He inched closer, but she flattened her hand on his chest, pushing him away. “Maybe we can have a little taste.”
“I have a taste for you. When I went to the shop to order the costumes, I also bought a couple toys. But you need to be a good pirate if you want to play sometime.”
“You’re killing me,” he said.
“Trust me, you haven’t seen nothing yet.” She winked at him. When she’d bought the pirate get-ups, she’d gone to a store in a cool street, and next to it she found a sex shop. She’d never been to one and felt strange at first but then decided to explore.
Thirty minutes later, they entered the exotic bash already in full swing. The mansion had been thoroughly decorated to live up to the theme, with even the waitstaff dressed as pirates, captains, wenches, and more. Curtains colored in red, black, and white stripes fell from the tall ceilings. Dozens of guests crowded the immense living area, and Amaya noticed a bunch of entertainers wowing the crowd through the clear doors leading to the terrace.
She clenched his arm, excited. “Let’s go.”
Soon they joined the group watching the round of women and men spitting fire into a ring, competing to see who spat the farthest.
A bar stand that looked like a ship had a line of eager guests waiting as the cocktail waitresses did flicks and tricks while preparing drinks. Everything about the party had an air of fun.
“Wow. Where did you meet these people?”
“Mutual friends. They’re good people. I’ll show you Seth and Mary when I see them.”
“Oh. I thought you wanted to keep things on the down low?” She tugged at his beard to make her point.
“Seth and Mary are different.”
Good different, she hoped. She’d seen pictures of his family at his home and on the internet. His mother and father looked great, almost regal, and certainly traditional. A cool breeze caressed her, and she rubbed her arm.
“Come here,” he said, bringing her close.
“I didn’t think you’d actually bring your sword,” she said.
“That’s not my sword.” He leaned closer, his breath fanning her ear.
A wave of heat spread across her neck and cheeks. “I can’t take you anywhere, can I?”
Someone tapped him on his shoulder, and he turned around. “Theo? Is that you?” the man with dark long dreads a la Jack Sparrow asked.
Theo stretched to his full height, locking his spine into place. “Andrew. Hello.”
“Hi, man. It’s been a while. Your father invited me to lunch, but I haven’t been able to make it.”
“Neither have I,” Theo said, and both men chuckled. “This is Amaya Lopez. Amaya, meet Andrew Stone. His father and mine golfed together for years.”
Amaya squared her shoulders at the mention of Theo’s father. This meant she should act like an acquaintance at best, not his date. What if this Andrew fellow told his family Theo was living it up so close to his wedding?
“Nice to meet you,” she said in a clipped voice, stretching out her hand.
“Pleasure.” He held her hand for a second longer than appropriate. Theo cleared his throat and pulled her to his side, prompting the contact to end.
She parted her lips but hesitated. Didn’t Theo see she was helping him? Why did he drag his hand over her like an animal claiming its territory?
“Your first time in Greece?” Andrew asked, obviously ignoring what Theo had done.
“Yes.”
A slow smile formed on Andrew’s lips, and his gaze slid over her figure. “What brought you here?”
Theo stepped forward, partially blocking her from him, and looked down at Andrew. “I brought her.”
Her heart raced, and a shot of adrenaline bolted through her, stirring her up inside. What the hell? She glanced at Andrew, whose face paled, his shoulders dropping.
“Oh, I get it. I apologize, I didn’t mean disrespect. I thought you were friends,” Andrew said.
Her gaze darted between Andrew and Theo, and frustration welled inside. Did he act that way because he’d thought Andrew would have a shot with her? Theo couldn’t be jealous, obviously. Did he think so low of her, that she’d just go with the first guy who asked—maybe after her time with Theo ended? No. Her pulse skittered. Couldn’t be.
Amaya touched Theo’s elbow, to remind him of her presence. “Can we have a word?”
“Of course.”
“I’ll leave you to it,” Andrew said. “See you around.” He turned around and dashed to the opposite side of the party.
