The Art of Trusting a Greek Billionaire (10 page)

No!

When Alina released him from her hold, he immediately turned to look at Mairi.
 

She was not crying. She did not seem like she was holding her breath. But she did look like she had finally given up waiting for him.
 

No.

And then he saw it –

Ioniko, coming from the side of the stage, walking purposely towards Mairi.

And further away from him but nearer to Mairi, Damen saw Stavros Manolis gazing at Mairi as well. He didn’t know and understand why Manolis was looking at Mairi like that, but if there was one thing he knew, it was that Manolis appeared to be his rival as well.

A part of him told Damen to just let it go. Mairi Tanner would have
all
the Greek billionaires she could ever want. Maybe reading all those books had done her good. Even if they weren’t meant to be, at least she would be well taken care of.

The noble part of him told Damen to let it go, to let Mairi move on.

But the selfish and honest part of him told Damen that if he did let her go, it would mean forever. If he gave up on her, it would be for the rest of their lives. He would never have the chance to call Mairi his again, never be able to taste her lips or feel her body welcome him—

No.

He looked at Alina. “I’m sorry. It won’t work between us.” His words were caught by the microphone. He removed her ring from his finger.

Alina didn't speak, staring at him with wide-eyed shock.

“I’m sorry,” he said again before jumping off the stage to go after the woman that had taught his heart to beat for someone else.

****

Mairi could not think of a single thing that was more painful than seeing the man she loved receive the kiss of the woman who owned him and would one day have his name and bear him children.

It did not just hurt. It burned, like acid on her skin, a raging infection that almost drove Mairi to her knees.

Another woman’s lips was covering the lips of the man she loved – the man she had waited for all her life.

“No,” she whispered, closing her eyes, praying to God that it was a nightmare she could wake up from. But when she opened her eyes, Damen was still on stage and Alina Kokinos was still kissing him.

She fell back in her seat, knowing that it was a sight she could never forget, not even if she lived to be a hundred years old. She would always remember this, and she would always grieve because that one kiss had sliced her heart and broken it into a thousand pieces.

Mairi’s eyes fluttered close as she wheezed for breath as discreetly as she could. She was having a panic attack. Or maybe this was shock. She didn’t know anymore. All she knew was that she couldn’t breathe past the pain.

“Mairi?” That was Velvet.

“Mairi!” That was Mandy.

“Mairi?” That was…Ioniko?

“Mairi?” That was…a voice from the past, one familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.

And then chaos, everyone around her gasping, followed by a thousand clicking sounds as she heard a voice she didn’t think she’d hear anymore say her name.

“Mairi?”

Damen
.

Her eyes opened.

She whispered brokenly, “Damen?”

Hearing her say his name like that broke him apart. If he had the chance to offer his life and the lives he would live after it in exchange for wiping the slate clean with Mairi, he would have. If it meant sentencing himself to an eternity in hell just so Mairi would never know the pain he had caused her time and time again, he would have.

In two single strides, Damen had her in his arms. She was still limp and unmoving.
 

His lips touched her hair. “I’m sorry,” he gritted out, his arms tightening around her. He tipped her chin up, needing her to see the truth in his eyes.

“Mairi, I love you.”

The words caused a wave of shock to go through the entire crowd.

Ioniko stopped moving towards them, his expression becoming hooded.

Stavros also stilled. Something inside him reacted to those words from Damen Leventis, and that something felt emptier and emptier as he took in the way Damen was looking at Mairi. His once very self-sufficient friend – a man who once did not believe in love – was looking at Mairi like he had started to believe because he had found it in the woman in his arms.

The paparazzi had finally caught on. Question after question was fired at them, and soon Damen and Mairi found themselves inside the tight circle made by his security team.

Everything was a blur, and Mairi could only look at Damen but
not
see him.

“Mairi, please,” he said hoarsely. “Say something.”

She shook her head. “I don’t know what to say.”

He fought for control even as everything inside him went crazy with fear that he was too late, that he had hurt her too much and now she just wanted to be free of him.

“Mairi, I’m sorry for being an ass. I can say a thousand more words, but they all boil down to the same thing. I fucked up and I just need one more chance to atone for all the times I hurt you.”

She still didn’t say anything.

“I’ve broken the engagement, Mairi. I knew – when I looked at you after she…”

And she spoke then, only to whisper in the same broken almost-singsong voice, “You kissed her.”

“No,” he denied fiercely. “I didn’t kiss her. She kissed me and—” Damen’s hands shook as he cupped her tender face. “Mairi, you taught me to love because I saw how much you loved me. And if I’ve lost your trust and love because I messed up too many times, I’m sorry. But I’m not giving up. I’m going to do the same thing and teach you to believe in
my
love this time.”

He waited and waited, his heart cracking open with every second that passed without a word leaving Mairi’s lips. And just when he was about to lose hope, he felt it, her hands going to his heart.

