by Jennie Lucas
Finally, out of desperation, Holly had put the baby in his stroller and gone to the offices of Minos International, hoping to see him, maybe take him to lunch. But Stavros had been deep in a conference meeting and barely spoke two words to her, seeming only annoyed by the interruption. Rejected, she’d gone to talk to her old coworkers. She’d relished the other secretaries’ excited congratulations and demands to see Holly’s spectacular diamond ring. They’d invited her to lunch, and she’d accepted happily.
But seated at their usual delicatessen, the conversation had dwindled. The other secretaries, who’d once been her colleagues, didn’t really know how to act now she was the CEO’s wife. A few were clearly trying to repress burning jealousy, while others seemed merely uncertain what to say.
Holly yearned to show them that she hadn’t changed since her marriage, and was still the same person. But how?
As she ate her favorite Reuben sandwich with dill pickle, she listened to the other women talk about their problems. One had an ex not paying child support, another was falling behind on medical bills, another couldn’t find good day care. Then their eyes inevitably fell on Holly’s huge diamond ring, and baby Freddie, sleeping in his expensive, top-of-the-line stroller. Holly could see what they were thinking: lucky Holly and her baby were set for life.
Cheeks burning, Holly had said quickly, “If there’s anything I can do to help—”
“No, no,” her former friends had said, waving her off. “We’ll be fine.”
“Perhaps my husband could give you a raise...” But before Holly even finished her sentence, she knew she’d made a mistake. Her friends had stared at her, quietly offended.
“We’re fine, Holly.”
“We don’t need your charity,” another had muttered, sucking down the last of her soda noisily through a straw as she glared at the floor.
The lunch had gone downhill after that. When it was finally over, Holly had suggested they make plans soon. But none of her old friends seemed particularly keen to set a date.
“Don’t worry,” Audrey, her closest office friend, had whispered as they left. “They’ll get used to it. Just give them a little time.”
Holly hoped she was right. She still felt a lump in her throat, remembering that awkward lunch.
But at least she and her sister were friends again. Though Nicole hadn’t told her much, apparently Oliver’s financial situation had improved. Either they’d learned to live on less, or Oliver must have found a job. Either way, she was happy to have her sister back. Nicole now answered all her texts, and had even visited Holly last week at the penthouse.
But when Holly asked how things were going, Nicole had given a wan smile. “You know how marriage is. Or at least,” she’d sighed, “you will.”
And maybe Nicole had had a point.
Because Holly felt like something had already changed in her marriage. She and Stavros had started in such bliss, with such joyful days together. It hadn’t been just shopping. She’d gotten lots of his time and attention. She’d watched him play with their baby. They’d spent hours talking, hours just kissing—in front of the fire, on the sidewalk as they pushed the stroller...he kissed her anywhere—but somewhere along the line, something shocking had happened.
She’d fallen in love with him.
It was the purest bad luck, a horrible coincidence, that the very day she realized she loved him, and started trying to find the words to tell him, Stavros had become utterly distracted at work by the acquisition of some billion-dollar tech company.
He wasn’t avoiding her deliberately, she told herself. Of course not. Why would he? True, he’d told her he had some issues about fearing love and commitment, but that was all in the past. He’d married her, hadn’t he? He’d promised to be faithful forever. That proved he was more than ready to open up his heart!
But Stavros had run his company for nearly twenty years. That mattered to him, too. He’d tried to explain the new technology to her, and why Minos International needed to acquire it, but Holly’s eyes had crossed with boredom halfway through the first sentence.
Or maybe she just hadn’t wanted to understand it. What she wanted was for him to finish the deal, so he could stop spending eighteen-hour days at the office and spend time with her and Freddie again.
Like tonight. For the umpteenth time, Holly glanced at the clock over the mantel in the great room of the penthouse. It was nearly ten now, and Stavros had been at the office since dawn. He hadn’t seen his son before he left; and now, Freddie had been asleep for hours.
“Is that all, Mrs. Holly?”
Looking up from the chair where she was reading a magazine, Holly saw Eleni. The white-haired Greek woman, who’d by now become part of their family, still insisted on calling her by that formal name. “Yes, Eleni. Thank you.”
She nodded. “Kalinixta, Mrs. Holly.”
“Good night. Thank you.” After the older woman headed to her suite downstairs, Holly tried to read, watching the clock, waiting always to hear Stavros at the door.
Finally, she yawned and stretched. Letting the magazine drop against her chest, she looked out at the nighttime city through the wide windows.
She just had to be patient, she told herself. After his business deal was done, their marriage would return to the way it had been during their honeymoon. He would have time for their family again.
And Holly would finally tell him she loved him.
She closed her eyes, hope rising in her heart as she pictured the scene. And then—and then...he’d tell her he loved her, too.
She hoped.
What if he didn’t?
Nervousness roiled through her. She set down the magazine on the end table, then rose to her feet and paced in front of the windows. She stopped. There was nothing to be gained by being afraid, she told herself. She’d just have to be brave, and trust everything would be all right. Her husband would love her back. Of course he would.
