Chapter 2
Chapter Two
The house he’d rented overlooking the Atlantic Ocean was large and lush but empty. Even with the staff of five he’d hired, it still felt so empty. Christos leaned deeper into the leather office chair, snagging the phone as it rang.
“How’d it go today?” Tristan Sabina asked.
Tristan was one of Christos’s two best friends. The other was Guillermo de la Cruz. They’d formed an odd little triad of mischief makers and playboys for more than half their lives. They’d met at an exclusive boarding school in Switzerland and had bonded through their troublemaking antics.
The three of them had been tabloid fodder for longer than he could remember, moving through life as if the world was their oyster.
They’d started a business together in their twenties, a string of nightclubs located in posh hotspots all over the globe.
The exclusive clubs, called Seconds, were the place to see and be seen the world over, and every night the bouncers turned away more celebrities, wannabes and hangers-on than they let in.
And Tristan, Gui and Christos were the kings of the kingdom they’d built.
Christos settled the phone between his ear and his shoulder and knocked back a shot of tequila. “Who knows? I thought she was going to hit me when I told her I was willing to marry her.”
“You Greeks have no way with women,” Tristan said. “You should have pulled her into your arms and kissed her senseless, then told her you were marrying her.”
“It’s not about her,” Christos said, struggling not to get angry at his friend.
“It sounds as if it is,” Gui said calmly, always the voice of reason, as he joined the three-way conference call. “You’ve never talked about what happened.”
“Nor do I intend to.”
“How was the boy?” Tristan asked.
“The boy was…he seemed…”
“What, Christos?” Gui asked. The three-way call was a little cumbersome, but it was the best way to keep in touch now that they all had other legitimate business concerns.
“He has Stavros’s nose.”
“You have the same one. It’s the Theakis features. They bred true,” Tristan said.
“Did you ask her again if Stavros was the father?” Guillermo asked.
“No. She lied before. Why wouldn’t she again?”
Tristan cursed under his breath. “Do you want company in Florida?”
“No. I’m going to wrap up the legal arrangements for the boy and then fly back to Greece next week.”
“What about the woman?” Guillermo asked.
“She’s thinking it over.”
“What exactly is she thinking over?”
“If she’s going to marry me.” Christos didn’t want to think too much about Ava or his marriage offer. He could still remember the last time they’d discussed the subject, and hadn’t that been a kick in the pants.
“Marriage? Is that the only solution?” Tristan asked.
“It is for me. I…”
“You still want her and you think that will keep it under control?” Gui asked.
“I’m not exactly thinking.”
“True,” Tristan said. “I’m scheduled back in Paris in three weeks, on the thirtieth. I can be at your place on Mykonos on the twenty-third.”
An electronic beeping noise came through the line. “Me, too.”
“You don’t have to—”
“We know,” Gui said. “I want to meet her for myself.”
“Gui, she’s not like—”
“I’m not saying she is. I just want a chance to see what kind of woman is the mother of the Theakis heir.”
“So do I,” Tristan said. “You and Stavros are so different.”
“Were so different…hell, I guess we still are,” Christos said.
Emptiness buzzed on the line. “Are you sure you don’t need us?”
“Yes,” he said, and tossed back another shot of tequila.
There was a rap on the library door. “I must go.” He hung up the phone. “Enter.”
“Sir, there is a Ms. Ava Monroe to see you.” Antonio Montoyo was his butler and traveled with Christos wherever he went. Though Antonio was only fifteen years older than Christos, their relationship was closer to father and son than the one he shared with Ari Theakis.
“Is she alone, Antonio?”
“Ah, no. She brought along the boy, Theo.”
And there was the rub. No matter what the truth was, the world was going to believe that Theo was his son. Nikki, his sister-in-law, had done too good a job of hiding all of Stavros’s affairs.
“Send them back.”
“Ah, sir?”
“Yes, Antonio?”
“You aren’t dressed for receiving.”
He arched one eyebrow. He’d just come in from swimming in the sea and was dressed in trunks and no shirt.
Granted, it was winter in Florida, but the daytime temperature still wasn’t cold.
And he’d be damned if he’d change for Ava.
He couldn’t explain his feelings for her, hell, wouldn’t even try, but she held a lot of cards with that small boy of hers and he wasn’t going to give an inch otherwise.
“I’m fine. Better that she see me as I really am now.”
“And that is, sir?”
“A playboy masquerading as the head of a Greek shipping line, a man of the sea like my father and brother.”
