The Greek's Baby Bargain (8 page)

The sobbing had come that afternoon with a vengeance and Emma knew that Dimitri would eventually have to leave her. He had to produce an heir, his mother and father had even been putting the pressure on both of them to start a family by dropping not so subtle hints.

Emma was too upset to think clearly, but she knew what she had to do. She wrote a quick note to Dimitri, saying that she couldn’t be the wife he needed her to be. With that, she left with only one suitcase and hurried to the airport, leaving on the first flight back to London. Her brother Brian was waiting for her when she arrived at his apartment, allowing her to sob out her heartache until she was hoarse with the effort.

It had taken Emma three weeks to finally pull herself together enough to leave his apartment. At the time, she’d made it to the grocery store entrance then turned back, unable to purchase anything. But each day, she forced herself to leave Brian’s apartment and do something, even if it was just to the post office to mail a letter to one of her friends or to the grocery store to purchase milk. Eventually, after two months of crying both day and night, she pulled herself together enough to find a job. Living with Brian was completely different than living with Dimitri, Brian’s disabilities making life more difficult besides the lack of servants to help with all the day to day chores. She didn’t mind the chores, embracing them in fact. Doing small things like cleaning dishes and running a vacuum cleaner meant that she had a purpose. All day, she toiled at something, just keeping her hands busy was the most important thing. She concentrated on each moment, pushing herself harder to accomplish each task and moving on to the next one. Concentrating on cleaning or sweeping meant she wasn’t thinking about Dimitri and wondering what he was doing, if he’d moved on to another woman or if he was finally filing for a divorce.

As painful as the days were, the nights were a living hell. When Brian rolled himself into his room, and she was finally alone with her thoughts, she ached, curling up into a ball of misery as she cried herself to sleep, calling out Dimitri’s name in her dreams and then crying again when she woke herself up and realized that he would never hold her again.
Chapter 5

The limousine pulling up outside the Athens penthouse brought her out of her memories and back to the present. Dimitri was still talking on his cell phone but she knew what was expected of her. She’d done it so often in the past it was like a cold bucket of ice water on her to realize that she remembered everything in excruciating detail.

She stepped out of the back of the car and headed inside the apartment building, walking blindly over to the private elevators that would take the two of them to the penthouse. She waited until Dimitri arrived in the cab, assuming he’d changed the security code that would allow the elevator to start moving.

Once in the Penthouse, Emma stepped out and only stared. She had never seen this place. She’d known it was around, since Dimitri had occasionally slept here when he was working late. She had encouraged it at times, afraid of him driving home so late at night but she’d never known the stunning luxury the penthouse contained. The large, airy room in front of her was done in whites and blacks, definitely a masculine residence.

“Do you still have the house outside of town?” she asked.

“Yes. But I spend most of my time here,” he answered, walking past her and pulling off his tie. “Why don’t you shower first? Dress is formal tonight. I hope you purchased something appropriate. I’m going to make some more phone calls.” Without another word, he disappeared through a door that must be his home office, leaving her alone.

Emma shuddered, wishing she could follow him and tell him everything. She felt awful lying to him like this. But she had to remember Brian’s part in all of this. He was the true innocent. If she admitted the truth, Dimitri would break the deal, demand the money back and immediately start divorce proceedings. She couldn’t allow that. Brian had to come first this time.

She found a guest bedroom on her own and looked into the en suite bathroom, impressed with the fittings. It even had a complete set of shampoo and other toiletries. She was grateful for small things since she had no luggage, had in fact assumed this morning that she would be on a return flight this afternoon so there had been no need.

Stepping into the warm shower, she thought about everything that had happened today. It had been a long day. She’d woken up before dawn to catch an early flight. The five and a half hour flight had been filled with intense dread, wondering if she was making a mistake, trying to come up with another solution, wondering if Brian would ever find out, hoping her boss would be okay with her taking the day off…the list of worries went on and on. But uppermost in her mind had been how she was going to convince Dimitri to sign the papers.

Never in her wildest imagination had she dreamed that she would be in this position, in his penthouse, accepting the terms he’d put to her.

