The Heir: A Standalone Greek Billionaire Romance

by Laurence, Selena

  “He’s going to be fine.”

  “Are you sure? You seem tense.”

  I take a deep breath, lifting my shoulders then dropping them. “Just work stuff. I have to figure out how to get Christos’s projects covered while he’s gone.” And lies beget lies. Because they lied to me, now I’m forced to lie to Tess, and I hate it. It’s like a secret dose of poison has been released into my bloodstream where it will slowly make its way through my body, killing cells and turning flesh black as it goes.

  I look at her beautiful face, and realize that she might be the only real and true thing in my world right now.

  “Come home with me?” I ask, nearly breathless with the weight in my chest.

  “Are you sure? It’s so late. Maybe you’d rather get a good night’s sleep?”

  I grasp her delicate hand in mine, feeling the tiny bones that link together so perfectly to create the work of art that is her long fingers, soft palms, and smooth skin. “All I want is to hold you all night long,” I whisper.

  She leans over and kisses me on the cheek. “That sounds wonderful,” she answers.

  Tess

  I don’t see much of Niko’s house when we get there. The lights are off and he leads me quietly through the winding hallways and cavernous rooms to his suite. Inside is a king sized bed, made up with snowy white linens and a dark duvet. One side of the room is glass, French doors opening to a patio that surrounds the swimming pool. In the moonlight I can see the water lapping at the infinity edge before the whole landscape spills over to the beach below.

  He’s silent as we walk to the bed, and once there he gently kisses me, pushing my top up and off before unbuttoning my jeans and dropping to his knees to peel them down my legs. He removes my heels, then pulls my feet from the tangle of denim gathered around them. As he stands back up he runs his hands along my skin from ankle to shoulder.

  “You’re so gorgeous,” he whispers, coasting his lips along my neck.

  I sigh, my hands finding the buttons on the front of his shirt and popping them open one by one. I trail my fingertips across the taut skin of his torso and he shivers, dropping his head to my shoulder as I caress him. I sense that he needs this—my touch, my silence—and I give it to him, because I’m starting to realize that there isn’t anything I wouldn’t give to him. And that scares me more than I could have ever imagined.

  When we’re undressed, Niko lays me on the soft bed and worships me. His hands are butterfly soft, his lips like angel wings brushing against me tantalizingly, moving from one place to the next with no order or strategy.

  When I’m finally writhing under him, my breath harsh and needy, he takes a condom from the nightstand and rolls it on. As he looks down at me, his weight on his elbows, his lower body cradled between my thighs, he whispers, “I think I’m falling in love with you, Tess Richardson,” then he slides into me and my world ceases to be anything beyond this room and this man.

  We make love slow and soft and sweet. He strokes in and out of me, his breathing stuttered, his brow shiny with sweat. I arch into him, the slide of our skin sultry and decadent. “God,” I whisper. “So close.”

  He lowers his head and kisses my lips—full, wet, deep—and I come, waves of ecstasy rolling through me over and over. He pushes deeper than he’s ever gone, as if he can enter my very soul, and then gasps, pulsing inside of me until he collapses, his heat and sweat like the most beautiful blanket I’ve ever laid under.

  His head is buried in the crook between my neck and shoulder, and he’s trembling. I don’t know what’s happened, but I do know that the prince of Georgios is suffering. Between the time we entered his father’s house and the time we left, something went very wrong, and I’m not sure what to do to make it better for him. So I do the only thing I can. I stroke his hair, his back, his shoulders. I wrap myself around him until his shaking stops and I feel him relax. When he finally rolls off, he gazes at me deeply before he says, “I meant it.” I swallow and nod, knowing full well what he’s referring to.

  I open my mouth to respond, but he places a finger over my lips. “It’s too soon, I know that. Don’t say anything. I just needed you to know.”

  I kiss him gently, my hand cupping his scruffy cheek. He turns me to face away from him and then wraps his arm around me. He buries his face in my hair and finally falls asleep.

  * * *

  When I get to a computer the next day there is an email waiting for me from my brother.

