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Another woman’s lips was covering the lips of the man she loved – the man she had waited for all her life.
“No,” she whispered, closing her eyes, praying to God that it was a nightmare she could wake up from. But when she opened her eyes, Damen was still on stage and Alina Kokinos was still kissing him.
She fell back in her seat, knowing that it was a sight she could never forget, not even if she lived to be a hundred years old. She would always remember this, and she would always grieve because that one kiss had sliced her heart and broken it into a thousand pieces.
Mairi’s eyes fluttered close as she wheezed for breath as discreetly as she could. She was having a panic attack. Or maybe this was shock. She didn’t know anymore. All she knew was that she couldn’t breathe past the pain.
“Mairi?” That was Velvet.
“Mairi!” That was Mandy.
“Mairi?” That was...Ioniko?
“Mairi?” That was...a voice from the past, one familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.
And then chaos, everyone around her gasping, followed by a thousand clicking sounds as she heard a voice she didn’t think she’d hear anymore say her name.
“Mairi?”
Damen.
Her eyes opened.
She whispered brokenly, “Damen?”
Hearing her say his name like that broke him apart. If he had the chance to offer his life and the lives he would live after it in exchange for wiping the slate clean with Mairi, he would have. If it meant sentencing himself to an eternity in hell just so Mairi would never know the pain he had caused her time and time again, he would have.
In two single strides, Damen had her in his arms. She was still limp and unmoving.
His lips touched her hair. “I’m sorry,” he gritted out, his arms tightening around her. He tipped her chin up, needing her to see the truth in his eyes.
“Mairi, I love you.”
The words caused a wave of shock to go through the entire crowd.
Ioniko stopped moving towards them, his expression becoming hooded.
Stavros also stilled. Something inside him reacted to those words from Damen Leventis, and that something felt emptier and emptier as he took in the way Damen was looking at Mairi. His once very self-sufficient friend – a man who once did not believe in love – was looking at Mairi like he had started to believe because he had found it in the woman in his arms.
The paparazzi had finally caught on. Question after question was fired at them, and soon Damen and Mairi found themselves inside the tight circle made by his security team.
Everything was a blur, and Mairi could only look at Damen but not see him.
“Mairi, please,” he said hoarsely. “Say something.”
She shook her head. “I don’t know what to say.”
He fought for control even as everything inside him went crazy with fear that he was too late, that he had hurt her too much and now she just wanted to be free of him.
“Mairi, I’m sorry for being an ass. I can say a thousand more words, but they all boil down to the same thing. I fucked up and I just need one more chance to atone for all the times I hurt you.”
She still didn’t say anything.
“I’ve broken the engagement, Mairi. I knew – when I looked at you after she...”
And she spoke then, only to whisper in the same broken almost-singsong voice, “You kissed her.”
“No,” he denied fiercely. “I didn’t kiss her. She kissed me and—-” Damen’s hands shook as he cupped her tender face. “Mairi, you taught me to love because I saw how much you loved me. And if I’ve lost your trust and love because I messed up too many times, I’m sorry. But I’m not giving up. I’m going to do the same thing and teach you to believe in my love this time.”
He waited and waited, his heart cracking open with every second that passed without a word leaving Mairi’s lips. And just when he was about to lose hope, he felt it, her hands going to his heart.
“Damen.” Still broken, but not as weak, not as pained.
He covered her hand with his, pressing it close against his heart. “You’re in there now, matakia mou. And no matter what happens, you’ll always be there because it’s yours. All my heart is yours.”
Crying now, Mairi slowly took his other hand and brought it to her own heart. “This will always be yours, too. No matter how much it hurts to love you, Damen, it will always be yours.”
Chapter 14
To trust a Greek billionaire, you must let him realize some things on his own.
He said: Like how much I love you?
She said: No, dreamboat—-
He said (with a groan): Stop calling me that.
She said: But it’s cute!
AFTER MAKING SURE MAIRI was deeply asleep, Damen carefully extracted himself from her, not wanting her to wake up because she was obviously exhausted.
