She tried to speak, but no words came out because there really wasn’t anything to say. He did not think of her as someone worthy of marrying, of loving – of respecting.
He saw the way Mairi’s eyes teared up, and he understood – he goddamn understood each and every feeling in the hundreds of emotions that misted her gaze.
“Mairi—”
She spun away and walked out as quickly as she could. She knew by doing so she was giving herself away, but she just couldn’t be in the same room he was in and not die. She wished it was an exaggeration, but it was not.
He made herself feel like the worst kind of character in a novel – the girl who would never be the heroine because she was not the kind that any hero could ever love.
As her teacher left in a hurry, the look on her face was horribly easy to read. A gasp came out of Diana’s mouth, and when her brother started after Ms. Yay, Diana cried out, “No!”
Damen stilled.
Running in front of him, she burst out furiously, “How could you?” She couldn’t recall being this angry with her brother. Throughout the years, she had seen him coldly break women’s hearts, dozens of them, and she had thought the women were stupid for falling for him in the first place.
But now that it was someone she knew – someone Diana liked, respected, and cared for – she finally had an inkling of what those women had gone through and could empathize with them.
When Damen didn’t answer but instead tried to move past her again, she blocked his way, protesting, “No!”
“This is none of your business—”
“She’s my teacher!”
“She’s my lover!”
Diana shut up, stunned not by the words but by the tone of possessiveness that underscored it. Even so, she could not get Ms. Yay’s face out of her mind.
“Don’t go after her. I’ll go talk to her instead. You don’t deserve—”
He cut her off flatly. “I may not deserve her, but I will still go after her.” For a moment, he wasn’t speaking to Diana as a brother, but as a man whose hold over his woman was being threatened – a man who would do anything to keep his woman in his possession.
“I’ll warn you just this once, Diana. Do not interfere. This is our business alone, not yours.”
Chapter Three
To trust a Greek billionaire, one must remember that he does not ever mean to hurt you. He only thinks he’s always right.
She said: Always.
He said: You will not get an argument from me about that.
Mairi stopped moving only when her ill-exercised limbs were no longer able to work and her chest was heaving too hard for her to breathe properly.
She looked around, realizing a second later that she had run blindly to the back of the school, with the beach near enough that she could smell the salt in the air.
Hearing the lightest footsteps, Mairi assumed it was Diana looking for her and as she turned around, she tried to think of what to say that would not make her look like the fool she really was.
But again, Damen ended up surprising her.
“You!” She backed away immediately at the look of resolve on Damen’s face. Why was he here? Why had he come after her? What did he want?
So many questions she wanted to ask but didn’t. If she did, Mairi knew it would make her look like she still cared.
He took a step forward, and she backed up a step, too.
Damen stilled. “I’m not playing this game with you.”
“Good.” And then she turned around and started to run again.
What the f**k—
He gave her one, two, three seconds, but when it was clear she really did intend to run away like a child, he swore under his breath and went after her.
“Stop!”
“No!”
“Stop!”
“NO!”
They had covered about ten meters of distance by then, and he did not care to cover another ten. Stopping, Damen said hardly, “If you do not stop running away from me, I shall let the school know about us.”
Mairi forced herself to stop, blanching at the threat. Spinning around to face him, she hissed, “Bastard!”
Damen stalked towards her. Everything inside her told Mairi to run away again, but she didn’t, gritting her teeth as she fought against her fears. She didn’t really even understand what was making her so terrified right now. All she knew was that if he came closer—
Three feet.
She couldn’t think.
Two feet.
Oh God, if he came near her—
One foot away now—
Oh.
Mairi choked on an unexpected sob.
This was what she had been unconsciously afraid of, Mairi realized. That she would break down in his presence – again.
“Mairi—” He reached out for her but stopped when she raised a trembling hand, doing it in a way that made it seem like she saw him as someone who could harm her.
His arm fell to his side, his chest constricting. He wanted to shake her, to shout that this was him, Damen – the man whose bed she belonged to. He would never hurt her, dammit. Never!
But of course that would be a lie.
“Tell me,” he said hoarsely.
Her stricken gaze lifted up to meet his.
“Tell me where you’re coming from, dammit. How could you think I’d ever believe that you’ve fallen in love with me in the span of a day—”
Damen stopped speaking when a strange sound came from Mairi’s lips. An instant later, he realized she was close to being hysterical, her tears mingling with her laughter.
“Oh God, tell you?” She repeated his words with a choked, tear-stained laugh. “You wouldn’t believe me if I did.”
“I won’t believe you because it’s not true.” He wanted to force Mairi to see the truth in his words, but instead of shaming her into confessing that it was all a lie or a game to her, Mairi only sobbed harder.
“Tell you,” she repeated again. “Tell you where I'm coming from, you say. Fine – I’ll tell you.” Wiping the tears from her gaze, Mairi said, “I was young when my parents died and my mom’s older sisters took me in. They were both career-driven and childless and they didn’t know what to do with me. But because they loved me, they tried their best. And because I was used to being lulled to sleep with bedtime stories, they gave me that – only, their version of bedtime stories were found in drugstore paperbacks, where the heroes were almost always Greek billionaires and the girls were ordinary and nice and simple. Girls like me,” she said bitterly, “—and guys like you, in other words.”