by Marian Tee
Was it really that Cara Newton Stavros wanted her to call?
As she searched for Cara’s name in the phone book with not-so-steady fingers, Willow wondered if this meant they were dating. And if they were—
Her heart sank as she found Cara’s name, the photo saved to it confirming her worst fears. She clicked Call and her gaze rose to meet Stavros’ as the phone began to ring.
If this was how he wanted to play it, so be it. But she wanted him to see how he was killing her.
“Hello?” Cara’s voice was easily recognizable, her Southern belle drawl made famous by a rather risqué beer commercial that had debuted in last year’s Super Bowl.
“Good morning, Ms. Newton. This is Mr. Stavros Manolis’ secretary, Willow.”
Stavros wanted to smash something the moment Willow spoke. There were no tears in her eyes, but…he knew. He goddamn knew what this was doing to her. What he was doing to her.
“Oh, hello, Willow,” Cara greeted her sweetly over the phone. “Is your boss there?”
For a moment, Willow wasn’t sure of what to say.
Cara suddenly laughed. “Oh, right. You’re new, aren’t you? Sorry, don’t panic. I know the drill.” She giggled. “And between you and me – I know you’ve signed a confidentiality agreement so I know the secret’s safe – he drills me quite good, too.”
Willow whitened at the words.
“If he has you calling me, then he’s probably busy,” Cara was saying in a reasonable voice. “He always is. I suppose I should be thankful that when he’s not too busy, I’m his number one choice for a booty call.”
Willow’s fingers tightened around the phone, the only thing she could do to relieve the pressure building inside of her. She forced the words out between bloodless lips. “I appreciate the confidence, Ms. Newton.”
“Oh my God, you’re so cute! Did I embarrass you?”
“Not at all, Ms. Newton.” She was holding the phone so tightly now she wouldn’t be surprised if she ended up breaking it apart. “Mr. Manolis was wondering if he could have the pleasure of your company for dinner tonight?”
Cara snorted. “Dinner, ha. Darling, that’s your boss’ polite way of saying he wants to fuck me. He’s never taken me out to dinner, and we’ve been having sex for months now.”
The model sighed. “But even so, he’s my unhealthy addiction.” Another sigh. “Very well, Stavros’ new secretary. Could you let him know I have work tonight so if he’s free, maybe he could come by my place lunchtime? I’ll be naked by then.”
“I will let him know, Ms. Newton.”
“You’re a sweetheart.”
When Cara hung up, Willow said tonelessly, “Ms. Newton says to please come by her place lunchtime since she has work tonight.” Before Stavros could answer, she told him flatly, “She wanted you to know she’d be naked by then if so.”
The words arrested him on the spot, and the lack of light in her eyes as she said them crucified him.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
“Willow—”
Suddenly, she couldn’t stop talking. “She’s also told me she knows the drill very well, and she doesn’t mind because – and I quote – he drills me quite good, too.” Willow tried to imitate the model’s breathy giggle for added effect, but this time her voice caught.
Stavros was ashen. The look on her face made him want to reach out to her, take her in his lap, and tell her he was fucking sorry for what he had just made her do. “Willow—”
“I apologize, Mr. Manolis.” Willow’s voice was tight. She saw the regret in his eyes, but it didn’t matter anymore. He knew what this would do to her, and he had still made her do it.
She flashed him a brittle smile. “Let me do that again.” This time, she managed the giggle. “I hope I delivered her answer perfectly.”
He couldn’t bear the look on her face. “I’m sorry,” he bit out. “I’m fucking sorry, okay?”
She asked stonily, “May I leave now, sir?”
No. She couldn’t. He didn’t want her to leave, and that was the fucking problem here. Why he had left her in the first place.
He turned away. “Go.”
He heard her footsteps and everything in him wanted to call her back. He heard the door slam shut and everything in him wanted to fucking run after her and beg for her forgiveness.
But he couldn’t.
He wouldn’t.
