by T. C. Clark
“Now I’m going to head back to the party and don’t let this little encounter worry you, I will be fine,” she reached up and gave her an awkward hug.
Ada watched Dabria go and knew what she had to do. She walked back to her room with renewed determination. When she opened the door, she found the bed empty and could hear water running in the bathroom.
She walked into the steamy room determined to speak to Nikos and stopped cold at the sight. He’d showered; his muscles were sleek and shiny from the water and steam.
He wore only a small towel around his waist and was trimming his beard with her small scissors. He looked like a Spartan warrior before battle. She groaned as her body automatically responded to the sight.
When his eyes caught hers he turned a wicked smile forming on his face. An erection tented the thin towel material, and she knew what he intended before he took the first step in her direction.
“Nikos, stop,” she said suddenly shaking her head to clear the lust forming in it. “I want you to go downstairs and help Dabria put an end to the rumors.”
“Ada…” he began only to be silenced as she placed a finger across his lips. He nipped her before she could pull her hand back.
“I know everything. We had a pretty interesting encounter a few minutes ago and I know right now she is fighting hard to keep the sharks at bay.”
“I’ve already decided to end our fake engagement, I won’t continue it if it means losing you,” Nikos said. But he worried for Dabria, forever she’d put other people before herself. He didn’t want to let her down, but he also didn‘t want to lose Ada.
“Why did you offer it in the first place?” She asked leaning against the door frame needing the support.
He sighed he’d hoped to keep this part of his life secret from her but he knew he could no longer do that. He told her of his past and how Dabria’s help made him the man he was today. She now knew exactly how and when their engagement began.
“That’s what I thought, she’s a good woman and right now she needs you more than ever. Be what she needs and then come and find me when you’re free.”
“You want me to stay engaged to Dabria!?” He said confused by what she was saying.
“For now I want you to help her and when you’re ready, I want you to come back to me. But know if you do I will accept nothing less than everything. I want marriage and children and grand-babies. I want it all and if you can’t offer it, let me go, Nikos. If you ever cared for me, then I beg you to let me go if you aren’t sure of what you want.”
She kissed him then. A sweet kiss that made him rock into her with his massive body. For a moment she let him control it, opening her mouth submissively and tilting her head back to give him better access. His strong hands moved on their own roaming her body feeding a familiar need.
“I’m not running away from you. I’m giving you space to help Dabria and decide about us. I will never run from you again now that I know how much it hurts you,” she said softly gathering her things. His eyes followed her every movement, unsure of what to say or do he remained quiet and still.
“I hope you choose me,” she said softly before she walked out of the room.
Four
In my feelings...
One week later….
To say Ada’s mood was precarious was an understatement. She went from crying buckets of tears to snapping at random people. It had been seven days since she’d last seen Nikos. When she’d arrived back in Chicago, she’d went straight to Luca’s downtown office needing to be sure that Nikos had called off the takeover.
“Please tell me Nikos has stopped whatever he was doing with your company?” She questioned jumping straight to the heart of the matter. Luca stood up and paced before the floor-length window with a mysterious expression.
“Yes, we got the word right after I talked to you that Etos Holding withdrew all of their bids for any projects we’re working on.”
“That sounds like a good thing but your face says you’re not happy.”
“It isn’t about him, the business analyst that discovered exactly what Etos Holding was up to was a girl I knew from University. A girl I knew well, and I had no idea she was working here,” he said huskily. Ada could tell whoever the woman was she had been more than just a girl he knew from school.
“Oh, okay now this is getting interesting. So why would seeing this girl again upset you?”
“She knew me before all of this,” he said motioning to the opulent room around him. “I wasn’t always Luca Rossi upstanding businessman.”
“You think she would do something to mess that up?” Ada asked.
“No, she is a good woman, much like you. In fact, I think I was so interested in you because you reminded me of her, innocence and sexiness. It’s a heady combination especially for an Italian.”
She blushed at the look in his eyes but was happy it was not really for her anymore. She’d really liked Luca and would have been happy to start a relationship with him if her heart wasn’t obsessed with a tall dark Greek.
Even if things didn’t work out with Nikos, she would need a lot of time to heal and recover from it. She was pleased that another woman had come into the picture for Luca; He deserved all the happiness he could get.
“Look at me talking about another woman when I’ve been trying to get with you for the last month,” he grimaced leaning against his desk. His eyes still filled with images of the past.
“No, don’t do that. We are friends Luca and you knew that being with me was a long shot. Honestly, I think you were just trying to protect me. There were countless nights you could have taken advantage of the emotional mess that my life had become and yet you were kind. Don’t use what could have happened between us as a way to deny whatever is between you and this woman from your past.”
“I hurt her Ada, really hurt her. Even if I wanted to try again, she looked at me with disgust,” he admitted.
“Are you playing with her now Luca, if she is anything like me that could destroy her.”
