The Art of Kissing a Greek Billionaire

by Marian Tee

  “Oh my God, he did not do that,” Mandy exclaimed over Skype the next day.

  Mairi grimaced when her friend started laughing. Either this was like déjà vu or she really had a nice set of friends, the kind that never failed to find amusement in her foibles.

  Her gaze flitted back to the restroom’s full-length mirror. Oh God, no matter which way she looked at it, there was just no way people would mistake the dark spot above her collarbone for anything but a hickey.

  Damn you, Damen.

  “Can’t you use some makeup to conceal it?”

  “I don’t have that kind of makeup with me.” She glared at her reflection, wishing it were her husband she was glaring at instead. “And even if I did, I wouldn’t know how to conceal it.”

  From the other end of the line, Mandy heard sounds of water and scrubbing. “What are you doing?”

  “Trying to scrub it out?”

  Laughter had Mandy doubling over. “Oh God, Mairi. You’re crazy.”

  “No,” Mairi protested miserably as she straightened up from the sink. “I’m desperate. How am I going to teach like this?” She bit back a curse when the bell started to ring, indicating that classes had started. Smoothing a nervous hand over the minimal creases on her black A-line skirt, she squared her shoulders. “Wish me luck, Mandy.”

  “I wish you luck,” her friend returned promptly.

  She relaxed a little. “Thanks Mandy, and I can’t wait until you join me here.”

  Mairi’s phone rang just as she left the restroom and she frowned when she saw the name on the screen. Canceling the call, she sent a message to Damen.

  Is it an emergency? Could we talk later if it’s not? I might be late for class.

  Just call me soon as you can. It’s about Esther.

  A leaden feeling enveloped her at the name. Esther Leventis. The heartless woman who had given birth to Damen and only thought of her children as pawns. She had secretly hoped that by leaving Greece, she and Damen would no longer have anything to do with his mother.

  Guess not, Mairi thought. Taking the first step to the second floor, she came face to face with the vice dean. The fiftyish woman had also been one of the panelists during Mairi’s job interview for the university.

  “Good morning, Dean Blanchard.”

  “Professor Leventis.” The woman’s gaze immediately went to her neck.

  Mairi resisted the urge to cover her hickey. I’m going to kill you for this, Damen.

  Clearing her throat, the vice dean said, “I’ve been looking for you actually.” A discomfited look crossed her face. “I’d like a moment with you in my office.” Before Mairi could answer, the other woman added, “I know you’re thinking about your class, but I’ve already taken care of it. An aide has been sent to take charge of your students for now.”

  Mairi slowly nodded. “Understood, Dean Blanchard.” She had a bad feeling about this, and it worsened when they reached the vice dean’s office. Instead of inviting her to the small living area in the office, Dean Blanchard indicated the swivel seat before her desk. She was definitely in trouble…but for what?

  The vice dean took her seat behind the other side of the large desk. Leaning back, she clasped her hands in front of her. “Do you have any idea why I’ve called you in here?”

  Mairi shook her head. “I’m afraid not, Dean Blanchard.”

  “As you know, CU is a privately funded university. Its founding family, the Christopoulos’, takes its responsibilities to the student body seriously. Because of this, one of the family’s representatives has contacted me about a rather worrying matter.”

  Mairi swallowed. “If this is about my past—”

  “Yes,” the vice dean acknowledged bluntly, “it is. I’m afraid we’ve received word from trusted sources that you’re about to be the subject of an exposé.”

  The word ‘exposé’ caught her off guard. “A-about me?”

  Dean Blanchard inclined her head. “Apparently, it’s based on complaints filed by women whose children are enrolled here.”

  “But it’s only my second day,” Mairi blurted out, now even more confused.

  “Exactly. Which was why the university had been predisposed to ignore or even discredit this until…” The older woman adjusted her glasses with a sigh. “We heard about what happened yesterday.”

  It took a while for the meaning behind the words to sink in, Mairi paling when she realized the vice dean was talking about Leon Arlotta.

