The Art of Forgiving a Greek Billionaire (2 page)

“No, you don’t.”

“I do. I’m just too tired to prove it.”

Drake crouched down so she could see him smirk at her. “No. You don’t.”

This close, it was impossible to ignore how handsome Drake was. The way he smirked was also intensely appealing, almost sexual, and she hastily looked away. It was stupid to feel like she was betraying someone every time her heart skipped a beat for another man. Stupid but inevitable, like her heart could only belong to just one person – and it was not even Mairi who owned her own heart.

She could feel Drake’s gaze on hers and she tried to ignore the way it lingered on parts of her body that he really wasn’t supposed to stare at. God, sometimes the way he looked at her made Mairi feel like she was naked when it was usually the opposite, like now, with Mairi covered from head to toe in sweats.

Her whole life, she had been basking in the sun in Florida. For the better part of the year, she had been under the Mediterranean sun in Greece. Both experiences had left her ill-prepared to handle the sub-zero temperatures of a New England winter.

“Are you really sure you understand what you’re here for?” she asked in a deliberately light tone, needing a little banter to clear her head. Drake Morrison was still staring at her in a way that made Mairi want to question her aunts for sending him to her.
 

When Drake didn’t answer, she continued, “Damen Leventis is a threat to my
heart
. Not my life.” She had to pause after that. It never failed to surprise Mairi – never failed to
relieve
her that saying
his
name was getting easier and easier. The pain wasn’t completely gone. She didn’t think it would ever leave. But at least she was coping.

She finally turned her head to meet Drake’s gaze so she could glower at him. “You’re training me like I have to be the next Lara Croft or something.”
 

In many ways, it was the same
, Drake thought. In the past, subjecting himself to the most arduous physical challenges had been the only way Drake was able to beat his feelings for Yanna Everleigh out of his system. If it worked for him, it should, eventually, work for Mairi Tanner, too.

“You need this training,” he told her succinctly, “if only to give you a fighting chance of running away from him when you two eventually meet again.”

She forgot a little about her exhaustion at his words, incensed enough to find the energy to try pushing Drake and make him lose his balance. But he didn’t even budge an inch.
Gah!

Mairi told him tightly, “I’m not going to run away from him.”

“Yes, you are.”

“I hate arguing with you. You always answer like you know you’ll have the last say.”

“I just say it like it is and right now, I can see that you’re still not completely convinced you’ll be able to refuse Damen Leventis when you meet again.”

Mairi flipped to her back and threw an arm over her eyes. She said stoically, “It’s truly over between us.”

It wasn’t, but tonight it would be. A part of himself urged Drake to allow Mairi another night to recover, but the sensible and cold-heartedly rational part of him told Drake that it was time to force her to make a choice.

When Mairi no longer spoke, he glanced down and saw that she had fallen asleep. She usually did after the punishing workout he forced her to go through every day, and normally he allowed her to sleep on the floor despite knowing she’d wake up with an aching back. The resulting pain would also be good for her, another way to keep her mind off Damen Leventis until she was completely free of him.

Making a decision, he silently scooped her up in his arms. She did not stir as he carried her to her bedroom. Drake carefully lowered Mairi to her neatly made bed before walking away to lock the door, something ingrained in Drake even though no one in the world except for Mairi’s aunts knew their whereabouts.

When he came back to her side, he slowly lowered himself to sit next to her on the bed.

And then he kissed her.

Mairi’s eyes flew open.

She tried to push Drake away instinctively, but still he kissed her, his lips moving expertly over hers, knowing exactly what to do to weaken her defenses and make her body respond.
 

“Are you thinking you’re betraying Damen with this kiss?” Drake whispered against her lips.

The words had her freezing, her fists trapped between their bodies.

Slowly, he lifted his head so their eyes could meet. “You keep telling me that you’re over him, Mairi. But are you really? Would you be able to prove it?”

He caressed her cheek with his knuckles. “Your body is yours to give and I want it. I won’t take you tonight but I want to give you pleasure – I want to make you come.”

The heat in his eyes made her swallow, and when his hand moved to cup her breast Mairi gasped, stunned at the way her body was reacting to his touch.

“This is your choice, Mairi. If you give me your body, if you just let me please you, the next time you look at Damen Leventis, he will know that you have truly moved on and that he is no longer the master of your body.”

He squeezed her breast and she jerked, his touch taking her by surprise once more. But more than that, it was how her breast seemed to swell against his hand that made Mairi want to cry. This didn’t feel right…but it shouldn’t feel wrong either.
 

She closed her eyes.
 

Immediately she saw him in her mind.

Damen Leventis.

Dark. Beautiful. Powerful.

And cold, so, so, so cold as he threw her out of his house – out of his life.

“Get out of my fucking house, you gold-digging bitch
.”

And the vileness…the sheer vileness in his eyes as he looked at Mairi like he regretted every damn second he had spent in her company.

“
Go back to Manolis. He can have my leftovers…
”

A tear slipped from her eye, but before she could wipe it with her fingers, Drake had already bent down and licked it away.

“I won’t take you, Mairi,” he whispered against her skin as his hand began to move again on her breast, kneading softly, gently, then firmly.
 

