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And as their lips met in another kiss that made their hearts both beat and twinge, she sent a little prayer up to the heavens, like she always did when she felt like there was nowhere to go, no one to turn to.
Dear God, if there is no way for me to stop loving him, then when the time comes that I must leave him, please, please, please give me the strength to disappear from his life forever.
Chapter 8
He said: If you marry a man like me, you must remember to live your life according to this one simple rule: your enemies’ enemies are your best friends.
She said: I was actually thinking something more like this – if you wed a Greek billionaire, your husband’s enemies’ enemies will also surely be Greek.
He said: I love you, matakia mou, but I must tell you that you made no sense.
She said: You Greeks love to fight. Just sayin’.
“YOU TRULY DO NOT NEED to come with me,” Damen said the next night as he zipped the back of her dress, a sparkling sapphire-blue gown with a low-cut neckline that she had bought a few months ago in preparation for all the parties she had to attend as Damen’s then-fiancée. Mairi had a few misgivings when she had seen that Damen hadn’t touched a single thing in her closet. It didn’t feel right to wear clothes she had bought with his money – and during a time she had believed that he truly loved her.
But with them suddenly needing to go to a party tonight, Mairi decided to be simply practical about it. She would be a greater help to Damen if she was at least dressed to fit the part of his wife.
Seeing the worried frown on Damen’s face on the mirror, Mairi said reassuringly, “They can’t say anything that could hurt me.”
Damen was quiet for a moment. “Can’t they?”
Unbidden, she remembered the last time they had encountered the paparazzi, and Mairi shook her head vehemently even as she forced a smile. “I wasn’t prepared then. I am now.” Stepping away from him, she changed the subject, gazing at him through the mirror as she asked, “Well? Do I look okay?”
As Damen studied her appearance, she couldn’t help doing the same to him. She was no longer surprised, just resigned at the way butterflies fluttered its wings inside her stomach every time she took in Damen’s dazzling good looks. Everything about him was perfect, and strangely, she found him even more dazzling now that he was no longer a billionaire. The hardships he faced now had not weakened him at all. If anything, it had made him stronger, harder – it made him a hundred times more the man he already was, giving him the kind of raw power that money could never buy.
“You look perfect.” Damen’s words startled her into turning her head towards him, and that was then she realized he had come to stand right behind her. A gasp escaped Mairi when he bent down to place a soft, warm kiss on her nape, which was exposed by her hair’s upswept do. Her skin tingled at the touch of his lips, and Mairi couldn’t help but sigh and arch her neck when Damen’s lips started to move.
Closing her eyes, Mairi allowed herself the fantasy that they were really just newlyweds in love with each other.
“I love you.”
The fantasy shattered, Damen’s words something she could never really believe in.
Damen watched Mairi’s eyes flutter open, and the bleakness in them made him curse silently. He had known it would be too soon to speak the words, but he didn’t give a damn. He meant to break every damn wall around her heart, and he meant to say the words every day in hopes that there would be a time she could make herself say them back.
One day, Damen thought determinedly as he watched Mairi carefully move away from him with hooded eyes.
“W-we might be late.” Mairi couldn’t meet his eyes as she spoke. “Should we go now?”
He didn’t give her a chance to walk away, instead clasping her by the waist to spin her around. Her gasp was caught in his kiss, and Damen used the kiss to tell her again what she didn’t want to hear.
He loved her.
He would not give her up.
Ever.
Mairi was quiet when he finally released her, and she didn’t make any protest when Damen took her hand, keeping her close to him as they made their way downstairs.
Damen stilled when he saw Drake Morrison in the living room, dressed in a sleek gray suit. “Who says you’re going with us?”
Drake inclined his head towards Mairi. “I’m her bodyguard, aren’t I? So where she goes, I go.”
Damen’s jaw clenched. “It’s just a party.”
Conscious of Damen’s gaze on her, Mairi said unevenly, “I’d really prefer that D-Drake’s nearby at all times.” Especially after what happened in the bedroom. The thought had the faintest hint of hysteria stirring inside her, but Mairi only mentally tightened her grip on her emotions.