“Damen.” Still broken, but not as weak, not as pained.

He covered her hand with his, pressing it close against his heart. “You’re in there now,
matakia mou.
And no matter what happens, you’ll always be there because it’s yours. All my heart is yours.”

Crying now, Mairi slowly took his other hand and brought it to her own heart. “This will always be yours, too. No matter how much it hurts to love you, Damen, it will always be yours.”

Chapter Twelve

To trust a Greek billionaire, you must let him realize some things on his own.

He said: Like how much I love you?

She said: No, dreamboat—

He said (with a groan): Stop calling me that.

She said: But it’s cute!

After making sure Mairi was deeply asleep, Damen carefully extracted himself from her, not wanting her to wake up because she was obviously exhausted.

It was only when he was in the privacy of his study did he call Bart. “Tell me everything.”

“Our stocks are down by five percent and it's expected to drop another five by tomorrow. Your mother has issued a press statement about not being in favor of your decision to break the engagement, and Mr. Kokinos has asked for an emergency board meeting tomorrow.”

He listened calmly, nothing in Bart’s reports taking him by surprise. He had known it would happen this way the moment he chose to follow his heart.
 

His colleagues would never understand why he had to choose a woman who brought nothing to marriage over a woman who could make him the most powerful man on earth. If the merger between the Kokinos and Leventis had pushed through, it would have put him in control of nearly a third of the world’s shipping industry. But now that he might have made an enemy out of Kokinos, the other party could take offense and merge with another family with the sole purpose of demolishing Damen’s business empire in mind.

“Sir?” Bart asked nervously, waiting for orders to be rapped out.
 

“We’ll attend tomorrow’s board meeting as well but let no one know about it. As for the stocks, keep monitoring them and issue a press statement – the standard ‘no comment’, but add that it is not my wish or Ms. Tanner’s to court publicity for publicity’s sake.” It would be a clear dig at his mother, and he wanted it to be seen that way.

“Understood, sir.”

“Good. Keep me posted.” He ended the call but did not leave the office right away. It would be a rocky climb from here on, but he was not worried for himself.

When he returned to the bedroom, Mairi was already awake, iPad in her hand. She looked up when she heard him enter. “Hi.”

It sounded exactly like the way she said ‘hi’ to him before – breathless, dazed, whimsical, and
in love.

He would cherish that sound forever.
 

In moments, he was on the bed, Mairi on his lap, and he was kissing her hungrily. When he released her, she looked even more dazed.

“Hi?”
 

He laughed.

Mairi caressed his face. “Is this really happening?” she whispered.

He kissed her again, more demandingly, more passionately. “There. Still have doubts?” Before she could answer, he said, “Please say yes.”

Mairi giggled.

Smiling, he touched her nose. “I love you.”

She blinked back tears at the unexpected words. He had said it before, but she had been afraid he had only said it on an impulse. “I love you, too,” she whispered, her voice cracking at the end.

And because she couldn’t help it, she raised herself on her knees and began raining kisses all over his face. “I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you…”

Damen was laughing by the time she stopped. He told her solemnly, “Never change, Mairi. Promise me that?”

She nodded. “Never.” Shyly, she bent down and initiated the kiss between them for the first time.

He responded with reassuring ardor, and with a sigh she let herself go, kissing him the way she had so badly wanted to kiss him all the nights they had been apart.
 

Damen allowed her complete control, his body tensing in anticipation as she broke their kiss to move on to his chest, kissing his bare skin as her soft fingers played with his own nipples.

“Ah.” Her tongue was playing with his nipple, something that never used to arouse him but now had his cock springing to life.

It was a small struggle to get him out of his drawstring pants. His cock had to be guided out like an exotic and powerful animal – but when he was free, she found herself gulping a little, still not used to Damen’s immense cock.

She stroked it gently, fascinated at the way it pulsed, jerked, and stretched with every little move she made.
 

Bending down, she licked the drops of pre-cum wetting its head, eliciting a groan from Damen.

“More?” she whispered teasingly, looking up at him.

In answer he raised his hips up, his cock bumping against her lips. She laughed but obediently followed his silent command, opening her mouth as widely as she could to take as much of his cock in.

She almost gagged at the beginning but Damen was stroking her hair and her back, guiding her bit by bit until her throat relaxed and allowed the entire length of his cock in.

His head fell against the bed’s majestic headboard as Mairi’s mouth worked sensual magic on his cock. She licked, bit, and sucked like a pro and though he did his best to keep himself from exploding, he knew it was only a matter of time now.

“Mairi, darling, you have to stop.”

She reluctantly released his cock and the way it slid out of her mouth was arousing too, making him groan.

“Why?” Mairi asked like a petulant child.

He groaned again, the way she was speaking making him want to just grab her by the hair and guide her head back to his aching cock.

“Next time. I need you. NOW.” He did not wait for her to agree. He simply lifted her up and impaled her with his cock in the next second.