The Greek Tycoon's Secret Heir (4 page)

His hands swept down her back, clutching at her hips and lifting her up against him. Off-balance, she clung to him as his mouth moved over hers. He lifted her up onto the countertop and stepped between her legs, spreading them farther apart with his hips.

The movement reminded her of where they were and that she didn’t exactly trust Christos. She lifted her head, stared down at him in the revealing illumination of the recessed fluorescent lights.

“I…I’m not ready for this,” she said, carefully trying to calm the flush of arousal running through her veins. She couldn’t resist running her fingers through his thick silky hair.

“You feel ready,” he said. He ran one finger down the line of her jaw to her neck, sweeping slowly down to rest on the pulse beating frantically at the base.

“That’s a chemical reaction,” she said, gathering her wits a little bit at a time.

“So?”

“Christos—”

He rubbed his other thumb over her lips. “I’ve missed the sound of my name on your lips.”

She shuddered and leaned into him. She rested her head on his shoulder, because she didn’t want to see his eyes and maybe glimpse the truth—that this was just a line to get her into his bed, except, when had he ever had to lure her there? She’d wanted him from the first moment she’d stepped off the private plane on Mykonos and seen him.

Even Nikki had noticed and warned her away from her brother-in-law. Reminded her in that forceful way of hers that Ava’s responsibility was to Nikki’s children.

She stiffened in Christos’s arms and pushed away. “Are you really going to marry me or is that just a ploy to get me to cooperate?” she asked.

Christos kept his hands on her waist holding her steady even though she tried to draw away. “You’ll just have to wait and see, won’t you?”

“Christos—”

“Don’t question me, Ava. You’ll have to trust what I’ve told you. There is nothing you can say that will make me change my mind.”

“I
can
make this difficult for you,” she said, after a long moment. She hated that this issue of trust was between them. There could never be peace between them until he acknowledged he’d been wrong five years ago.

“You’re welcome to try, but I fight hard and always win.”

“Funny. I would have said our first match-up ended in a draw. Did pushing me out of your life and accusing me of infidelity feel like a win to you?”

He cursed. Then leaned down so close that their noses touched. “Don’t bring up the past or I’ll take Theo out of here and never look back.”

She felt a frisson of fear and tears stung her eyes. The thought of losing her son was more than she could bear.

Christos cursed again and drew her back into his arms. “Sorry.”

“For?”

“Being a bastard. I don’t want to talk about the past with you. I can’t forgive what you did or how things ended between us.”

His arms were gentle around her and she wondered at the contradiction of this man. She was afraid to trust and at the same time afraid not to. Despite the fact that he had that icy control over his emotions, she could feel the fire beneath the surface.

She blinked to try to stop the tears that were burning in her eyes, but they fell anyway, flowing down her cheeks.

“I’m not going to take your son away,” he said.

“We could have a DNA test,” she said at last. She’d resisted having one originally, because she’d gone to Christos a virgin; he should have understood that she would never give her body so easily to another. And she wanted his trust. What woman in love didn’t want her man to trust her?

“That’s not necessary. Theo is of Theakis blood, that is enough.”

She nodded against his shoulder, suddenly very tired. Christos tipped her head up and thumbed away the tracks of her tears.

Then he brushed his lips over hers. “Let’s start anew.”

She nodded. Yes, starting anew sounded good to her. Christos left a short while later and she tried to tell herself that they’d resolved the past, but a part of her knew they hadn’t. She hoped leaving it be would be enough, but experience had taught her that incidents from the past always came back to haunt her.

He was tempted to leave the work he really didn’t want to do and go upstairs and join them—the boy he’d claimed as his heir and the woman…the woman he wanted to claim as his own.

Ten days shouldn’t change a man’s life, he thought, yet that was exactly what had happened. It was ten days since he’d seen
her
again. Since he’d met Theo for the first time and wished for things he’d never wanted.

His mobile phone rang. The last thing he wanted to do was talk to anyone. When he glanced at the caller ID screen and saw it was his father, he was tempted to let it go to voice mail, but the old man would simply call Antonio and force Christos to take the call.

“Hello,
patera
.”

“Why haven’t you called?” Ari Theakis asked. Straight to business. The old man wasn’t exactly known for his emotional outbursts. That might be why Christos had given in when his father, lying in a hospital bed, had begged him to take over where Stavros had left off.

“Was I supposed to?”

“Yes. Have you seen my grandson?”

“Yes. He’s living with me.” Living with Theo and Ava was different than he’d expected it to be. Now that they were here, he’d realized how empty his homes had always been. Unlike the servants and paid staff that usually inhabited his residences, Theo and Ava didn’t leave him alone. One or the other was always popping into his office and inviting him to do something—watch TV, read a book, play with Rescue Heroes.

