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“Stavros,” he said slowly, “Why aren’t you still married?”
Stavros tried to laugh the question off. “What is this? Pre-wedding jitters?”
Damen forced a smile. “Perhaps.”
They did not speak for a while after that, the match finally commencing with Greece’s national anthem playing. The usual ceremonies followed suit, and both of them fell into their roles with ease, alternating between charm and aloofness. The crowds had to be charmed, but lines had to be drawn, too. It was a tedious routine, but it was necessary because there were very few people that billionaires like them could truly trust.
Almost an hour had passed by the time they completed their duties and yet, he had not forgotten his conversation with his friend. He looked at Stavros to ask him again, but this time he didn’t have to.
Stavros answered quietly, “It is because I believe I may have met the right girl and I was forced to let her go.”
Looking at his friend, Damen knew that Stavros had lost himself in the past.
When Stavros spoke again, however, it was for Damen’s sake. “By asking me this, Damen, I think you may have found the right girl, too.”
“Since I am presently engaged,” he said with forced lightness, “I certainly hope so.”
Stavros shook his head. “You know what I mean, Damen. So if you think you’ve met her – don’t fuck it up like I did.”
The words stayed on his mind even well after the celebrity match between the two popular tennis pros had ended and he and Stavros parted ways.
When he was with Mairi, he could not remember being any happier. But even after all this time, Damen was still unable to make himself completely believe she really was in love with him. Or, as Stavros put it, that she really was the one.
And while he could not make up his mind, how long would Mairi be willing to wait?
It was a question he didn’t want to have the answer to. It also made him think of Mairi, and suddenly all Damen wanted was to hear her voice. When she talked to him, even about the silliest of things, he was at ease.
Dialing her number, Damen waited for Mairi to answer the phone. She normally answered after one or two rings, but this time it took him two calls before she picked up the phone.
“Hello?”
He could barely understand her, the crackling noise over the line distorting her voice.
Frowning, Damen demanded, “Mairi? Where are you?”
She answered, but this time her voice was totally incomprehensible.
With a frown, he ended the call and sent her an SMS. Where are you? What are you doing? Call me the moment you can.
Mairi: So demanding...I love it. <3
The words made him smile, but when over half an hour had passed and she still had not called, he became edgy and tense. His mind conjured all sorts of scenarios, none of them pleasant. Dammit, if something happened to Mairi—-
Gritting his teeth, Damen called the head of his security. “Get another team set up. I want them following Mairi Tanner 24/7 undercover.”
Another half hour had passed before his phone rang again. He was in his office by then, and he answered it right away, demanding, “Where the hell are you?”
“Hello to you, too,” she answered teasingly.
Damen was not in the mood to be teased, though. He had been pacing restlessly in his office, waiting for her call. “Answer me, Mairi.” At the back of his mind was the worry that the moment he turned his back on her, someone would make Mairi open her eyes and realize the truth. That she—-
“I love you,” she said very sweetly over the phone.
His chest constricted. How could she say it so easily even though he had never returned the words?
With a sigh, he said, “I’m sorry for being an angry, grumpy jerk. I was just worried.”
“It’s okay,” Mairi said soothingly, secretly touched by his admission that he was worrying about her.
“You still haven’t answered me.”
“It’s because I’m not at my destination yet.”
“Which is...where?” He got a giggle as an answer, something that would normally irritate him but with Mairi it came out as adorable instead.
Smiling to herself, excited at how Damen would react, Mairi said, “Your home. See you there!”
Mairi ended the call.
For three seconds, he was just stunned.
She was on her way to his home?
The truth hit him.
Oh fuck!
Why now?
MAIRI HUMMED TO HERSELF as she Dougie-danced her way to the back door exit of his apartment, which he gave her a key to. Sometimes, she was bothered by their arrangement, but whenever she was, Mairi only had to remind herself of Damen’s own words.
It was purely a business arrangement between him and Alina Kokinos, so there was nothing to be guilty about.
Sometimes, the words rang true. Other times, it didn’t.
Either way, when his words were not enough, Mairi had one last resort, made of just three words.