“I know I’m not playing with her but I don’t know what to do next. I mean I know I want her back in my bed,” he grimaced again and looked at her embarrassed about how quickly he’d changed his mind about them.
But she only watched him with kind and friendly eyes. He knew at that moment that this is how they were meant to be. Whatever linked Nikos and Ada was still alive and well, he’d never stood a chance.
He’d only had that type of connection with one woman. Mina Smith was his French tutor at University. Born to an African father and a French mother she’d been raised multilingual.
Her teaching style had guaranteed that he learned the language with ease; and her gentle kindness changed him on a fundamental level. His brutal life had turned him into an animal; and somehow she had softened him in a way that no one could have expected.
When his family found out about her, he knew his only choice was to leave. It had been the hardest decision of his life, a boy from his walk of life couldn’t make it if he was blinded by his obsession with a woman.
He had thought his decision was rational, but he had come to regret it years later and by then the girl he knew was long gone. She had married and was settled in a small town in central Texas. Well at least that’s where she used to be.
To say he’d been completely taken aback at finding her sitting quietly at his desk was an understatement. But she’d handled it with the elegance that he’d remembered from their youth.
“Take it from me, Luca, if you’re not sure what your intentions are with her. Let her be, don’t play with her emotions. You said you hurt her bad, so you owe her that much at least.”
“Yeah, I know,” he said standing and stretching. Shaking his head to clear the memories he turned his attention from the past and back to Ada. She looked a little thinner and a bit sad. Surprisingly he hadn’t seen the macho Greek lurking outside.
“What happened between you and Nikos when I left?”
�
��Nothing, we came to an understanding or at least I thought we did. I haven’t heard from him in a week and I’m starting to think that the war may be over.”
“And Dabria?”
“Their relationship was not what I thought it was, and she knew about us, past and present. Whatever they decide is what will be.”
“Are you okay?” He asked softly his voice full of concern.
“No, but I will be. I’m strong; I’ve learned that much about myself over the years. I will survive this even if it takes some time to recover. I bought my body weight in chocolate to help with the transition,” she said ruefully.
“If you need anything… anything at all let me know,” he said sincerely.
“I’ll be okay but if I need your help, I promise I will let you know…. oh, and I dropped off the rest of the case studies with your secretary, she is hilarious by the way.”
He smiled at the mention of Mrs. Howell the infamous gray haired dragon that guarded his office.
“You finished all ten?” he asked surprised. Case studies took a lot of research and time. She would have had to work around the clock to create a quality one. He didn’t doubt they would be excellent. He’d worked with Ada enough to know she demanded perfection from herself when it came to her work.
“It’s been a hellish kind of week for me; I enjoyed having the distraction of a lot of work.”
“What will you do now?” Luca asked worried for her.
“Gain about ten to twenty pounds, sulk and cry. Then get my shit together, lose the weight, and move the hell on,” she answered honestly. The rest of her time spent at his office went by in a blur after that. He had accounting bring up her check after he reviewed and praised her work.
She’d stopped by Eden’s Treasure to check in on her friend and pick up a small cake. She’d been surprised to see her talking intimately in the corner with the scariest Russian she’d ever seen in real life.
She hadn’t been able to get the full details of what was going on but had set up a lunch date with her later that week to get all the tee on tall, blonde and handsome. When she arrived back at her small apartment, she’d been delighted to find a basket at her doorstep.
It must be from her neighbor who’d moved in last night. She looked at the basket and smiled. It was her favorite candy from the chocolate shop located across town. Almonds and Chocolate, now that’s how you said hello. When she noticed the tag that said from apartment C-12 she knew her initial thought was right.
She stood basket in hand and knocked on the door. She waited with a friendly smile on her face that morphed into shock when the door swung open. Her heart sped up when she looked into the dark gray eyes that stared back at her with desire and need.
“Nikos,” she said dropping the basket.
“Yes, my love,” he answered with an air of mystery.
“Did you have a good day?” he asked keeping his tone light and easy. He could tell by her wide eyes that she was in shock. When he’d made the decision to move in across the hall to this cramped and overpriced apartment, he’d been serious about beginning anew. He bent down and picked up the basket, dusted it off and handed it back to her.
After the first night, he’d realized that he didn’t want to rewind their relationship back to step one if he remembered correctly Ada had kept him on the hook for about three months before their relationship had progressed beyond the point of kissing.
He knew he couldn’t wait that long to have her. So he decided on planned out seduction. He knew what he wanted in his life now and nothing would stop him. He would make love to her to cement their physical bond and show her his mind to secure the emotional one. She was as much his as he was hers. She needed to know that.
After spending the last week settling Dabria into her new apartment and helping her find and beg her ex-girlfriend for forgiveness, he was ready for his happy ending as well. Sure enough, Dabria’s family had disowned her telling her she would only be welcomed back with a husband in tow and a changed attitude.
