Greek Billionaire's Uncontrollable Attraction (The Rosso Family Series Book 3) (8 page)

“Hurry up, Eva! You’re going to be late.” A large hand slapped her ass. She sat up and glared at Callum. He was already dressed in jeans and a sweater that brought out the blue in his eyes. His hair stood up, looking rumpled. She wanted to take him back to bed again.

Instead, she rolled over and held out her hand. “Where’s my coffee?”

“In the kitchen. Now get dressed and get that pretty ass of yours downstairs.” He strode out.

She frowned, but she felt too good to hang onto her disapproval. She felt…stretched in interesting places. Her body almost hummed still from the joy of last night. She got up and headed for the bathroom to shower. Half an hour later, she had on a new baggy cashmere sweater, jeans and tall boots.

Callum glanced at her and shook his head. “No way. This is an East Coast campus, meaning you dress with some respect. Get some trousers on—no jeans. And a sweater set if you have it.”

Making a face, she headed back upstairs. She didn’t want to change, but she also wanted to make a good impression. And she trusted Callum. Coming back downstairs, she grabbed his coffee from him.

“Better?” she asked. She did a small turn. She’d put on wool trousers and changed into a black cashmere sweater set. She’d also put on small, gold earrings, and had wiped off some of her makeup.

He nodded. “Good. Very good. Come on, we want to be early.”

“What are you driving?”

He glanced at her and grinned. “Well, your brother has a Ducati in the garage, but I think we’ll leave it here. I called a taxi.”

The taxi was waiting outside. The driver was playing ethnic world music of some kind that he turned down when they stepped from the condo. Eva’s stomach knotted. Callum reached over and put his hand over hers. “You’ll do great. Make the essay clear—don’t get fancy. And go with your first instinct for answers. Don’t second guess yourself.”

She nodded. “Clear. Instinct. Got it.” Except she didn’t. They headed for the main office. Callum escorted her in. She hardly knew who she met. She shook hands, smiled, let Callum do most of the talking. Everyone seemed so nice—the dean even came out to meet her and remarked on her brother’s generous donation to the university.

“He bought my way in?” she demanded.

A strained silence settled. The dean—an older man with gray hair and a gray suit—gave a laugh. “Of course not. That’s not how we work here. But we’re more than happy to show you every courtesy we can—and maybe bend a few rules to help you test. Now it’s up to you to show us you’re ready for college.

She pushed out a breath. Was she? She thought about turning around and heading to the airport. Athens sun and the pool called to her—a simple life. She could shop, have fun with her friends, maybe take some classes at a local college. It would be so easy to leave this behind. She glanced at Callum.

He gave her a nod and a wink—as if she was about to do the easiest thing ever.

She pushed back her shoulders. “I’m ready to test anytime.”

The dean smiled, turned her over to his assistant, a red-headed woman who seemed all business. Eva found herself in a quiet room with leather chairs, a single desk, photos of past officers of the university, and dark wood paneling. She swallowed hard. A computer blinked at her. She was testing on a computer? Panic settled. She couldn’t.

She started for the door and stopped with her hand on the knob. What would Callum think of her if she ran? What would she think of herself?

She turned back, wiped a sweaty palm on her trousers, and walked to the computer. She could do this—she would do this.

She sat down.

***

A soft knock sounded on the door. Eva glanced at her watch. Two hours gone—already? She stood and the all-business red-headed woman walked in. “Finished, dear? How did you do? Great, I’m sure. We’ll notify you in a few days of acceptance—or not.” She smiled.

“A few days? I thought it would be weeks?”

The woman smiled again. “Courtesy. We have no wish to keep you in suspense.”

Eva started for the door. But the woman called out, “Oh, your friend left this for you.” She handed Eva a card.

In the hall, Eva tore it open. She had to lean against a wall as she read it. Callum hadn’t written much. She scanned the words.

For the best…your world, my life…don’t meet…tell Antonio to keep his money, I should have paid for the education I got with you.

She crumbled the paper into a ball and demanded, “Where is he?”

