The Greek Tycoon's Secret Heir (6 page)

“That’s his way. Just tell him to mind his own business.”

She pulled back and glanced up at him. “That might work for you. You get to leave this house.”

“Is that what this is all about?”

She shrugged and drew back. “I’m not sure what my life is going to be like as your wife.”

“Taking care of Theo and socializing with me in the evenings.”

“Oh. I’m just…”

“What, Ava?”

“I don’t know. I feel so isolated from everything. I don’t want to crowd Theo, but there’s no one else here who likes me.”

“I like you,” he said.

“Really?” she asked.

“Yes, really.”

He had the feeling he was getting closer to whatever was upsetting her. “I…I don’t have anyone I can ask to be my attendants in the wedding. I’d like to invite Laurette to be my maid of honor, but she can’t afford to fly from Florida. And that still leaves three openings…I know you have three groomsmen, right? Antonio, and then Tristan and Guillermo?”

“I’ll arrange it all. I like Laurette and you should have your friends with you. Is there anyone else we should bring over from the States?”

She shook her head.

“Don’t worry. I’ll have Guillermo and Tristan each draft a woman to bring down the aisle.”

“That’s not the point,” she said.

“What is the point?”

“I’m…not sure I can live here.”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “We’re to be married in less than two weeks.”

“I know. That’s why I’m bringing this up now. This last week has given me a glimpse of what my life will be. I need something more to do.”

He understood what she meant; even he didn’t really like living in the Theakis compound, but certain concessions had to be made. He ran through the job openings they had at Theakis and couldn’t think of one thing that was suitable for the mother of the Theakis heir to fill. But then he remembered that Nikki had served on their family’s foundation board.

“I’ve got a few ideas that I’ll investigate tomorrow.”

“Do you have time for that?”

“No, but I’ll make time for you. I want you to be happy here.”

Ava knew she needed to leave Christos alone to let him have some rest. He was working very hard; she saw the signs of stress in his eyes and in the way he carried himself. “This probably isn’t the best time for you to marry me.”

“Is that what this is all about, Ava? You want to back out of the wedding?”

“No,” she said. “I definitely don’t want that. I just don’t like seeing you so tense all the time.”

He quirked one eyebrow at her. “Why don’t we go back into my bedroom and you can help me relax?”

“Sex with you was never relaxing,” she said, trying to play off the desire she had to do just that.

“Was it relaxing with my brother?” he asked, with a bit of bite to his words.

She blanched. She’d forgotten he still believed she’d slept with his brother. Stavros had promised her he’d make everything right when she’d signed that agreement years ago, but he never had.

“I told you I never slept with Stavros,” she said.

“So you said.” He was so Greek at the moment. The fire and passion in him burned beneath that arrogance.

“Christos, you still don’t believe me?” She should let this go, but he’d asked her to marry him. How were they going to have a life together if he didn’t trust her?

“I don’t want to talk about it. I’m not interested in the other lovers you’ve had.”

“There haven’t
been
any other lovers,” she said.
Only you
. There’d only ever been Christos for her.

She walked over to him and stopped when barely an inch of space separated them. She put her hands on his shoulders and went up on her tiptoes so that she could stare into his obsidian eyes.

“I’m not going to marry you until we resolve this issue.”

He shook his head. “Then you may return to the States.”

“Christos, stop being impossible. How can I prove to you that Stavros and I were never intimate?”

“You can’t,” he said.

She turned away so he wouldn’t see the tears burning in her eyes. “We have to have trust between us. If we had the DNA test done on Theo…would that convince you that I’m not lying?”

“Ava…you would do that? I thought you wanted me to trust your word on Theo.”

“I do. But I can’t see how we’re ever going to live together as man and wife if I don’t prove myself to you.”

“You don’t have to prove yourself. I’m a jealous man, you know that, right?”

“Yes. But I’ve never done anything to make you jealous,” she said.

“Just seeing you walk into a room and be noticed by another man makes me jealous,” he said, putting his hands on her shoulders.

