Tiana (Starkis Family #3) (19 page)

“You know what I’m talking about.” Demi smirked. “For God’s sake, son, she’s a lingerie model.”

“So?” I crossed my arms, torn between listening to him and distancing myself, knowing anything he said was sure to aggravate me.

“Women like that typically marry professional athletes and musicians. You know how much those guys like their arm candy.”

I didn’t appreciate him referring to Eleni as
arm candy.
She had more depth than any other woman I’d ever met. “Eleni isn’t interested in getting married.” I let him chew on that fact, enjoying the annoyance that flashed across his face when he realized that put a wrench in his plans.

“What are you talking about?” he scoffed. “Any woman in her right mind would kill to marry you.”

I didn’t fool myself into believing he meant that as a compliment. He was simply referring to the family coffers since he believed they were the only thing of value I had to offer a potential wife. “Not Eleni. She doesn’t want to marry me or anyone else.” There had been a time, when we’d first met, when I’d thought that made her the ideal woman. Now that more time had passed and my feelings for her had grown, I realized how difficult it would be to overcome that obstacle.

“You’ll just have to make it impossible for her to resist you.” Demi chuckled. “That shouldn’t be so hard. You’ve made a career of getting women into bed.”

“Don’t,” I warned, leaning in so he couldn’t miss the threat. “Eleni isn’t like all the rest, and I won’t treat her as though she is.”

“Now that your brother is married and I’ve found someone suitable for Tiana, I need to focus on making sure you’re settled.” He surveyed the room, no doubt ensuring the waitstaff was tending to
his
guests to his satisfaction. “Since you’ll be taking over the family business, we need to make sure you have the right image. People need to know that you’ve left
that
lifestyle behind and you’re ready to get serious.”

I hadn’t told Demi that I was investigating other options, and this didn’t seem like the time or place to get into it. “I’ll decide when or if I get married.”

Demi glared at me, his arms crossed over his thick chest. “Why do you have to be so obstinate? I’ve been watching you with this woman all evening. It’s obvious you have feelings for her.”

“Unlike my sister, I won’t allow you to tell me whom I should marry or when.” I felt guilty for dragging Tiana into this, knowing it wasn’t as easy for her to stand up to our father. She’d been raised differently than we had. The old man expected Deacon and me to give him a hard time, but Tiana had always been the light of his life. “I’ll decide for myself when the time is right.”

“What is the matter with my children?” he asked, rubbing his forehead and shaking his head. “Why is the idea of marriage so abhorrent to all of you? I was beginning to think your brother would never marry. Even though I’ve found the perfect husband for Tiana, she’s still undecided. And you… I’m beginning to think you’ll never make me a grandfather.”

I knew if he’d known that he was already a grandfather, he’d have been camped out on Andra’s doorstep until she agreed to let him see Dalia. I couldn’t risk that. If he started throwing money around, insisting he had a right to a relationship with his granddaughter, it would ruin my chances of being a part of Dalia’s life.

Weighing my words carefully, I said, “When the time is right, you’ll know.” My family would find out about Dalia in the not-too-distant future, if I could convince Andra and her husband that I had become someone my little girl could rely on.

“The time is right now,” Demi said, gesturing at Eleni, who’d re-entered the ballroom and was chatting with another Alabaster’s model. “If you can’t see that, you had better have your eyes checked.”

I rolled my eyes, thinking it always came down to appearances with my father. Since Eleni was beautiful and Greek, she met his criteria. “I’ll take your opinion under advisement, Dad.”

***

We were lying on my couch, her back pressed against my chest as my hand sifted through Eleni’s long, dark hair. “I had fun today, didn’t you?”

“Yeah. I haven’t been to a traditional Greek wedding in a long time. I’d almost forgotten how much fun Greek dancing was.”

Tearing up the dance floor with Eleni had been the highlight of my evening. “We’re good together, you know.” It wasn’t just our shared culture; it was the inexplicable connection we had. I’d sensed it the first night we met, and it had only grown stronger every day since. “I understand you in a way no one else does.”

She inhaled deeply. “I know.”

