The Greek Billionaire and I (8 page)

She raked her nails across his back, her head tossing left and right as she could feel her body twisting inside, getting ready for an orgasm that was sure to make her pass out. “Mykolas…” The words
I love you
burned inside her throat, but knowing she couldn’t say it, she pulled him closer to her instead and sank her teeth into his shoulder hard.

The pain and pleasure from her unexpected bite had Mykolas gasping, his back arching as his orgasm came out of nowhere. “Fuck!” His movements became frenzied, and even as he started coming he had the presence of mind to take Velvet with him. Inserting his hand between their bodies, he easily found her clit and gave it a hard little twist that had Velvet abruptly coming with a gasp, her eyes rolling back at the sheer strength of her release.

When she woke up, her first thought was that she had to leave. It was Sunday, and all teachers of GAYL were expected to be back in their dorms tonight. She had no choice but to leave…Mykolas.

Mykolas was lying on his side, head propped on one arm. She found him gazing at her steadily when she slowly opened her eyes. Again, the words
I love you
burned inside her, but she knew she shouldn’t say it.

“Good morning,
agape mou.
” Idly, he stroked her cheek, mesmerized by its soft pale beauty. He had been awake for quite some time, and every second of it he had spent merely watching her. He knew without a doubt that he could never let her go. He had known it earlier, the first time he had a taste of her. But now, the earth-shattering experience of his possession of her body had cemented the truth.

She was his, but it had to be on his terms. They had to do this right, with no false expectations. Everyone had a price. Even his mother, his beautiful gay mother who he had once thought the world of, had eventually sold eight-year-old Mykolas to his grandfather when life became too hard and she realized that she loved being rich more than she loved her own son.

“Good morning.” Velvet found herself captivated by the look in Mykolas’ eyes. Oh…damn. She wanted to drown in his gaze again. This was fast becoming a really bad habit. She had to ask Mairi if there was a cure for obsession with Greek billionaires. Then again, Mairi was Mairi – the only thing she probably had was a potion to
stay
in love with Greek billionaires, no matter if they acted like the greatest bastards on earth.

“I have a question for you…” He brought her hand to his lips, and kissing it, he said softly, “I want you to be my wife.”

Velvet’s eyes widened. She couldn’t believe Mykolas Sallis was asking her to be his wife. Did it mean that he felt it, too? Did it mean he had also fallen in love with her even before they had seen each other? But before she could answer, he was talking again.

“So tell me. What is the price for your hand in marriage?”

And just like that, her heart crashed. A part of her ached to tell Mykolas that her love had no price. That it was his for the taking and would forever be his. But she knew…it was not time yet. She needed time to convince him that love need not have a price, but for that to happen, she had to lie.

Quietly, she gave him a price.

Chapter Seven

“A gold-digger, you say?” Mykolas drawled over the phone to his father hours later. He was seated at one of the bar stools while admiring the way Velvet’s hips swayed as she moved about the yacht’s tiny kitchen. She had insisted on preparing them brunch. She had also warned him she had no domestic skills at all, but since he was about to be her husband, Mykolas was expected to eat everything to the last crumb and tell her she was the most fantastic cook in the world – even if she was not.

Pausing in her careful slicing of prosciutto, Velvet made a face at Mykolas’ words. After accepting his business proposal and giving him a few conditions of her own, he had given her a little bit of his background, his wry tone hiding a wealth of emotions when he spoke of his father.

‘You can look up the sordid details online. But it all boils down to the same thing – he’s a billionaire who cares too much about himself. But he did teach me a good lesson, and that is it’s better to expect less from everyone so they do not end up disappointing you.”

And considering that line of thought, Velvet supposed she couldn’t blame Mykolas’ father for thinking she was a gold-digger. After all, no one had heard of her and here she was, suddenly engaged to Mykolas Sallis – and their marriage set one week from today.

Grinning at Velvet’s look, he cut off his father’s furious tirade – which consisted mostly of dire warnings about getting fleeced of half of his wealth – he said, “We have an iron-clad prenup, Papa. You have no need to worry. She may be my wife in name, but it is only so I can buy her as my permanent sex slave.”

Velvet picked up a piece of cucumber and launched it at his face with perfect aim. Unfortunately, Mykolas also had perfect aim and he caught the cucumber handily and munched on it instead.
Asshole,
Velvet thought, but if she was honest, she was thinking of him more fondly than irritably. He very well knew that the amount she had asked was
beyond
reasonable. What was a hundred grand to him when he had billions?

And if he finds out that the hundred grand is to start a non-profit foundation,
her busybody inner voice demanded.
What then?

By the time that happened
, she answered herself stoutly,
Mykolas should well be on his way to falling for her
. She didn’t know how she was going to make that happen, but she was determined it would.

When Mykolas ended the call, Velvet told him succinctly as she placed a plate of sandwich in front of him, “Asshole.”

Since she was within reach, he pulled her into his lap and nuzzled her neck. “I plead guilty. But you must admit. It’s good retaliation after you told your friend Mandy I was so in love with you I gave you a hundred grand on the spot—”

“But you did,” she pointed out innocently.

“While I was completely naked, with a rose between my teeth.”

“I guess I must have exaggerated.”
 

“You also sent a text message to your friend Mairi about how I ripped you apart with my cock that you had to be professionally treated.” That one had him grimacing.

