Chapter 9
“W HEN YOU SAID WE’D have company, Professor, I have to admit I never thought you’d be this kinky.” Leon’s voice was dry as he gestured to the handcuffs dangled in front of him by a stoic-looking man.
The gun tucked on the man’s side made his job obvious, together with the eleven others surrounding Leon. All twelve had escorted him from the moment he came knocking on the front door. Leon had a feeling they had also been asked to escort him home, just to make sure he wouldn’t sneak back to be with Mairi in private.
Mairi smiled weakly. “I’m really, really sorry, but it was the only way I could get my husband to agree to me meeting you at our home.”
“I suppose I should be thankful he wasn’t thinking of holding me at gunpoint—-” Leon’s eyes widened at the way the professor turned red. He asked incredulously, “Doesn’t he know that’s overkill?”
“He knows. I know. They know.” A sheepish smile when the bodyguards nodded in unison. “But...it’s only because he loves me that much,” she said simply. “And when I think about it that way...” She shrugged helplessly. “I can’t quite make myself mad over it.”
She might not be mad, but he was. He didn’t like seeing her this way, didn’t like seeing the way her lovely eyes softened when she talked about her Greek billionaire. It made pursuing her feel futile, and he didn’t want that.
Leon extended his wrists. Catching sight of the CCTV camera mounted in one corner, he looked straight at it and said mockingly, “If your husband is this insecure over me, well...” His lips formed a taunting smile. “However, who’s to say you won’t be the one to kiss me first, Professor?”
Mairi gasped.
The cuffs clicked in place, and Leon flinched at the sound. It reminded him of an extremely bad memory, and his jaw tightened. Mairi might think this was all a joke, but he knew it was more than that. The fucking billionaire really did know everything about him, after all.
“Are you all right?” Mairi asked in concern, noticing the sudden pallor in the younger man’s face.
Leon nodded curtly, not trusting himself to speak for the meantime.
Nervously, Mairi led Leon inside. Trying to hide her nervousness, she began talking, telling him about the house. “That’s the door to the library, that one leads to the housekeeper’s quarters, and the nanny’s...”
She paused at the door of the dining room. “I also thought we should have dinner first?”
“My pleasure,” Leon murmured. “But does that mean you’ll be feeding me, Ms. Yay?”
Mairi reddened. “Absolutely not.” She saw Leon looking at the CCTV and finally realized where the suggestive words were coming from. “Mr. Arlotta.”
“Leon, or I can’t promise to be a good boy.”
“Leon—-”
“Say it again, Ms. Yay.”
She shook her head in exasperation, but her lips twitched all the same. “You’re persistent. I’ll definitely give you that.”
“It’s not my only redeeming factor, Ms. Yay.” He rattled his cuffs. “And I could show you that if you let me go.”
She rolled her eyes. “You don’t have to say stuff like that.” She pointed to the camera. “He’s not watching us.”
Leon only raised a brow.
“It’s the truth, but it’s up to you to believe me or not. He trusts me, you see,” she said gently.
Again, that look in her eyes , Leon thought grimly. His lips tightened. Suddenly, he was tired. And furious. Why had he thought he was different from his father? His father had fallen for a rich married woman and had his heart broken by it. Why the fuck had he thought it would be different for him?
He looked around him. A house worth millions of dollars, with furniture probably worth the same amount or even more. This was the kind of lifestyle Damen Leventis could give Mairi. He had been a fucking fool to think she would choose him and his unstable future over all of this.
“Let’s just cut to the chase,” he said abruptly.
In the act of walking towards her seat at the table, Mairi stilled at the words and slowly turned to face Leon. Even when he was handcuffed and in jeans, even though his appearance made him stand out in his luxurious surroundings, there was nothing pitiful about him. He was still as imposing as ever, and his attractive Italian looks only served to enhance it.