  To: TessR@chiu.edu

  From: NR280@fbi.gov

  Mess: First off, Mom says you need to send her your social security number so she can fill out the annual health insurance forms. And Dad says to tell you that Snickers ate one of his shoelaces and puked all over your room. Then he went on his annual rant about how this was why you shouldn’t have gotten a cat when you were only going to go to college and leave it for him to take care of.

  I’m glad you’re having a good time. You need to send more pictures. There’s this agent that I’m angling to ask out, and she loves to travel, so your pictures give me an excuse to go to her office and show her. Give your big brother a break and help him with his game (no remarks about the quality of my game either you runt).

  You haven’t talked much about the internship. Are you able to understand everything they need you to do? By the way, you haven’t seen anything unusual in the way they do stuff, have you? You know I can’t talk about the details of an ongoing investigation, but I can tell you that the IRS is doing an audit on their US operations. Have you heard about that? I want you to be very careful that you don’t do anything you have any doubts about, even if your boss says you have to. I can help you out with your bills if something doesn’t seem right about the job.

  Got to go, Mess. Try not to miss me too much. I know it’s hard when your older brother is such a hunk of sizzling manhood. No one you meet ever lives up to what you’ve been raised with. But don’t worry, I’ll be nice to your boyfriends even if they are pussies. They can’t help it. Just like you can’t help it being an undergrown runt.

  You suck,

  Nate

  I can’t help but laugh when I read his nonsense. Nate is built like my dad, linebacker big. Over six feet and especially since Quantico he’s one big block of muscle. But he has a baby face, and a personality that’s midway between class clown and computer nerd. No woman is ever going to mistake Nate for a hot alpha guy even if he sort of looks like one.

  His continuing warnings about Stephanos Shipping and their business practices is starting to grate on my nerves. Nate doesn’t know that I’m seeing Niko, mostly because I think he’d flip the hell out. He’s protective under the best of circumstances, and me a few thousand miles away dating the son of a Greek billionaire who is also my boss would not go over well.

  But I can’t tell him that he shouldn’t talk to me about these things with Stephanos. If I found out that Stephanos might be doing illegal things, how am I supposed to explain that to Niko? I can’t up and quit if something is fishy. I could never be the one to tell Niko that his family’s company is unethical or God forbid, criminal. So, I do what I’ve been doing for weeks when Nate harps about Stephanos Shipping’s business—I write back, tell him it’s all fine and try to forget that he ever told me any of it. I hate it. It goes against everything I’ve been raised to live by. If there’s the merest whiff of something unethical going on, I should quit. My reputation will be of paramount importance in my career, and I can’t be associated with a business that might be cutting corners.

  But here’s a side of the sleeping-with-your-boss coin that I never once predicted. What happens if you don’t want to work for him anymore? Luckily I’m not at that point, and I can only hope it doesn’t happen. First, because I wouldn’t feel right about taking money from Nate, and secondly, because I’m afraid it might break Niko’s heart.

  I still don’t know what happened last night at his dad’s but he’s not okay, no matter what he says. When we said goodbye this morning
he was distant, quiet. Not at all himself. I can only hope that it was some sort of posttraumatic shock from finding Christos in that alley. I guess the next few days will tell.

  When I walk into the office Annais and Juliet are whispering at the front desk. They look up when I walk in then motion me over.

  “Hey. What’s going on?” I ask.

  “You won’t believe what happened last night,” Juliet whisper shouts.

  “Shhh,” Annais admonishes. “Christos was mugged and beaten outside a bar downtown.”

  I swallow. I hadn’t thought about this, and Niko and I forgot to talk about it. I’m going to have to lie more. I can’t admit that I was there with Niko when it all happened. It’s like it never ends.

  “That’s horrible,” I say. “Is he going to be okay?”

  Juliet nods. “Yes, Mr. Stephanos—Ari, not Niko—made an announcement this morning on the employee loop. He said that Christos is recovering for the next few days and he’ll be back in the office next week, but he wanted everyone to be very careful when they’re out downtown after dark. They haven’t caught the guys that did it.”

