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“What the hell’s wrong?” Damen demanded.
“You two are the ones wrong! I don’t do this, okay?”
“This?” Ioniko echoed.
She gestured to them wildly. “You two. Me. No way.”
One, two, three seconds passed before Ioniko and Damen exchanged dawning looks of understanding.
And then slowly, they started to laugh.
Oh drat.
So they weren’t thinking of having a ménage with her?
“No,” Damen said blandly, correctly interpreting the reason why Mairi was suddenly cringing and unable to meet his gaze – or Vlahos’ for that matter. “We are not the kind of men who share our women.”
“Which means you have to choose, Mairi – me...or Leventis?” Ioniko crossed his arms over his chest, and side by side he and Damen looked like Greek warriors waiting for a slave to choose whom she wanted to belong to.
She shook her head. “I don’t want or need to choose.”
“Bullshit.”
Mairi’s head snapped up at Damen’s furious reply.
“Why did you run away that night?” he demanded. “Do you know how worried I was when I couldn’t find you? I thought something had happened to you!”
“Something did happen,” she cried out. “You have a betrothed!”
Damen froze.
“Your mother told me and I heard you two talk and you didn’t say a thing to deny it. You have been betrothed since she was fifteen and you took my virginity even though another girl’s been wearing your ring!” She waited for him to speak, but of course he didn’t and she said bitterly, “Now you know why I left.”
The defeat in her stance made Damen flinch because it was not like Mairi to be like that. He had known her for over a day, but even in that short span of time he fucking knew Mairi was like a goddamn sun that kept shining.
“I want you in my life, Mairi.”
The words stunned her, and even though she didn’t want to admit it, the words made hope unfurl its leaves and start to blossom inside her again. “You do?” Mairi whispered.
“I know it sounds fucking crazy, but there’s something about you that I can’t get enough of. I never stopped thinking about you these past two weeks. I wanted to fix things but you didn’t take my calls—-”
“You called once!”
“You didn’t let me visit—-”
“You tried once!”
“You didn’t reply—-”
“You texted me once!”
“Those were all things I have never done for any other woman but you!” he snapped, his hand slashing the air in an expansive gesture of frustration. “Do you think it’s easy for me to do any of those when all my life it’s always been the other way around?” He looked at Ioniko with contempt. “And I still fucking want you, even if you are here with him.”
Ioniko said evenly, “I trust Mairi’s judgment. I’m sure she’ll eventually see that she will be happier in my bed than in yours.”
“You will never touch her!” Damen spat.
“Careful with your tone, Leventis. I can easily order you off my yacht.”
Realizing in a panic that the two were close to coming to blows, she protested, “Stop!” Their gazes swung back to her, barely suppressed rage evident in their tense forms.
Swallowing, she looked at Ioniko first. “I’m so sorry I got you involved in this.”
Ioniko breathed hard at the words. “And I am sorry that you are choosing this bastard over me.” She started to speak, but he shook his head. “You did nothing wrong – and it is not over between us. Don’t think I’m giving you up. I am simply respecting your decision – for now. But know this, Mairi - he does not deserve you.”
“And you do?” Damen asked coldly.
“At least I do not lie about being unattached.” Ioniko smiled mirthlessly. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I think it is best that I leave the two of you to work out your differences.”
The door swung shut behind Ioniko’s back silently, leaving Mairi and Damen staring at each other.
Everything she had ruthlessly buried in the deepest recesses of her memories suddenly came back in a rush, and she nearly fainted at the way her heart was close to bursting with happiness. Damen Leventis wanted her in his life. Her Greek billionaire had missed her, had not been able to stop thinking about her – had chosen her.
Chapter 13
To catch a Greek billionaire, you must be prepared to be hurt.
He said: That makes you sound like a masochist.
She said: Good thing you’re very much a sadist. We’re the perfect pair.
(He said: Note to editor – make sure this book is rated for mature readers. I do not want my daughter to read this and start having ideas.)
“Please don’t tell me we ran out of gas.” Mairi was the first one to break the silence that had developed between her and Damen the moment they were aboard his sailboat, which he had anchored next to Ioniko’s yacht.
She had been terribly impressed to see Damen in action behind the steering wheel, but now, with the winds dying down and the engine suddenly shutting down in the middle of the Mediterranean, Mairi was starting to feel faint. She had watched a lot of movies that took place in marooned and lost ships and none of them had happy endings.
