The Art of Loving a Greek Billionaire (4 page)

As they neared the limousine, one of the reporters shouted, “
Do you think your sister approves of your wedding
?”

Mairi paled at the question.

“
What about your potential brother-in-law, Stavros Manolis
—”

Mairi’s head snapped towards the press at the last question.

Click.

Damen hauled her back to his side. “Ignore them,” he said harshly as he tried to keep pace with Mairi, doing his best not to cause her to run towards the limousine waiting for them at the end of the tarmac. Would he cause another scandal if he simply swept her up in his arms?
Probably
, Damen thought, but right now he was close to not caring.

When they were inside the limousine, Damen and Mairi sat apart on the same side. He waited for her to say something.

She didn’t.

Stavros Manolis.
Mairi was in a daze. Could it be the same man? She turned to Damen, seeking answers to the jumbled questions in her mind, her instincts telling her that if there was something she could not solve, Damen could and would help her with it.

The look of entreaty on Mairi’s face made Damen want to curse. She was silently asking questions he did not want her to ask, but when she looked at him like he was her fucking knight – even after everything – Damen knew he would do whatever she damn asked, even if it meant having his heart on a platter.

“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—