How could she have never realized that their parents had made Damen stop believing in love and happy endings? That he only believed in happy endings he had to pay for, either with his fame, fortune, or even sex?
“Damen…”
Desperation, pure and simple, made Damen speak again, insistently, without any pride left. If Diana refused, if Ioniko Vlahos made his move before Damen did – he did not know what he would do.
“I need to see her, Diana, so please help me.”
****
I don’t know who else to turn to, Ms. Yay. I don’t want to be expelled. My mother will never forgive me.
“How could she be so stupid?” Mairi muttered to herself even as she hurriedly tied her robe together, slid her feet into her bedroom slippers, and made her way out of the school. It was completely dark outside, which in this case was a good thing since even teachers had to abide by the curfew.
Mairi was careful to avoid being seen in the light, walking in the shadows as she quickly made her way to the back gates of the school. The walls at the back were about eight feet tall – fairly easy to climb over but understandably scary to climb down from. It was the latter Diana Leventis needed help with, having snuck outside school to meet her secret boyfriend.
She shook her head at the thought. Who could that secret boyfriend be? The younger girl must love him so much to risk the wrath of her terrifying mother – or even him.
When she reached her designated meeting place with Diana, she sent Diana a text message. I’m here.
A few seconds later, crackling sounds broke the silence in the air and she whirled around, wondering if Diana had been able to jump down on her own after all.
But it wasn’t Diana.
She started to run, but this time Damen was prepared and in seconds he had pushed her down, trapping Mairi between his hard body and the ground. When he saw her preparing to scream, he immediately covered her mouth with his palm.
“Scream and you’ll get kicked out of this school.”
Realizing that he had a point, she bit him instead.
Damen hissed in pain above her, but he still didn’t let go, didn’t even move an inch to give her a fighting chance of escaping.
It felt surreal to be this close to him again, surreal and painfully nostalgic to have his hard body touch hers in this kind of position. She was tempted to cry, but she strove not to. She would rather poke her eyes out than waste her tears on a lying, cheating bastard like Damen Leventis again.
The softness of Mairi’s ripe figure made him remember X-rated versions of the past, and he gritted his teeth in an effort to clamp down on his arousal. It was not the right time to feel like this – yet.
Meeting her dark brown eyes, he said, “I just need you to listen to me – one last time. And if after this, you still want me to go, then…” It went against everything he believed in to say the next words but he forced them out.
“If you still want me to go, then I will.”
She stilled, gazing at him unblinkingly, but she did not say a thing.
He decided to take that as a yes and took a deep breath. Making a speech in front of millions of people, in front of royalty and world leaders – all of it was a piece of cake compared to this.
Those talks had not promised anything he wanted more than life itself. But this conversation – no, this revelation of his – if it did not work, Damen felt like what he’d lose was worth more than his life.
Gazing at Mairi’s sweet beautiful face, seeing the way her dark brown eyes were filled with misery she was doing her best to conceal and the way her lips were trembling in an effort to control the tears—
After so many years of only believing in himself, of thinking that he could only trust himself, Damen decided to take a leap of faith. He decided to believe that, against all odds Mairi Tanner - a girl whose company he enjoyed for only several days – was indeed in love with him.
And because she was, he owed it to her to do this much.
“Mairi.”
His voice was unsteady, so unlike the Greek billionaire she once knew and fell in love with.
“You told me where you were coming from and…I hurt you by not believing you were in love with me.” Damen waited her to correct him – to tell him with her naïve but adorable honesty that she was still in love with Damen.
But she did not.
His heart hammered with fear that he was too late, that Ioniko Vlahos had indeed made his move already and there was no one for him to go back to.
Forcing himself to go on even as hopelessness and despair threatened to make Damen falter, he said, “This time, I want to tell you where I’m coming from…and if you understand why I did what I did then I want you…”
She had told herself she would not let herself believe in anything he said. She had told herself she would not let herself weaken, but the moment she saw that haunted look on Damen’s face, she knew it was no use denying the truth – she still loved him.
“What, Damen?” she whispered shakily. “What do you want me to do?”
Damen closed his eyes. “I want…I’m begging you to teach me to believe that you love me.”
Chapter Six
To trust a Greek billionaire, you must remember that doing so is a risk in itself.
“So I’m writing a book,” Mairi lied one week later over the phone to her aunts.
“Oooooooh,” Aunt Norah exclaimed, her tone impressed.
“What’s it about?” Aunt Vilma asked.
“Well, a romance, sort of like my own Harlequin,” Mairi said vaguely, crossing her fingers as she did. “And I’m stuck with my plot. Coz you see, there’s this girl, and her, err, Greek billionaire doesn’t believe in love. He’s got issues—”
“You’re on the right track,” Aunt Vilma said approvingly.
“They always do,” Aunt Norah added knowingly.
“—and well, bottom line, he doesn’t believe in love. So when she said she was in love with him, he didn’t believe her at first. But in the end, he’s willing to try.”
“It’s getting exciting,” Aunt Norah remarked.
“I’m glad you think so. Because here’s where I’m stuck – Da — the guy, I mean, he wants to take things slowly between them. He wants to give love a try, but he wants to keep himself protected and he doesn’t want her hurt either.”
Aunt Vilma exclaimed crossly, “Oh, for the love of God, just tell us what the catch is!”
“He thinks they should continue dating other people while they explore their feelings for each other.”