“I only see you,” she admitted, tipping her head back on his shoulder.

“
Moro mou
,” he said drawing her back into his arms.

Ava stopped thinking the minute her lips touched Christos’s. The cool breeze stirred her hair and she burrowed closer to his warmth.

She’d told herself she was here only because of her contentious relationship with his father, no other reason. But as his lips moved over hers, she knew she was a liar.

She was here with Christos because she wanted the man and he’d…he’d been gone too often since they’d arrived in Mykonos. And she’d had second thoughts. Fears that their life together would be like this, this distance always between them. But here was the fire she remembered.

It was hard not to fall for Christos.

He took a halfstep back from her and watched her through half-lidded eyes. He held her wrists loosely in his hands, his gaze moving over her, making her hyper-aware of him and at the same time of her body.

She didn’t need to protect herself from the past tonight. She was here with Christos. The man she’d been thinking about too much of the time lately. And damned if she wasn’t going to enjoy him.

“Come,” he said, drawing her toward the shadowed bedroom.

He was confident, sure of himself, and with plenty of cause. He lowered his head and she held her breath. Brushing his lips over her cheek, he held her close but with that tenderness no one had shown toward her before him.

His long fingers caressed her neck, slow sweeps up and down, until she shivered in his arms. She needed more from him. She grabbed his shoulders and brought her mouth to his.

He sighed her name and took over the kiss. Sliding his arms down her back, he edged her toward the bed. It hit the back of her legs and she sat down. He followed her, never breaking their kiss.

His tongue moved easily with hers, tempting her further, tasting her deeper and making her long for him. Her skin felt too tight. Her breasts were heavy, craving his touch. Between her legs she was moistening for him, ready for him.

Squirming, she shifted around until she was on his lap, her legs straddling him. She lifted her head to look down at him. His skin was flushed, his lips wet from their kisses. She flexed her fingers against his shoulders. He really was solid muscle.

“Do you remember what we used to do?” he asked.

She wanted to laugh at his playfulness. She’d never forgotten the wicked, sexy games they’d often played together. “Mmm, I’m not sure, it’s still a little foggy.”

“What can I do to remind you?”

She reached for the bedside table and turned on the lamp. In the soft glow of the light she saw that Christos was turned on.

“Could you…take your shirt off?” she said. She’d been longing to touch his chest since the night he’d lifted her onto her kitchen counter and stepped between her legs.

“Do you think it will help?” he asked, pulling off his tie and tossing it on the comforter of his king-sized bed.

“Definitely,” she said.

He reached between them, the backs of his fingers brushing her breasts as he unbuttoned his shirt. She shook from the brief contact and bit her lip to keep from asking for more.

The fabric parted to reveal the tanned skin below. That small gold medallion still hung around his neck. She touched the gold charm. “This I remember.”

“Good, I’m glad to know it’s coming back to you.”

She leaned down and pressed her lips to his chest. He tasted of some male essence that was uniquely Christos. And she hadn’t realized how hungry she’d been for him until this moment. She’d been ignoring the fact that she was still a woman and not just Theo’s mother for too long.

With Christos, she wanted to revel in her femininity again. She slid her lips over his warm skin. He tunneled his fingers into her hair, directing her head toward his nipple. She knew that he liked to feel the edge of her teeth against that sensitive skin.

To tease them both she let him only have the soft brush of her tongue. “Is this what you want?”

“Ava…”

She made a wondering sound against him, drawing his hard nipple into her mouth. She held him between her teeth and sucked on him. He groaned her name, his hips surging up between her legs.

He was hot and hard and she was ready for him. Maybe because it had been a long time since she’d made love…and of course, her last time had been with him.

Gently, he pulled her head away from his body and lifted her over him. He pushed the sweater she wore out of his way. She had no bra on and the air in the room combined with the heat of his gaze made her nipples bead.

He ran his finger down the center of her body, over her sternum and between her ribs, lingering on her belly button and then stopping at the waistband of her skirt.

