A Wedding For The Greek Tycoon (Greek Billionaires Book 2) (5 page)

“I felt lost at first, but slowly that feeling started to dissipate. Raina has been a joy and makes my little brother so happy I can’t imagine life without her now. With a baby on the way, Akis isn’t the same man.”

“A baby? That’s wonderful!”

“When Akis and I were young and struggling, we couldn’t have imagined this day.”

She flashed him a smile. “And now there’s a lot more to come. Your lives are a miracle, too.”

The things she said...

They kept working in harmony. Zoe definitely knew her way around a kitchen. By seven o’clock, they sat down at the dining room table to eat the best home-cooked food he’d ever tasted.

They started with the Mastika poured over ice and served with a grilled
krusevo
cheese pie for an appetizer. The
burek
was out of this world. Layers of dough with white cheese, minced lamb and spinach garnished with tomatoes and onions marinated in a special herb sauce. It was so good he ate more than he normally did at a meal.

“You could open your own
taverna
, Zoe.”

“What a lovely compliment. Before I decided to go to college, I actually thought about it, but my parents insisted I try college first. You know the rest. Then the day came when the world as I knew it went away.”

Vasso didn’t want her to think sad thoughts. “We can be thankful you didn’t go away with it or I wouldn’t have been treated to such a feast.”

“You’re just being nice.”

“Not true. Now it’s my turn to pay you back by doing the dishes while you get your bags packed. Tomorrow we’ll have breakfast here and fly to Paxos.”

That was the plan, but he discovered he was loving her company so much he wanted to keep her here in Athens for a while and show her around. It shocked him that he could feel this attracted when they’d known each other for such a short while. How had he existed all this time before she came into his life?

“Before I do that, I want to hear about your grandparents. It’s sad to think you didn’t have them in your life either.” She started clearing the table. It thrilled him she didn’t want to leave him quite yet.

“Both sets of grandparents came from Paxos.”

“Ah. I’m beginning to understand why the island has been so important to you.”

“The grandparents on my father’s side and their children—with the exception of our father—were victims of the malaria epidemic on Paxos. In the early sixties it was eradicated, but they didn’t escape it.”

“Amazing that your father didn’t get the disease.”

“No. Pockets of people were spared. No one knows why. Maybe he was naturally immune. A poor fisherman who lived on Paxos took care of my father. Together they caught and sold fish at the market in Loggos.

“After the fisherman died, our father continued to fish in the man’s rowboat. It was in town he met our mother. She and her brother Kristos survived the epidemic that had killed her family. He emigrated to New York to find a new life, but was killed crossing a busy street.”

“How awful. That explains his name on the plaque!”

“Yes. Apparently my mother grieved when he left Greece. In time she and my father fell in love and got married. She worked in the olive groves. Together they scraped to make ends meet any way they could.

“I was born first. Then Akis came along eleven months later. But the delivery was too hard on
Mama
who was in frail health and she died.”

He could see Zoe was trying not to break down. “It pains me that neither of you knew your mother. That’s so tragic. I at least didn’t lose my parents until a year ago, so I have all the memories of growing up with them.”

His eyes met hers. “In ways I think your pain has been much worse. We never knew her. She didn’t know about her brother getting killed, which was a good thing. We were so young when she died we had no memories except the ones our father told us about. But you lived, laughed and cried with your parents for your whole life, doing everything together. That’s a loss I can’t comprehend.”

“Thanks to the therapy provided by your generosity, I’m doing fine these days. Truly your father had to be a saint to manage on his own. No wonder you wanted to do something extraordinary to honor his name.”

“To be sure, he was our hero. I was six when we helped him in the store where he sold the fish. Neither Akis nor I went to school regularly because we needed the money too badly. Poverty was all my father knew. I know it hurt his pride that we boys were known as the poor Giannopoulos kids.

“Most people looked down on us. But no one could know the depth of our pain when he was diagnosed with lymphoma and died. At that point we only had each other in order to survive.
Papa
asked me to look out for Akis.”

Zoe gasped. “How old were you?”