Allowing the warm water to wash over her body, she started to relax slightly. The stress was still there in her shoulders, but it was difficult to maintain under the pressure of the massaging jets beating onto her back. She couldn’t remember a more luxurious shower, as the lavender scented shampoo worked its magic.

When she felt she could no longer stand for fear of falling down, Emma turned off the water and toweled herself dry. Looking at the guest bed, seeing how incredibly inviting the butter yellow comforter looked against the late afternoon sky line, she wondered what time they would be leaving tonight. Seeing that it was only five o’clock now, she suspected they wouldn’t be leaving until at least eight o’clock.

Sighing deeply, she let her tired body sink into the soft blankets of the bed, the hum of the air conditioning the only sounds as her eyes drifted close. And then nothing. Darkness, nothingness.

Dimitri put down the phone and considered the information he’d received so far. From what his sources could find, Emma was still living with the man she’d shacked up with after leaving him four years ago. She worked two jobs while the other man worked only one and that was barely part time. Neither of her jobs were careers, just places she went to get a paycheck. They were both dead end jobs. Why would she put herself through that? Especially when she could have sold the jewelry that he’d given her over the two years of their marriage and lived better for a decade than she had been for the past four years? None of it made sense, unless she was really in love with the man.

What other explanation could there be?

He stood up, stretching from the long three hours of sitting while making the phone calls. Thinking about his wife, long lost and all the other adjectives he could pile on top of her, and his body instantly hardened. He wished he could figure out why she could do it for him so completely. It had been like this from the first moment he’d seen her. Well, from the moment he’d run into her. Or more specifically, from the moment he’d maneuvered their paths so she ran into him. Her body that afternoon had been incredible dressed in that cute little sundress that came down to her mid-thighs, giving him a great view of her sexy legs. The rest of her, he’d felt as he’d helped her get her balance and from that moment on, he’d been unable to keep her out of his mind.

Damn woman! He pushed away from the desk and walked over to the window, staring unseeingly out at the dusk falling over Athens. He loved this city but had been about to give it all up when he’d heard she’d left and run back to London. The moment his security detail had phoned him with the news, he’d assumed that she’d been unhappy living in Greece and had immediately started figuring out how to move the headquarters to London if that would make her happy. Those plans had been crushed when his detail had called to inform him that she’d moved in with a man, someone they had no information on.

From that moment, he’d pushed her out of his mind, forcing himself to move forward with his life, burying himself in work and pushing as hard as possible. He’d bedded several women that year, none of whom could even come close to giving him the sexual satisfaction his slender, responsive wife could give him. But he was determined to find someone who could.

After four years, he knew that not a single woman of his acquaintance had even come close. He wanted Emma and there was nothing he could do about it. Except manipulate the situation now so he gained the most from it, he told himself. Smiling ruthlessly, he reminded himself that the lovely little vixen was waiting for him in the bedroom, probably worried about what he was doing and why it was taking him so long.

He liked that, having her worry. He’d done enough of it the day she’d left him with only a silly note saying goodbye. He’d panicked, worrying about her safety, waiting impatiently for word from his body guards to hear that she was safe, wondering why she’d left so quickly, not even taking enough clothes with her. The lack of clothes had given him hope that perhaps she’d only gone for a short period. But the news that she’d moved in with another man, and hadn’t emerged for several weeks, killed all the feelings he’d had for her.

He almost punched the desk at that point, remembering the overwhelming feeling of jealously when he’d been told about that bastard who was holding his wife that night. “
My
wife!” he said harshly to the empty room.

Being a Greek man, he had no illusions about his sexist and possessive attitudes. They were in full force and he didn’t care that he was being possessive. He didn’t like to share. Thinking of strategy and how he was going to win his wife back, he considered all angles, determined not to fail this time. He’d never allow himself to feel the same way he had four years ago. Those feelings had been crushed irreparably when she’d been with another man. But he could definitely bind her to him so she would be at his mercy. And he could enjoy her body whenever he wanted use of it. He had no problems doing that. His pride felt better, knowing that he was in complete control of her lovely body.