She might think she cared for him now, but how long would that last? He might think she cared for him, but how could he really be sure? His own parents were proof that love did not exist. Even Mairi had proved to be a mere fantasy for him, someone he had wanted to stay on a pedestal so his own heart would forever be safe.
Willow counted the minutes. The hours. And at exactly eleven thirty, Stavros came out of his office. He walked straight past her desk, not even glancing at her once.
“I won’t be back,” he told Ashley. He could feel Willow’s gaze on him, and even knowing it would only hurt both of them more, he turned to face her.
Willow’s teeth sank into her lower lip. Don’t go. Please stay. Choose me.
Something flashed in Stavros’ gaze.
Something that gave her hope—
But then he turned away and she knew he was not choosing her. Willow stumbled to her feet. “Ashley, excuse me.” She wasn’t sure if she was coherent. She just had to leave before she saw him leave. She didn’t think she could bear seeing Stavros walking away from her again.
Chapter Seven
Dear Greek Billionaire,
No, you’re wrong again. If I excuse myself, you are not to take it as a cue to follow me.
I really just need to excuse myself from your presence.
~ The Art of Turning Down a Greek Billionaire
Three seconds.
That was all it took. Three seconds to realize he couldn’t do this to Willow. He couldn’t fucking walk out on her again, not when she had looked at him like that.
“Excuse me¸” he muttered tightly to his receptionist, who had an unashamedly mesmerized look in her eyes as she alternately looked at him and Willow.
“I think I’ve forgotten something in my office.” Fucking lame excuse, considering he was obviously going after his new secretary. But it no longer mattered. He knew Ashley, anyway. The girl knew when to keep her mouth shut.
Willow had just entered the small hallway leading to separate powder rooms when she heard the door swing open behind her.
Shiiiit. She knew who it was without looking back, and she tried to make a run for it. But it was too late, one hard arm wrapping around her waist just before she was whirled around. She found herself in Stavros’ arms, and he was gazing down at her, harsh regret darkening his eyes.
She hated that he was regretful. It meant he knew he had hurt her. And when he spoke, the remorse was even more evident.
“Willow—”
She couldn’t take it. “I hate you.” The words felt like they were ripped out of her heart. “You have no right…” She couldn’t continue, pain and shame ridding Willow of her voice. God. Did he really think because he was a fucking billionaire and she was just his secretary that he could treat her like that?
The thought made Willow want to scream, and she renewed her struggles with greater effort. “Let me go.” She tried to shove him away, tried to struggle out of his arms, but it was no use. “I said, let me go!” But the words only made him haul her close, his arms closing around her like a vise, trapping her fists between their bodies.
“I’m sorry,” Stavros grated out. His gaze was unseeing over Willow’s head, but the memory of the look on her face was imprinted on his mind.
“I’m sorry.” So many fucking words he wanted to say. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, the only one to make me smile. But because she was all that, they could never be.
Willow could hear it in Stavros’ voice that he meant every word but somehow, that made things more painful. It just made everything come back to that one ques
tion.
“Why?” She squeezed her eyes shut, feeling like the hurt would lessen if she didn’t see him speaking while he broke her heart even more. “Why did you do it, knowing you’d hurt…” Her voice caught as she remembered Stavros turning his back on her.
Numbness spread through her body.
Why did no one ever think she was good enough? Why did people keep leaving her?
“Yesterday,” she whispered, “even when you told me off like that, I wasn’t…mad. Because I thought…” She let out a shaky laugh. “I thought it was because you cared for me.” Willow lifted her gaze to him. “But how could you when today, you made me—”
A strangled gasp escaped her as she remembered Cara’s words.
Between you and me…he drills me quite good, too.
Willow gasped, her eyes flying to him in remembered pain. “Oh God, when you left me, maybe you even went straight to her—”
Stavros whitened, realizing where her thoughts were leading. “No!” He shook her hard, forcing her to look at him. He couldn’t fucking bear it if she ended up believing he had ever thought of treating her that way. “The night I left you,” he said savagely, “I didn’t sleep. Because all I could think of was your face—”
“Liar,” she screamed, no longer caring who would hear them.