“Thirteen and fourteen.”

“Overnight you two had to become men.”

“All we knew was that we only had ourselves in order to survive. The man who owned the store died and his wife needed help. We asked if we could stay on and work for her. By then the woman was used to us and she really needed the help. So she let us work in her store.

“Akis and I traded off jobs. He’d wait on the customers while I went fishing and picked olives. Then we’d turn the schedule around. We worked long hours.”

“When did you fit in some time to play, let alone attend school?”

“Not very often.”

“I’d love to meet Akis.”

“That can be arranged. But enough about me. Now I want to change the subject. Have you ever ridden in a helicopter?”

She shook her head, still haunted by what he’d told her. “No. I’ve always wondered what it would be like.”

“Does the thought of it make you nervous?”

“Kind of.” A hint of smile broke the corner of her mouth. “Ask me tomorrow when I actually have to climb inside it.”

“Once you get used to it, you won’t want to travel any other way.”

“I’ll have to take your word for it.” After a hesitation... “Vasso?”

He’d started loading the dishwasher. “What is it?”

“You’ve been so kind to me my debt to you keeps growing. I told Father Debakis what I’m going to tell you. If it takes me the rest of my life, and it probably will, I intend to pay back every cent your foundation spent on my behalf.

“Every inmate at the center would like to tell you of their gratitude in person. You’ve saved the lives of many people who had no hope. It’s staggering the good you’ve already done.” Her lower lip started to tremble. “You’re wonderful.”

Her words moved him. “If I started to tell you all the things I think about you, there wouldn’t be enough hours.”

Color rushed into her cheeks. “You’re full of it, but it’s nice to hear.”

“How could the man you had been seeing before the fire have walked away?” he whispered. That question had been gnawing at him since she’d first told him she’d had a boyfriend.

“I don’t know.” She half laughed as she said it. “He broke my heart when he made the decision to move to Boston. I went through a lot of pain, but with hindsight I can see he didn’t love me in that heart-whole way or he couldn’t have left.

“After several months I decided I was lucky. If there’d been no fire, would he have eventually asked me to marry him? I don’t have an answer. But the fact remains that he wanted to go to Boston more than he wanted to be with me. I certainly don’t blame him. To be with a terminally ill patient would mean he had to forget his dreams. That’s asking too much of a man unless he’s met the love of his life.”

“Was he the love of
your
life?” Vasso needed to hear her answer.

“Let me put it this way. I had boyfriends. Some meant more to me than others. But I met Chad while we were both on that study abroad program in England. That was his graduation-from-college present. It threw us together for two weeks. You can learn a lot about someone on a trip like that. We had fun and didn’t want it to end after we returned to New York.

“The more I saw of him, the more I thought maybe he could be
the
one. But the circumstances that brought me to this hospital put an end to the relationship we’d enjoyed. Now you know the story of my life.”

“But not the pain you suffered when he didn’t stay with you.”

She took a deep breath. “It was awful. I won’t lie about that. If ever I needed someone who loved me that was the time. But his love wasn’t the forever kind. That was a hard lesson to learn. It taught me not to put my faith in a man.” She looked up at him. “That’s as honest as I know how to be.”

The man had been a fool. Vasso’s black eyes burned into hers. “Just look what he missed. Thank you for telling me.”

“I’ve probably said too much.” After taking a few steps away from him, she turned around. “Thanks for listening. I’ve talked your ear off.”

“It was my pleasure. Just so you know, I have to go out again for a little while. I’ll try not to disturb you when I come back in.”

“Please don’t worry about me. Good night.” In the next instant she’d disappeared into the other part of the penthouse.

While Vasso stood there overwhelmed by tender new feelings she brought out in him, his cell rang. He pulled it from his pocket. When he saw it was his brother, he clicked on. “Akis?”

“I thought I’d check in. How’s everything going with Thespinis Zachos?”

He held his breath. “Fine.”

Low laughter bubbled out of Akis. “Come on. It’s
me
you’re talking to.”