His fingers found her nipple.

Mairi stilled.

He, too, stopped, waiting tensely for Mairi to say just one word – to do anything that would let him know she was unwilling. And he would stop. It didn’t matter if he wanted her like hell, that there were some days Drake was no longer sure if he only wanted her because Mairi reminded him so much of Yanna. Some days, Drake felt like he wanted Mairi because he wanted Mairi.

And then he felt it—

Her hands moving, curling around his shoulders.
 

It was Mairi saying yes.

Drake did not give either of them a chance to think after that. He kissed her, kissed her hard this time, willing her to forget about the man who had hurt her so horribly. As he kissed his way down her body he took care of her clothes, inhaling sharply with every inch of bare skin he exposed. She had a very beautiful body, with such generous curves and gorgeous breasts that he wanted to feast on.

Unable to help it, he lowered his head and sucked on her nipple.

Drake’s mouth covering her nipple had Mairi gasping, and she clutched his shoulders harder, her nails digging into his skin. The pleasure was different from what she had experienced in Damen’s arms, the way Drake kissed and loved her nipple different from Damen’s — everything was different, but she pushed the thoughts away because there was no point in making the comparison.

She forced herself to focus only in the pleasure of Drake’s touch, whimpering when his head moved to her other breast and he started sucking again while his hand played with her other breast.

Mairi drew her breath sharply when Drake moved down and got rid of her sweat pants, throwing them to the floor. Her body arched when he touched her core. Instinctively, she caught his hand. “Drake—” Suddenly, she wasn’t sure. His touch was beautiful. He made her feel hot, made her feel good in a way that she had not felt good since forever, but somehow—

Drake looked up, their gazes clashing. He said in a hard voice, “You want this, Mairi.” And without releasing her eyes, he gently took hold of her wrist and pulled her hand away. Her arm fell limply against her side.

And then he was touching her again, tracing her folds over her silk panties, gently, slowly, and all the while never letting go of her gaze.
 

She wanted to look away but she didn’t. If she did, it was like letting Damen Leventis win, letting him own her forever. And what was the point of that when he only thought of her as trash?

Mairi bit her lip, her body shaking as Drake slowly disposed of her panties as well. Now she was completely naked, bared to his gaze while he remained fully clothed. Her teeth sank harder into her lower lip when he touched her flesh again. It only took a few strokes before she was wet, and Drake’s groan of realization made her whimper.
 

Everything was blurry now, passion making her feel faint-headed. In her mind, it was Damen touching her, and Mairi’s legs fell wide open as Drake sank one, two, oh God, three fingers inside her. Her head tossed against the pillows. “Please,” she begged.

Drake moved his fingers faster and her body jerked, her hips moving to meet his thrusts.

Another finger was pushed in and Mairi moaned, feeling so wonderfully filled.

“Mairi.”

The fingers had stopped moving.

She slowly opened her eyes.

And she remembered that it was not Damen Leventis with his fingers inside her.

It was Drake Morrison.

“Say my name, Mairi. Say you want me to make you come.”

Another tear fell.

He was so
damn
good. He knew – somehow he knew that she had been fooling herself into thinking it was Damen making love to her, her silly mind wanting to prevent her from committing an act of betrayal.

Drake began to move his fingers again, his face tense with the effort it took to hold his own passion back. Harder and harder, he thrust his fingers into her, knowing that each thrust would make Mairi’s body want him more even if her heart and mind still struggled.

“Say it, Mairi,” he growled. “Say it—” He withdrew his fingers completely.

The emptiness was painful, reminding her of the days and nights she had solely existed in the darkness, lost and diminished by Damen’s betrayal.

She had not betrayed Damen.

Damen had betrayed her first.

Drake’s fingers found her clitoris.

Pleasure erupted inside her body.

“Drake!” She closed her eyes. “Drake, please.” Her voice turned into a whisper, her words a choice to break free from the man who had so cruelly hurt her countless times. “Please,
Drake.
Please make me come—”

And then he was sucking on her clit as he thrust his fingers into her harder and faster.

Mairi fell apart with a scream, the pleasure pounding into her over and over.

She slept in his arms that night, the first time she ever did. Throughout the night, Drake remained awake. The next time Mairi and Damen met again, Damen would only have to take one look at Mairi and he would know. Someone else had tasted Mairi’s sweetness – and he only had himself to blame for it.

Mairi

~ Two ~

“Relax.” Drake whispered the word into Mairi’s ear deliberately.
 

She jumped like she had just heard a ghost speak. Her reaction was exactly as he intended and his lips quirked.

Mairi wanted to die when she caught sight of the small smile that flitted over Drake’s lips. But when his eyes met hers, she hastily looked away.
 

Last night should never have happened
, she thought miserably. It just didn’t feel right, and now she felt so cheap and evil for having done what she did.

Overhead, the seatbelt sign lit up and she concentrated on fastening her seatbelt, her stomach somersaulting at the realization that their plane had reached its destination. This was it. She was really going back to Florida...to living…to having the fear that the day would come when she would come face to face with Damen Leventis again.