His brothers had also shown up to help him after learning what had transpired in the small Greek town. They had all made it clear that Dabria was now a Stravanos, and he knew instinctively that Ada would treat her as such. He smiled, he had a good woman at his side and now he needed to make sure she stayed there.
He took advantage of her shock, leaning in and kissing her hungrily. Her hands still held the basket tightly, and she was powerless to resist the longing that started to pool in her belly. She rocked towards him her body attuned to the need it recognized in his.
Abruptly he ended the kiss pulling back and using his massive hands to hold her in place.
“What do I smell?” She asked the first question that popped into her head.
“Your favorite pizza. Veggie sweet supreme, freshly delivered,” he answered pulling her inside and leading her to the counter. She smiled when she saw a pile of tools and some open IKEA boxes.
“Oh, you’re putting together a desk,” Ada said staring at the mess on his floor.
“IKEA is a bunch of bull shit, do you know they sent me 250 pieces for one desk, Ada one desk.”
She laughed remembering how much he hated to put things together; she was surprised he’d done it himself and said as much.
“I needed something to distract me knowing you were sleeping just a few walls away.”
“Why are you here?” She asked needing him to spell out what he wanted.
“I want you and that means everything that comes with you,” he said seriously.
“Nikos, I need you to be sure. Please be sure.”
He walked over to her without the usual confidence and placed his rough palms on her shoulders pulling her into a tight hug. She relaxed under his warm weight her body responding to him so easily that she let out a loud sigh.
“I love you Ada. I’m not perfect and I’m still learning but I do know that I want you and if you want a child, then it has to be mine and if you want a marriage, then it has to be to me. This time I’m not here to rush you or use our sexual chemistry against you. I know that when we make love you give me everything,” he said looking down at her as if daring her to disagree.
She knew better than to do that, disagreeing with Nikos was issuing a challenge and he would spend the rest of the night showing her otherwise. She ignored his playful bait and refused to rise to meet it.
She needed him to finish what he was saying, so she just smiled serenely. She was sure that the power he had over her, she had over him and what he said next confirmed it.
“I also give everything I have to you; I believe that’s why we lasted as long as we did even with our ultimate goals being different.”
“What did you think would happen to us in the end?” She asked carefully, unsure if she wanted to know the truth.
“I don’t know, I had no intention of ever letting you go but to give in to everything you wanted made me feel powerless,” he admitted.
“Marriage and family is not about power Nikos, I know you told me what happened with your mom, is there anything else?”
“I didn’t tell you that my mother married for money. An older and meaner man that wasn’t kind or good to any of us. She got him to marry her by getting pregnant with me and he always talked about how she used us to manipulate him. When he passed she fled the island with his money and left us behind. I caught her that night packing up her bags and begged her… pleaded with her not to leave. It was the first time I begged in my life and unfortunately not the last. By the time she made her way back to us I was millions of dollars richer and she tried to blackmail me for it. All that I know about a family started with her and it changed me.”
“Nikos, you know me. I am nothing like your mom. I would never willingly leave my family, you know how deeply I love and need you.”
“I know I realized that when I saw you again. I saw that we both had power in this relationship, the power to hurt and the power to heal. I made myself imagine you carrying someone else
’s child and unwilling to have anything to do with me. I knew then that I couldn’t protect myself from you and that I didn’t want that lonely future.”
“I only ever wanted that with you Nikos.”
“I love you Ada,” he said simply. “I came here to give us a fresh start. I don’t want to forget our last two years but I do want to move forward from here. Okay, that’s all the time we have to go over all of my mistakes. Now we do as you American‘s say lets Netflix and chill.”
“You think I’m a cheap date,” she said laughingly feeling lighter than she had in weeks. She was happy right now and she wouldn’t spoil it by analyzing everything he just said.
“I would never assume that,” he said smiling down at her. “Netflix and chill was designed with ease in mind as the bedroom is just a few doors down. I don’t think I could survive a night out at a restaurant right now… I want you too much. It’s taking everything I have not to end this date now and drag you into my bedroom.”
She didn’t pretend to misunderstand him. She went on her tiptoes and kissed him hungrily, ignoring her empty stomach.
“You’re not the only one who missed this let’s forget the food,” she began only to be interrupted by him swinging her into his arms.
She laughed loudly as he half ran to his room and threw her on the bed playfully. He came down on her taking over their lovemaking as always, but then he stopped and stepped back, his chest heaving under the fitted t-shirt.
“Undress yourself for me, love,” he demanded. His dark eyes wicked in the soft light of his bedroom.
Ada didn’t pause making short work of her clothes. She only slowed when she removed her panties, pulling them off her body in the seductive way he’d taught her long ago. She kept her eyes on his, willing him to see the vulnerability there. She needed him to know that the power in their relationship was balanced.
He groaned as lust filled his blood and his body tightened. When she was completely naked, he removed his clothes not with the seductive grace she’d shown, but with the air of an impatient lion waiting to stake his claim.