  “Do they have any leads?” I ask, genuinely curious.

  “No. Christos didn’t even see who it was. He doesn’t remember anything. Mr. Stephanos says if anyone was in the area last night they should contact his head of security.”

  “I don’t think they’re going to find anything,” Annais says, shaking her head. “It’s high tourist season, whoever did it has probably gone back to Athens or whatever tour of the EU they’re on. I guarantee no one on the island did this.”

  Juliet shivers dramatically. “I’ve never been afraid after dark here, but now? I guess I’ll have to find men to escort me places.”

  I’m sure that’s no hardship for her. She doesn’t strike me as the type who’s got a problem manipulating men into doing things for her.

  Then she glances at Niko’s office door.

  “That ship sailed,” Annais says with a snort. “Maybe you can get Niall in Media to walk you around town at night.” She laughs and Juliet sticks her tongue out at her. Everyone who’s worked at Stephanos for more than a week knows that Niall has a ridiculous crush on Juliet. He’s up on our floor at least three times a day. Usually he asks Juliet some stupid question and then stands there and gazes at her star struck while she answers.

  “I’d better get to work,” I say, hoping that I don’t have to hear Juliet refer to a renewed pursuit of Niko. “Will there be a card or something for Christos that I can sign?”

  “We’re putting together a basket of things to keep him entertained. I’ll bring you the card to sign, and you don’t need to contribute, you’re a student, that wouldn’t be fair,” Annais says, smiling at me.

  “Okay, thank you. I hope he gets better fast.”

  “Me too,” Annais says, her eyes so serious. “These kinds of things don’t happen in Georgios, and especially not to one of the Stephanos family. It’s gotten everyone pretty shaken up.”

  An hour or so later I’m sitting at my desk reviewing records for shipments in and out of Athens during the previous month when Niko comes walking through on his way to his office.

  “Tess?” he asks, pausing at my desk.

  I look up at him trying not to show how happy I am to see him. “Yes?”

  “May I see you in my office for a few minutes? I have a project I think you can help me with.”

  I nod and grab a pen and paper before I follow him into his office. He doesn’t speak or look at me, but goes straight to the interior windows and shuts the blinds, before walking to the door and locking it with a decisive click.

  When he spins to look at me his face is wrecked, my beautiful prince is suffering and I can’t help but bleed inside for him.

  “What’s wrong?” I ask as I move toward him.

  He takes a decisive step forward and wraps his arms around my waist, lowering his head to mine and devouring my mouth with single-minded determination. I’m stunned at first, but I melt into his touch out of habit, loving the way he tastes like the rich espresso he must have been drinking at lunch. He smells like the ocean and I wonder if he ate at Andropov’s near the water.

  As we settle into the kiss and his hands begin to roam, my head clears a little and I remember where we are—his office, in the middle of the workday.

  I break the kiss and try to lean back so I can see his face. “Hey, I thought we agreed not to do this at the office.”

  He kisses my neck, avoiding my gaze. “I think. We need. To rethink. That,” he mutters in between kisses, nips and licks.

  My traitorous body leans into his, craving his every kiss and caress. “That sounds dangerous,” I gasp.

  “Mmhm,” he growls as he palms my ass with one hand and pulls out my hair clip with the other. “Dangerous can be exciting. We’re getting really good at breaking rules, let’s break some more.”

  My gut clenches. Rules. Those things that insure your life stays in control, help you reach your goals, and keep you safe. Until I met Niko rules were so simple. So easy to follow and so comforting to understand. But now, since I started breaking them, what once was black and white becomes more muddled with each passing day. I know Niko feels strongly about me, and I feel just as strongly about him. I’m falling for him and it’s scary, but also the most exhilarating thing I’ve ever known. I don’t want that to end. I don’t want to deny Niko anything. I don’t want to deny myself anything, so I turn those little blinking warning lights right off. Lock them up tight and throw away the key as I throw myself into Niko’s clutches.

