The Greek Billionaire's Counterfeit Bride (8 page)

Chapter Nine

The next day, she went to the Park once again; Ari was five minutes early, bearing more food—this time his favorites from a Moroccan restaurant near the first hotel he’d lived at in New York. “First thing’s first,” Eva said when they found their spot in the green, dappled depths of the wooded area where they could be alone.

“What’s that?” Eva licked her lips, taking a quick, deep breath.

“I got a phone call from a lawyer yesterday,” she said. “Apparently…I’m going to be sued.” Ari’s eyes widened and he shook his head.

“I’ll make a phone call tomorrow,” he said. Eva held his gaze for a long moment, caution warring with hope.

“Okay,” she said. “So the next order of business is figuring out how we met, and the story of our great and timeless romance.” Ari snorted.

“We don’t want to make it too romantic, or too great and timeless,” Ari pointed out. “Believable is best.”

“Of course,” Eva agreed drily. “Spontaneous and believable.”

Ari served up the food, dividing it equally between them. “How about this: we met on a plane, on the way to a music festival,” he suggested as they began to eat. Eva laughed.

“Too obvious,” she said, shaking her head. “It should be more mundane. Like…” she considered, savoring the flavors of a vegetable tagine. “We met at a pharmacy. Both of us were looking for allergy medicine—and there was only one box left of our preferred brand. We haggled over it and decided to split it eventually, after you graciously attempted to insist that I take the whole thing.” Ari snickered.

“No—because then we’d have to remember what each of us is allergic to,” he pointed out. “What about if we met at a charity event? We both went to the same 5K and got to talking to each other, spurring each other on when we faltered. Love and sweat and bloody nipples?” Eva almost choked on a bite of cucumber salad.

“I don’t think bloody nipples are an image you want to give future business partners,” she countered. “We could say that we met in a café. Some guy was aggressively hitting on me, getting louder and louder as I tried to tell him to leave me alone. You intervened, saving my precious virtue, and we got to talking after you bought me a latte.”

“And you said my first story was too obvious!” Ari shook his head. “We can do better than this.”

“Let’s go over our biographies for now; something will come to us,” Eva said. She and Ari quizzed each other, and Eva wondered if the Greek had taken the same tactic that she had with flashcards, or if he just had an innate good memory.

They finished off their food and moved back onto the subject of their cover story. Ari wiped his lips with a napkin. “What if we said that we met here? At the park?”

“Go on,” Eva said, smiling slowly.

“We were both here on miserable blind dates,” Ari suggested. “You somehow got set up with just—the most terrible guy ever. Total asshole. And the girl one of my friends set me up with was just awful; she hated all of my favorite bands, expected me to buy a ton of things for her because I’m rich—all of those things.” Eva snorted.

“So there we were, having the worst dates of our lives,” she said. “How did that end up with us meeting?”

“That’s where it gets good,” Ari said, grinning. “You got into a fight with your guy. Couldn’t stand his attitude, or whatever. The girl I was with saw it going down, and rushed over to cheer you on.”

“Totally ignoring you—that’s interesting,” Eva observed. “And was I in over my head? Is that where you saved me?” Ari shook his head.

“You knocked him flat on his back,” Ari told her. “Someone called the police, and I stayed behind to be a very, very helpful witness for you.” Eva laughed out loud, considering the story.

“I think that will do it,” she said after a moment. “It’s not too boring, but it’s something that’s interesting and believable all at the same time.”

“Thank you,” Ari said, inclining his head towards her.

They fleshed out their story from there, each of them coming up with ideas for dates. As the afternoon dissolved into evening, Eva found herself torn between extricating herself from Ari and coming up with a reason to stay with him, in spite of the fact that she had told herself—again and again—that she would keep the situation between them professional and businesslike. Their conversation began to stray from the scheme at hand, and Eva found herself remembering the club they’d gone to the night she’d asked Ari for help, the way he’d charmed her, the way he’d invited her back to his hotel room.

“Did you know that you were going to ask me to pretend to be your wife when you invited me back to your place?” Eva’s heart beat faster in her chest and she wasn’t sure if she wanted him to answer in the negative or the positive.

“I was starting to think along those lines,” Ari admitted. “But I hadn’t outright decided.”

“So having sex with me made you decide you wanted me to pretend to be your wife?” Eva raised an eyebrow, feeling oddly unsettled without knowing why. “Was it some kind of audition or something?” Ari shook his head.

“Not exactly,” he said. “But the fact that we obviously had chemistry told me that we’d be more likely to pull it off than if—say—I’d found someone from one of the talent agencies to play the role.” Ari held her gaze for a long moment. “I think we still have plenty of chemistry, don’t you?”

“Maybe,” Eva said. She could feel her cheeks burning as the blood rushed into her face. “I mean, it’s not like you’ve gotten ugly since I found out that you used to prank Eleni by putting shells under her mattress and telling her that it was the boogeyman.” Ari laughed.

“You haven’t gotten any less beautiful, even after you told me about cheating on your Algebra final,” he told her. Eva’s heart beat faster in her chest. Ari looked around them. “It’s dark,” he said. Eva’s eyes widened and she glanced around, realizing the truth of what he’d said.

“We should go home,” Eva suggested. Ari stared at her for a moment.

“You could come back to my place again,” he countered. “We could keep working on our backstory. I don’t have anywhere to be in the morning.” Eva pressed her lips together; she knew that if she went back to his hotel with him, she would end up having sex with Ari. She had sworn to herself that she would keep the situation platonic; but even still it had been impossible not to remember what he looked like naked, what he felt like inside of her, what he’d tasted like with her fluids on his lips.