“You are a financial expert and you cleaned me up, right? So technically,” she told him piously. “I didn’t lie. Besides, I thought you’d be flattered that I’m boasting about your big hard cock.”

When she fluttered her eyelashes outrageously at him, Mykolas couldn’t help but smile even as he pulled her close to give her a punishingly hard kiss. “I’d rather you not talk about it at all if the alternative is that you’d make me sound like an unfeeling rapist.” He gave her a reprimanding look. “You must stop with the antics.”

“Okay. I promise. No more lies or exaggerations. You can even listen to me make my final call.” And Velvet then dialed her employer’s number to let Rose Thorn know of her decision to marry Mykolas Sallis, stepbrother to one of her students.

She tried to be very professional about it, prepared to work whatever kind of notice Rose needed because she did like her job, but all thoughts of being nice and accommodating fled when Rose started calling her several names.

Velvet started mentally counting sheep.

But then Rose made the mistake of mentioning Mairi.

Mykolas knew the exact moment Velvet lost her composure. She didn’t shout or scowl, but the flash of pain in her eyes told him the other person must have said something that hit her on the raw. In a perfectly sweet voice, Velvet began weaving a tale.

“Thank you for the sermon about my loose morals. It would have been so much more believable if I didn’t know that you’ve also accepted bribes from parents to get students in your oh-so-highly-esteemed school. It would have been so much more believable if I didn’t know for a fact that
you
want a Greek billionaire for yourself. At least I want mine for the super-hot, mind-blowing, earth-shattering sex. You just want one so you can finally stop working…”

Mykolas didn’t know whether to laugh or grimace when Velvet ended with “…and let me tell you this. While you’re having fun with your vibrator, I’m having sex twenty times a day because my fiancé can get it on
anytime
!”

Chest heaving, Velvet pressed the button to end the call with relish. When she looked back at Mykolas, he raised an eyebrow at her.
No more lies or exaggerations, eh?

“It was
not
an exaggeration. We can do it twenty times, right?”

He just looked at her.

She said defensively, “It’s her fault, really. I hated how she made Mairi sound like a scheming gold-digging bitch when she’s not one at all! Just because she dreamt of marrying a Greek billionaire doesn’t make her a gold-digger!”

He said truthfully, “I’m sure what you say is true but from where I’m standing, that
does
sound a trifle suspect.”

“You’ll know what I’m saying is true when you get to know Mairi,” Velvet said dismissively, used to everyone’s initial misconceptions of her friend. “And you know,” Velvet added hotly, “she even refused to give Mairi a proper reference—”

“But she had a right to do so,
agape mou,”
he pointed out gently. “What Leventis and his new fiancée—”

“His
only
fiancée,” she corrected sharply, bristling. She didn’t like the insinuation that her friend was a momentary infatuation and the other Greek billionaire could very well replace Mairi for another woman just as quickly as he had dumped his first fiancée.

She had seen how much Mairi loved Damen. It would be heartbreaking for Velvet if the two were to break up.
Especially now
, Velvet thought. If those two didn’t make it, then it was like a bad omen for her and Mykolas as well.

“Let’s not argue about them,” Mykolas was saying. “I’d rather we concentrate on our own upcoming marriage.”

His serious tone had her looking up at him. She still felt a little awkward sitting on his lap. It felt too wanton, but Mykolas seemed to consider this as a favorite position for them so Velvet tried to be blasé about it.
 

“You have seen how people have reacted to our engagement. It won’t get any easier or better when we do marry. Do you think you would be able to handle it?”
 

Mykolas tried not to hold himself too stiffly as he waited for her answer. His father’s third wife, Chantal, had been unable to. Chantal had been like a second mother to him – the only one of his father’s wives who had truly treated him like a son. But in the end, she had been unable to handle all the snide and backbiting remarks that had gone with the territory of being Mrs. Sallis No.3. When she had left, she never looked back – never attempted to contact him even once, and that had been one of the most painful things Mykolas had ever experienced.

Mykolas’ tension was palpable, and knowing a little of his background now, she had a good guess why he remained wary of her ability to handle their marriage of convenience. Her heart ached as she imagined Mykolas as a young ten-year-old, waiting every day for just one message from Chantal until his father had brusquely told him that none would come since Chantal was too busy having fun spending her divorce money.

“It won’t end like that between us, Mykolas,” she said, swallowing. The fact that he cared this much to make sure she was not another Chantal was proof that he was well on his way to loving her, wasn’t it?
 

At that moment, her heart was overflowing with so much love for him it was pure torture not to tell him. She tried to find the right words to comfort Mykolas without blurting out her feelings, but none came to mind.
 

Mykolas was still tense.

Velvet blurted out, “Let…”
Let me love you? No way!
“Let me…suck your cock!”

Mykolas blinked. He also didn’t know whether to ask if she was delirious or get Velvet on her knees. “Did I truly just hear you say that?”

Her face was completely red now, but damn if she would back down. “I heard from really good authority that, err, blowjobs make very effective therapy.”
 

He asked dryly, “Have you ever sucked a cock?”

She answered right away, “Since you’re so big, would it matter if I did?”
 

Since the implied meaning there was that he had the biggest cock in the world, Mykolas felt his lips curve in a smile. “You are very good at flattering a man’s ego.”

“And you talk too much,” she said truthfully while still struggling to get her blushes under control. My God! Couldn’t they just go to the cock-sucking part now so she could forget the fact that
she
was the one who had so blatantly started this?