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“It wasn’t a boy I kissed,” she mutters, looking down at her fingers that are currently picking at imaginary objects on her sheets.
“What does that mean?”
She shrugs, her cheeks going deep red. “There weren’t any boys at school. We were seventeen, you had just blown me off. Melina and I were tired of all the girls talking about their boyfriends. The girls in the dorm across the hall had been dating one another for a while. We were drinking. One thing led to another…”
“Are you fucking telling me you made out with my sister?”
“No!”
“Helena,” I bark.
“There was no make out session. We just kissed to see what we were missing.”
I hold my head down and pinch the bride of my nose. “My sister got to my fiancée’s mouth before me. What the fuck am I supposed to do with that?”
“Nothing. It was silly. Melina literally got sick. To this day I’m not sure if it was the margaritas because we had way too many of them, or the kiss. You should know it was probably the kiss. I doubt I’m any good at it.”
“If you tell me that you liked kissing my sister, we will have issues.”
“I didn’t, but don’t tell Melina. She thinks I thought it was awesome. I didn’t want to hurt her feelings.”
“Jesus Christ…”
“It’s kind of your fault. I was supposed to see you when I was at your house, and you completely ignored me. I don’t want to marry a man who ignores me. I get enough of that from my father now. I should warn you now. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life begging for attention, Marco. If you’re going to do that, I’m asking you to let me go.”
“You’re warning me?” I growl.
I see her recoil back and she should. She should be afraid.
Chapter 5
Helena
I really should learn when to keep my mouth shut. Things were going so well. Marco was definitely seeing me as a woman and what do I do? I fuck it up. Now, he’s pissed. I can see it written all over his face.
“Um…”
“I’m warning you, I’m not like anyone you’ve ever met, Ena. I make my own rules. I agreed to your terms when we became engaged. Now, you’re going to hear my terms.”
“You have terms?” I’m captivated by the stormy look on his face. Emotion is swirling in his eyes—dark, intense, and completely beautiful.
“I do and since this may be our last shot to talk freely until our wedding, you’re going to listen to them and you’re going to give me what I need.”
“Marco…”
“Now is my turn to talk and your turn to listen,” he says, shaking his head.
I swallow. I want to demand he listen to me. I long to tell him how much I’ve needed him in my life. How much I care about him, how I always have. I want him to know that even if Melina doesn’t realize it, I do. I see everything he does to shield her and how hard he works to make sure her and his brothers are safe. That I see it all—even if no one else does. There are a million things I want to tell him. Most of all I want to tell him that I know I’m younger, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know how my body reacts to him, how deeply I want him and that I’ve wanted him that way for a very long time—longer than I should have, but that doesn’t change the truth.
I don’t do any of that. Instead, I nod. “Okay.”
“I’ve got shit going on in my life. I have enemies who would use the women in my life against me. I’ve been protecting my sister against that. I can’t allow myself to get closer to you until I can neutralize that threat. I can’t allow you to be used against me, Helena. I will not bring you into a situation where you could be harmed. That’s not happening.”
“And I’m just supposed to be okay with the fact that the man I’m supposed to spend the rest of my life with ignores me?”
“You will have to accept that our engagement needs to be like this. I can’t let outside forces think you matter to me.”
“I don’t understand. My father says that your family is one of the most powerful in Greece.”
His face gets harder. “I am not my family. When I take you as my wife, it will be when I am standing on my own and in a position to protect what belongs to me.”
“Why even decide to marry me, then?”
“I didn’t get a choice. My father made the arrangement just as well as yours, Ena.”
It’s a simple statement, but it cuts. It’s clear from his words, from the way he’s looking at me and from his tone that he wouldn’t have agreed to our engagement if given the choice. I lower my eyes, because suddenly looking at him is painful. Marco doesn’t seem to notice. I know this because he keeps talking and suddenly, I wish that I could just escape this entire conversation.
