Chapter 14
A FTER DAMEN HAD PARKED the sailboat in its private dock, he served both of them dinner in bed. He had been adamant about not letting Mairi out of his bed, going as far as locking her in the bedroom while he was preparing dinner, which she found more amusing than worrying.
“You’re so crazy possessive now,” she teased him as she fed him grapes after helping herself to the pasta and chicken he had heated in the microwave.
Damen shrugged. “It is who I am.” He was leaning against the bed’s headboard, hands clasped behind his head and looking like an indolent prince waiting to be entertained.
Gazing at him, she blurted out, “You’re so pretty.”
He choked. “You could not even use the word ‘handsome’?”
She smiled sheepishly. “Sorry. I was just speaking my thoughts out loud. I didn’t mean you’re effeminate or anything. I mean pretty, like with Gollum calling his ring ‘my precious’?” Mairi perked up as an idea occurred to her. “Now that we’re going to be official, I think we should have special names for each other.”
Damen had a hard time keeping up with her. First there was Gollum, and then something about an official and now they needed special names? She was the most delightfully scatterbrained teacher he had ever met, and damn if he did not find it sexy as hell.
Mairi was looking at him expectantly.
“Err...ladies first?”
She grinned. “Okay.” She raised herself on her knees, bringing a sheet with her to cover her breasts.
He shook his head, pulling the sheet away.
“But...”
“Mine,” he reminded her simply.
Mairi blushed and the pinkness spread all over her body. Unable to help it, Damen leaned forward and suckled her nipple.
“Oh...”
Fuck. That moan of hers never failed to turn him on. He dragged her to his lap, making sure she was in a straddling position before he thrust up the same time he pulled her down.
“Damen!” She clutched his shoulders hard as the unexpected penetration rendered her speechless.
“Now...what were we talking about?” he asked hoarsely as she started riding his cock.
“Uhh...” It was impossible to think, not with the way his cock was filling her. All she wanted was to continue impaling herself on Damen’s cock, again and again until he made her come the way only he could.
“Something about special names?”
She breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh, yes...I want us...to have special names. I don’t want...something ordinary like baby or sweetheart. I want something ours alone.”
“You first then.” He was having a more difficult time speaking, with her breasts jiggling in his face and tempting him beyond belief.
“I want to call you...” She stopped moving as she tried to clear the sexual haze in her mind.
She had stopped moving?
“Fuck that.” Damen held her by the nape and kissed her. “Fuck now, talk later. Got it?”
In answer, she fell against his chest, clinging to his neck as she rode him like she had been born on a saddle.
****
“Y OU’RE SURE CALLING in sick will not get you in trouble?” Damen asked the next day as he lifted her off the beach lounge chair, settled himself on it, and then settled Mairi on his lap.
She snuggled against him immediately, and he liked the fact that this time she no longer cared that she was completely naked in his arms – in broad daylight and while he was fully clothed.
They had gone out sailing again before mooring themselves near what Mairi thought was a deserted island but was actually one of the undeveloped properties he had recently bought. This close to his property, he was able to ensure their safety and privacy. Mairi losing her inhibitions with him was one thing, but having the world feast their eyes on her naked nubile body was another. No way in hell would he ever allow another man to see what was his.
“My friends will cover for me and besides, it’s my first time to call in sick.” As she lay against his chest, she absent-mindedly played with his nipple, pinching it occasionally.
Damen’s chuckle vibrated against his cheek. “That’s going to get you into trouble if you continue doing it, sweetheart.”
The term of endearment made her sit up. “Special names!”
He loved the way her face lit up every time she had one of her...rare...ideas. That was the best way to put it since “rare” sounded better than “insane”.
She looked at him seriously. “I think I’m going to call you...”
He raised a brow, knowing that whatever she decided on it would definitely be...rare.
“Dreamboat.”
Yes, definitely rare and it was definitely hard to keep a straight face as he coughed and said, “That’s...err...interesting.”
She beamed. “At least it’s something of ours.” Mairi nodded encouragingly at him. “What about you? What do you want to call me?”
He didn’t hesitate. “ Matakia mou .”
Mairi burst into laughter. “Maybe I should call you Gollum instead.” But even as she teased him, she couldn’t help but feel cherished. Because those words, translated to English, meant ‘my precious’.