He slowly traced the same path upward again. This time his fingers feathered under the full globes of her breasts, coming very close to touching her nipples. A shaft of desire pierced Ava, shaking her.

She needed more. She wanted more. Her heart beat so swiftly and loudly she was sure he could hear it. She scraped her fingernails lightly down his chest. He groaned, the sound rumbling from his chest. He leaned back and braced himself on his elbows.

His muscles jumped under her touch. She circled his nipple then scraped her nail down the center line of his body, following the fine dusting of hair that narrowed and disappeared into the waistband of his pants.

His stomach was rock-hard and rippled when he sat up. He pulled her closer, until the tips of her breasts brushed his chest.

“Ava.” He said her name like a prayer, holding her against him.

His hard sex nudged her center and she shifted on him, trying to find a better contact. It was impossible with the layers of cloth between them.

He kissed his way down her neck and bit lightly at the base. She shuddered, clutching at his shoulders, grinding her body harder against him.

His big hands cupped her buttocks and urged her to ride him faster. Guiding her motions against him, he bent his head and his tongue stroked her nipple. Then he suckled her.

Everything in her body clenched. She clutched at Christos’s shoulders, rubbing harder and faster against his erection as her climax washed over her. She collapsed against his chest. He held her close.

Ava hugged him to her and closed her eyes, reminding herself that this was just sex. He’d walked away from this once before, leaving her shattered and broken. But, right now, with his strong arms around her, it felt as though she’d found her home.

He lifted her chin and captured her lips with his. She sighed and wrapped her arms around him. When he looked down at her, tears were visible in her pretty blue eyes.

“What’s the matter?”

She shook her head. “Nothing. It’s just…I’ve dreamed of this for so long.”

“Making love with me?” he asked. “
Moro mou
, you are easy to please.”

“I guess I am,” she said. “When it comes to you and Theo, I think I have everything a woman could want.”

He felt a twinge of something close to anger at her mention of Theo. Not directed at the boy, but directed at Ava, because he still couldn’t accept her insistence that he was the boy’s father. And at his brother, because Stavros had known how much Christos was into Ava that summer, and he should have stayed away from her.

“What is it? Why does your face get all tight when I mention Theo?”

“I hate the fact that…”

“That you don’t believe that you’re his father?”

He lifted her off his body and set her on the bed, no longer in the mood to linger there with her. He reached for his shirt and drew it on as he paced across the room to the wet bar.

“Christos.”

“Yes?”

“You must be coming to believe me, right? Why else would you marry me?”

He shook his head. Even he knew better than to tell her that he was marrying her for the Theakis heir and, well, hell, for the sex that had always been incredible between them.

“What will it take to convince you?” she asked at last.

He glanced over his shoulder, noting that she’d drawn her sweater back on. She had her hands on her hips and he knew she was angry with him.

Too damn bad.

He was angry, too. Things had been going well between them. “What the hell difference does it make? Theo is here, I’ve claimed him and you and I are to be married.”

“It makes all the difference in the world. Even
you
must be able to see that. Do you really want to marry a woman who you think is capable of sleeping with you and another man? Your own
brother
?”

“Hell, no. Our prenuptial agreement is specific about what will happen if you do that again.”

“Again? I never did it before.”

“It’s past, Ava, let it go.”

“How can I, when you won’t?”

“I’m not going to argue this with you.”

“You can’t walk away from this. I’m not going to let you. If you want me to marry you, if you want Theo to stay here on Mykonos, we need to finish this now.”

“How?”

“I guess trusting me is out,” she said, nibbling on her lower lip in that sexy way she always did.

“You lied to me,” he said. She had lied about several things. Things like who her family was and where she’d come from.

“That was different. My family is nothing like yours. I thought you’d prefer a woman who came from a similar background.”

He understood that. Would have forgiven her the tales about her family back in the States if she’d come to him and told him the truth. But instead he’d had to find out about it from Nikki. His sister-in-law had been concerned when she’d learned of his and Ava’s affair and had revealed Ava’s background check to him. Everything in it suggested that Ava was a poor girl hoping to bag a wealthy husband. Her lies had only confirmed that.