“I’ve known you a long time, Christos, and you are nothing like either of those men.”
“Enough,” he said.
Antonio left the room with a small nod of his head. The butler’s disapproval was something he’d deal with later. He respected Antonio. Despite Antonio’s insistence on keeping up appearances, Christos knew he wouldn’t fail to drop him some advice.
The doors opened a few seconds later and Ava stepped into the room. She’d changed. Dammit. She now wore a pair of faded old jeans that clung to the slim length of her legs and a cashmere sweater that matched the blue of her eyes. Her hair hung loose around her shoulders.
Theo stood next to her dressed in a pair of baggy navy sweat pants and a matching fleece top. They both thanked Antonio as the older man left.
“Have a seat,” Christos said.
“Thank you for seeing us,” Ava said.
“I was expecting you,” he said. True, not this soon, but he’d figured she’d come to him with her answer.
“I know,” she said, quietly.
She glanced at her son and then back up at him and he saw a hint of protectiveness in her gaze along with that other emotion he could never identify.
She cleared her throat. “I was discussing your proposal with Theo and he has a few questions.”
He was surprised. But in a good way. Theo would one day run a multibillion dollar corporation. Learning to weigh options and make decisions was an important step to learn.
“What are your questions, Theo?”
“I want to know about Greece, Baba.”
Baba. He hated hearing that from the little boy. He was Theo’s uncle, not his father. He needed to talk to Ava and deal with this. But not in front of Theo. “Perfectly understandable. Come over here and I’ll show you some pictures of our home.”
The boy hesitated and Ava bent over to pick him up. “Ava, put him down.”
She set him on his feet.
“Are you afraid of me?” he asked Theo.
The boy shrugged, his eyes the dark obsidian that Christos saw every morning in the mirror. He didn’t want the boy to fear him. But, to be honest, he had no idea what to do.
He glanced at Ava and she straightened. “Come on, Theo. I’m curious about how the Theakis household has changed since I was last there.”
They crossed the room together. And though he knew he held all the cards in this situation, he felt like an outsider.
“Does this mean that you’ve decided to accept my offer?” Christos asked.
“We’ve been talking it over. I want to make sure that Theo will be happy.” Ava tried to keep her voice cordial. She’d spent the entire afternoon on the treadmill in her bedroom, running off the anger that had sprouted deep inside when he’d said he was willing to marry her.
She’d wanted to tell him to take a flying leap into the ocean and swim back to Greece, but Theo was enthralled by Christos.
He’d spent all afternoon asking her questions about him.
And then finally asked if he was going to have a father.
And Ava’s heart had broken. She did the best she could for her son, but she couldn’t be a father.
Christos nodded at her in a way that revealed nothing of what he felt. Ava didn’t know what she wanted from this meeting with Christos, but him sitting, aloof, behind that large walnut desk wasn’t it.
He thought he held all the cards, she knew that. She could tell from the way he was staying seated in his position of power. She’d come to him. The problem was she was drawn to that arrogance. To the utter confidence that he exuded.
His chest was bare and she struggled to keep her gaze from it. From that gold medallion nestled in his chest hair. He’d always been in good shape and he certainly hadn’t let himself go in the five years since she’d seen him.
Too bad, because it would be so much easier to resist him if he’d developed a beer gut like many of her other male friends.
Some sign of emotion from Christos would also make things easier on her but he was still the iceman when it came to feelings.
The only time he’d ever revealed any fire had been when they’d made love.
And, of course, when she’d seen the hard side of his temper.
Theo’s hand trembled a little in hers. He wasn’t afraid of Christos exactly, but his exposure to men had been limited.
At the school most of the staff were women.
Her best friend Laurette was engaged, but her fiancé, Paul, traveled a lot, so even he wasn’t around much.
Though he did make a fuss over Theo when he came to her house.
“The Theakis family compound is on an island in the Aegean,” Ava said. They didn’t just live on the island, they practically owned it. They had properties all over Europe and the world, but Mykonos was their base of operations.
Christos reached out and lifted Theo onto his lap. Her son looked so small against the thick muscles of Christos’s chest and arms. He reached around Theo to hit a button on his computer and images started flashing up on the screen.
He leaned in low and for a moment brushed his nose over her son’s head, inhaling deeply. Then Christos looked up at her and she saw a yearning in his eyes. But what did it mean? Did he want Theo, or wish that Theo was his son?