****
“W E’RE AGREED THEN? You will move in this weekend?” Damen asked as his limousine slowed down to a stop on the very same road Mairi had chosen to meet with him the first time. The cloak-and-dagger stuff she insisted on frustrated Damen but for now, he knew he should not push his luck.
It was already a miracle he had somehow persuaded her to come back into his life. Damen would not dare do anything else that could make her leave him again. If she wanted to walk back to school from here, then so she would. However, Mairi did not have to know that he would also have an entire security team tailing her to make sure she reached her destination in one piece.
She bit her lip. “Are you sure Diana won’t mind?” Greek girls could still be terribly conservative and she didn’t want anything to ruin her friendship with the young girl as much as possible.
“She will understand. This is normal for Greek men.”
Mairi glanced at him in astonishment. “Really? I thought it would be the opposite?”
Her words puzzled Damen. “In what way should it be opposite? Do you think it is better that I live in your home?”
“No, no. I mean, it’s not normal for a couple to move in together before marrying, right? Not that I’m saying we’re going to get married soon but—-” Mairi stopped, belatedly noticing the way Damen had suddenly whitened.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
How could they have—-
FUCK! This was not fucking happening. This could not be fucking happening.
“Damen? What’s wrong?” Mairi reached out to touch his face, but he caught her wrist and shook his head. She let her arm fall back down, trying not to feel hurt.
He asked carefully, “What exactly do you think we are now, Mairi?”
She frowned at the question, unable to see the point of it. “Are you worried about the labels?” she asked finally. “We don’t have to be girlfriend or boyfriend. We can just be...an item.” That was the best she could come up with.
“An item...that will eventually lead to marriage?”
She colored, but not wanting to lie she said, “Eventually, yes.”
“But how can that be when I am still engaged to the Kokanis heiress?”
The words made Mairi’s vision blur. “What do you mean you’re still engaged?” she whispered.
The pain in her voice made him flinch. Goddamn it! He had promised himself he would not hurt her, but why the hell did things always get fucked up between them?
“Mairi, I didn’t lie to you this time. When we were in Vlahos’ yacht, I told you I wanted you in my life.”
“Yes.”
“But did I say I was going to break it off with her?”
“No, but...” She looked at him blankly. “How else will you have me back in your life if you still belong to her?”
“I don’t belong—-”
She shouted, “How?”
This time, he was the one who tried to reach out to her. And this time, she was the one to push him away.
“How?” she sobbed out. She had a feeling she already knew, but she needed to hear him say it.
Damen said bleakly, “I wanted you back in my life as my mistress.”
****
S HE WALKED ALONE. SHE had always walked alone on this street, which was the shortest and most isolated path leading back to the school. But somehow, none of those times had felt as empty and lonely like how she was feeling now.
In her mind, she could still hear Damen demanding that she listen to him – that she let him explain.
“You don’t understand,” Damen had said.
She shook her head. “No. It’s you who don’t understand. I love you—-”
“For God’s sake, Mairi! You’ve known me for what – three fucking days? And now you’re telling me you fucking love me? Do you know how fucking crazy that sounds?”
Yes, she knew. She had always known it sounded crazy. But she had grown up believing that someone like Damen Leventis would walk into her life, make her fall in love with him, and then they’d live happily ever after.
Maybe it was crazy. But was it so fucking wrong? Was she so wrong to believe that the kind of fairytales she believed in, the ones that had Greek billionaires in it instead of Prince Charming – was she so fucking wrong to want to believe that those fairy tales could also come true?
She hadn’t bothered explaining after that.
She had simply left.
And now—-
Velvet and Mandy were waiting for her by the gates. She didn’t know how they knew she was coming and couldn’t make herself ask. All she knew was that she had reached the end of her tether.
“Mairi?”
The sound of her name, spoken by someone who cared – who really cared for her – was all it took to have her breaking down.
Mairi sobbed, falling to the ground on her knees, unable to stop the harsh heavy sobs that shook her body.
It hurt. It hurt. It hurt so much because she had believed in the fairytale. And the fairytale did happen. She had met her Greek billionaire and had fallen in love with him. But what she didn’t count on was what could happen if the same Greek billionaire did not want to live happily ever after with her.