****
Always, always, always yours.
The words played in her mind as she found herself drifting closer to sleep, Damen carrying her to their bed. As Damen temporarily left her, she fumbled for her phone out of habit, checking her messages.
There was one message that had her heart beating madly and she quickly typed, Yes, I understand. 10AM sharp.
And then she heard footsteps and quickly deleted the message.
Damen asked as he joined her in bed, “Someone texted you?”
“Just my aunt,” she lied, her heart beating madly again, but for a different reason this time.
Always, always, always yours.
The words mocked Damen in his mind as he watched his fiancée sleep. He reached for her phone and checked her inbox.
The only message on her inbox was indeed from aunt but it was sent hours ago, and something she had already replied to.
He looked back at Mairi, his face drawn.
Have you ever been mine, matakia mou?
Chapter Five
Velvet: 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?
****
Mairi 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.”