The Art of Trusting a Greek Billionaire (2 page)

BOOK: The Art of Trusting a Greek Billionaire
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These days, she liked volunteering for anything. It helped take her mind off things, never mind if it also added permanent dark circles under her eyes.

“Are you homesick?” Diana asked. She missed the old Ms. Yay, the one that kept them laughing, deliberately or accidentally. But nowadays, the older woman appeared sadder, weaker, and thinner – like someone
wilting
away.

“Yes,” Mairi lied.
 

There was a small noise behind them, the glass doors sliding open once more. Thinking it was the head gardener, Mairi turned, a proud smile on her face because she truly thought she did a good job with the arrangement.

But it was
not
the head gardener.

Rather, it was the guy messing with
her
head.

Damen Leventis walked towards them with an air of arrogance and icy hauteur. He looked more gorgeous than she had allowed herself to recall, more masculine, more sophisticated – more everything than she wanted him to be.

It made her extra conscious of how
less
she was, compared to the old her. Mairi was also underdressed compared to him, in an oversized baseball shirt and an old pair of flannel pants.

From now on, I’m going to do gardening in Chanel and Louboutin heels
, Mairi told herself even as she felt herself getting paler and paler the closer Damen got to them.

Finally, he stopped at his sister’s side. His lips curved into a warm smile as he bent down to receive Diana’s kiss on his cheek, her face glowing with surprised pleasure.

“What brings you here?” Diana asked excitedly.
 

He smiled briefly before turning to Mairi. It was the only time he allowed himself to fully take in how she was, and the sight of her was like a punch to the stomach.
 

It wasn’t because she was more beautiful or sexier. If anything, she had become a paler version of herself. But what stunned Damen was how much he had missed her.
 

And he did, more than he thought possible. He looked at her and he wanted to kiss her, wanted to take her into his arms and lose himself in her scent, her touch, her passion.
 

He wanted so many things, but the moment their gazes met, another feeling struck him.
Guilt.
The hot and shameful kind, making Damen feel defensive and causing him to sound chillingly polite as he said, “Ms. Tanner.”

He was speaking to her as if nothing had happened.
It made her feel cheap and stupid. How could he speak to her like that? She opened her mouth to try and do the same, be polite and not let his sister
and
student know that they had a past.

But no words came out.

Because at that moment, she saw the ring around his finger, gleaming under the strong and powerful lights of the greenhouse.

When she had gotten back to her room from the library that night, the first thing Mairi had done was research about the party the couple had thrown. She had been hoping for a simple article, but with just one search she had gotten the worst results – official video coverage of the event, posted on the Leventis Incorporated’s website.

She had watched with eyes blinded with tears and a heart that kept bleeding as Alina Kokinos had offered a ring to Damen.


…a small token of my deep happiness and the honor and privilege I feel for being your future wife.”

But it had hurt even worse when Damen had taken the ring and worn it, saying amidst thunderous applause,
“I am honored by your token and will treasure it always.”

A small pain-filled cry escaped her, the memory like a knife stab to the heart.

She tried to speak, but no words came out because there really wasn’t anything to say. He did not think of her as someone worthy of marrying, of loving – of respecting.

He saw the way Mairi’s eyes teared up, and he understood – he
goddamn
understood each and every feeling in the hundreds of emotions that misted her gaze.
 

“Mairi—”

She spun away and walked out as quickly as she could. She knew by doing so she was giving herself away, but she just couldn’t be in the same room he was in and
not
die. She wished it was an exaggeration, but it was
not
.
 

He made herself feel like the worst kind of character in a novel – the girl who would never be the heroine because she was not the kind that any hero could ever love.

As her teacher left in a hurry, the look on her face was horribly easy to read. A gasp came out of Diana’s mouth, and when her brother started after Ms. Yay, Diana cried out, “No!”

Damen stilled.

Running in front of him, she burst out furiously, “How could you?” She couldn’t recall being
this
angry with her brother. Throughout the years, she had seen him coldly break women’s hearts, dozens of them, and she had thought the women were stupid for falling for him in the first place.

But now that it was someone she knew – someone Diana liked, respected, and cared for – she finally had an inkling of what those women had gone through and could empathize with them.

When Damen didn’t answer but instead tried to move past her again, she blocked his way, protesting, “No!”

“This is none of your business—”

“She’s my teacher!”

“She’s my lover!”

Diana shut up, stunned not by the words but by the tone of possessiveness that underscored it. Even so, she could not get Ms. Yay’s face out of her mind.
 

“Don’t go after her. I’ll go talk to her instead. You don’t deserve—”

He cut her off flatly. “I may not deserve her, but I will still go after her.” For a moment, he wasn’t speaking to Diana as a brother, but as a man whose hold over his woman was being threatened – a man who would do anything to keep his woman in his possession.

“I’ll warn you just this once, Diana. Do not interfere. This is our business alone, not yours.”