“I was young and I told you the truth eventually.”

But it had been too late. He could never believe that she hadn’t overheard him and Nikki talking that morning on the terrace.

“It’s inconsequential.”

“It’s
not.
That’s the reason you believe I’d sleep with Stavros.”

He set down his whiskey glass before he threw it across the room. He hated those images in his head. The ones of Ava and his brother that he’d never been able to erase.

“Enough. Leave this room.”

“No.”

“No?”

“I’m sure that’s a word you don’t hear very often but I think you know what it means.”

“Ava—”

“Christos, I’m prepared to be very stubborn about this. I want us to have a real marriage, to have a real family with Theo, and we can’t if you don’t believe me.”

“Fine, we’ll have a paternity test.”

“Now you’d believe a test over my word?” she asked, there was something broken in her voice and though he wanted to pretend it didn’t affect him, it did.

“Ava…”

“Forget it. We’re not taking a paternity test. I no longer want to do that. I’m going to convince you that you’re wrong.”

“How will you do that? Stavros is dead. I can never ask my brother about what happened between the two of you.”

“You never talked to him about it?”

“No. And he never denied it when we fought over you.” He’d told Stavros they were dead to each other and had left Mykonos and Greece, spending the majority of his time traveling to his various businesses and staying so busy he never had time to feel the gaping wound that had been left by that action.

“Oh, Christos.”

He hated that she might pity him. “How do you mean to convince me?”

“By letting you see the woman I am. I could never betray you and I will stop at nothing to prove that to you.”

Ava hadn’t realized how much Christos had lost after she’d returned to America. They’d both had their lives shattered by the lies that Stavros had told, first to Nikki and then, when Nikki had gone to Christos, to his own brother.

Christos had seen her alone with Stavros on more than one occasion. She’d been providing a cover for her boss and his mistress, another lie that she’d contributed to that at the time had seemed…well, not exactly harmless, but necessary.

Convincing Christos to trust her was going to be difficult, she didn’t kid herself. Not only because of the seeds of the past but because she was realizing she still didn’t really like who she was at the most basic level. She’d spent her entire life pretending to be someone she wasn’t, pretending that the small, run-down trailer she’d grown up in was a large ranch house, for starters.

She’d lied about so much of where she’d come from that she didn’t want to face the truth. But it was past time for that. Theo had never met his maternal grandparents and never would. Her father had kicked her out of the trailer when she’d come home pregnant and jobless.

“I don’t like where I came from,” she said into the quietness. “And I would never have met you if I hadn’t created a different background for myself, so I’m not going to apologize for that. Perhaps it would have been better just to keep silent about my family.”

“I wouldn’t have judged you by your family. But lying about where you came from…I don’t understand that. Hell, half the time I’m hoping no one is judging me by my
patera
. He makes me crazy.”

She shook her head, allowing a small smile to touch her lips. “That’s because all the Theakis men have to have their own way.”

“True. But that’s not what you were running from.”

“No. I grew up in a run-down trailer that sits in the middle of nowhere. We never had any money.”

“Money’s not important,” he said.

“If you have it. If you don’t, it’s all anyone ever talks about.”

“I don’t see what this has to do with my trusting you,” he said.

She took a deep breath. Of course he wouldn’t. She realized in this moment that she had a choice. She could continue to avoid talking about how she’d grown up and never gain Christos’s trust, or she could slowly tear down those barriers.

And was there really a choice? She’d had a glimpse of real happiness in Christos’s arms when he’d held her and Theo. Taking a deep breath, she said, “I hate that part of my past. It’s the root of every lie I ever told, not just to you, but also to myself.”

He reached for the whiskey glass on the wet bar countertop and poured himself another drink. He picked it up and swallowed it quickly. “You lie to yourself?”

“Don’t you?”

He shook his head. “No. I face all my failings constantly. They are at times a running litany in my mind.”