He wasn’t just attractive. Now that she allowed herself to look at him, really look at him, she realized that he wasn’t just that. He was beautiful, in the way Damen was beautiful, too. He was beautiful, enough to mesmerize her yesterday, enough to make her lower her guard and give him a chance to kiss her.
But it just wasn’t that.
And she finally realized it.
In a short span of time, she had recognized in him a kindred spirit. Someone she was just born to get along with like a house on fire. It was in the way he had helped her when she had tripped, in the way he had made his classmates welcome her.
In just one day, he had made her care for him. It probably wouldn’t make Damen happy, but it was the truth. It wouldn’t have probably made Leon happy either since the way she cared wasn’t exactly what he wanted. Her affection towards him would always be that of a teacher, a mentor.
The realization had her relaxing and ignoring his words, she asked with a smile, “Shall we have a meal first?”
The smile Mairi sent him was beautiful, and despite himself, Leon couldn’t help reacting to it. The smile knocked him sideways, but he strove to hide it. Shrugging, he said indifferently, “If that will make you feel better.”
“It will,” she reassured him.
He gave her a suspicious glance.
Pretending not to notice, Mairi gestured towards the place prepared for him, which was at the foot of the table. When he took a seat, the cuffs were immediately removed, but they were then placed around his left ankle, chaining him to the chair.
He was grudgingly impressed. “Smart.”
“He is, quite,” Mairi said not so modestly.
The twinkle in her eyes made him frown. “Something’s changed.”
Attendants started serving them soup. After thanking them, she looked at Leon, meeting his gaze directly. “It was wrong of you to kiss me.”
The bald-faced declaration took him aback. He hadn’t expected that from her, and now he was even more convinced something had changed. “If you’re waiting for me to apologize, I won’t.”
“I know. I’m not holding my breath for it, but I just wanted to say it all the same. You were wrong, but I was also wrong for letting my guard down.”
The words made him frown. He didn’t like hearing the professor blame herself. “It’s not your fault. You’re right. I was wrong. I’m sorry I took advantage.”
Silence.
He looked up.
“Sorry,” Mairi said quickly. “I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I made you apologize.”
He grunted. “Don’t expect it to happen often.”
She nodded. “Yup.”
Leon finally realized what was wrong. “You’re no longer nervous,” he said. “Why?”
“Tell me first. Why are you after me?”
“You’re sexy and beautiful and cute all rolled into one.” He laughed when she turned red.
“Just so you know,” she said severely, “I’m blushing because I don’t handle compliments well. It’s not because I’m attracted to you or something.”
“Or something.”
She shook her head, unable to stop herself from grinning at the suggestive look the younger man sent her way. “You’re helpless.” Before he could answer, she went for the kill. “But I know it’s not the truth.”
Leon stilled.
“There’s nothing that remarkable about how I look or act, Leon. So why don’t we both quit beating around the bush. It wasn’t that at all.”
They didn’t speak for a while, both of them concentrating on finishing the first course. Only when the plates were taken away did Leon finally speak. “Why does it matter? We both know now that I don’t stand a chance.” His lips twisted. “Probably never did.”
The way he pointedly looked around him made her say quietly, “I know you know about my past. Everyone probably does. If you also think I was – am – a gold-digger, I would really appreciate it if you say it to my face.”
The ever-so-polite rebuke shamed him. “I’m sorry. That was uncalled for.”
Mairi inclined her head, but she said evenly, “I’ll only forgive you if you tell me the truth. Why did you choose to target me?”
He winced. “You make me sound like a serial killer.”
She shrugged.
“Now who’s calling names?”
“You said it, Mr. Arlotta, not me.”
Somehow, the lighthearted banner cut him to the quick. He didn’t deserve her to be so damn nice about everything when they both knew what he had done could have ruined her marriage.
“You remind me of my mother,” he heard himself say.
“Umm...” Mairi bit her lip very hard. This was like a scene straight out of Fifty Shades. She only realized she had said the words out loud when Leon started to laugh.
