Chapter 2 #2
She regretted not taking the paternity test years ago, but a part of her still stood by her conviction. The man she’d made love to should have known she’d never lie about something as important as intimacy. The other lies she’d told…they were little ones.
She blinked back a few tears. She was looking for some sign that he wanted Theo for more than continuing his line.
Images from a past that she’d locked away flashed on the computer screen. Mykonos had changed little in five years. Why should it? The island dated back to the very beginning of recorded time and the few short years since she’d been there…
She realized she wasn’t ready to take a trip down memory lane, not even to ease her son about his upcoming move to the Greek island. And she knew that Christos hadn’t been kidding about taking Theo.
“Will you excuse me for a minute?” she said.
Both males looked up. “Where are you going?”
“I need to use the bathroom.”
Christos nodded. “It’s down the hall to the left.”
She left the room as quickly as possible and stopped in the hallway. She heard the deep rumble of Christos’s voice as he spoke to Theo, telling him about his heritage.
She realized that this situation was out of her control and she had absolutely no idea how to get it back. She’d dreamed of a time when Christos would return and claim Theo. Claim her. Yeah, that was the rub, wasn’t it?
That she’d been waiting five years for him to realize he’d been wrong when he’d accused her of infidelity.
And now he was here, offering her something she’d always wanted.
The one thing she’d dreamed of when they’d first begun their affair.
Yet she knew that saying yes to Christos’s proposal wasn’t going to make everything into that mythical happy ever after.
“Are you okay?”
She glanced up at Antonio. She wondered if he remembered her, or if the stream of women through Christos’s life had made him forget.
“I’m fine, Antonio. I just needed a minute to myself.”
“Of course. Why don’t you go out to the gardens? I’ll let Mr. Theakis know where you are.”
“Thank you,” she said, and followed Antonio’s directions. She stepped out into the cool February evening. The smell of the ocean and the lush shrubbery surrounded her.
She followed a path to the center of the garden and found a bench that overlooked a small fountain of a triton—half man, half fish with a large, dragon-like tail. It was lit from the base and she watched the water spill out.
“Ava?”
“Over here,” she called.
Christos came around the corner. He’d put on a fleece pullover and a pair of deck shoes. His hair was thick and black, rumpled as if he’d run his fingers through it.
“Where’s Theo?”
“I sent him to the kitchen for something sweet.”
Theo had a sweet tooth like nobody’s business. Well, to be honest, that was one of the things they shared, so she limited any kind of junk food in their house. “Why?”
“We need to talk.”
Christos sat down on the bench next to her. His body heat reached her in waves and she fought the urge to scoot closer to him.
“What have you decided?”
She shrugged, not ready to tell him yet. Not really sure if she was going to say yes to him and change her life for this man. At one time she’d been ready, but she wasn’t sure she could risk her heart again.
Theo was smart and funny and concerned about what moving would do to his mother.
In a candid moment he’d revealed that Ava’s family had cut her off completely when she’d returned from Greece pregnant.
Of course, the little boy hadn’t put it in those exact terms, but Christos could read between the lines of Theo’s simple words… it’s just Mommy and me.
He hadn’t wanted to personalize his relationship with Ava or her son too much yet, but it was too late for that.
The little boy was slowly, shyly winding his way into Christos’s cold heart, and Ava…
hell she’d always been his Achilles’ heel, hadn’t she?
He wanted her. Why the hell hadn’t that changed?
Here in the moonlight she looked too fragile, too vulnerable to have done all the things he knew she had. And despite the fact that she’d played him for a fool, he had never wanted her to lose her family and their support.
What a damned mess this was.
“I have questions,” she said, turning to face him.
Her eyes were big and wide, forthright and honest. He knew the honesty was mostly a mirage. But in this moment, with the soft trickle of the water in the fountain, surrounded by the lush scents of hibiscus and the fragrance of her perfume, it didn’t feel like a mirage.
It felt too damn real. He hated that this woman made him vulnerable. With anyone else he would have swooped in, taken the boy and left. But not with Ava.
“About?” he asked her.
“When are you planning to leave?” she asked.
“Next week. I’m waiting for the paperwork—and your decision, of course. The lawyers think they can have the papers to officially make Theo the Theakis heir done on my timetable.”
“I don’t think I can leave next week. I can’t leave the school in a bind.”
“Does that mean you’re coming with me?” he asked. The breeze stirred her hair and a strand blew across her face. She tucked it back behind her ear only to have it blow forward again.
He reached out and captured it, wrapping the strand around his finger. It was fine and soft like the sea mist when he was on his speed boat racing across the Aegean.
“Yes. I…I don’t want Theo raised the way you were, Christos.”
