Billionaire Bad Boys of Romance Boxed Set (10 Book Bundle) (118 page)

Lesson 8

To catch a Greek billionaire, you must learn how to forgive.

She said: Because a Greek billionaire does not always a smart man make.

He said: You are too harsh. Haven’t you heard of challenges making victories all the sweeter?

She said: Just consider all Greek billionaires’ wives diabetic then.

“What happened, Mair?” Mandy asked quietly as they settled at their usual table in the faculty cafeteria for lunch.

She shook her head, keeping her smile cheerful. “I had my fling with the Greek billionaire, that’s all.”

That was definitely not all,
Velvet thought. Mairi looked so fragile right now she was seriously scared her friend would shatter at the mere mention of
that person’s
name.

“Maybe you should take the day off and say you’re sick so you can get some rest,” Mandy suggested.

Velvet nodded. “You already look terrible anyway.” Mandy kicked her under the table and she quickly corrected herself, “I mean, you’ve been working hard lately so maybe the stress has finally caught up with you and…” She trailed off lamely. Bedside manners were not her forte.

Mairi tried to up her cheer factor by another notch. “Seriously guys, I’m
okay
.” And she was – or she would be. She had to be. She needed to move on because last night made it so painfully clear.

Damen Leventis was not the man she was supposed to live happily ever after with.

The rest of the day proceeded in a tediously slow manner, with every second ticking by a slow kind of torture. She did her best to keep busy, but there were only so many triple checks on students’ book reports she could do before the words started to swim before her eyes.

She tried to forget, too, but that one was even more difficult. It was as if she was fated to hear the words over and over. Damen Leventis had been betrothed for
years
– and he had taken Mairi’s virginity even when he already belonged to someone else.

Not a single Greek billionaire in her favorite stories was that much of a bastard.

Her phone buzzed and she fumbled in her haste to get to it, her silly heart still stupidly yearning to hear from Damen. Maybe…maybe he had realized he was wrong, had gotten out of the betrothal, and now he wanted her back?

She opened the message.

Oh drat. It was just a reminder that her payment for this month’s usage was due.

Mairi wanted to throw her phone away after reading it.

Afternoon skies darkened into the evening, but she still didn’t hear from him.

*
* * *

“Thank you for taking me out again, but this time you are going to let me pay or I swear I won’t hang out with you anymore.” It had been almost two weeks since she had made Her Greatest Mistake and Mairi was only starting to move on. Mandy and Velvet helped a lot, as did her work and more recently, she even had Ioniko Vlahos helping to keep her occupied.

They were enjoying a meal in his yacht again – the only “safe” and “private” place Ioniko could vouch for as Mairi was adamant about not being seen in public fraternizing with a school patron. It was a beautiful yacht, sleek and white on the outside, luxurious and decorated in plush purple on the inside.

Today, they had decided to enjoy coffee on the deck, lounging in the sun chairs while enjoying the cool breeze fanning their skins.

Ioniko studied the woman next to him intently. She was even lovelier and a hell of a  lot sexier than he remembered. She also still had the most amazing breasts, rounded and pert without being too heavy. Even though Mairi liked to dress in loose tops, they were simply too abundant for their size to be properly hidden.

Mairi coughed.

Ioniko grinned as he met her gaze, knowing why she had called his attention.

“You can look at my face, you know,” she said dryly.

“Ditto,” he answered.

“Huh?”

“You look at me, but you do not really see me.”

She tried to make sense of it but couldn’t. “Umm…huh?”

Ioniko suddenly leaned forward, surprising her. Before Mairi could move back, he had already cupped her chin, another arm pulling her closer and closer until she was almost completely out of her chair.

Mairi pressed her lips together tightly. One tiny mistake and they would be…

“Not going to speak?” he whispered wickedly.

She couldn’t even shake her head. All she could do was glare. If she shook her head, they would be…

“Now,” he breathed, “Do you see me?”

Her eyes widened.

And yes, right now, she did see him.

Ioniko was dressed in nothing but black board shorts, leaving the rest of his naked and beautifully sculpted body exposed for anyone to admire. He had an equally gorgeous face and the always-present wicked gleam in his green eyes only made him more attractive.

He might only be a few years older than her, but there was no mistaking the wealth of experience he possessed as well as the raw strength and power contained in his lean muscular form.

Here was another tall, dark, and handsome Greek billionaire – and somehow she had failed to appreciate the fact.

Ioniko slowly released her and Mairi collapsed back into her chair. “I am a patient man,” he murmured. “But I do not plan to wait forever. I
will
make my move eventually.”

“You make this sound like a chess game and you’re off to capture a pawn.” She reached for her coffee, thinking a little caffeine could help keep her senses alert.

“It is a game – all this is a game but you are no pawn. You’re the sexiest queen I’ve ever seen and I’ve wanted to fuck you since forever.”

Because Ioniko had always been on his best behavior during their past meetings – and now Mairi knew he had just been biding his time – the words were a complete shock to her, making her hands shake and causing her to accidentally spill scalding hot coffee on her bare legs.

“Ow!”

Ioniko reacted with lightning speed, scooping Mairi up in his arms and taking her to the whirlpool bath nearby. He placed her inside gently and turned the taps on. In seconds, cold water blasted the reddening skin on her thighs.

Tears stung her eyes, but Mairi did her best to blink them away. If she had found the strength
not
to cry over Her Greatest Mistake, then she was not going to cry over this either.