The red-headed woman blinked at her. “Your friend? He had a friend of his pick him up. Left the taxi waiting for you. That’s going to be some bill to pay.”

“Oh, someone will pay,” Eva said and stormed out. On the way back to the condo she texted Callum. He didn’t text back. She tried again, texting him he was a coward to run out. He still didn’t answer. She texted that if she ever saw him again, she’ll tear him apart. And he still didn’t reply.

In the condo, Eva went to his room. She found it empty. She sat on his bed. It didn’t smell like him. He hadn’t slept there. She went up to her room and crawled under the blankets.

Why had he left her? And how was she going to get him back?

Her mind whirled, but her phone rang, Antonio’s voice came over the line. “How goes it,
zouzouni mou
?”

For an instant, tears blurred her eyes and she wanted to blurt out everything. But this was her problem—her life. She was tired of others fixing everything for her. She sat up. “Tonio, why didn’t you tell me you made a huge donation?”

“It wasn’t that big.”

She wiped her hot face with her fingers. “Tonio, take me skiing. Meet me in Aspen. I need something to do while I wait to hear how I did, and I’m…I’m tired of Callum. I…I sent him away. Take me skiing, Tonio. Please?”

Three hours later she was on a flight to Denver. Antonio and Claire would meet her there and they’d head to Aspen. Dareios and Alexandra would meet them in a day. Eva nodded. Yes, this was her life. She was much happier without Callum. She lifted her chin. She’d learned all she could from him—and if she ever saw him again, she would make him so damn sorry!

Eva carried her luggage into her apartment. She didn’t want the one Antonio had picked out for her, but found an apartment for rent closer to campus. Antonio followed her in, asking, “Are you sure you have everything?”

She glanced at him. “Yes, for the millionth time, yes. My phone. My class schedule.” She put down her bag and grinned at him. “I’m a college girl now!”

He wrapped her in a hug. “You’re not my little bug,
zouzouni mou
.”

She punched his chest. “I’ll always be that.” They’d spent Christmas in Aspen. Eva had skied like a demon, tackling the hardest triple black diamond runs. That had made her feel better—stronger. But she kept missing Callum.

She’d see something and want to share it with him. She’d started reading books that he’d left behind for her—her school books. Now she poured over ever word and wondered what kinds of questions would he ask her. She missed his laugh. She missed his body. She missed him.

But she wasn’t going to admit that to anyone. He was gone—and that was that. She’d refused Antonio’s offer of another tutor.

“I’m going to open a new office in New York, so I’ll be by to see you.”

She rolled her eyes. “You don’t need to. Now come and take me to campus before you go.”

“Yes, sir.” He grinned at her. She locked her apartment—tiny but she liked the roses out front and the light inside. Claire waited for them in the car downstairs. She’d had some phone calls to make, and she was using the trip to deal with her voice over work and talk to her agent. The weather was still cold and Eva shivered as they stepped outside. She was not sure she’d ever get used to that. But she kept telling herself she liked snow.

Antonio drove her onto the campus and to the library. Claire was still on the phone and it sounded like business with her agent had turned into gossip and talk of a baby shower for Claire while she was in New York. Eva liked the idea. She had time yet before the semester started, so she would be able to help with the shower. However, she wanted to spend a lot of time on campus to get to know the university. She figured the library was a good place to start.

Parking outside the library, Antonio turned to Claire and made a hurry up gesture. Eva climbed out of Antonio’s car. There weren’t as many students on campus as there would be when the new semester stared, but Eva spotted what looked like a familiar pair of shoulders. The tousled blond hair looked like…but, no, it couldn’t be. Then he turned. And Callum smiled at her.

Skin going cold, she told Antonio and Claire, “Wait here.”

Antonio blinked at her. Claire hung up and asked, “What’s going on?”

Eva stalked off, ignoring Antonio calling out to her. Stopping in front of Callum, she put her hands on her hips. His smile faded and vanished. “Uh, hi?”

“Do I skin you alive? What does a jerk who drops a friend deserve?”

Callum took a step back and held up a hand. “Now wait a minute—”

“Why, so you can walk out again?”