Stavros didn’t seem to care either since he was shouting right back at her. “I didn’t want to leave you, dammit!” The truth in his words blazed fiercely from his eyes. “I know I’ve been a bastard to you in many ways, but I’ve never lied. Believe me, Willow.” Letting her go, he raked a hand through his hair. “I didn’t want to leave you then, but I had to. I didn’t want to hurt you today, but I—”
“But you had to?” she spat out.
“Yes,” he said tightly.
When Stavros tried to look away, she didn’t let him. She found herself reaching for his face, shocking both of them. But God, she was so, so tired of never understanding where this was going. She wanted the truth, once and for all.
Stavros’ heart stilled at the touch of her hands on his face, and a spasm gripped his chest, making him unable to breathe as Willow whispered shakily, “I want you, Stavros.”
The words nearly drove him to his knees, knowing the courage it took for her to say them, even after being hurt by him so many fucking times.
Willow swallowed. “I know I shouldn’t but that night…I felt like we had something special. I thought you felt it, too, until you…left.” She choked the last word out. Lifting her gaze to him, she told Stavros brokenly, “You make me so crazy, Stavros. How can you make me feel like I’m in heaven one moment and then throw me down to hell the next?”
Her words destroyed him, and Stavros tried to reach out to her, desperately wanting to comfort her. “Willow—”
She shook her head, crying out, “I’m not finished!” She wanted to get everything out, once and for all. Dragging air back into her lungs with a ragged breath, she continued, “You look at me like you want me but then you make me…” She inhaled hard. “You tell me to make a fucking booty call for you!”
This time, Stavros was the one who broke, and with a raw groan, he hauled her back to him, cupping her face like she had his. “I’m sorry.” He kissed her, whispering fiercely against her lips, “I’ll never make you do something like that again.”
She shook her head. “If you don’t want me, tell me now and you won’t ever see me—”
Stavros tried to think of how it would be when she did leave him, and the gaping emptiness the thought created in his chest left him white faced.
“No.” The word came out violently as everything in him rejected the possibility of Willow ever leaving him. It was too late now. She had gotten under his skin, had made a fucking place in his life. The only thing left to do now was to make sure he could keep her by his side…without ever reaching his heart.
The violence in Stavros’ answer had her whole body shaking. It also made her hope, and that frightened her because she so badly wanted to do that. To hope and believe that she hadn’t been wrong. That there was something special between them.
“Stavros, what—” She wanted to ask what this all meant, but he didn’t let her, kissing her with such fierce tenderness it brought tears to her eyes. She had worked so hard not to shed a single tear but this kiss…
Oh God, the way this kiss made her hope…
A thousand different emotions surged through Willow as the kiss deepened, and she found herself drowning in the aching sweetness of it.
“Don’t ever tell me you’ll leave me,” he gritted raggedly against her lips. “Promise me.”
Her eyes stung even more. So many times he had left her and pushed her away, but now…now he wanted her to stay. She should tell him no, if only to pay him back for all the sleepless nights she had suffered. She should tell him no, if only to protect herself from more hurt.
But somehow, she couldn’t.
Somehow, even though she had only known Stavros for such a short time…somehow, even though he had hurt her more than once…she just couldn’t say she would leave him.
“Stavros—”
His name on her lips was so full of pain it had his grip on her tightening. If she was thinking of leaving him, he wouldn’t let her. “No, Willow.” He crushed her mouth under his. “I won’t let you go until you promise me you won’t leave.”
This time, his kiss was so aggressive and beautifully rough it turned her brain to mush. He kissed and kissed her until with a moan, she succumbed, her body arching towards him.
Relief crashed down at Stavros the moment Willow surrendered to him. He knew it by the way her lips parted wider under his, the way her hands slowly crept up to his shoulders, not to push him away but to hold on to him.