  “You’re a terrible influence,” I whisper to him as I take his earlobe in my teeth.

  He presses his hard on against me, the steel of his length firm and huge even through his dress pants and my skirt.

  “Is it working?” he asks.

  “Totally,” I admit.

  He growls and walks me back to the desk behind us. When I’m pressed up against it he kisses me hard before spinning me around and pressing me flat to bend over the warm wood.

  “I’ve dreamed about this,” he says in my ear as he folds over my back and reaches under me to grasp my breast.

  “You’re not the only one,” I sigh.

  Niko

  I spent my lunch listening to my father grill me about Tess. Christos was kind enough to answer all of my parents’ questions about who Tess was and how I met her, and my dad is not thrilled.

  He seems to think that with a father who’s a district attorney and a brother with the FBI, Tess is more likely to want to pursue some sort of employment action against us if I do something to piss her off. With what I suspect about our business operations, I doubt he’s really concerned about something as minor as a personnel action.

  The hypocrisy of my father busting my chops about dating a staff member is beyond the pale, and I could hardly keep from telling him so over lunch. Everything he said made bile swirl in my gut. I ended the conversation by telling him to stay out of my private life. He reminded me of the promise I’d made to him. I told him Tess was different, and it wasn’t up for discussion. He has no right to criticize my choices, not after what I think he’s done.

  Now I’m standing behind Tess, her gorgeous ass in front of me as I bend her over my desk. Lucky me, she’s wearing a thong. Fuck, she’s amazing. I squeeze the two firm globes in my hands and moan. I push her against the edge of the desk harder and her hips flex in response. Unzipping my fly I release my swollen dick, aching to plunge into her and drown myself in the only thing I know will make the pain stop for a while.

  I lean over and whisper in her ear, “Don’t make a sound,” before I tug her thong to the side and drive in, causing us both to gasp at how fucking good it feels.

  As I move in and out I’m nearly paralyzed by pleasure. She’s the warmest wettest thing I’ve ever been in, and it’s about to short circuit whatever brain cells I have left.

  She reaches an arm behind her and grabs my ass, clawing at my fle
sh, her breaths coming fast and hard. I drive into her a few more times, and I can tell she’s close, so I fold over her back, pulling on her hair to lift her head off the desk. Her neck is arched and it’s all I can do not to lean in and bite the shit out of it. “I want you to fucking come for me,” I murmur in her ear as I push into her hard. Her beautiful lips open on a silent cry, and I feel her spasm around me, that’s all it takes to send me there as well, and I pulse into her hot and hard.

  When we finally calm down, I rest, softly stroking her hair as I run my nose along the fragrant skin of her neck.

  She rises up on her elbows and turns her head so she can capture my lips. “I don’t know what the hell’s gotten into you,” she whispers, “but it’s freaking hot.”

  I chuckle, giving her one last peck on the lips before I pull out. I stand there looking down at my dick. My very bare, very much unsheathed dick. Fuck, what have I done?

  Tess adjusts her thong before pulling her skirt down. As she turns to face me her nose crinkles and she shifts around, wiggling her hips a little. “Um,” she says, looking at me strangely. I’m still frozen, my hand down my pants where I was tucking my dick away. We stand there looking at each other for a moment.

  “I’m so sorry,” I say as I finish zipping up. “I forgot, the uh.”

  “I thought things felt damper than usual,” she answers, squirming some more.

  “God, baby, I am so sorry.” I bend a little to look her in the eyes. “I’m distracted and I’ve been thinking about you all day. Shit.” I dig a hand into my hair.

  Her sweet hand strokes my cheek. “Hey. Niko?”

  I look at her big blue eyes.

  “I’m on the pill. It’s okay. We’re good. We’re exclusive—” She looks worried for a moment and I leap to reassure her.

  “You heard me at the bar, right? Please don’t worry about that. I’ve never been with anyone without a condom and I haven’t been with anyone else since the day I first saw you on the docks. I swear. If you’re on the pill then we’re good.”