Leventis. And yet now, he felt like a caged predator whose prey had been stolen from him.
Ever since learning Mairi was indeed at the same place as Vlahos, he had a serious urge to beat the living hell out of the other man. But honor demanded he not do it without a valid reason, and it was to his everlasting regret that Vlahos had not provided him with one.
The man had been nothing but respectful towards Mairi as he bid her goodbye, but it didn’t fucking matter. Damen had seen the look in Vlahos’ eyes.
The other man cared for Mairi, and if Damen made one mistake, he was certain that Vlahos would not hesitate to swoop in and spirit his Mairi away.
“Damen?”
He asked stiffly, “Does it matter? I would not meet with her if I do not need to.”
The words were unexpected. They hurt, and Mairi swallowed audibly, telling herself that he surely hadn’t meant to snap at her like that.
Hearing the tiny sound Mairi made caused Damen to grit his teeth. He was being unfair to her. He knew it, but God, he was so fucking tired these days. Never had he been put in a position to defend himself and his decisions to anyone but because he had chosen to love Mairi, he was now suddenly answerable to practically every fucking person who invested a single euro in his corporation.
She cut him off, saying brightly, “It’s fine.”
But it was not.
They both knew it, and they both knew it had not been fine for some time now.
They didn’t speak for the rest of the ride and when they reached Damen’s home, Mairi couldn’t help it anymore. As he helped her out, she caught his hand and squeezed. When he looked down at her, she said, “I love you.”
Please, please, please say I love you back.
But he didn’t. Instead, he bent down and kissed her lips. “We’re both tired.” His voice was gentle and yet each word felt like a knife stab. “Rest now.”
Mairi nodded.
Inside his house, he watched her climb the stairs alone without saying a word. Her back was stiff, and he knew it was because she was doing her best not to break down.
Use your brain and do not be like other rich fools, letting your cock rule you. Leave that American slut if you do not want your business to collapse.
Everyone thinks she has you wrapped around her gold-digging finger, Leventis. They are laughing behind your back and they are laughing at us for investing in your company.
The Kokinos are still willing to welcome you with open arms. You only need to publicly dump your mistress to give them their pride back.
Damen walked towards his office, knowing he had another sleepless night ahead of him. But he did not regret it. He did not. He would do everything to keep Mairi at his side and if it meant losing and rebuilding his empire from scratch, then so be it.
He loved her. He did not and would never regret choosing her over everything. He just fucking wished she was not…he just wished she hadn’t changed so much.
Where was the Mairi he knew who had been so happy about teaching? Where was the Mairi who had been so adamant about not depending on him for money? Where had that Mairi gone?
Morning came and Damen still did not possess any answers to the questions that continued to torment him. He took a quick shower and when he came out with a small towel wrapped around his body, he saw Mairi rubbing her eyes.
“You didn’t sleep.”
Her pouty voice had him smiling despite everything. It was a cute sound and arousing, too. It made him wish he did not have back-to-back meetings scheduled for the entire day.
Walking to the bed, he bent down and took her lips for a kiss. She tasted sweet and hot, and it took a lot of effort for Damen to pull away. “I’m sorry I did not get to sleep next to you last night.”
“Did you stay up all night working?” she asked worriedly.
He shrugged.
She said hesitantly, “You know I’m willing to help you, right? Just point me in the right direction and I’d do it.”
The hesitation in her voice made Damen wonder if she did truly mean her offer. He said smoothly, “I can deal with my work. It is nothing for you to consider.”
She fell silent, hurt and confused by his constant rebuffs. How had it become like this between them without her knowing it? She used to be able to speak her mind to him but now, she felt like she had to be very careful with everything she said.
“What are your plans for today?”
Pasting a smile on her face, she said airily, “Just stuff.”
“That explains a lot,” he said dryly.
She shrugged. “Just the usual things a billionaire’s girlfriend does.”
“Ah.”
She fluttered her lashes at him. “It includes flirting with you during your lunch break.”
He smirked. “That’s already flirting for you?”
She fluttered her lashes harder.
Even Damen was unable to keep himself from laughing after that. It also made him bend down and kiss her because outrageous and immature it may have been, it did have an effect on his cock, now fully erect.
“You are cruel to tempt me,” he growled against her lips before his tongue swept in, not allowing her to talk while he possessed her mouth.
She was sighing when he lifted his head, and the familiar dreamy expression on her face made his lips curve, and they curved even more when she whispered, “Hi.”