  “According to other students, Mr. Arlotta has expressed his interest in you, and it’s allegedly mutual—”

  “Absolutely not, Dean Blanchard.” Mairi wished there was a way she could say the words more vehemently. “I’m happily married to my husband and will be so forever. I’m in love with him, head over heels, and he’s a dream boat and—” She stopped with a gasp, realizing she had let her tongue run away…in front of the vice dean.

  “A dream boat, you say?”

  Mairi was surprised but relieved to hear the amusement in Dean Blanchard’s voice, but she still felt compelled to apologize. “I’m sorry, Dean.” She fought against turning red as she did but she failed on that, too.

  The older woman chuckled. “You’re so refreshingly honest, Professor Leventis. It’s been a while since I had someone as interesting as you in our staff. Although many of our students have always led rather colorful lives, I’m afraid I can’t say the same for the faculty. It’s been quite boring, actually.”

  “Umm…” Mairi no longer knew what to think.

  “What I’m saying is, I believe you. The university believes in you. However, we also think it’s prudent to issue a warning and for you to be extra careful when interacting with your students. Whatever may happen tomorrow, we will stand behind you.”

  Mairi’s knees were shaking badly by the time she left the university. She couldn’t help remembering the last time she had been in a dean’s office. She had been applying for a job that time, but instead she had found herself sexually assaulted.

  Thank God this time it hadn’t ended the same way.

  Another thought occurred to her, of Damen’s call, and now she knew why he had wanted to talk to her. Forcing her limbs to work, Mairi went to the fire exit, where she could have privacy.

  ****

  Damen was in the middle of a meeting with his security team when his secretary interrupted him. “Mrs. Leventis is on the line, sir.”

  Damen nodded and turning to his team, he said curtly, “Excuse me for a moment.” Walking out of the conference room, he answered the call in his office, picking up the wireless receiver. “Mairi?” He walked towards the en-suite bar and poured himself a shot.

  “I just came from a meeting with the university’s vice dean.”

  Damen stiffened, the rather high-pitched tone of his wife’s words worrying him. “And?”

  “You know, don’t you?” Mairi sat down on one of the steps. She had a feeling her knees would give way any second if she didn’t. “That’s why you wanted to talk to me?”

  “About my mother’s plans to discredit you?” He spoke the word ‘mother’ with unabashed revulsion. “Unfortunately, yes.”

  Mairi took a deep breath at Damen’s confirmation. “Tomorrow…how bad will it be?”

  “Not as bad as she hopes,” he answered grimly. “I’ve put the word out that I won’t hesitate to sue, but I can’t stop the media from reporting facts. And the facts are that tomorrow, a number of students would be made to withdraw from Christopoulos University and their respective parents will explain that they’ve done so because they don’t want their students to be corrupted.”

  “By me?”

  “By you.”

  “Corrupted in what way?”

  “Apparently, your presence could serve to influence female students into thinking it’s alright to be a gold-digger.” There was also Leon Arlotta possibly becoming an issue, if the media got wind of it, but Damen decided against warning her about it directly. If it was still something
she wanted to solve on her own, then he trusted her to do it.

  “Mairi?”

  “Mm?”

  “You still don’t want to ask for my help about whatever it is that may be troubling you?”

  It took her a long time to answer. “No,” she said finally. “But I think…you’re already helping me in a way.”

  He knew exactly what she was referring to and he smirked.

  Mairi rolled her eyes. “It’s a really big hickey, Damen.” But she couldn’t help smiling as she pointed it out.

  “Is it?” he drawled.

  “It is, and you know it. And,” she added with a shake of her head, “you deliberately didn’t tell me about it!”

  “If I had, you’d have thought of covering it up.”

  “But—”

  “Admit it, my love. Am I not right?”

  She grumbled, “Yes.” She gulped, afraid to ask the next question but knowing she had to. “How much do you know about…my problem?”

  “Nothing specific,” he said readily. “I want you to tell me when you’re ready.”