“Kiss me,” he begged her hoarsely. Lifting his mouth, he rained kisses all over her face before sucking on her lower lip. “Please.”
Oh God, how could she resist those words? Shakily, she met his lips with hers, and scorching-hot need coursed through both their bodies as their lips touched. Whimpering, she clutched his broad shoulders more tightly as she continued kissing Stavros. The feel of it, the taste of it, everything about the kiss was addictive, and Willow knew her knees would give out the moment she let go of him.
Stavros groaned as Willow’s tongue hesitantly slipped inside his mouth. “Willow…” He couldn’t help it, couldn’t stop himself from sucking on her tongue, and the way she whimpered and strained closer against his body made his senses reel even more.
His hands started to move on their own volition. He knew this was not the time or place to make love to his beautiful girl, but he was fast losing his common sense, and the way Willow was kissing him wasn’t helping. When his hands found her lovely breasts, cupping them, she didn’t protest. Instead, she moaned against his mouth and pushed her breasts deeper into his hands.
The uninhibitedly wanton response flayed him, making his engorged cock throb painfully inside his pants. Fuck, fuck, fuck. He needed her now. Stavros’ hands moved down, towards her aching core, wanting to know if she was already wet enough for him—
A knock on the door behind Stavros sounded, followed by someone calling out hesitantly, “Mr. Manolis?”
At the sound of Ashley’s voice, Willow’s eyes flew open in shock. For a moment, she was completely disoriented, unable to fathom how they could be interrupted.
Another moment passed, and she remembered where they were. She immediately tried pulling away from Stavros, but he wouldn’t let her, making Willow look up with a worried frown—
Another kiss, hard enough to have her gasping and long enough to have Willow feel like she was floating when it ended.
Keeping his gaze on his captive, Stavros demanded curtly, “What is it, Ashley?”
Mortification made Ashley’s voice strained. “I sincerely apologize for the interruption, sir, but you told me to inform you right away if Mr. Brandt calls. He’s waiting on Line two.”
Willow winced, b
ut Stavros’ voice was smooth and unperturbed as he replied, “Thank you. I’ll be out in a moment.”
“Yes, sir.” Judging by the sound of Ashley’s footsteps, the receptionist couldn’t leave fast enough, and Willow winced again.
Stavros was still looking at her, his gaze intense. She wished he would say something, but when he didn’t, she felt obliged to remind him, “Mr. Brandt’s waiting.”
“I know.” Stavros’ voice was hard and unreadable.
Her forehead furrowed. “Then…” She tried to step back so he could feel free to go, but his arms tightened around her and he startled her when he asked in a guttural voice, “You won’t leave?”
Her heartbeat sped up in a fast crazy rhythm at the question – at the fact that he cared enough to ask it, and that he was willing to show he cared.
Stavros stifled a frustrated curse when she didn’t answer right away. “Willow, answer me.” He knew he had no right to demand one from her, but shame had lost its meaning to him. The moment she had broken down in front of him, the moment he had kissed her – Stavros had crossed the point of no return.
Even if this was going to destroy them both, he couldn’t ever let her go now.
Their gazes locked and she asked haltingly, “What’s going to change between us now?”
Inhaling sharply, he asked, “What do you want to change?”
Her eyes closed. So many damn ways to answer that, but…
“I’m not asking for your heart,” she whispered. Liar, liar, liar.
“I don’t do love either.” Liar, liar, liar. The taunting voice of Charmaine filled her mind, but Willow pushed it away.
This is okay, this is safe, she told herself fiercely. He didn’t have to love her. It was better if Stavros didn’t love her. The only kind of love she knew was what Charmaine taught her, and it was ugly. She didn’t want that from Stavros. She just wanted him to treat her like she was special, the way no one had ever made her feel before.
And for this to work, she just had…to do it like Stavros and establish some rules. If they stuck by the rules, then neither of them would be hurt. That was what she had done wrong in the past, but Willow was determined not to repeat the same mistake.