Chapter Three

 

To trust a Greek billionaire, one must remember that he does not ever mean to hurt you. He only thinks he’s always right.

She said: Always.

He said: You will not get an argument from me about that.

 

Mairi stopped moving only when her ill-exercised limbs were no longer able to work and her chest was heaving too hard for her to breathe properly.

She looked around, realizing a second later that she had run blindly to the back of the school, with the beach near enough that she could smell the salt in the air.

Hearing the lightest footsteps, Mairi assumed it was Diana looking for her and as she turned around, she tried to think of what to say that would
not
make her look like the fool she really was.

But again, Damen ended up surprising her.

“You!” She backed away immediately at the look of resolve on Damen’s face. Why was he here? Why had he come after her? What did he want?
 

So many questions she wanted to ask but didn’t. If she did, Mairi knew it would make her look like she still cared.

He took a step forward, and she backed up a step, too.

Damen stilled. “I’m not playing this game with you.”

“Good.” And then she turned around and started to run again.

What the fuck—

He gave her one, two, three seconds, but when it was clear she really did intend to run away like a child, he swore under his breath and went after her.
 

“Stop!”

“No!”

“Stop!”

“NO!”

They had covered about ten meters of distance by then, and he did not care to cover another ten. Stopping, Damen said hardly, “If you do not stop running away from me, I shall let the school know about us.”

Mairi forced herself to stop, blanching at the threat. Spinning around to face him, she hissed, “Bastard!”

Damen stalked towards her. Everything inside her told Mairi to run away again, but she didn’t, gritting her teeth as she fought against her fears. She didn’t really even understand what was making her so terrified right now. All she knew was that if he came closer—

Three feet.

She couldn’t think.
 

Two feet.

Oh God, if he came near her—

One foot away now—

Oh.

Mairi choked on an unexpected sob.
 

This was what she had been unconsciously afraid of,
Mairi realized. That she would break down in his presence – again.

“Mairi—” He reached out for her but stopped when she raised a trembling hand, doing it in a way that made it seem like she saw him as someone who could harm her.

His arm fell to his side, his chest constricting. He wanted to shake her, to shout that this was him, Damen – the man whose bed she belonged to. He would never hurt her, dammit. Never!

But of course that would be a lie.

“Tell me,” he said hoarsely.

Her stricken gaze lifted up to meet his.

“Tell me where you’re coming from, dammit. How could you think I’d ever believe that you’ve fallen in love with me in the span of a day—”

Damen stopped speaking when a strange sound came from Mairi’s lips. An instant later, he realized she was close to being hysterical, her tears mingling with her laughter.

“Oh God, tell you?” She repeated his words with a choked, tear-stained laugh. “You wouldn’t believe me if I did.”

“I won’t believe you because it’s not true.” He wanted to force Mairi to see the truth in his words, but instead of shaming her into confessing that it was all a lie or a game to her, Mairi only sobbed harder.
 

“Tell you,” she repeated again. “Tell you where I'm coming from, you say. Fine – I’ll tell you.” Wiping the tears from her gaze, Mairi said, “I was young when my parents died and my mom’s older sisters took me in. They were both career-driven and childless and they didn’t know what to do with me. But because they loved me, they tried their best. And because I was used to being lulled to sleep with bedtime stories, they gave me that – only, their version of bedtime stories were found in drugstore paperbacks, where the heroes were almost always Greek billionaires and the girls were ordinary and nice and simple. Girls like me,” she said bitterly, “—and guys like you, in other words.”

When Mairi looked at Damen, her face was ravaged with tears but her eyes were completely clear – completely transparent. “That’s why I fell in love with you so quickly. I thought you were like those guys from the books, but…you’re not. You’re
not
.”

The way she looked at him stung. The way she spoke about him hurt. Again, he felt himself becoming defensive and he snapped, “Of course I’m not like them – I’m goddamn real and they’re not!”

But she only shook her head.

“Do you know how crazy you sound?” he demanded, furious at the way she was still looking at him and furious at the way she made him feel
wrong
for not believing in her bat-crazy story.

“If you think I’m—”

“I don’t care what you think! It’s the truth! I’m a crazy girl for taking one look at you and thinking that you’re the Greek billionaire I’ve been waiting for my whole life. I take one look at you and forget about the other Greek billionaire I met. I took one look at you and I fell in love with you! I’m that kind of crazy girl so please—” Her voice broke.

Her head dropped. “Please,” she choked out. “Please just leave me alone and let me cure myself out of my insanity.”

The words destroyed him. As she cried in front of him, Damen tried to think of a way to make it better again for her – for him – for them. There was something to fix – but
what
? He wished he goddamn knew what exactly was wrong between them so he could do something.

“It doesn’t have to be this way,” he gritted out. He
ached
to hold her, to have her back in his arms, but he knew he would kill any remaining pride in her if he did. The way she looked at him told Damen that she
would
give in if he did touch her – and if she did, she would hate herself for it.

BOOK: The Art of Trusting a Greek Billionaire
6.63Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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