Chapter 8 #2
There had been nothing untoward between Gui and Ava when he’d walked in. Ava was reserved around his friends, and he was coming to realize that that was her way around most men.
This time he wasn’t as caught up in the white-hot passion that blazed between them. It was still there, but he had more breathing room to make sensible decisions. Like branding her with his kiss? Yeah, well, he was still possessive where she was concerned.
Gui left and Christos looked around the sitting room while he waited for her.
It wasn’t sophisticated and cool the way his rooms were.
She’d left her mark on the place. Pictures of Theo were mounted on the wall, along with little sayings that she was fond of.
Nestled in one corner were the big story-time pillows and against the wall a rolling laptop caddy, which he knew she’d had brought in for Theo.
Ava was adjusting to living in his home just as she’d hoped she would.
When she exited her bedroom, Ava was surprised to find Christos waiting for her. He sat in the nest of pillows where she usually read Theo his bedtime story.
“Come here,” he said.
She walked over and sat down next to him on the pillows. He drew her into his arms, gently rubbing his thumb over her lower lip.
Her mouth was a little swollen from the powerful kiss he’d given her. “I’m sorry if I hurt you.”
“You didn’t,” she said. “It made me think I’d made a mistake asking you to wait until we were married….”
She didn’t want to tell him how she’d stood in front of Maria and Dorothea and that snooty assistant and felt like the dirty little girl from the trailer park, someone who’d never be able to win his attention, much less keep it.
That feeling harkened back to something that Stavros had said to her when he’d made a pass at her years ago: Christos will never see you as anything more than some cheap American tail.
Certainly Christos hadn’t come after her when she’d left Mykonos and Greece to return to the States. But she’d always hoped that it had been anger and not a lack of caring that had made him let her go.
“Nothing was happening between Gui and myself. We were just talking.”
“What about?”
“He was giving me advice about dealing with your father.”
“Really? What did he suggest?”
She nibbled her lower lip. “Telling him to go to hell. But somehow I don’t think I can do that.”
Christos smiled at that. “I can’t see you doing that either. I’ve left word with Antonio that you are in charge of our wedding. Don’t let anyone bully you into anything.”
“That’s harder than it sounds. I’m not at all sure I can make the right choices.”
“I’m sure you can. You’re not the same young woman you were five years ago. Don’t forget that.”
“Does that mean you believe I’ve changed? That kiss you gave me when you came in…” Bringing it up might not be the wisest idea but nothing ventured, nothing gained. “It was a real claim-staking kind of kiss.”
“Yes, it was.”
“Nothing happened between Gui and myself,” she said again.
“I know.”
“You trust me?” she asked.
“I trust that nothing happened between the two of you.”
She swallowed hard, wanting to let it go.
“Because you trust your friend.”
“What does it matter?”
“It matters to me.”
“Why? We’re here together. We are getting married.”
That was exactly why it mattered so much to her. And she was so afraid that she was making Christos out to be this great love of her life in her mind. When the reality was…just another lie that she was telling herself.
“Because we are getting married.”
He tucked her head closer to him, resting his chin on top of her head. “Ava, you are so complicated.”
“So are you,” she said. She had no idea what he really wanted from her.
“Why are you home?” she asked at last. She missed him during the day, although she was really trying to find a way to stand on her own. But right now she just closed her eyes and sank deeper into his arms.
“Theo asked me to come,” he said, stroking her back.
“He misses you when you’re gone.”
“I miss him, too.”
She tipped her head back and saw the sincerity in his obsidian eyes. “Even though you aren’t sure he’s your son.”
“He’s a Theakis and I do love him.”
Though she’d wanted to hear him say that he believed Theo was his son, she didn’t push. “I’m glad for that. I couldn’t stay here if you didn’t treat him right.”
“Yet you’ll stay here and let my father treat you poorly?”
“That’s not fair. Your father is hard to deal with.”
“I know. Do you want to live somewhere else?”
“What do you mean, not at the compound?”
He shrugged. “I’ve taken you away from the life you knew. I want this place to be your home.”
Though it wasn’t yet home, a physical place that she felt comfortable in, she didn’t want to disrupt Theo’s life with another move so soon.
“I don’t mind living here. Your father and I just have to sort things out.
And I’ve talked to Theo’s school about volunteering there. I think I can make this work….”
“Don’t let him run you off,” Christos said, and she had a feeling he was talking about way more than the wedding.
“I won’t. I’m not going to let you do that to me, either.”
“Good.”
She smiled. “We’d better head down to lunch. Theo’s probably already eaten but he’ll expect to see you.”
She tried to rise but he tugged her back into his arms.
“Yes?”
“I know you wouldn’t betray me with Gui.”
She caught her breath as the words sank in. Was he saying he trusted her? Or was this just an olive branch? A tentative offering that they could use to build a life together.
She leaned down and kissed him. She wanted to tell him with words all she felt about him, but words were something that Christos didn’t trust from her. Actions, on the other hand, might be just what she needed to convince him that she was a woman worthy of being a Theakis bride.