  “What if I’m not ready?”

  He was exasperated. “Mairi.”

  “But what if I’m not? You’ll let it be? You’ll just tell me you forgive me, right?”

  “Are you a five-year-old kid?”

  She changed the subject. “You know I love you, right? So you know I’ll never do anything to hurt you and that—”

  “I love you, too, matakia mou, but you will not get off that lightly.”

  Her shoulders slumped. “I’m just really afraid you’ll hate me if I tell you,” she whispered.

  He sobered. “Do you still love me?”

  “I won’t ever stop,” she said simply.

  “And whatever it was – or is, did it happen because you meant to hurt me?”

  “No!”

  “Then it won’t keep us apart,” he finished just as simply. “I love you, Mairi. I mean it in every sense.” He let it sink in before saying briskly, “I may be flying to Greece tonight. I’d like to take care of Esther once and for all.” When she started to protest, he said in a hard voice, “No more.”

  She quieted, realizing Damen was more furious than he had let on.

  “I’ve let her off the hook because you asked me to, Mairi. But you see now, don’t you? She won’t stop until I take everything away.”

  “She’s still your mother, Damen.”

  “She is. And I am still her son, but it didn’t stop her from hurting you or me, did it?”

  “Could you at least wait for me to join you before you do anything?” she asked finally. “You know I only have two days of work a week so tomorrow I’ll be free to join you. And I’ll bring Nala with me, too.”

  “If that’s what you wish to do,” Damen said. “But I can do this on my own—”

  “No,” she said firmly. “We’re a family, Damen. Remember? I want to be there to protect you too, in case she says something hurtful.”

  The words were unexpected, and his chest tightened as emotions still unfamiliar crowded his heart. Before Mairi had come into the picture, Damen had never known what love was. But now…

  “Then I look forward to you two joining me.”

  She sighed in relief.

  “I’ll miss you tonight.”

  “Me, too.” She inhaled and exhaled, willing herself to muster the courage to confess. She owed him the truth. “And Damen?”

  “Mm?”

  “The problem I have?” Another deep breath and she confessed in a rush, “You know those books I love to read?”

  He deadpanned, “The ones about Greek billionaires falling for their secretaries or their children’s nannies or their—”

  She glared at her phone before answering, “Yes, that.”

  “Obviously, I know about them.”

  “Well, in those books, when the hero learns about the woman they love being, umm, kissed by another man, they react first and think later. They go into a rage and sometimes they even break up—”

  “Are you trying to tell me another man kissed my wife,” Damen asked in a dangerously soft voice.

  She gulped. “Kinda?”

  He swore.

  “I didn’t mean for it to happen,” Mairi cried out. “One moment he was just holding my hand—”

  “He fucking held your hand?”

  “And he even whispered to my ear—” She froze. She didn’t have to say that, did she?

  “He whispered to your fucking ear?” Damen roared.

  She winced. She definitely shouldn’t have said it. Mairi started to blab. “It just happened, I never wanted it to happen, and I promise I’ll never let it happen again so please don’t divorce me, please, because I love you so much so it will be the death of me if you don’t understand that I didn’t mean it to happen. Please?”

  Mairi ended the call before Damen could answer.

  Damen was left staring at his phone, torn between amusement and anger. The amusement was purely because of Mairi; it was just like his wife to confess everything in one five-minute-long sentence. The anger, however, was entirely directed at someone else.

  Fucking punk.

  He sent Mairi a text message.

  Mairi nearly dropped her phone when it vibrated in her hold.

  Damen: I still love you, I still trust you, and if you do not want that student to die, I will give you only until today to “handle” the problem.

  Mairi: I will, I promise.

  Damen: In your bodyguards’ presence. And they won’t be undercover.

  Mairi: Damen!

  Damen: Today, my love. That’s all the time you have.

  Chapter Six

  “When you said we’d have company, Professor, I have to admit I never thought you’d be this kinky.” Leon’s voice was dry as he gestured to the handcuffs dangled in front of him by a stoic-looking man.