“I’m aware of that. I took her shopping, then we had dinner and now she’s gone to bed. Tomorrow morning we’ll fly to Paxos.”

“I can read between the lines, bro. Let’s try this again. How are things really going?”

“The press intruded as we left the department store, so we came back to the penthouse and she cooked dinner. It was probably the best Macedonian food I’ve ever eaten.”

“I guess that makes sense considering her parents ran a
taverna
.”

“She only has one more semester before she receives her college degree in English, but Alexandra didn’t know about that. It’s just as well Zoe will be working on this side of the Atlantic. Tonight she told me she wants to meet you and thank you for saving her life. If you want my opinion, she’ll charm Yiannis until she has him eating out of her hand.”

“It wouldn’t surprise me considering she’s already accomplished that feat with you. A woman cooking in our kitchen? That has to be a first. I guess it’s too late to tell you to go slow, the same advice you once gave me.
Kalinihta.”

“
Kalinihta.”

Zoe was still on his mind when he arrived at Maris’s condo twenty minutes later. “Vasso—you’re finally here!” she said after opening the door. “I’ve missed you.”

But when she would have reached for him, he backed away.

A hurt look entered her eyes. “What’s wrong?”

Vasso hated to do this, but for both their sakes he needed to break things off with her. Zoe filled his thoughts to the exclusion of all else, but that made him anxious when he remembered how he’d once felt about Sofia.

As for Maris, he didn’t like hurting her when she’d done nothing wrong, but as he’d told his brother, she wasn’t the one. Still, he couldn’t help feeling a little guilty about doing this to her.

“Let’s sit down.”

“I don’t want to.” Her chin lifted. “Why do I get the feeling you’re here to tell me it’s over with us?”

Being a journalist, she had good instincts and was always out for the truth. “To be honest, while I was in New York I had a chance to think. I don’t believe there’s a future for us and I thought it would be better to tell you now. I like you very much, Maris. We’ve had some good times, but—”

“But you’re ready to move on,” she interrupted him.

“Surely you know I don’t mean to hurt you.”

“One of my friends told me this was how it would end with you, but I didn’t want to believe her. So who’s the new woman in the life of the famous Vasso Giannopoulos?”

He stared her down. “Would you have preferred that I told you this over the phone?”

She had the grace to shake her head. “No. It hurts no matter what.”

Vasso admired her honesty. “I’ve enjoyed the times we’ve spent together and I wish you the very best in the future.”

Maris walked over to the door and opened it. “I’m afraid I can’t wish you the same, but one day I’ll get over it. I thought we had a real connection. Being with you has meant everything to me. Too bad it was one-sided.
Adio,
Vasso.”

He left for the penthouse. After reflecting on what had just happened at Maris’s condo, he realized this had been the story of his life since Sofia Peri had rejected his marriage proposal. That was ten years ago after he’d finished his military service. It had taken a long time to get over the pain of her marrying someone else. From then on he’d buried himself in business with Akis.

Over the last few years he’d been with different women when time permitted, but he’d ended every relationship prematurely and had pretty well given up on finding his soul mate.

Then Zoe Zachos had walked in Alexandra’s office, causing his heart to beat so hard he hadn’t been the same since. In the last twenty-four hours her effect on him had been staggering.

* * *

After getting used to being in a helicopter, Zoe was entranced by everything she saw. They passed over so many historic places in the Ionian Sea she’d only read about in books or seen in the movies she was awestruck.

From the copilot’s seat, Vasso looked back at her through his sunglasses. Today he’d dressed in a white crewneck and white cargo pants. It wasn’t fair one man out of millions could be so attractive. Using the mic he said, “We’re coming up on Paxos.”

She looked down from the window. “But it’s so tiny!”

“It’s only seven miles by three. Too small for an airport which is just the way all of us who live on the island like it.”

Zoe leaned forward. “What do you mean
we
?”

A dazzling white smile greeted her gaze. “As I told you last night, my brother and I were born here. We had the center built here.
My
home is here.”

Her heart pounded so hard she was afraid he could hear it. “
This
is where you live when you’re not in Athens or traveling for business?”