Bought: The Greek's Baby (9 page)
“You think I don’t want you?” he said dangerously.
When her heels hit the stone wall, she stopped, lifting her chin. Her eyes shimmered in the moonlight as she matched him toe-to-toe, holding her ground.
“I think you’re a liar,” she said hoarsely. “You lured me into marrying you under false pretenses, and now you want to punish me for some reason. I don’t know why, but I was a fool to trust your words, your lying kisses. I can’t believe I ever let you touch me. I never will again—”
He cut her off with a kiss, pushing her back against the rough stone, holding her wrists like shackles against the wall. He spread her lips wide, thrusting his tongue inside her mouth, deepening the kiss until she sagged in his arms.
Until she started to kiss him back.
The moment he felt her lips move against his, as she
matched his fire with her own, a surge of reckless joy went through him that he could not control.
He was going to take her right here in the alley. Against the wall. Damn the consequences.
He would possess her now, even if he died for it.
Eve’s breath came in little gasps as he slowly kissed up her neck, his arms tracing up and down her naked skin.
“Why are you doing this?” she whispered. Feeling his mouth on her sent sparks down her body until she thought she might forget to breathe. “I did what you wanted. Why are you so angry? Why do you feel possessive because I danced with your friend—exactly as you wanted?”
“Seeing all those other men lusting for you was never what I wanted,” he ground out.
“Then why?” she managed as his hands stroked her roughly over the sequins of her dress. “Why are you killing me like this—kissing me one moment then pushing me away the next? As if you hate me? Why are you torturing me?”
His hands stilled. He looked down at her, and the fire in his eyes of a moment before had changed to longing. To confusion.
To pain.
Staring down at her, he suddenly yanked off his black blazer. Without a word, he wrapped it around her tiny silver dress. The jacket hung long on her, covering her modestly to mid-thigh.
Grabbing the jacket’s lapels, he pulled her close.
He leaned his head forward, pressing his forehead against hers.
When he spoke, his voice was so low she barely heard his words. “I’m sorry.”
And just like that, she exhaled.
He pulled her gently from the alley to the Bentley waiting for them on the street. Without explanation, Talos opened Eve’s door and helped her inside. He didn’t speak to her in the car—he didn’t even look at her.
But he held her hand tightly all the way to his penthouse.
When they arrived at his apartment a few moments later, he helped her out of the car. Still, he held her hand and didn’t let go.
She stared up at him in a daze, unable to look away from his darkly handsome face as they crossed the lobby of the elegant nineteenth-century building and went into the elevator. At the door of the penthouse, Talos unlocked it and turned to her, his face dark with need.
“I should have done this a long time ago.”
He lifted her in his arms. His body glowed with warmth and heat she could almost see, burning off his body in waves. Holding her closely, Talos kicked the door open, then kicked it closed behind them.
Crossing the penthouse, with the view of the lit-up Acropolis on the mountain floating high above the night, he gently set her on her feet on the marble floor. Never taking his eyes from hers, he peeled his large black jacket off her shoulders, dropping it to the floor.
She closed her eyes, her breath shortening as she felt
him reach behind her head and undo her ponytail. Her hair fell softly against her shoulders in one shake.
She felt his hands run over her body, stroking her over her silvery cocktail dress.
“You’re mine, Eve,” he whispered. He traced his large hands over her hips, over her slender waist.
He ran his hands back over her whisper-thin silver dress, causing it to slink and move over her body like a caress. She felt his thumbs brush against her breasts, making her nipples harden to agonizing intensity beneath the fabric. Her breasts felt heavy and swollen, swaying as he cupped them reverently in his hands. Her whole body felt tight and hot. She felt dizzy all over, her knees weak.
Her eyes flew open as he knelt at her feet. The room seemed to spin around her as she watched him stroke slowly down her bare legs, from her thighs to the backs of her knees. Massaging her calves, he slowly removed one stiletto heel, then the other, dragging them gently against the tender hollow of her foot. He sent the shoes skidding across the floor.
His gaze locked on hers, hot and dark.
Slowly, he rose back to his feet. Never taking his eyes from hers, he removed his tuxedo tie. He unbuttoned his white shirt, dropping it carelessly to the floor. She had the sudden vision of his bare chest, powerfully muscled and laced with dark hair.
Then he stood naked and powerful in front of her. His olive skin gleamed in the sharp moonlight, which cascaded over the hard planes of his body. Every inch of
his muscular body exuded masculine power. Looking down, she saw how much he wanted her, and she swallowed, afraid of his strength, his size. She was pregnant with his child, and yet with no memory she felt as shy as a virgin.
Murmuring endearments in Greek, he picked Eve up in his arms. Carrying her across the room, he gently set her down on the enormous bed. Stretching her arms above her, he pulled off her little sliver of a gown. Pushing her back against the pillows, he pulled off her panties. And suddenly she was naked in front of him, naked on their bed.
The thought terrified her, but before she could move away, he was on top of her. She felt his hardness against her belly as he slowly kissed her neck, sucking on her earlobes, softly brushing back her hair as he whispered in her ear,
“Ekho sizigho.
My sweet one.”