“What failings?”

He shrugged. “Let’s keep this about you.”

“We can’t have a relationship if I’m the only one who talks.”

“We can start with you. Once you’ve…how did you put it? Ah, yes, once you’ve let me see the woman you are, then we can delve into my psyche.”

“You can be an arrogant jerk,” she said.

“So I’ve been told.”

“I don’t have many things that mean much to me,” she said. “Only my son and then this glimpse of a real relationship with you…”

She had no idea what else to say. She wanted to be witty and funny and charm him out of his arrogance but she suspected she’d never be able to do that.

She heard him set down his glass, then his footsteps echoed on the tiled floor as he walked toward her. She couldn’t believe they’d just shared an explosive sexual encounter on the bed and now they were immersed in this conversation, embroiled in a past that, no matter how fast she ran or how many twists and turns she forced her life to take, still held her trapped.

He stopped in front of her, and she had a glimpse of his bare chest under the shirt that he’d not rebuttoned. She wished she’d just stayed there in his arms.

“Look at me,” he said.

She glanced up, surprised to see a very serious look in his eyes. “What?”

“I’m only arrogant when someone really strikes a chord deep inside me. I don’t know how to deal with genuine emotion, and you have always made me feel more than I’m comfortable with.”

She had no response to that.

He cupped her cheek and she stood very still, afraid she was going to say something that would drive him back across the room.

“I think the reason I felt so betrayed by you is enmeshed in that. If it had been any other woman, I would have just moved on, but you…you have always made me feel like I’m really alive.”

Tears burned her eyes and she knew she was right to push for this trust between them. “Me, too.”

He dropped his hand and stepped back. “So how do you see this working?”

She blinked her eyes to clear the tears away. “We should spend time together, and not just to talk about the past. Get to know each other again.”

“I think we made a start tonight,” he said, nodding to the bed behind her.

She nibbled on her lower lip. “Uh, I think we should stay out of bed until we’re married. We know we’re sexually compatible and I think that just complicates things.”

“Sex never complicates things.”

“For you, maybe. For me, it makes me want to just curl up in your arms and say to hell with the rest of the world, and that’s not any way to solve problems.”

Christos poured himself another drink. “Fine. No sex until we’re married.”

“Do you think you’ll trust me by then?”

“I have no idea, but being married does grant me the privilege of your bed and I don’t intend to deny myself.”

Two weeks, she thought. Could she change his mind in that time?

Theo woke Ava by running into her bedroom and jumping on the bed. His little voice was loud and filled with joy. She’d never really been a cheerful morning-person, but when faced with Theo’s grin she couldn’t help but smile back at him.

“What are you so excited about?” she asked him. He was dressed and had on a pair of sandals that Ari had given him when they’d arrived. The shoes were traditional Greek ones that even Ari wore.

“
Baba
. He’s going to take us out on his boat today.”

“He is?” she asked. She hoped that Christos knew what he was doing. Promising to make time for Theo was one thing; actually promising to take him out on the boat was something else. She didn’t want to see Theo disappointed if Christos had to stay late at the office.

“Yes. As soon as you get up. I’ve been awake for a long time now.”

“I’m sorry, sweetheart. Give me a minute to wash my face and I’ll be downstairs for my coffee and we can talk about this.”

“You don’t have to do that.
Baba
is bringing you your coffee.”

“He is?” She didn’t want to see Christos until she had a chance to comb her hair and brush her teeth. She was about to toss back the covers and make a run for the bathroom.

“I told him…” Theo trailed off. She could guess what her chatty little son had said. Something about Mommy being cranky until she had her first cup of coffee.

She ruffled his hair and drew him close for a hug. “Did you tell him I need coffee first thing?”

Theo nodded against her neck, hugging her back.

“Yes, he did.”

She glanced up at Christos, who stood in the doorway holding a mug of coffee in each hand. He wore a pair of casual white trousers and a black T-shirt. He looked as if he’d had a good night’s sleep, something she envied him.