“Again?” Antonio stepped up, putting himself on the side between her and Callum. “What do you mean again? Callum, I’m disappointed in you.”

Eva turned on him. “You stay out of this!”

Claire stopped behind Antonio and tugged on his arm. “Sweetie?” He shook her off and told Eva, “No, you stay out. Let me handle this.”

“No!” Eva launched into a torrent of Greek. She called Callum every name she could think of—son of a flea-bitten goat, a soulless air-sucking monster, friend of no one who ever should matter. And then she turned on Antonio, telling him to stay out of her business. She punched a finger into her brother’s chest. “If I want to flay this…this ungrateful, mealy mouthed—”

“Okay, stop right there,” Callum said. He swung a backpack off his shoulder. “I am not mealy mouthed.” He glanced from Eva to Claire to Antonio and back again. He let out a breath. “As to the rest, well, my Greek stops right about at
glykia mou…se skeftomai sinehia. Se hriazome
.”

Eva jerked upright. Her arms dropped to her sides. “Do you even know what that means?”

“Yeah.” Callum gave a shrug. “It means my darling, I’m constantly thinking of you. I need you.”

She frowned. “Well, technically it is my sweet—”

“Yes, and who are you calling sweet?” Antonio demanded.

“Tonio,” Claire said her tone warning.

“You stay out of this,” Eva told him. She glanced at Callum. “And who are you calling your sweet? Have you met another Greek girl? I’m going to warn her about you.”

“I hope you will. You’d better warn her I fell in love with this impossibly spoilt rich girl. I mean she’s a party girl, really, but…but the side of her I know is the side where she’s the smartest, most original, and…well, and everything I could ever want. But you see, I couldn’t exactly tell her any of that—not when her brother,” he paused and shot a stare at Antonio, “was paying me to teach her. So I had to quit. Hey, did you know I got a teaching job here—not in your department, thank god for that. There’s no need to get into the ethics of you trying to trade sex for a grade.”

“Callum!” The word came out in a low growl from Antonio. Claire gave up tugging on his arm and just rolled her eyes.

Eva turned on him. “Antonio, I said I would handle this. Now I’ve asked you several times to stay out of this. You are my brother. I love you. But Callum is the man I love and if you can’t deal with that we are going to have problems.”

Leaning close, Claire said, “Sweetie, I think she means it. Meaning, will you be a love and walk me to the car before I have to drag your unconscious body there. I think these two need to talk.”

Antonio looked from Eva to Callum. He waved a finger at Callum. “If you hurt her—”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. You won’t just break every bone in my body, you’ll see I never teach again, probably destroy my credit, and uh, get me shipped off to someplace really, really bad.” He looked at Eva. “But she can do worse. She can break my heart and stomp on it if she wants to, so you probably should just leave this to her. You don’t ever want to underestimate this girl.”

Eva smiled. Then she looked at Antonio and Claire. “Well?” She shooed them with her hands.

Claire dragged Antonio away with him muttering about women, and Eva turned to Callum. “Why drop me like that?”

He ran a hand through his hair. “I…I really thought at the time it was the right thing to do. You know…your world, mine…they’re a long way apart.”

“And?” Her chin came up.

“And then I couldn’t stop thinking about you. I’d read something and want to ask you what you thought. I’d see something in a store and know you’d be trying to buy it if you saw it. Something would make me laugh and I’d look up, thinking about your smile.
Se skeftomai sinehia!
Do you know how long I’ve been practicing that phrase?”

She stepped closer. “Now what? I’m supposed to forgive you for being such a barbarian as to try and walk out on me?”

“Well, if you’re really pissed off, you could walk out on me?” He stepped closer. “Or you could just demand that I make it up to you with hours and hours of love making.”

She tipped her head to the side. “I’ll think about that.”

“Think about this,
glykia mou
.” He took her in his arms and kissed her until her head spun.

When he let her go, she smiled and put her arms around his neck. “We’re going to have to work on your accent. It’s terrible.”

He nodded. “Teach me anything you want.”