He liked the sound of his name on her lips. Always had. He dropped his hand from her hair and leaned forward, facing the fountain. The pounding of his heart and the racing of his blood through his veins made a mockery of his lauded self-control. How the hell could he still be so affected by her?
He stood up to give himself the position of power. She was just a girl, he thought, looking down at her. And he’d slept with many more sophisticated than she was. Why then was she the one he longed to hold again?
“How do you mean?” he asked. He’d had a great childhood, once he’d adjusted to living away from home. And it had been an adjustment, coming on the heels of his mother’s death. But Tristan and Gui had been there from the beginning and he’d found a home away from home in their friendships.
“In boarding schools, away from home all the time. I know that’s what the Theakis family does with their children.”
Yes, she was intimately acquainted with how Stavros had raised his daughters, having been the Theakis nanny that summer long ago. He felt the quick burn of anger in his gut. “I won’t discuss my brother with you.”
“I wasn’t talking about Stavros, but his daughters.”
Remembered little-girl giggles made him turn away from her as tears burned his eyes.
Little Vennie had always hugged him so tightly whenever she’d seen him.
And Althea, ah, her kisses had been so sweet.
God, he missed those two. Despite the feud with Stavros, he’d still seen his nieces once a month and they’d been close.
“I will of course consider your opinion in the matters of Theo’s schooling, but the ultimate decision will be mine.”
“Don’t do this.”
“Do what?”
“Be that arrogant Greek male.”
“That’s who I am. Get used to it.”
She shook her head. “I can make it more difficult for you to leave.”
“You are welcome to try. I’m sure that your pro bono lawyers will have some ideas as to how to help you, but they’ll be playing out of their league. I’ve hired the best family law attorneys available here in the States. And I do have that agreement you signed for Stavros.”
“What makes you think I can’t afford a lawyer?” she asked.
“You’re a teacher, living off your weekly paycheck,” he said, stating the simple facts he’d read in the report his detectives had made.
“Stavros sent me some money when Theo was born,” she said. “That was part of the agreement I signed.”
“Are you going to use my brother’s money to fight me on this issue?”
It made him feel like the worst sort of bully when she shrank back. Dammit, what was it about Ava that made him act like…an arrogant Greek male. He’d spent a good portion of his life trying to distance himself from that part, but she brought out his primal instincts.
“Maybe I will. I think there are a lot of benefits to Theo and I moving to Greece with you, but if you act like a jerk, I’m going to make it difficult for you.”
“A jerk?”
“Yes, a jerk. You do know what that word means, don’t you?”
“Yes, Ava, I’m familiar with it. I’m not sure why you are calling me one.”
“You just asked if I’d use your brother’s money to fight you. It’s my money now, Christos. Mine and Theo’s. I accepted it for his sake.”
“Touché. I’ll stop saying it’s Stavros’s. What else makes me a jerk?”
“Acting as if Theo is a commodity…calling him ‘the Theakis heir.’ He’s a boy. I love my son. I don’t want him to be banished to a sleep-away school,” she said. There was a wealth of love in the way she spoke of Theo.
“Going to school will enable him to form bonds with future leaders. It’s far more than just getting kids out of their parents’ hair.”
“He can do that in other ways. I want—”
“This isn’t about your wants, Ava.” She glared at him and he held back a smile. She tried to hide all of the fiery passion and temper underneath such a serene surface. But it was always there, waiting to break through.
“I’m afraid it is, Christos. This isn’t going to be one of your dictates. I don’t work for you or any of the Theakis family anymore. And when it comes to Theo, I’m the final authority.”
His gut instinct was to take the boy to the private airport where his jet was waiting and just leave.
Once he was back on Mykonos with Theo, she’d have a difficult time seeing the boy again.
He’d be charged with kidnapping the boy, but he paid his lawyers a lot of money and they’d figure a way to resolve that.
“You are not the final authority when it comes to Theo,” he said.
“Yes, I am. There’s no father listed on the birth certificate.”
“Yes, but I have proof that Theo is a Theakis.” He hated that piece of paper that he’d found in Stavros’s private office four days after his brother’s death.
The legal document promised Ava an annuity in return for not making a claim of paternity against Stavros.
The very money she’d just mentioned. But the paper did acknowledge that the baby was a Theakis.
“You may have that paper I signed, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to just lie down for this,” she said.
“I don’t need threats. Just understand that Theo and I are leaving for Mykonos in less than ten days.”
“I have one more question,” she said.
He looked at her in the moonlight and tried to be objective. She wasn’t that attractive. She was pretty, yes, but he couldn’t explain the bone-deep desire he had for her. It went beyond looks. “Yes?”
“Why are you offering marriage?”