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Damen was engaged in a lighthearted banter with a woman Stavros assumed to be the principal. As he listened absently to their exchange, Stavros knew his friend was fighting a losing battle. It was just a simple kiss between an engaged couple; it would be the height of rudeness to his fiancée if he continued refusing.
He asked the usherette quietly, “I believe you have a Ms. Mairi Tanner working here?”
“Oh, yes. She was our presenter for the opening speech. Would you like to meet her after the ceremony?”
“That would be ideal.” Stavros paused, considering his options. “If you could point out where she’s seated for now though?”
The woman stopped next to the front row seats. “There she is, Mr. Manolis.”
Stavros slowly followed her gaze.
It was her.
It really was her.
And she looked...she looked exactly like how she looked that day she had been expelled for being labeled a gold digger because of him.
“MY FIANCÉE IS A SHY person, Ms. Thorn...”
“Oh, we are not asking for a passionate kiss, Mr. Leventis. I am very much aware of the tender age of my students. This is all in the spirit of celebrating your engagement, you understand. Just a small sweet kiss between a loving couple would be more than enough, wouldn’t you say so, girls?”
The students cheered their agreement.
Mairi listened sickly to the word play between Damen and Ms. Thorn, knowing that in the end the latter would win.
It would only be a matter of time.
And if they did kiss...
And if she saw them kiss...
She wanted to be sick.
MS. THORN WAS NOT GOING to give this up.
Damen knew she was not being a bitch about this, knew she was simply being her usual calculating self and saw no harm in asking for something that should be simple for any engaged couple to do. It was not her fault that she did not know how much he had fucked up and that by kissing his fiancée, he would be hurting another – the woman most special to him.
The thought of hurting Mairi again had his face hardening. No. Never. He had hurt her enough. He prepared himself to be rude, and damn what happened afterwards, but Alina, for once in her life, beat him to speaking.
“He is very protective of me,” Alina was suddenly saying. “I’m much younger than he is. He doesn’t like people to think he’s taking advantage of my age.” She smiled up at Damen even as her gaze remained unreadable and guarded. “What he needs to realize is that I am not to be protected.”
She took his face in her hands and tiptoed, her lips touching his.
Damen stilled.
In his mind, and he did not know if he had imagined it or not, he heard it so clearly – Mairi catching her breath, Mairi’s tears splattering on the floor, Mairi giving up on him.
No!
When Alina released him from her hold, he immediately turned to look at Mairi.
She was not crying. She did not seem like she was holding her breath. But she did look like she had finally given up waiting for him.
No.
And then he saw it –
Ioniko, coming from the side of the stage, walking purposely towards Mairi.
And further away from him but nearer to Mairi, Damen saw Stavros Manolis gazing at Mairi as well. He didn’t know and understand why Manolis was looking at Mairi like that, but if there was one thing he knew, it was that Manolis appeared to be his rival as well.
A part of him told Damen to just let it go. Mairi Tanner would have all the Greek billionaires she could ever want. Maybe reading all those books had done her good. Even if they weren’t meant to be, at least she would be well taken care of.
The noble part of him told Damen to let it go, to let Mairi move on.
But the selfish and honest part of him told Damen that if he did let her go, it would mean forever. If he gave up on her, it would be for the rest of their lives. He would never have the chance to call Mairi his again, never be able to taste her lips or feel her body welcome him—-
No.
He looked at Alina. “I’m sorry. It won’t work between us.” His words were caught by the microphone. He removed her ring from his finger.
Alina didn't speak, staring at him with wide-eyed shock.
“I’m sorry,” he said again before jumping off the stage to go after the woman that had taught his heart to beat for someone else.
MAIRI COULD NOT THINK of a single thing that was more painful than seeing the man she loved receive the kiss of the woman who owned him and would one day have his name and bear him children.
It did not just hurt. It burned, like acid on her skin, a raging infection that almost drove Mairi to her knees.