“We do have some powerful chemistry,” Eva said tentatively.

“And one night together isn’t enough to convince an entire group of people that we know each other’s bodies in and out,” Ari agreed.

They got rid of their trash and Ari took Eva’s hand as they made their way out of the park, towards the entrance. Eva’s mind reeled as he hailed a cab and ushered her into the back seat, directing the driver to the hotel he was staying at. Before Eva could wrap her mind around the decision she’d made, Ari kissed her hungrily, letting his hands wander all over her body in the safe darkness of the cab. “God, I’ve been thinking about this ever since…” he shook his head, brushing his lips against her jaw. “I’ve barely been able to think straight whenever I’ve been in the office or at home.”

“If you’re able to remember everything…” Eva bit back a moan as one of Ari’s hands slipped up between her legs, caressing her inner thigh teasingly. “And you haven’t been able to think straight…” Ari chuckled lowly.

“About anything other than you,” he told her in a whisper. He kissed her again, and Eva pushed aside any thought of what his words might mean, instead giving into the heat of the moment.

“Sir? We’ve arrived,” the cab driver said, sounding uncomfortable. Eva’s cheeks burned with a blush of embarrassment, but Ari seemed utterly at ease with the situation. He handed the cabbie a large bill—Eva couldn’t see the denomination, but the driver’s eyes widened at the sight of it—and told the man to keep the change for a tip, before claiming her hand and leading her out of the car.

Eva barely noticed the details in the lobby of The London as Ari guided her towards the elevators, his hand tightening on hers with the urgency that Eva could feel just as certainly as he did. As soon as they were alone, on their way up to the penthouse suite, Ari discarded any pretext of propriety, pushing Eva up against the wall and kissing her once more, letting his hands wander over the curves of her body hungrily. Eva moaned against his lips, pressing her body against his, wrapping her arms around his shoulders, feeling the heat in him and almost completely oblivious to the progress of the elevator.

When the doors opened, Ari broke away from her lips, and Eva followed in his wake as he steered her down the short corridor that led to the suite he had taken. Unlike their first tryst, Ari seemed to have no patience whatsoever as he unlocked the door and pulled her through it. Eva nearly tripped over her own feet and stopped him for just a moment, kicking off her shoes in the entryway and pulling herself up to kiss him quickly on the lips. “Aren’t I supposed to be the impatient one?” Eva raised her eyebrows.

Ari grinned. “I did say we were both impatient,” he pointed out. Eva’s clothes fell away as Ari led her across the living room area and towards the bedroom, and she struggled—but succeeded—in peeling off the suit that he wore piece by piece. Eva yelped as Ari threw her onto the bed, launching himself after her. He kissed her again and again, his hands wandering over her naked body, caressing and teasing her; Eva realized with shock that in spite of the lack of prolonged foreplay, she was already tingling all over, already soaking wet, slick with desire. Ari’s hand slipped up between her legs and he teased her with his fingers, barely avoiding her clitoris. “You don’t seem to need much patience,” Ari murmured against her lips.

“Not this time,” Eva agreed. Ari shifted down between her legs, his fingers withdrawing, and every nerve in Eva’s body seemed to tingle with anticipation as she felt the thick, hard heat of his erection rubbing against her labia. She moaned out as Ari thrust into her all at once, filling her up in an instant. “Oh—oh, fuck,” Eva wrapped her legs around his waist, pushing her hips down to meet his thrust. Almost immediately, Ari began to move inside of her, rocking deeper and deeper, rubbing along her inner walls.

Eva fell into his rhythm, thinking once again—for as long as she could think—that it was marvelous, even amazing how well they moved together, and how perfect he felt inside of her. She trembled in Ari’s arms, touching and kissing him everywhere she could reach, twisting and writhing underneath him as every movement of their bodies together brought her closer and closer to orgasm. Ari kissed her again and again until she was breathless, trailing his lips down to her breasts and back up to her lips. “God, Eva—you feel even better than I remembered,” Ari murmured against her neck as he began to thrust harder and faster inside of her.

All at once, the tension deep down between her hips seemed to almost snap, and Eva cried out, words tumbling past her lips that she didn’t even know about as wave after wave of pleasure crashed through her. She barely felt Ari’s cock inside of her beginning to twitch, she was so lost to the sensations coursing through her body; but when Ari moaned into her shoulder, shuddering against her, Eva felt the sticky-slick gush of his climax inside of her.

She gasped and panted, slick with sweat and trembling with the aftereffects of her climax; on top of her, Eva felt Ari’s delicious weight, the heat of his body sinking into her in a comforting way. “That…was amazing,” he murmured. Eva nodded breathlessly.

“It was,” she agreed.

“Give me fifteen minutes and we can do it again,” Ari suggested. Eva chuckled.

“I need twenty at least,” she told him. Instead of going at it again, they slowly slipped and slid and maneuvered wordlessly, shifting until Eva found herself wrapped up tightly in Ari’s arms, eyes closed, enjoying the delicious crackle and tingle of pleasure still coursing through her nerves. Her breathing slowed, and while Eva told herself that she should go back home, it didn’t seem at all urgent; the bed was so comfortable, and Ari’s body felt so good pressed against hers that the thought of getting up was impossible to entertain. She slipped from a doze into a deep sleep, contented and satisfied.

Hours later, she woke up; for a moment, Eva was completely disoriented. But then the events of the night before crackled through her brain and she turned over in the bed, looking at Ari, still asleep.
Oh god. This was a terrible idea.
She slid underneath the sheets, shifting away from the Greek man.
Having sex with him again was the very last thing I should have done.
She glanced at Ari again, furtively, and wanted to scream at herself, wanted to tear her own hair out.