Chapter 6
V ELVET: STOP TORTURING yourself with these stupid applications.
Mairi winced at her friend’s words, but before she could answer it, another reply came in.
Mandy: What she means is that you’re going to be Damen’s wife now. You really don’t need to work, and if you do want to work then you can afford to wait for a job you love.
Mairi: You don’t understand. I NEED to do this. I don’t want anyone to think I’m freeloading or anything.
Velvet: If he thinks you’re a gold digger—-
Mairi: He doesn’t think I’m a gold digger, but others do or could think I am. And that’s why I need to find a job ASAP.
Mandy: I hate to say this, but I don’t think that’s possible.
Her fingers paused midway while typing as Mandy’s answer popped up. Mairi hated to think her practical but tactful friend was right, but Mandy probably was. All fifty-two rejection emails in her inbox were proof of it.
Esther Leventis and the Kokinos family made a formidable opponent.
No employer had stated outright that they were avoiding hiring her as a consequence of Damen’s decision to break off his engagement. But anyone who read between the lines would know it was the reason no school or company in Greece was willing to touch her with a ten-foot pole.
Velvet: Mairi?
The tiny beep from Skype had Mairi jerking and she looked down at her phone’s screen blankly.
Mandy: Are you okay? Want us to come wherever you are?
Her friend’s question had Mairi hastily typing a reply.
Mairi: No, I’m good. I was just trying to rehearse my answers for the interview.
She paused, thinking, then started typing again.
Mairi: I have to go now. I’m being called for the interview. Catch up with you two later!
She quickly signed out from Skype, knowing that her abruptness might not just confuse her friends but hurt them, too. Despite knowing that, Mairi knew limiting contact with them was for the best.
The tabloids had taken to calling her Greece’s Most Famous Mistress, and the fact that she already had Damen’s ring on her finger didn’t seem to change their opinions about her. If the rumors were to be believed, Mairi was a professional con artist from America who had cold-bloodedly used her teaching job to find a billionaire to target and seduced him with her Mata Hari skills in bed.
Absolutely no way would she ever let her friends be embroiled in her trouble, and they would be if the paps caught a picture of them together. If it came to that, her friends might also be dismissed—-
“Ms. Tanner?”
Realizing belatedly that Dean Frangos had finally arrived in his office, Mairi nervously scrambled to her feet. In her haste, she wasn’t able to prevent her iPhone from sliding off her lap and red-faced, Mairi bent down once more.
The position caused her pencil-line skirt to ride up, and the sight of her long bare legs made the dean wet his lips. Cleon Frangos had known that Mairi Tanner had been waiting for him at his office since eight. It was near lunchtime now, and yet she was still here.
If she truly was a mistress to Damen Leventis, then she would not have cared to wait for so long for such a low-paying job in his faculty.
But that she had—-
Lust had his groin aching, his small fat dick swelling into unimpressive proportions at the thought of being able to make a young and beautiful girl like Mairi Tanner his to command.
When Mairi looked up, pale and even more apprehensive, there was nothing on the dean’s face to reveal his thoughts. His secretary Eugenia had a similarly bland look. She, too, suffered from her employer’s advances but said nothing about it, knowing that Cleon held a lot of clout. Going against him would mean losing her job, and that she could not afford.
His tone deliberately brusque, Cleon muttered, “Follow me inside, Ms. Tanner.” As he turned, he told his secretary, “I do not wish us to be disturbed in any way.”
Eugenia nodded even as she suffered a pang of conscience. Those words did not bode well for Ms. Tanner.
The younger woman glanced her way before following the dean into his office, her lips forming a shy but friendly smile that said, Old curmudgeons would always be old curmudgeons.
Shit, but this woman was too nice.
Eugenia wanted to speak up, but the thought of her two young kids flashed through her mind. What would happen to them if she lost her job?
Swallowing, Eugenia gave the other girl a curt nod.
Mairi Tanner’s smile faded.
Eugenia looked away. When Mairi went inside the office, Eugenia slowly took her seat again. As she reached for her pen, she realized her hand was shaking.
She was not doing the right thing. But...with her kids’ futures on the line, who would tell her it was wrong?
****
M AIRI PRESSED HER CLAMMY hands on her lap, wishing they weren’t so wet. Dean Frango was her last hope. He was the only one who acquiesced to give her an interview. If she did not get this job, then—-
She mentally shook the depressing thought away. No. She wouldn’t think like that. She just had to be strong, had to have more hope, and things would be better for her.
“Ms. Tanner?” He was seated next to her on the couch. It was a strange arrangement for an interview, but she didn’t dare say a word about it.
“Yes, sir?”
“I will not beat around the bush. The fact that you have been expelled from GAYL and the circumstances surrounding your dismissal—-” Cleon clucked his tongue. “It doesn’t paint a good picture of you.”
“I know, sir,” she said quietly. “But all I can say is that those circumstances were unique and special – it won’t happen again.”
“Because you are engaged to Damen Leventis?” The news had made today’s headlines but unfortunately he had not known about it until he came into his office minutes ago and saw Mairi’s face on the newspaper’s front page.
If she was indeed about to marry Damen Leventis , then this was all for nothing , Cleon thought with bitter disappointment. He had a healthy fear of the Kokinos but even more so of the head of the Leventis empire. He had no problems believing that Damen was the type of man to have him murdered if he so much as looked at his woman the wrong way.
“The press misunderstood,” Mairi lied and chose that exact time to tuck her hair behind her ear, a way of drawing attention to her ring-less fingers. She did not want this job if it was only being offered because she was about to marry Damen Leventis. She never wanted him to be in a compromising position because of her again.
His dick throbbed at her words. Chuckling, Freon could now afford to joke, “So that rock you wore that got photographed by the reporters was more like a parting gift?”
She nodded, not wanting to add to her lies.
“That’s good.”
Mairi suddenly had a bad feeling. “Sir—-”
He licked his lips, his eyes moving slowly down towards her breasts and staying there. His gaze alone was enough to make her feel dirty. “We can come to an understanding then—-”
Fear caused a temporary paralysis to take hold of her body. “No, I’m sorry, this is not what I want—-”
He answered with a cruel laugh, “Don’t worry. I can make you want it.” He unbuttoned his pants. “Just give it a try...”