The Greek Tycoon's Secret Heir (13 page)

“Theo, enough for today. I have to go back to work.”

“Ok,
Baba
.”

Theo swam to the side where Christos was and hugged him. Ava lifted him out of the pool. Theo hugged her and then ran to the poolside table where Maria had placed lemonade and snacks.

Christos got out of the pool and stood next to her. It was the closest they’d been since their fight. “I can teach our son not to fear water,
moro mou
, but I don’t know how to teach you to trust me. I know that you can’t see past what I did, but the reasons were more complex than just your trust.”

“Your father told me. Tried to take the blame for the test.”

Christos shook his head. “I ordered the test, I did that. But I haven’t looked at the results, and I won’t.”

Ava felt the first chink of doubt in her resolve that his forcing the test was a bad idea. She watched him walk away, seeing for the first time that they both had to trust each other. She had to believe in him when he made promises to her, and she hadn’t.

Christos spent the next two days at the office trying to tell himself that he didn’t need a close relationship with Ava to be happy. But he missed her. He wanted her back in his bed. At night when he came home to tuck Theo in he’d prompt the boy for stories about his mother so he could find out how she was doing.

God, he was pitiful.

The love he wasn’t sure he felt for her was now seeming more and more real. He ached to have her back in his bed, not just so they could make love, but also so they could talk about the day.

He knew only one person who’d been in love, who knew what real heartbreak was. And though he’d always been careful to keep his emotions private, he had nowhere else to turn. Life with Ava couldn’t continue this way.

He left Theo’s room and walked down the hall to his study. The room was filled with items he’d collected and had at one time been a sanctuary for him, but no longer. Now it just seemed so much emptier than it ever had before.

He dialed Tristan’s number before he could change his mind and without calculating the time difference from Mykonos to Manhattan.

“Theakis, it’s the middle of the day here.”

“I’m sorry, this couldn’t wait.”

“What’s the matter? Is it Theo or Ava?”

“It’s…ah, hell, Tristan, I’ve screwed things up with Ava. You said something on our wedding day about women’s dreams…and I’ve never really understood what she wants from me.”

“Ask her.”

“What?”

“Ask her. She’ll tell you what her dreams are and then you can fulfill them.”

He knew what Ava wanted and realized he’d backed himself into a corner. “She wants me to love her and trust her.”

“You don’t really trust anyone,” Tristan said.

“I trust you and Gui.”

“Now, you do. But you didn’t for the first fifteen years we knew each other.”

“I don’t think Ava’s going to give me that much time.”

“Having met her, I’d agree. What’s the hold-up here? Is it the relationship with Stavros?”

No, it wasn’t. It was him and the damned hollowness inside that he knew was the wellspring of his aloofness. That distance he kept as a buffer between him and the world.

“No, that’s not it.”

“What is it then?”

He couldn’t put it into words with Tristan. “Nothing.”

“It sounds like you love her,
mon ami
. Don’t let her slip away. She’s the first good thing to happen to you since…well, ever. She’s the kind of woman who can give you the home and family you’ve always wanted.”

“I wasn’t looking for home and family.”

“Whatever you say.”

He wished it really was whatever he said. Because then he’d order Ava to move back to his room and make their lives together everything she wanted them to be. “Later.”

He hung up the phone as everything coalesced in his head. He needed Ava even more than he needed Theo or Ari or the Theakis shipping business. He needed her because she made him feel alive. Before her, he’d been stuck in the rut that came from always running and never standing still.

Did he love her?

Yes, he thought. He did love her. She was the only woman who’d ever made an impression on him. The only woman who’d ever made him feel so many different things. The only woman he’d never been able to forget.

He needed to find Ava and tell her that he loved her. Tell her that he’d been an idiot for not believing in her. Because now he understood what she wanted from him.

He went to the bedroom she’d moved back into two days ago and knocked on the door.

The door opened and she stood there in her bare feet and bathrobe. Her face was scrubbed clean of makeup and her hair was pulled back. His breath caught in his throat as the love he felt for her swamped him.

She kept the door partially closed like a barrier between them and he realized he wasn’t going to let her do this. Let her turn him into some kind of simpering fool because he loved her.

He pushed the door open and scooped her up in his arms. He kicked the door closed and carried her across the room. He tossed her down on the center of the bed and then covered her body with his own.

She wedged her hands between them pushing against his chest. “What are you doing?”

“Claiming my wife.”

“You already did that on our wedding night.”

“No I didn’t,” he said, bending down to kiss her because the words hovering on the tip of his tongue were too revealing.