“Good. When will you be bringing him home?”

“Soon,” he said. The timetable for their departure had been delayed by Ava’s replacement, who needed another week before she could take over the class and Ava had told him she didn’t want to make her class go through an adjustment twice, which they would have to do if a substitute was brought in now.

He’d had to respect that request. So they were still in Florida. “We need a legal heir now. I don’t like the thought of the Theakis line ending with you.”

“Believe me,
patera
, I’m well aware of that,” Christos said. Theo had to be declared Christos’s heir before the annual board meeting in the fall. Otherwise another branch of the Theakis extended family could take control of the shipping line if anything happened to Christos, something his father didn’t want and even Christos agreed would be a bad thing. His Uncle Tony didn’t have the best head for business. But then, he’d been a second son, just like Christos.

“What about the girl?”

“Ava?” The last thing he wanted to do was talk about her with his father.

“Yes.”

“What about her?”

“Don’t play with me, boy. I’m still the head of this family.”

“She’ll be coming home with me. She refused to relinquish her rights to the boy.” He was glad about that. Reveled in the fact that Ava was a really good mother. He had a hard time reconciling what he knew about her with the person she was today. Maybe she had changed when she became a mother, as she’d said.

“Is that wise? We don’t trust her.”

“
Patera
, you asked me to take over and to bring home an heir before the board of directors held their emergency meeting. I’m doing it and I’ll do it my way. If you don’t like it, I’m happy to go back to my other business interests.”

Actually, that solution would be for the best. Ava and Theo could go back to their lives, and he could return to the world he knew. No more long hours running a shipping line and feeling his brother’s presence each time he entered the office.

There was silence on the line and Christos had no doubt his father was wishing that Stavros hadn’t died in that plane crash. Who knew, maybe he was even thinking that a swap would have been better. Christos in Stavros’s place. But even Ari didn’t have control over life and death and Christos was now the only Theakis brother.

“I have to go. I’ll have Antonio send our travel plans once they are in place.”

“Are you marrying the girl?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Good. The boy will need siblings.”

“
Patera
…”

“The wedding should take place here on Mykonos. I’ll have Maria see to the arrangements,” Ari continued, making plans to rule Christos’s life.

“Have her call Ava. I’ll give Antonio those numbers.”

He hung up. Suddenly the library felt too small. He walked out onto the patio and stood there in the shadows of the early evening. His father always made him feel as if…as if he wasn’t good enough. Even now, when he was doing Ari’s bidding, there was a part of him that knew he was always second-best. The son least likely to become what his father wanted.

“Christos?”

He glanced over his shoulder. Ava stood in the doorway to the living room. She wore a pair of black leggings that made her legs look a mile long. She had a long-sleeved T-shirt on, and she looked so comfortable and approachable. She was relaxed in his home, and he wasn’t.

“Yes?”

“Do you want to join us for story time?”

Story time? This was what his life was becoming. If Gui and Tristan could see him, they’d never let him live it down. But his friends weren’t here. Only Ava and Theo and the house staff.

The thing was, he wanted to join them. He wanted to go up those stairs and sit on the pile of pillows that Ava had stacked in the corner and listen to her sweet voice telling tales where parents didn’t have expectations that could never be met. And brothers didn’t die. And princesses were really pretty and sweet and true.

“You okay?”

“Yes. I have a lot of work to do.”

“Oh. Um…okay.”

But it didn’t seem okay to him.

“What is it?”

“Theo wanted to hear the ending of the tale you were telling him when he fell asleep last night. The one about some sea monster.”

Ava’d had an obligation to attend a function at her school and he’d found himself alone with the boy. “Let me tie up a few details down here and then I’ll be up.”

She nodded and turned away, but then came back. “Thanks for all you’re doing with Theo.”

He smiled. He liked the boy. As much as Theo looked like a Theakis, it was obvious to Christos that he had Ava’s personality. He was very curious about everything, but cautious at the same time. Christos rubbed his hand over his eyes and looked up at the sky, seeking the familiar pattern of the stars. But it didn’t sooth him.

He wanted Ava. That was the cause of the restlessness in him. Not the long hours spent working at Theakis Shipping or the fact that he had a new heir he was getting to know.

There was a restless yearning in him for her, and having her in his home but not in his bed was winding him too tight.

Ava tried to relax into the cushions but this close to Christos, she couldn’t. Theo was tucked up between the two of them with Christos’s arm draped over them both. His earthy cologne filled each breath she took.

His profile was sculptured and classical. One look at him and there was no doubt that he was Greek. His thick ebony hair and dark olive skin…

“Ava?”

“Hmm?”

“You’re staring at me,” he said.

She flushed. “Just thinking how much you look like Theo.”