Holly pushed away her fear. Glancing at the clock over the mantel, she saw that it was just past midnight. It was December twenty-third. Just a few minutes into her twenty-eighth birthday. She brightened.
At least she’d finally get time with him at the surprise party he’d promised her. Could it be called a surprise party when she was counting on it, longing for it? She smiled. He hadn’t said a word about what he’d planned, but Holly knew it would be wonderful.
Turning off the lamp, she looked around the quiet, lonely penthouse. It was dark, except for the lights of the Christmas tree shining in the great room.
She wished she didn’t have to go to bed alone. But she comforted herself with thoughts of tomorrow. As she brushed her teeth in the enormous, gleaming master bathroom, she closed her eyes in anticipation, imagining her friends and family celebrating together. They’d talk and laugh and eat birthday cake, and all awkwardness with her former colleagues would be smoothed over. Nicole and Oliver would be there. And best of all, she’d finally have time with her husband.
Looking at herself in the mirror, she came to a sudden decision.
Tomorrow at the party, she’d tell Stavros she loved him.
Yes. Tomorrow. Smiling, she peeked into the nursery to check on her sleeping baby, then padded softly back to climb into bed. Glancing at the empty bed on Stavros’s side, she looked out the window and made a birthday wish that he’d finish the deal tonight, and starting tomorrow, he’d never be gone so much again. And why shouldn’t it happen? Her smile became dreamy. When she woke up, they’d celebrate her birthday, and the day after that would be Christmas Eve. And sometime in the middle of the night tonight, Stavros would wake her with a kiss, and make passionate love to her.
She fell asleep when her head hit the pillow, and spent the night dreaming of her husband’s hot kisses.
When she woke up the morning of her birthday, she saw the sky was blue outside, and the sun was brigh
t and gold. She looked over at Stavros’s side of the bed, and saw it hadn’t been slept in. Stavros had never come home last night at all.
Holly heard echoes of Oliver’s laughing voice. Minos men are selfish to the bone. We do what we like, and everyone else be damned.
And worse, Stavros’s words. Love always has a winner and a loser. A conqueror and a conquered.
If she loved him, and he didn’t love her back, which would she be?
With a chill, Holly knew the heartbreaking answer.
* * *
When his eyes opened, Stavros sat up straight from the sofa.
Seeing the full morning sunlight coming from the window, he gave a low curse, then stood up so fast he almost felt dizzy. His muscles were cramped from a long night spent hunched over the conference-room table, and a few hours of unsettling sleep on his office sofa had left his spine and joints out of place.
He stretched painfully, blinking with exhaustion as he looked around his spacious private office. Piles of papers covered his large, usually pristine black desk, along with empty takeout cartons, the remnants of the kung pao shrimp and broccoli beef his support staff had arranged to be delivered for the negotiating team’s dinner at midnight. Stavros had brought the cartons in here to eat privately as he read through the other company’s last-minute counteroffer, striking out lines with his red pen before he returned to the conference room to compare notes with his lawyers.
Sometime around 4:00 a.m., he’d realized his brain was in a fog. So he’d stretched out on his sofa. He’d only meant to rest his eyes for a moment, but now it was—looking at his smartwatch, Stavros cursed aloud—nearly eight o’clock. He was supposed to meet back with his team in ten minutes.
Stavros should have texted Holly to let her know he wouldn’t be coming home. He should have—
He should do nothing. The cold voice spoke calmly in his soul. Keep his distance. Let her know that their marriage could never be more than a domestic and sexual partnership. Romantic love would never—could never—be a part of it. He wanted Holly to realize this without him having to tell her. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt her.
The first week of their marriage had been the best week of his life. Pleasure, enjoyment, friendship...and mind-blowing sex. He’d been happy with her. He’d forgotten to be so guarded. He’d spent hours with her, not just in bed, but talking about his past. About his feelings. About everything.
And he’d caught Holly looking at him with wistful longing in her beautiful emerald eyes. Something more than admiration. Something far more than his dark soul deserved.
It had shaken him to the core. He’d crossed a line he shouldn’t have crossed. He couldn’t let Holly fall in love with him. He couldn’t. And not just because he’d never love her back.
Love was tragedy. There were only two ways love could end—betrayal, or death.
It was a thought made all the sharper today, Stavros thought now. The one-year anniversary of when he’d gotten his fatal diagnosis last year. He’d lived, against all odds. But the miracle could so easily have not happened. And though his last medical scan had showed him in complete remission, one never knew. He could die of something else. Or Holly could.
How could anyone think of loving each other, knowing it could only end in tragedy?
So he’d forced himself to turn away from all the joy and light his wife had brought to his days. He’d grimly reassembled the walls that guarded his soul. He couldn’t let her love him. He had to hold the line. He couldn’t be so cruel as to lure her into loving him when he knew it would only bring her pain. He had to fight it.
He couldn’t bear the thought of ever seeing Holly suffer. He had to protect her—even from himself.
But how could he pull away, without making her feel the sting of rejection?
He’d grabbed onto the negotiations for this business deal with force. It was an amazing excuse to create some distance from his wife.