  The gun tucked on the man’s side made his job obvious, together with the eleven others surrounding Leon. All twelve had escorted him from the moment he came knocking on the front door. Leon had a feeling they had also been asked to escort him home, just to make sure he wouldn’t sneak back to be with Mairi in private.

  Mairi smiled weakly. “I’m really, really sorry, but it was the only way I could get my husband to agree to me meeting you at our home.”

  “I suppose I should be thankful he wasn’t thinking of holding me at gunpoint—” Leon’s eyes widened at the way the professor turned red. He asked incredulously, “Doesn’t he know that’s overkill?”

  “He knows. I know. They know.” A sheepish smile when the bodyguards nodded in unison. “But…it’s only because he loves me that much,” she said simply. “And when I think about it that way…” She shrugged helplessly. “I can’t quite make myself mad over it.”

  She might not be mad, but he was. He didn’t like seeing her this way, didn’t like seeing the way her lovely eyes softened when she talked about her Greek billionaire. It made pursuing her feel futile, and he didn’t want that.

  Leon extended his wrists. Catching sight of the CCTV camera mounted in one corner, he looked straight at it and said mockingly, “If your husband is this insecure over me, well…” His lips formed a taunting smile. “However, who’s to say you won’t be the one to kiss me first, Professor?”

  Mairi gasped.

  The cuffs clicked in place, and Leon flinched at the sound. It reminded him of an extremely bad memory, and his jaw tightened. Mairi might think this was all a joke, but he knew it was more than that. The fucking billionaire really did know everything about him, after all.

  “Are you all right?” Mairi asked in concern, noticing the sudden pallor in the younger man’s face.

  Leon nodded curtly, not trusting himself to speak for the meantime.

  Nervously, Mairi led Leon inside. Trying to hide her nervousness, she began talking, telling him about the house. “That’s the door to the library, that one leads to the housekeeper’s quarters, and the nanny’s…”
/>
  She paused at the door of the dining room. “I also thought we should have dinner first?”

  “My pleasure,” Leon murmured. “But does that mean you’ll be feeding me, Ms. Yay?”

  Mairi reddened. “Absolutely not.” She saw Leon looking at the CCTV and finally realized where the suggestive words were coming from. “Mr. Arlotta.”

  “Leon, or I can’t promise to be a good boy.”

  “Leon—”

  “Say it again, Ms. Yay.”

  She shook her head in exasperation, but her lips twitched all the same. “You’re persistent. I’ll definitely give you that.”

  “It’s not my only redeeming factor, Ms. Yay.” He rattled his cuffs. “And I could show you that if you let me go.”

  She rolled her eyes. “You don’t have to say stuff like that.” She pointed to the camera. “He’s not watching us.”

  Leon only raised a brow.

  “It’s the truth, but it’s up to you to believe me or not. He trusts me, you see,” she said gently.

  Again, that look in her eyes, Leon thought grimly. His lips tightened. Suddenly, he was tired. And furious. Why had he thought he was different from his father? His father had fallen for a rich married woman and had his heart broken by it. Why the fuck had he thought it would be different for him?

  He looked around him. A house worth millions of dollars, with furniture probably worth the same amount or even more. This was the kind of lifestyle Damen Leventis could give Mairi. He had been a fucking fool to think she would choose him and his unstable future over all of this.

  “Let’s just cut to the chase,” he said abruptly.

  In the act of walking towards her seat at the table, Mairi stilled at the words and slowly turned to face Leon. Even when he was handcuffed and in jeans, even though his appearance made him stand out in his luxurious surroundings, there was nothing pitiful about him. He was still as imposing as ever, and his attractive Italian looks only served to enhance it.

  He wasn’t just attractive. Now that she allowed herself to look at him, really look at him, she realized that he wasn’t just that. He was beautiful, in the way Damen was beautiful, too. He was beautiful, enough to mesmerize her yesterday, enough to make her lower her guard and give him a chance to kiss her.