He arched one eyebrow at her, clearly letting her know that he wasn’t buying her somewhat flimsy excuse. She shrugged.

He continued the story he was telling. She loved the deep cadence of his voice. She leaned back against the pillows, closing her eyes for just a minute, and drifted to sleep without realizing it, waking only when she heard the soft sounds of Theo’s whisper.

“She can sleep with me,
Baba.”

“Should I carry her to your bed?”

Ava forced her eyes open. “Did I miss the end of the story?”

“Yes,” Theo said. “I’ve already brushed my teeth.”

Ava glanced up at Christos, who shrugged his shoulders. “We didn’t want to wake you.”

“Thanks for helping him with his nighttime routine.”

“No problem,” he said, rubbing his hand over Theo’s head. “Let’s get you tucked in.”

Ava braced one hand on the floor to get up. Christos offered his hand and tugged her to her feet. The strength behind his tug knocked her off balance, and she fell against his hard chest. He wrapped an arm around her waist for a second before letting her go.

God, she wanted this man. She wished that life were simpler. That she was more sure of herself and the decision she’d made to go to Greece. Then she’d be unafraid of taking a chance on acting on the passion between them.

“Come on, Mama. Prayer time.”

They tucked Theo in and she and Christos left the room together. The moment was surreal in that she’d spent so many years imagining what it would be like to have Christos in their lives, and here he was. But she knew they were both just playacting for the sake of their son.

She closed the door leading to the hallway, leaving it open a crack the way she always did. It was early, and too soon to retreat to her suite of rooms just yet. Now that she’d had her little power nap, she needed…wanted to get to know Christos.

Their summer affair had been full of hidden rendezvous and secret embraces. As nanny to Stavros and Nikki’s daughters, she’d been part of the staff, and Christos…well he’d been busy away from Mykonos during the week, flying in on the weekends and sweeping her off to his yacht the minute her shift with the girls ended. Feeding her exotic foods, telling her tales of the sea and making love to her.

She followed him down the stairs into the formal living room. He went to the wet bar and poured two fingers of Scotch into a glass.

“We need to talk,” Christos said.

“About?”

“Theo’s religion. We’re all Greek Orthodox. I’d like you both to convert.”

“Ah…I’ll think about it,” she said, religion having not been on her mind. “I was hoping we could spend some time together tonight and get to know each other better.”

“Doing what?”

She wasn’t sure. She’d been sneaking around to see Christos during their torrid affair and she had no idea what he usually did with his free time. On Mykonos he’d talked of little besides the passion that flowed so powerfully between them.

“I don’t know. Watch a game, or talk, or whatever it is that you like to do.”

“Come over here, Ava,” he said.

She took a few steps into the room and then realized that she wasn’t being herself. She was still stuck in the past when it came to Christos. She wasn’t as shy as he always made her feel. Pushing aside the doubts that had been brought on by the way things had ended between them, she sank down onto the white leather couch. “You come here.”

He arched one eyebrow at her in that totally arrogant way of his.

He poured himself another drink and came over to her side. Sprawling out on the couch, stretching his free arm along the back, he took a sip of his drink and just watched her.

“Now what?”

She thought about it. Somehow she had the idea that telling him to take off his shirt wasn’t going to really help her quest to know more about the man he’d become. But it would satisfy her curiosity.

“Ava, you’re staring again.”

“I can’t help it. There’s a part of me that can’t believe you’re really here.”

She realized she’d surprised him when he stiffened on the couch.

“Staring at me helps?”

“No. I stare at you because…” She took a deep breath. “Because you’re incredibly attractive and I’ve always liked looking at you.”

He leaned forward, putting his glass on the coffee table. “That’s good.”

“Is it?”

“We’re going to be married,” he said.

“Is this going to be a real marriage?” she asked.

He pushed to his feet. “I’m not interested in being married to an unfaithful woman.”

“I’m not interested in any man but you, Christos. I never have been.”

He looked at her. “If you even look at another man…”

The jealousy she remembered. And she had no way to combat it. He had to trust her. And she had to show him that he could. “I’m only looking at you.”

“Prove it.”

“How?”

“Come to me,” he said, holding his hand out to her.

Ava was the only woman in the world who evoked such deep feelings in him. Feelings that made him volatile. And he hated that.

“I don’t see what that will prove,” she said, nervously tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

He just kept his hand extended toward her and waited. It was time to set the boundaries of the relationship and to let her know in no uncertain terms exactly who was in charge.

Finally she pushed to her feet and took a few steps toward him. He loved the way she moved. There was something distinctly feminine in the way her hips swayed with each step she took.

“I’m here, now what?”

He shook his head and waited for her to close the gap between them. She placed her hand in his and he drew her closer until their chests brushed.