Thinking along those lines only made his own body harden even more and with a grim smile, he walked along the hallway toward his bedroom. There were still several hours before they had to go out tonight. Perhaps a nice interlude with that delectable body was in the cards immediately.

Reaching his bedroom, he stood just inside the doorway, his eyes adjusting to the dim light and searching for her. It was silent inside. He’d expected the shower to be running but then glanced at his watch. He’d left her alone several hours ago, perhaps she was already done and waiting for him. But when he pushed the door open wider, he discovered that the room was empty.

With a growl of anger, he stormed into the bathroom and realized that she hadn’t even been in the shower. She couldn’t have left the penthouse, she didn’t know the code to start the lift and even if she took the stairs, the alarm would have sounded.

Moving quickly around the penthouse, he walked back to the main room and looked around but saw nothing. He searched all the main rooms only to come up empty. Shocked, he went back to the master bedroom and was reaching into his jacket to get his cell phone when a splash of color in one of the guest bedrooms stopped him. He walked in and looked at his wife, laying on the yellow comforter as if she hadn’t a care in the world. As if her husband wasn’t waiting impatiently to satisfy himself with her voluptuous curves, he thought angrily.

He walked over to the bed and looked down, his hand reaching out to shake her awake but the dark circles under her eyes stopped him. Was she really that exhausted? Why would she be so tired? From what he understood, she had only traveled here today. He didn’t think that had been enough to wear her out to this point.

His hand hesitated and in the end, he simply picked her up and carried her to his bedroom. He laid her carefully down on the large bed, covering her with the comforter before going into the bathroom to shower himself.

When he came out, he made a quick phone call to cancel the dinner plans for the evening, then gathered some materials to work. It was midnight before she even moved and Dimitri was still working on some documents beside her in the bed.

“What time is it?” she asked, still sleepy, her eyes barely open.

 

“Almost midnight,” he replied, crossing out some wording he didn’t like on a contract.

That woke her up. She sat up in bed and looked at him, her eyes blinking wearily, reminding him of a soft, fluffy little kitten with wide, innocent eyes. “I thought you said we were going out?”

Dimitri looked down at the exhausted woman and gritted his teeth. The need to pull her close, hold her, touch her soft, golden hair with his hands and smell her sweet scent was almost too much to bear. And then he wondered why he was holding back.

Tossing the papers on to the floor, he pulled her into his lap, ignoring the resistance in her arms. “You were sleeping. And now there are more important things to do,” he said, and covered her mouth with his own.

She turned her head away at the last second, still groggy from sleep but coming awake quickly. “What are you doing?” she asked, then gasped when his mouth, denied his original goal, found her neck instead, nibbling along the sensitive skin, his hand pulling the towel mercilessly away so she was completely naked, lying in his arms. “Dimitri, please!” she begged but he ignored her cries, his hands coming up to cup her breasts.

“Please what?” he asked, his voice husky and his eyes hot with the passion riding him. He looked down and was glad that the desire that was tearing him up inside was reflected in her face as well. He slid his hand down her waist, coming to her hip, then circling around to her inner thighs. He felt her thighs push together, trying to shut him about but he only chuckled softly, then rolled over so she was underneath him. With his hands still circling her thighs, his mouth captured a nipple in his hot mouth. Within moments, the resistance in her legs disappeared and he laughed, his fingers delving into her heat. “That’s right. You can’t stop it, can you?” he asked.

Emma wanted to cry out but the breath rushed out of her in a gush as his fingers found her core, pushing inside and finding all the spots that made her squirm. The sex had always been incredible between the two of them and she’d never been able to deny him anything in bed. He’d been the ultimate lover, she knew. She’d been to lunches with the other women and had heard how they hadn’t liked having sex with their husbands, how they’d just given in to their husbands demands in order to avoid an argument. That was so far from Emma’s experience, she couldn’t even participate in the conversations. She loved the way Dimitri touched her, the way he made her feel just by walking into a room. No matter where they were, she wanted him. And the feelings were reciprocated.