The Art of Loving a Greek Billionaire (7 page)

Her words had a bittersweet sound. They were not what he wanted to hear from Mairi, and he knew she knew it too. She would never be his. He knew that and yet, it did not seem to make any difference to his heart.

It continued to beat, and one of the reasons it beat was because of her.

He started to speak, but stopped.
 

She, too, had been about to speak but stopped as well.

Both of them became aware almost simultaneously of a presence that shattered the privacy of their world.
 

Their heads turned, also in almost-perfect synchrony, towards the library’s entrance.

Mairi’s breath caught.

Damen.

He appeared like an avenging angel, dressed in black and white, his stride powerful and fierce, and an almost battle-like expression on his chiseled face. He did not make a single sound and yet there was something about his presence now, authority and virility leashed in one dangerously beautiful form, causing everyone around him to look up.

Chairs were scraped back, heads looked up, and jaws dropped. Even the librarian was so flustered she had dropped the books she was holding as he came close, apparently too larger-than-life for her to handle.

Damen stopped, and everyone – including Mairi – held their breath.

He bent down and, in a graceful move, scooped up all the books and placed it on the table nearest to the librarian. “These are too heavy for you.” He murmured the words, but the library had become so silent the air carried his voice throughout the place.

The librarian nodded, a dumbstruck expression on her face. Her gaze as well as everyone else’s followed Damen’s progress as he walked past her.
 

Mairi’s heart beat faster and faster as he came nearer and nearer. She loved him so much, and every day she found herself loving him even more. In her eyes, he became more beautiful and dearer to her every day, and with each step he took towards her, she felt fainter and fainter.

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.