“The fuck did you say?”
She turned red. “Sorry, but I couldn’t help thinking it—-”
He shook his head, amusement still underlining his voice as he said, “It’s definitely not that, trust me.” He winced at the thought. “I know about the books. My sister told me about it. And it’s not that.”
“Umm, sorry?” she said weakly.
“My mother is more like...Esther Leventis.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh.”
“I know about your mother-in-law. I’ve read about you two in the papers.”
“Yeah, she totally loves talking about me,” Mairi said miserably.
He snorted. “I guess you could say that.” He sobered. “My mother’s from the same mold. Bitchy as hell, rich as fuck, and unfortunately – beautiful, too. She fell in love with my father, who hadn’t a euro to his name. She gave birth to me, didn’t find his life that nice, so in the end, she dumped my father and me and married the man her parents had chosen for her. End of story.”
“Oh.” She asked slowly, “Does that mean, you thought by...with me, maybe you could turn the tables around and hurt me?”
A short hard laugh escaped him. “I wasn’t that diabolical. Actually, I thought the opposite. I thought maybe I could show everyone that with me, it could work.”
“But I’m married,” she protested.
“So was she when she fell for my father.”
“Ah.” She gave him a disconcerted look. “I’m in love with my husband, though.”
He said flatly, “I know.”
“ Super in love.”
“You don’t have to super stress it out,” he returned mockingly.
“Sorry.”
When Mairi flashed him a peace sign, he had to shake his head in amusement. She was such an intriguing mix of maturity and childishness he didn’t know what to make of her. And to think, the Greek billionaire had to deal with this every day. Something to envy and pity him for, definitely.
By the time desserts were served, they were both at ease, and no mention was made again of what had led to this meeting. There was no need actually. Mairi only had to talk about Damen or her daughter, and it was there for him to see.
The love they had was unshakable.
If his parents had the same thing, they would never have separated either.
Mairi excused herself afterwards, telling him she had to feed her daughter. When she came back down, it was to find Leon waiting for her by the entrance hallway, clearly ready to leave.
“I wouldn’t want to overstay my welcome, Ms. Yay.” Again, a look at the CCTV.
She rolled her eyes. “He’s not watching, I told you.”
“Probably not now but in time, he will. And I’d like him to know from here on, you will always be Miss Yay to me.”
“It was nice talking to you, Leon,” she said dryly.
“It was my privilege, Professor.” He held out his wrists, and the cuffs were removed.
She hesitated for a moment before blurting out, “I’m really sorry about your parents.”
He nodded.
“Please don’t let it color your view of life.”
He nodded again.
She saw in his face that he no longer wanted to talk about it. “Goodbye, Leon. Oh, and tomorrow, just in case you’d think you’re the reason – I won’t be at school. I don’t have classes to teach and I need to fly to Greece.” She hesitated. “Also, there may be reports coming out about me causing parents to withdraw their children from CU.”
Leon frowned as Mairi explained why. “That’s bullshit.”
“It will die down in time so...” She shrugged. “Anyway, I thought I should let you know because I’ve also been told by Dean Blanchard that the media may know about... you .”
Leon blinked. He hadn’t thought about how his actions would affect her in that way. “Fuck.”
The self-accusation in his face made her say quickly, “It’s not your fault.”
“No. I should have thought about that. I apologize, Professor.” He reached for the doorknob. “I’ll make sure no one in the class speaks about it to the media.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “You have that much power in school?”
Leon only shrugged.
She was visibly impressed. “That’s so cool.”
“I didn’t say it to impress you,” he said irritably. Dammit, he didn’t like how the way she was looking at him made him feel good. “I’m going now.” He looked up at the CCTV again. “Take care of her, Leventis, or I’ll do more than kiss her next time.”
Mairi’s gasp made him feel really good about himself, allowing Leon to leave with a smirk.