“You can cry, you know,” Ioniko said quietly.

She shook her head furiously.

She looked like an adorable kid doing her best to pretend she was an adult, and somehow that only made Ioniko want to take her in his arms and promise her that he would protect her against all the evils in the world.

Ioniko could not think of any other woman that would make him feel this…
nice
or this protective. But then, most other women were made of sterner stuff than Mairi. There was just something stubbornly fragile about her – even though he knew the words did not make sense. It was as if every time she spoke, every time she looked at him or did something – it was as if Mairi was telling the world she had her rose-colored glasses on and she was
never
going to take them off.

Mairi breathed a sigh of relief when the pain started to recede.

“Good job,” he said approvingly.

She grinned. “Yay me!” He laughed – and the sound of it made her suspicious. She said with a sinking heart, “You know, don’t you?”

“It was a very cute story.”

Mairi made a face. “Suuuuuuure it is – if I weren’t 24 and a teacher to boot!”

Laughing, he carefully scooped her out of the tub. “I’ll have the crew dry your dress. But for now, change into something else. There’s brand new stuff in the guest bedroom.”

Mairi was still smiling when she changed into a fresh bikini before covering herself up with an oversized black terry robe. Ioniko was as big a flirt as his sister had let on, but he was a
nice
flirt. She could see them being friends, just not---

She pushed the thought away. She was
not
going down that road. She would get over Her Greatest Mistake and when she did, she could start again. This time, she would be more careful as she searched for
the
Greek billionaire she was meant to live happily ever after with.

A few more minutes passed before she finally made her way out to the deck. “Ioniko?” She climbed up the short flight of stairs that led to the VIP living room. She turned – and instead of Ioniko, she found another Greek billionaire.

“You?”

Damen Leventis stood in the center of the room, a dominating force dressed in an expensive suit, dangerous tension vibrating from his profile. He took off the dark shades hiding his gaze and Mairi gulped at the sight of his silvery gray eyes, which were blazing with fury.

He crossed his arms over his chest.

“Yes. Me.”

Jealousy of the most vicious sort made him inhale sharply, struggling to stay in control as he watched Mairi ascend the last step and come inside the room. He hated the fact that she had on another man’s robe and was in another man’s yacht, and he fucking hated hearing another man’s name on her lips.

“How did you get here?”

“I granted him entry to board.” Ioniko suddenly appeared on the other doorway, which connected the VIP room to the main deck. For long moments, he had managed to keep himself still behind the tinted glass door, waiting and watching to see how Mairi would react to Damen Leventis’ presence.

The flash of emotion in her eyes upon seeing the other man told Ioniko everything he needed to know.

She cared for Leventis.

That was more than enough to make Ioniko move. He wanted Mairi and he was never one to back off a challenge. She might have feelings for Leventis now, but there was no saying it could not change.

Mairi shook her head in confusion. “Are you friends?” A light bulb clicked inside her brain and she stumbled back, her eyes suddenly wide with fear. “Oh my God---”

Damen tensed at the fear darkening Mairi’s gaze. “What is it? Did this bastard hurt you?”

“Fuck you, Leventis. It’s obvious that you were the one who hurt her.” Ioniko started towards Mairi but stopped when she took another step back. Perplexed and concerned by the apprehension on her face, he asked, “Mairi?”

Her head went from Ioniko to Damen and back again. Maybe other women would consider this scenario a dream come true, but
not
her. This was way out of her comfort zone. When they took a step towards her simultaneously, she shrieked. They froze.

“What the hell’s wrong?” Damen demanded.

“You two are the ones wrong! I don’t do
this
, okay?”

“This?” Ioniko echoed.

She gestured to them wildly. “You two. Me. No way.”

One, two, three seconds passed before Ioniko and Damen exchanged dawning looks of understanding.

And then slowly, they started to laugh.

Oh drat.

So they weren’t thinking of having a ménage with her?

“No,” Damen said blandly, correctly interpreting the reason why Mairi was suddenly cringing and unable to meet his gaze – or Vlahos’ for that matter. “We are
not
the kind of men who share our women.”

“Which means you have to choose, Mairi – me…or Leventis?” Ioniko crossed his arms over his chest, and side by side he and Damen looked like Greek warriors waiting for a slave to choose whom she wanted to belong to.

She shook her head. “I
don’t
want or need to choose.”

“Bullshit.”

Mairi’s head snapped up at Damen’s furious reply.

“Why did you run away that night?” he demanded. “Do you know how worried I was when I couldn’t find you? I thought something had happened to you!”

“Something did happen,” she cried out. “
You
have a betrothed!”

Damen froze.

“Your mother told me and I heard you two talk and you didn’t say a thing to deny it. You have been betrothed since she was fifteen and you took my virginity even though another girl’s been wearing your ring!” She waited for him to speak, but of course he didn’t and she said bitterly, “Now you know why I left.”

The defeat in her stance made Damen flinch because it was not like Mairi to be like that. He had known her for over a day, but even in that short span of time he fucking knew Mairi was like a goddamn sun that kept shining.

“I want you in my life, Mairi.”

The words stunned her, and even though she didn’t want to admit it, the words made hope unfurl its leaves and start to blossom inside her again. “You do?” Mairi whispered.

“I know it sounds fucking crazy, but there’s something about you that I can’t get enough of. I never stopped thinking about you these past two weeks. I wanted to fix things but you didn’t take my calls---”