She nudged his elbow again, this time harder. “Why did you get so mad?”
“Didn’t you see what he wanted to do? The way he looked at you?” Theo grabbed her forearm, pulling her aside. He stared deep into her eyes. He loosened his hold on her, cursing himself for his lack of finesse. “I got jealous.”
“Yes, but why? When you first met me, I was half naked in a room filled with men. And that guy just asked me a question,” she said, managing to sound completely in control. Ah, what a joke. Her stomach had knotted when he’d admitted to being jealous.
“I don’t want him to think he could sweet talk you, Amaya. I want you all for myself.” He grabbed a strand of her hair and twirled it around his finger, curling it.
She wanted to teach him a lesson—a lesson she herself hadn’t yet learned. Yet, she found herself inching closer, her mouth within a breath of his. “You have me for a whole month.”
“Yeah, but the idea of a slimeball like Andrew trying to get his hands all over you after that month makes me want to punch him.”
Anticipation nearly clogged her throat. Little tingles formed in her clit, quickly upgrading to powerful and steady throbs. “I don’t understand. Since the beginning, this has been the agreement.”
“Fuck it.” He drew her to him, lowering his head. “One month with you is not nearly enough.”
Chapter Thirteen
Theo kissed Amaya with a red-hot intensity.
He couldn’t be honest about other things—about accidentally finding out who killed her parents. But he had to be genuine with her about his feelings. She deserved nothing less.
When he’d witnessed the spark in Andrew’s eyes, a dormant emotion awakened and he had to curl his fingers not to knock him out. He didn’t want any other man contemplating the possibility of dating Amaya. A possessiveness reminiscent of the Dark Ages washed over him. She was his and no one else’s.
He didn’t care who found out, or who saw them together.
She circled her arms around his neck, opening her lips as he plunged his tongue into her sweet mouth, exploring every spot as if they’d never kissed before. Every time he kissed her, he discovered a part of him he’d never known had been missing. She writhed against him, nipping his upper lip, her need obviously as powerful as his.
She wrenched her mouth from his, breathless. “I need you inside me. Now.”
“Come.”
He took her hand and followed the string lights leading into the endless garden. He’d been to Seth’s house enough times to know about the existence of a pool house not too far from them. He squeezed her hand a little, anticipation pounding in his heart. By the time they made it to the house with glass doors, he couldn’t hear much over the thumping of his heart.
He twisted the handle and led her inside. Because of the large clear windows and sheer curtains, turning the lights on was not an option. He lifted her and set her on the tiled countertop. His cock was hard, achy, leaking.
She growled a little, a sexy sound he’d never heard before. It increased the level of arousal, and he nudged her legs apart. Without delay, she wrapped them around his middle. She wore long, black boots that were enticing. It made him want to see her completely naked, with those sinful boots in the middle of the bed.
Not now. They had no time to get fully unclothed.
“Yes.” She touched his chest, then slid her hand below his waist.
Damn. He threw his head back for a moment, the overwh
elming sensations stealing his breath in the most delicious way. She kissed him, a mere distraction while she unzipped his pants and took out his dick.
In her palm, it grew, hardening so fast a rush of blood almost buckled his knees. God. What the hell was she thinking? “Amaya, if you continue—”
She disengaged her mouth from his and tipped up her chin, staring into his eyes. Even with the dim lighting he noticed the golden glow of challenge in her pretty eyes. “I want it fast. I want it rough.”
Rough. The word brought a different agony to his chest. During the last two weeks, he’d bedded her often—multiple times a day. But never had he plunged into her without much foreplay. “I don’t want to hurt you,” he said.
“Then don’t.” She began to stroke him, her fingers going up and down his length. “Fuck me like you mean it.”
She positioned his rod at her entrance and clenched her legs tighter around him. For a second, he stilled, the throb of his pulse the only sound filling his mind. Fuck me like you mean it. That’s what he’d always done, but he read the subtext in her dirty talk.