“It’s because we’re so similar.” I let her process that before I said, “We’ve both spent most of our lives trying to avoid love and intimacy, for different reasons.”

“I was afraid of getting hurt,” she admitted. “Afraid to trust the wrong person, like my mother had.”

“And I was afraid of being taken advantage of because of my family.” I kissed her cheek when she leaned her head against my shoulder. “But I don’t worry about that with you. You’re the most authentic person I’ve ever met. You say what’s on your mind no matter what, and I can’t tell you how refreshing that is.”

She smiled, shaking her head. “Many people would say that’s one of my shortcomings.”

“They would be wrong.”

We were both lost in our thoughts when she whispered, “I think I want to try.”

My heart hammered so hard I was sure she could feel it drumming against her back. “You want to try…?”

“I want to try this relationship thing.” She linked her hand through mine. “I’d like it to be just us, you know, exclusively.”

I froze. I’d have loved nothing more, but suddenly the weight of the secret I was keeping felt unbearable. She deserved to know I had a daughter. But if I told her now, I could lose her.

“You’re not saying anything.” She shifted in my arms, turning to face me. “Why? I thought that’s what you wanted. Was I wrong?” She blushed, scooting back on the sofa until we were barely touching. “God, I didn’t mean to pressure you. I just thought after our talk the other night and what you said at the wedding—”

I grabbed the back of her head and kissed her fiercely to let her know how enthused I was at the prospect of having her all to myself. I wouldn’t have to worry about whether she was dating other men, kissing them good night, sleeping with them. I’d wanted for months to know that she was mine.

“Don’t ever question how much I want you.” I stroked her cheek with my fingertips as I searched her eyes for some hint that I’d put her fears to rest. “I have never felt about any other woman the way I do about you.” I wanted to tell her I loved her, but we’d already made great strides tonight. I didn’t want to risk going too far and making her question her decision to commit to me.

“I don’t know how this will work.” She straddled my waist, combing her hands through my hair. “I’ve never done this before.”

I’d loaned her a T-shirt so she could slip out of her formal dress, and as my hands caressed her soft skin, I was pleased to learn she’d left her undergarments behind. “I’m not an expert either.” I brushed my lips over her jaw when she tilted her head back. “So we’ll figure it out together.”

“Will we be…?” She pulled the T-shirt over her head and tossed it aside. “Going public? You know, letting the world know we’re a couple now?”

I wanted that more than anything, but it wasn’t an option yet. “If you don’t mind, I’d rather keep it under wraps for now.”

She braced her hands on my shoulders when I attempted to kiss her neck. “Why? You’re ashamed of me?”

I laughed, assuming she was joking. When her eyes darkened, I realized she wasn’t. “How can you even ask that? Of course I’m not ashamed of you. I’d love nothing more than to hire a goddamn skywriter to spread the word that you’re mine.”

“Then what’s the problem?” she asked, stilling my hands when they glided over her rib cage.

“My father was on me tonight about us.”

“He doesn’t like me?” She looked stunned. “I thought we were getting along great. Is it because I’m not rich? I don’t travel in the same social circles, or is it the modeling—”

I pressed my finger against her lips to silence her. “He thinks I should marry you—the sooner, the better.”

Her eyes rounded as she grasped my wrist and pulled my hand away from her mouth. “Oh my God, he actually said that?”

I nodded. Nothing had the power to scare her away faster than the M
-
word, but it was the only logical explanation I could come up with for keeping our relationship private. “He did. Now that Deacon’s married, he’ll put all of his energy into getting his other two children married off. He’s in a big hurry to be a grandfather.”

“I can’t…” She shook her head furiously. “Damon, you know how I feel about marriage.”

“I know how you
felt
about marriage,” I said gently. “But if we’re going to put our hearts on the line here, I need to know there’s a chance, maybe someday, that we could…” We had to have this conversation, but the last thing I wanted to do was scare her off.

She brushed her thumb over the stubble on my jaw. “All I can tell you is that if I was ever going to trust anyone enough to walk down the aisle, it would be you. But I refuse to give you false hope. I’ve spent my entire life believing I would never marry, never have the desire to. I won’t deny I’m having feelings for you that I’ve never had, but that doesn’t mean I can get past all of my hang-ups and—”

“Sssh.” I leaned in to kiss her. “We don’t need to figure everything out tonight, sweetheart. It’s enough to know that we’re together.”