He said with a soft chuckle, “Hi.”
Mairi suddenly felt shy but in a good way this time. “Can’t you spare a few minutes, so we could just talk? I…I miss you.”
“I will do my best to come home early tonight,” he compromised.
She brightened. “That would be nice. How early?”
“Ten.”
“Th-that’s early?”
“I have calls scheduled after midnight with my general managers in Dubai and New York. I will move them a few hours earlier, but it will still not allow me to go home like a normal nine-to-five man.”
“Oh.”
The disappointed look on her face made him shake his head and press a tender kiss on her lips. “I will do my best to come home earlier. That is all I can promise you.”
Feeling guilty at being so selfish, she said, “It’s okay. Don’t mind me. I’m just being a brat.”
“But a sexy brat.” His hand curved around her
breast possessively.
She gasped.
Squeezing her breast, he murmured wickedly, “Remember how this feels throughout the day, hmm? It will get you in the mood for tonight.”
She hesitated then slowly, she lifted her hand to grip his cock. When her fingers tightened around him, Damen gritted his teeth in an effort to control his need to ravage her.
“Remember this, too,” she said. Remember this when you meet with Alina.
Chapter Nine
“I did not expect you to be so graceful about this but I should have, shouldn’t I?”
Alina Kokinos, the woman whom European tabloids described as the poor little rich girl for being dumped by Damen Leventis for an American gold digger, did not reply right away. Her every movement was dainty, precise, and pretty as she cut herself another slice of her steak. She fed herself a morsel and when she was done, she pressed the napkin lightly to her lips.
Damen was used to this. Alina was like him in many ways, raised in accordance with old customs and traditions and expected at all times to be a model of courtesy and propriety. But what he was not used to at all was Alina apparently speaking her mind for the first time with him when she said quietly, “I can afford to be graceful, Damen. I never wanted to marry you.”
Before he could say anything, she continued softly, “And I have always known that you did not want to marry me – not in the real way.”
The restaurant where they dined now had always been where they enjoyed meals together, just as the people around them were also the same people they saw when they attended functions as a couple. It was how it should be, but Alina was so very tired of doing what she should do and not what she wanted.
And yet, if she did not do the right thing now, she would once again find herself backed into the same corner she had been stuck in for years – ever since she had been fifteen and too much of a proper daughter to say no to her parents.
When she raised her gaze to her ex-fiancé, the incredulity she saw in Damen Leventis’ gaze made her smile wryly. “Does my honesty surprise you that much?”
Not mincing words, he said, “Yes.”
For a moment, the old fears assailed her. Damen was a man, and she had been taught all her life to bow to a man’s wishes.
But then her courage reasserted itself, and squaring her shoulders, she told him in a voice that only quivered the slightest bit, “I’ve decided to stop pretending I’m the usual biddable Greek lass with you, Damen.”
His voice was bland when he answered, “I never asked you to.”
Blinking, she said, “I…suppose…not. But I’ve always gotten the feeling that you would have been displeased if I had ever gotten in your way or went against your wishes.”
“Perhaps. But it is water under the bridge now, do you not think?”
Oh! He was so cold, so unreadable!
And though this side of him had always terrified and frustrated her, now it also made Alina smile. She said softly, “You don’t seem to be the same person who dumped an heiress to be with the woman he loves.”
Alina was rewarded by the faintest flush coloring Damen’s cheeks, and she took courage from that. Maybe this could still work. Maybe she had been wrong about him all along. Oh, she hoped so. She dearly hoped so.
Ever since she had been engaged to him, she had found the Leventis heir to be arrogant, too much like her overbearing father for her to like. Although he had been nothing but polite and courteous with her, he had also been forbiddingly formal. The only time he had been open with her was during the time they had been guest speakers at GAYL. His attitude had surprised and confused her, but what followed after had cleared a lot of things up.
He had wanted the other girl – the one he loved – to be jealous.
And until then, never would she have expected someone like Damen Leventis could care so much for a woman to want her to be jealous.
Hopefully, he still cared for that girl, enough for him to agree to what she was about to propose.
“What is this about, Alina?”
His voice made her hand shake as she reached for her glass. She drank it all, needing the wine to give her Dutch courage.
He waited, patiently.
Damen had always been irritating that way, Alina thought, acting like he was too cool to lose his temper because everyone and everything paled in significance next to him.
She couldn’t help but ask, “Are you like this with her, too?”
“Like what?”
“You act like you’re never wrong. You’ve always acted like that.” She almost laughed at the puzzled expression on his face.