This was the time—the fuck that’d set him free. Free from his past and free from any stupid arrangements he’d agreed to.
He thrust into her at once, filling her to the hilt, feeling her slick walls cling to him. She gasped, but didn’t waver. Instead, she arched into him, only to move backward a bit, undulating her hips to deepen their connection. “More,” she begged.
He withdrew midway and returned harder, thrusting into her again. She moaned, and he continued drilling out of her and into her for minutes without a break. Soon, she bucked against him and mellowed, calling his name, sweat covering her forehead. When he finally let go, he emptied himself inside her.
He took her back to the party, and just in time. A few minutes later, Seth and Mary came to them, and Mary offered to give Amaya a tour of the property.
“So what’s the deal with Amaya?” Seth asked the minute the women left.
Theo glanced at the champagne in his hand and took a swig. Then, he glanced at his friend. Curiosity flickered in Seth’s blue eyes. “I care for her. A lot.”
Seth patted his shoulder. “Nice. Does your father know yet?”
“My father knows there’s a woman in my house. But he’s dead set on me marrying Talia.”
Seth sighed. “You know I’ve always been against this ridiculous idea. Not that it’s any of my business.”
Theo looked at the clear, starless sky, searching for answers. “Trust me, it’s a ridiculous idea to me too. I just realized I can’t go through with it.” He rubbed his forehead, anxiety cooling his thoughts. “I don’t know if I want to be in a relationship if it’s not with Amaya.” He’d agreed to his family’s imposition because he’d never met someone he truly wanted to spend the rest of his life with. Hell. He hadn’t met anyone he wanted to spend a lot of time with. He’d kept that side of him closed because why go out looking for someone you don’t get to keep?
Seth glanced around them, then inched closer and tapped his back. “Then do what you want.”
“Doing what I want means a lot of other people will pay the price. Not just my family,” he said. The company and its employees would suffer under Horace’s selfish and moneygrubbing ruling. Until the day Theo became the biggest stockholder, nothing would change.
…
“Beautiful,” she said when they entered the Diomedes Botanic Gardens located outside of Athens.
Theo studied her profile, then followed her gaze, darting between the colorful flowers and trees from all over the word outlining the stone walking path. His heart filled with joy, and he took a nice inhale of the clean air. The place promised an escape from the busy streets of Athens, but that hadn’t been the main reason why he brought her here.
“I brought my grandfather here once. I mean, technically, he drove, but I asked him to take me,” he said, removing his sunglasses. “I told you he’d been sad after my grandmother’s death, right?”
“Yes.”
“This was the first place he agreed to visit. With me.”
Amaya reached for his hand, giving it a light squeeze of encouragement. She nodded at him, a touch of gratitude softening her expression and lighting her eyes. “Thank you for sharing this with me. Did seeing all this,” she said, gesturing at the purple flowers blooming not too far from them, “help him heal?”
“I like to think so. I was a gullible kid and believed I had something to do with his going back to his normal routine and feeling less sad.” The cynical adult in him second-guessed his former child self, and he wondered which part of him knew the truth. “Now I wonder if he didn’t pretend to feel better so as not to disappoint me.”
A couple of elderly tourists speaking in Italian strolled by them. To give them more space, he let go of her hand and quickened his pace, cutting in front of her for a moment. Maybe his grandfather loving his late grandmother and suffering so much after her death had subconsciously showed Theo that pragmatic relationships fared better than the ones based on endless love. A restlessness traveled through him, stiffening his limbs so he had to wrestle with himself to keep going.
“Theo,” she shouted behind him. “Don’t do this.”
The uneasiness in her voice halted him, and he turned around. She jogged lightly to keep up with him, and now, strands of hair strayed from her ponytail. “What?”
She shook her head. “You brought me here. Don’t push me away now.”
“I’m not,” he started, but whatever integrity he had left in him stopped him from continuing. “You’re right. I wanted to bring you here, Amaya.”