He plundered her mouth and restaked his claim on her. Tried to show her with his body all the things that he struggled to find the words to say. Her hands skimmed over his chest up to his neck, wrapping around his shoulders.

“I’ve missed you,
moro mou
.”

“I’ve missed you, too. But sex isn’t going to make everything okay between us,” she said. “I want more than this from you.”

“What do you want, Ava?”

“You to know that I trust you. So I have something for you.”

“What?”

“Go sit down and I’ll show you.”

“Show me?”

“Yes.”

She got up and walked away from Christos and he watched her go. She returned with an envelope, handing it to him. “I had this done because I don’t want to test you or your love. I need to trust you as well.”

“What is it?”

“Another paternity test. Open it and put your doubts to rest. I know that the situation you found me in with Stavros and the lies that I’d told you about my background all contributed to what you believed of me.”

“Ava, I trust you. I know—”

She put her fingers over his lips. “Just let me do this for us.”

He pulled her down on his lap and she snuggled close to him as he opened the envelope and pulled out the paper inside. He didn’t look at it but instead stared down at her. “This can’t change the way I feel about you. I trust you with my entire heart.”

“That’s wonderful, Christos, but I want more.”

A tear trailed down her cheek. “I haven’t stopped loving you.”

“Good.”

She smiled, thinking of the test results that waited on that paper. She wasn’t sure what he’d say, but it was the only olive branch she had. “Good?” He still hadn’t looked at it.

“I think I meant fantastic.”

“Why?”

“Because I love you, too. I think I always did. But I’ve been afraid to let you see how much you matter to me.”

“Oh, Christos, why?”

“Because…” Christos whispered in her ear. “If I didn’t love you, then it wouldn’t matter if you left me.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“I know,” he said, shifting her more comfortably in his lap.

“Your father was sure you were testing me.”

“I think I was testing myself. Can you forgive me for not believing in you?”

“Yes. I can.”

He took her mouth with his, letting his hands wander over her body. He untied the sash at her waist and pushed the sides of her robe open. She shivered and undulated against him. He leaned down to lick each nipple until it tightened. Then he blew gently on the tips. She raked her nails down his back.

“Oh, Christos, I’m afraid to believe this is real.”

“Doesn’t it feel real?” He shifted to lay her on the bed then moved further down her body, kissing his way over her stomach, his tongue tracing over the silvery stretch marks and lingering on her belly button.

He continued moving lower until he hovered right over her center.

“Open yourself for me,” he said.

Her legs moved, but he took her hands in his, bringing them to her mound. She hesitated but then did as he asked.

“Hold still,” he said.

He leaned down, blowing lightly on her before drawing her flesh into his mouth. He skimmed his hands up her thighs, then lifted his head and looked up her body.

Her eyes were closed, her head tipped back, her shoulders arched, throwing her breasts out.

He lowered his head again, hungry for more of her. He feasted on her body the way a starving man would, giving her as much pleasure as he could to celebrate the joy she brought to his life.

He wanted this night when they’d both confessed their love to each other to be one she never forgot. He concentrated on driving her toward her climax. He used his teeth, tongue and fingers to bring her to the brink but held her there, wanting to draw out the moment of completion until she was begging him for it.

Her hands left her body, grasping his head as she thrust her hips up toward his face. But he pulled back so that she didn’t get the contact she craved.

“Christos, now.”

He scraped his teeth over her and she cried out as her orgasm rocked through her body. He kept his mouth on her until her body stopped shuddering and then slid up her.

“Your turn,” she said, pushing him over onto his back.

She took his erection in her hand then followed with her tongue, teasing him with quick licks and light touches. But he was too close to the edge to let her continue. He pulled her away from his body, wanting to be inside her.

He moved her until she straddled his hips. Then, carefully, he pulled her down while he pushed into her body.

He pulled her legs forward, moving them farther apart until she settled even closer to him.

He slid deeper still into her. She arched her back, reaching up to entwine her arms around his shoulders. He thrust harder and felt every nerve in his body tensing. Reaching between their bodies he touched her between her legs until he felt her body start to tighten around him.

This time they cried out together, and then she collapsed on top of him, her head on his chest.

As they lay snuggled together, he found peace and contentment with her. Something he’d never known he’d want or need.

There was one more thing he had to do. He reached for the paper with the paternity test results, which had ended up next to Ava on the bed. Slowly, without looking at it, he tore it into tiny pieces and let them flutter out of his fingers. “Now, do you believe I love you?”

“Yes,” she said.

THE GREEK TYCOON’S SECRET HEIR

Copyright © 2008 by Katherine Garbera

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