She braced her hands on my shoulder as she sought my eyes. “Are you sure that’s enough for you? I never want to hurt you.”

I swallowed, thinking of the pain that lay ahead for us when she found out about Dalia. “I don’t want to hurt you either.” I grasped her hands and kissed them. “No matter what happens, I never want you to forget that, beautiful.”

Eleni

Making love to Damon felt as natural as breathing, which scared the hell out of me. Sex had always been just sex to me. I’d thought
making love
was a romanticized notion women used to heighten or, in some cases, justify the act, but I had been so wrong. What I experienced with Damon could only be described as making love. He told me with every stroke, every thrust, every kiss that he loved me. He’d never said the words, but he didn’t have to. I felt them. And I gave them back to him the only way I knew how—physically.

My hair fell on his chest, caressing him, as I cried out his name while finding my release. His arms encircled me, guiding me to completion as he whispered in my ear that he loved watching me let go. And that was exactly what I was doing—letting go of my inhibitions, slowly letting go of my fears.

His eyes captured mine while my breathing slowly returned to normal. His strong hand massaged my scalp before his lips claimed mine. His movements were slow and thorough, as though he had all the time in the world to get lost in me, to prove to me that I was special.

That was the way Damon had always made me feel—special. Even though I knew he’d dated dozens of beautiful women over the years, he always led me to believe they paled in comparison to me. A quick Internet search told me many had been stunning, but the lack of sparkle in his eyes in those photos helped me believe his claim that he’d found something with me that had been lacking during his previous relationships.

“This is where you belong,” he whispered as his hands glided down my back to encircle my waist. Anchoring my body, he reminded me that he was in control, even though our position might have said otherwise. “Don’t ever doubt that.”

He knew me so well. Every time a doubt crept into my mind or I questioned what we had or whether I had the courage to see it through, he saw the fear and extinguished it before it evolved into full-blown panic, as it had with so many men before him.

“You make me feel safe,” I murmured, kissing his neck. I moaned when he pivoted his hips to enhance my pleasure. “You make me believe it’s okay to fall…” I couldn’t say the words, but he seemed to understand my meaning. His body stilled before he flipped me onto my back, the deep fusion stealing my ability to breathe.

“It’s okay.” He stroked my face before cradling it. His eyes were locked on mine, refusing to allow me to look away. “My job is to make you feel safe, and trust me when I tell you it’s the most important job I’ve ever had.”

His body was taking me to places I desperately wanted to go, but his heart was guiding me into uncharted territory. As hard as I tried to be brave, I was terrified. As though he felt my resistance and was determined to dissolve it, his lips grazed my neck before his tongue swirled in slow, methodical circles up and down the sensitive skin and over my pulse point until I was writhing and clawing his back as though my life depended on his next move.

“You never have to be alone again, Eleni,” he whispered, his tongue flicking my earlobe as I whimpered shamelessly, imploring him to continue. “Not unless you choose to be.”

Those simple words, the fact that he understood that I needed to know I was giving my heart on my terms, sealed the deal for me. “I love you, Damon.”

He froze, his shaft filling me, every muscle in his sculpted body taut as he hovered over me. He closed his eyes on a slow exhale before a slow smile spread over his handsome face. “Say it again.”

I gripped his tight ass, grinning as I milked him. “I love you.” I’d never thought those words would fall from my lips so easily, as though I’d been waiting a lifetime to say them, which I had. “You’re the only man I’ve ever said that to.” I shouldn’t have fed his ego, but it was true, and I needed him to know how deeply I meant it.

“I’ve waited my whole life for
you
,” he whispered, his body backing up his claim as he moved deliberately, penetrating me with an intensity that left no room for doubt. “I mean it… forever.”

Forever.
There was a time when that word would have sent me running, no matter the context, but it seemed that time had passed. I had no desire to go anywhere, to be anywhere but right here in his bed, in his arms, showing him how much I loved him.