She stretched out her hand, and he took it. His pulse spiked when he threaded his fingers in hers, and they walked side by side in silence for several minutes. Another emotion took flight inside of him, another type of restlessness that made him want to run around the garden. Freedom.
“When I’m with you, I have to battle between being who I’m supposed to be and who I want to be,” he said, the words leaving his brain too quickly before he could stop himself.
“When you’re with me, just be you.” She pulled him into her arms and stood on tiptoe. “Because you’re pretty amazing.”
No. He was a selfish son-of-a-bitch who wanted to have the cake and eat it, too. But she believed otherwise, and damn, why not let her? Why not let himself believe even for just a moment? He cupped her chin and kissed her, thrusting his tongue into her welcoming mouth. She encircled her arms around him, massaging the back of his neck and sending shivers down his body. Then she wrenched her mouth from him, her breath as labored as his.
“What happened?”
She placed her index finger on his lips. “I don’t want to cut this sightseeing short. So, no more kissing.”
He caught her finger between his teeth, playfully nipping it. “You started it.”
She withdrew her finger from him with a grin that almost made him show her how wrong her idea was. “And I finished it. See how it works?”
“All right. I’ll keep my hands off you for the remainder of the day.”
“Great. What’s that wooden house over there?” she asked, pointing at the cafe not too far from them.
“It’s a cafe. They have ice cream. Hungry?”
“Have you tried their food?”
He sighed. “I haven’t come here in a long time.”
“Why today? Why with me?”
“I wanted to show you more of me,” he said, breaking his promise, catching her hand and lifting it to his mouth. He brushed his lips on her soft skin, feeling her shiver under his command, setting his own nerve endings into a spiral. When he let go of her hand, he noticed her fingers trembled. “You know, I’ve always been proud of keeping my word. I guess I just broke it.”
She winked at him. “Well, a kiss on the hand doesn’t count.”
He leaned closer, unable to keep from teasing her. “Where else doesn’t it count?”
She laughed, and the jovial, hearty
sound made him chuckle. His body perked up, as if her presence alone released a dangerous amount of endorphins in his system.
They walked up to the cafe, and to his surprise, she went straight to dessert and skipped lunch. He ordered a sandwich, and they ate next to each other in the outdoor tables overlooking the lush greenery. She finished her vanilla and pistachio cone, glancing away from him, lost in thought.
“What are you thinking about?” he asked.
She used a paper napkin to wipe her mouth. “I don’t think your grandfather pretended to heal to not disappoint you. I can see how a walk in this place, when you’ve been in a dark place for so long, can help folks get a new perspective.”
A warm tingle formed in his chest and spread through him, fast-tracking all his cells. Maybe she was right. Maybe he’d helped his grandfather recover from loss. “Thanks.”
She nudged his elbow, smiling. “Don’t thank me. Nature has this re-invigorating power.”
He kissed the top of her head. “So do you, my love. So do you.”
Within minutes, he finished his sandwich, making mental plans to extend their day together. When his phone rang, he groaned. He should have silenced it, but right now curiosity won him over. Was it business related stuff? He couldn’t just shut the outside world, as much as he wanted to. He fished his cell out of his pocket, recognizing his brother’s name, and sighed. “Hello.”
“It’s Dad,” said Kostas. “He’s in the hospital. He had a heart attack.”
Chapter Fourteen
Amaya folded her arms. When Theo had insisted she accompany him to the hospital, she’d been confused. She wanted to be there for him, but at the same time, she hated to make his life more complicated.
She paced in the visitor’s waiting area, her gaze darting between the white walls and the door leading to the rooms. Maybe she didn’t know the man, but she’d lost both her parents. The images of her rushing through hospital hallways in search of her parents—only to learn they’d died—weighted on her heart and shoulders. Dios, she hated hospitals. They had taken away her sister, and her parents.
Auctioned to the Greek Billionaire (The Highest Bidder Book 1) Page 11