AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No more so than a twenty-first-century father selling his daughter to save his company.”
“I am not buying you!”
“What would you call it?”
“Marriage. Families supporting one another.”
“But you wouldn’t give the kind of support outlined in the contracts you brought to the house if you didn’t marry me.”
“I would if you asked me to.”
She stared at him, her expression stunned. “You mean that?”
“Of course.”
“But my father would not accept without our marriage.”
“I think he would.”
“Then why didn’t you just offer the money?”
“Because I want to marry you.”
“Why?”
“I need you in my life. If nothing else, I have learned that lesson over the past weeks.”
“Okay.”
“So you will marry me?” he asked with cautious optimism.
“I meant okay I believe you. But I still want to make sure we’ve got both sex and friendship going for us. Is that really so much to ask?”
He looked down into her beautiful but troubled dark eyes and shook his head. No, it was not too much to ask. She had been through so much in a short period of time, and she was feeling very out of control. In essence, she was simply trying to take some of that control back.
And, like every time but one when she had come to him for help, he could do nothing but assure she was given what she needed.
The truth was, if he’d helped that one time as well, none of the subsequent public scandal would have been caused. Dimitri’s girlfriend would not have gone missing and his grandfather would have had his surgery under less life-or-death circumstances.
He wasn’t going to screw up that way again.
“Come here, Phoebe.”
Phoebe couldn’t believe he was going to make love to her. But she could see from the serious expression in his golden brown eyes that was exactly what he had planned. Coming here tonight had not been a mistake.
Spiros understood, even if he did not agree. And he’d told her he wanted to marry her irrespective of the money deal between their families. Even if it was only because he’d realized how important their friendship was to him, that was still good to know.
His eyes burned over her with the same flame of desire she’d seen that night in her apartment. They were going to make love. She was so keyed-up by the prospect she could barely breathe.
Her body drawn by a relentless invisible cord, she moved toward him.
He reached out when she was close enough and pulled her the rest of the way, his mouth coming down toward hers even as their bodies came together.
“Never doubt that I want you.” He spoke against her lips in a low but firm voice.
“Show me,” she challenged.
“Oh, I will.”