“I do not pretend to be wrong if I am right – even if it is merely to soothe ruffled feathers.”
She shook her head. “Never mind.” She hoped, for Mairi Tanner’s sake, that the other girl had found a way to make Damen Leventis less arrogant. He needed a strong dose of humility now and then.
Placing her hands on her lap so Damen wouldn’t know how badly they were still shaking, she made herself look at him straight in the eye as she spoke. “My father wants me to get you to reconsider our engagement.” Not waiting for him to answer, she said in a rush, “I am not in favor of it.”
Alina nervously watched Damen lean back on his seat.
And then all he said was, “I see.”
She wanted to throw a glass of water on his face for that.
“If you really love her, this Mairi Tanner, then can I count on you to lie to my father and tell him that I did my best, but you will never leave her for anyone else?”
Silence.
Why wasn’t he saying anything?
“I will tell your father that you’ve tried your best but I am not to be persuaded.”
The words were spoken so formally, it reminded her of the old Damen – or at least the Damen she thought she knew. But he was different – his words and actions that day at the school had proven it.
And yet –
And yet it felt right now like the new Damen, the one she thought she might consider a friend, was nowhere to be found.
Alina considered his words. He would help her with her father…but he did not want to tell her father about never leaving Mairi?
She asked awkwardly, “Is everything all right between you two?”
He answered in a colder voice, “We are fine. Thank you for asking.”
Alina tried not to wince. She had gotten him mad, and he appeared even more intimidating now.
She wondered if she should tell him about Mairi’s unsuccessful attempts to find work. Alina was no idiot, and she had her own eyes and ears spying for her. Everyone in the world – including her father – thought of her merely as the Kokinos heiress, a pawn to be married off for mergers, but what nobody knew was that she had always yearned to be the head of her family’s business, always wished she had been born a man rather than a woman so that she would be taken seriously. Certainly, most people in Greece’s high society would never think that she paid great attention to business rumors, and that from those rumors she was able to deduce the reason behind the falling stock prices of Leventis Inc. More importantly, her spies had also told her about Mairi Tanner’s current plight and how Damen Leventis still did not seem to know about it.
But he would know about that soon enough, Alina thought uneasily. It was only a matter of time, and when the truth came out, there would be many people paying dearly for being stupid enough to ally themselves with Esther Leventis and her own father.
“Is there anything else you wish to talk about?” Very polite. But with a tinge of impatience this time.
He really was a cold man. If Mairi Tanner was not the gold digger everyone painted her to be – and Alina liked to think the other girl wasn’t – then whatever did she see in Damen?
Alina said finally, and with great sincerity, “Thank you. And I really do wish the two of you well. I think it’s great that you made your love for her your first priority. I’m sure she loves you just as much.”
&nbs
p; A self-mocking smile appeared on Damen’s handsome face, and the sight troubled her, especially when he said, “I’m sure it is so.”
Damen remained at their table a long time after Alina had already left. When his phone rang, he answered it almost reluctantly and when he heard who was on the other line, Damen wished he had indeed rejected the call instead.
“Is there any change?” Stavros Manolis asked. “Is she willing to speak to me now or perhaps more willing to consider it?”
“She is still hurt by what you did to her years ago,” he heard himself saying. “You must give her time.”
Chapter Ten
To prevent herself from missing Damen too much and making herself sick with worry about what he and Alina Kokinos would talk about when they met for lunch, Mairi decided to accept double her usual number of article requests.
After her shower, Mairi had already dressed herself for another day at the library, choosing a pretty but modestly designed off-white dress, before changing her mind about going out.
Yesterday’s disguise had been an epic fail thanks to Damen’s entrance. Her lips quirked at the memory. He had walked towards them like he was Keanu Reeves in The Matrix. Was it a surprise people had gawked at him and realized he was “someone” even if they didn’t know his actual identity?
It was pure luck that no one had sent a photo of the three of them together – him, Ioniko, and her – to the press, but she was not going to take her chances again. She didn’t need more of the media’s attention, and Damen certainly needed it less, considering how sensitive negotiations seemed to be between his company and investment partners.
Mairi had devoured all the news reports she could about Leventis Inc., and all of it painted a grim picture for Damen’s business. And it was all because of her. She had turned him into the laughingstock of Greece’s business community, but he never said a word about it.
She would do her best not to add to his problems, Mairi swore to herself. And that meant she was going to work right here – even if it also equated to struggling with writer’s block more often.