Although spending an entire night apart was a little too much distance. Going into the private bathroom of his office, he brushed his teeth, then spat out the toothpaste. He looked bleakly in the mirror.
There were dark circles under his eyes from stress and lack of sleep. He missed Holly. He missed his son. He wanted to be home.
He had to remind himself, again and again, that he was staying away for their sakes. Because if Holly fell in love with him, sooner or later she’d demand he love her back. When he couldn’t, she’d ask for a divorce. And just like that, their family would be destroyed.
Or maybe she wouldn’t ask for a divorce. Maybe it would be even worse. Maybe she’d stay in their marriage, trapped forever in silent desperation.
Last year, when Stavros had thought he was dying, he’d feared leaving Holly behind as a brokenhearted widow. How much worse would it be if instead, she loved him without hope for the rest of her life, making their marriage a sort of living death?
Stavros’s shoulders ached as he took a quick, hot shower, trying to wash his churning feelings away. Getting out, he toweled off and pulled on the spare suit that he kept cleaned and pressed in his closet.
Quickly shaving, he avoided his own eyes in the mirror. He hurried out of his private bathroom, already late, trying to focus his mind only on the upcoming conference call—
Stavros stopped flat when he saw his wife waiting in the middle of his private office.
“Hello,” Holly said, gripping the handle of the baby stroller.
“Hello,” he replied, shocked. The one time she’d visited the Minos building since their marriage, he’d made sure he was too busy to talk to her.
Now, against his will, his eyes drank her in hungrily. Gone were the beige, baggy suits she’d worn as a secretary, and the casual jeans and sweater she’d worn in the Swiss chalet. Now she dressed like the wife of a billionaire CEO. She wore a sleek black cashmere jacket over a white button-down shirt, fitted black pants and knee-high black leather boots. Diamond studs sparkled in her ears. “What are you doing here, Holly?”
She ducked her head. “I was in the area. Nicole asked me out for coffee.” She gave a shy smile. “For obvious reasons.”
Obvious? How obvious? Then he remembered. “To thank you? So Oliver got the paperwork.”
“Paperwork?”
“For the ten million.”
Holly’s expression was blank. “What are you talking about?”
Stavros frowned. If his financial gift to his cousin wasn’t the obvious reason, what was? “The annuity I arranged.”
Her lips parted. “You’re giving Oliver money?”
“Don’t worry,” he assured her. “The contract is airtight. He just gets a million up front, and each year they remain married, he’ll get another. But only if Nicole signs a statement each year that he’s keeping her happy.”
Instead of looking reassured, she looked shocked. “You’re paying Oliver to stay married to my sister?”
“Just for the first ten years,” he said, confused. Why did Holly seem so upset? “I know you can’t be happy unless the people you love are happy, too. The money is a pittance. So I took care of it.”
Her face was incredulous. “And you think paying that—that gigolo to stay married to my sister will make her happy?”
“Doesn’t it?”
“Love is what makes a marriage! Not money!”
Stavros didn’t like where this conversation was going. His fear about making Holly love him, about breaking her heart and ruining her life, started pressing against him as heavily as an anvil. Folding his arms, he said tightly, “Fine. I’ll tell my lawyer to cancel the annuity. Is that all?”
“No, it’s not all!” Her lovely heart-shaped face was pale as she lifted her chin. “Why didn’t you come home last night?”
Her lips were pink and chapped, as if she’d chewed them for hours. Her green eyes were vulnerable, tro
ubled with shadows. Had he put those shadows there?
The thought of hurting her made him sick inside. It made him angry. He glared at her. “I’ve been closing an important deal. As you know. Which is what I need to be doing now. So if you’ll excuse me...”
But she blocked him with the stroller, where their baby was babbling and waving his pudgy arms. “And that’s all you have to say to me? After you were gone all night? Without a single message?”
A low Greek curse rose to his throat. It was all he could do to choke it back. “Holly, I’m working. I’m sorry I didn’t call. Now please let me go.”
She took a deep breath. “Stavros, we need to talk.”
But the last thing he wanted to do right now was talk to her. She was blocking him from where he needed to be. And if he stayed, he’d only be forced to say things that might hurt her.
Why couldn’t she take the hint that he didn’t want or deserve her love? Did he have to spell it out for her?
Stavros nodded scornfully toward the sofa where he’d slept a few uncomfortable hours. “What is it? Do you think I was here all night with some other woman, making hot, sweet love to her? You think I’m like all the other Minos men—after just a few weeks, I’m already bored of my wife?”
Her beautiful face went white, then red. She whispered, “You don’t have to be cruel.”
Grinding his teeth, Stavros clawed back his dark hair. “Look, if you don’t trust me, why are we even married?”
Folding her arms, she glared at him in turn. “Yes, why, when Freddie and I barely see you anymore?”
Exhaling with a flare of nostrils, Stavros glanced at his watch, imagining the conference call had already started. If he didn’t hurry, it might cost his company millions of dollars. But that wasn’t the reason he had to get away from her, from the bewildered suffering he saw in her expressive green eyes.
“Fine,” he growled. “We’ll talk. Tonight.”