He cupped her breasts together, nuzzling between them, thumbing the nipples until they tightened to agonizing points. He suckled first one, then the other, before moving down her body to kiss her belly. His hands stroked her hips, brushing her thighs before he moved up to kiss her mouth. His kiss was hard, hungry. He wrapped his arms beneath her shoulders, holding her tightly to his body. She gasped as she felt him between her legs, pushing her thighs apart.
A satisfied masculine growl escaped him as he moved his hardness against her slick, wet heat. She twisted beneath him as the low tension built deeper and
deeper inside her, making her breath come out in quick little pants, making her body sizzle from her taut nipples to her hot molten core. She was melting for him, melting to nothing, and if he didn’t…
He slid inside her with a single deep stroke.
Her back arched. She cried out as he filled her to the hilt, releasing pleasure so deep inside it was almost pain.
He choked out a gasp, closing his eyes as he thrust inside her again, pulling back, riding her hard and slow. Each stab was deeper, spiraling a sweet ecstasy so far inside her that she thought she might be devoured by it.
He spread her wide, splitting her apart. Harder, faster, pain, pleasure. Just four times. Four thrusts, each one deeper and harder than the last.
And she exploded.
As Talos felt her body tighten, he knew he could not last.
Touching her was heaven. Her skin was even softer than he remembered. She tasted sweet, so sweet. The very first time he slid inside her, he nearly lost control. With every thick thrust he watched her full breasts sway from the force of his possession, and he gasped out each breath. How long had he wanted her?
How had he denied himself for so long?
With each slow thrust inside her, he shattered a little more, until he was coming apart like Venetian stucco falling into the water. His whole body shook with the agony of holding himself back when all he wanted to do was bury himself in her completely, to lose himself in the ecstasy of making love to her. Every nerve was on fire. It had never felt like this before—not even with her.
Three thrusts, and he was shaking with the desperate effort to stay in control. He grunted as he shoved into her roughly, pushing all the way to the hilt in pleasure so great he nearly lost his mind. He heard her soft gasp
spread to a scream and felt her shudder as her body convulsed around him. And he could hold back no longer. With a shout, he shoved inside her one last time with a guttural cry, pulsing and spurting inside her.
Spent, he collapsed next to her, pulling her into his arms, holding her tightly.
Now, as he looked at the gray light coming from the windows, he realized it was already morning. They’d slept in each other’s arms for at least two hours.
Something he’d never done before.
Oh, they’d slept in bed together, of course, between stretches of nearly constant lovemaking. But he’d never just held her like this, cradling her against his chest as they drowsed.
He felt…contented.
Protective.
He stared down at her naked beauty. The white cotton sheets had fallen past her hips. Her skin was lustrous and creamy. Her breasts were heavy and swelling, the tips that he’d suckled so recently now a shade of pink that was the color of deep pink roses. The slight swell of his child in her belly only made her look more feminine, like a goddess of fertility.
He felt himself instantly go hard. He already wanted her again. And not just her body…
How had she changed so much?
How could losing her memory make her into such a different person?
He’d tried to resist her. He had every reason in the world to punish and hurt her.
But he could not.
There was only one card left to play. One last chance for justice.
He could tell her the truth.
He could take her to the place where she’d betrayed him.
It was his last chance.
Because this new Eve, the woman now sleeping in his arms, was too beautiful, too real, too vulnerable. Too warm and natural and loving.
He’d counted on her having no defenses. He’d never thought that her innocence would cause him to lose his own defenses.
But sooner or later, Eve would revert to her true self, the cold, cruel, clever siren who’d sold him out for love or money. The woman who would undoubtedly hate their baby because of what the pregnancy did to her perfect figure. The woman who would ignore and neglect her child for her own selfish pursuits.
Who would never want to settle down with any man for long.
His fingers tightened on her as he took a deep breath. He had to end this.
Today.
He had to erase this new woman completely. Before he…before he…
He suddenly heard a strange sound. Frowning, he looked down at the woman in his arms.
For a moment, he heard only the quiet snuffle of her
breathing and the sound of morning birds singing outside in the pale blue of dawn.
Then he heard Eve suck in her breath again. And she started to scream.
Cradled in Talos’s strong arms, beneath the soft dawn spilling from the windows, Eve hadn’t wanted to wake up. She’d pressed her head against his naked chest, relishing the feel of his warm skin laced with dark hair.
His body was so much larger than her own. Snuggled against him in the enormous bed, she’d felt protected. Safe.
Loved.
There was so much about him she still didn’t understand. But still, she was falling in love with him all over again.
Drowsy and content, she’d listened to the beat of his heart against her cheek. The beat grew louder, like the sound of heavy footsteps stomping in unison against a hard stone floor.
Step. Step. Step.
She felt suddenly cold as she looked at the blurry faces around her. Her mother’s sobbing face came into sharp focus. She clung to Eve, wailing as they watched her father’s coffin pass out of the church on the shoulders of old men. Eve clutched her mother’s hands in her own, suddenly terrified that her father’s death would cause her to lose both her parents. In the last week, she’d lost her father, their home, their fortune, their reputation. And it was all that man’s fault. He’d destroyed her father with all his lies. He’d heartlessly destroyed them all…
Now outside, standing on the frozen grass of the
cemetery beside the dark-clothed mourners, she saw the cold March wind blow her mother’s black veil back like a dark spirit. She saw her mother stretch her arms toward the coffin as her beloved husband was lowered into the earth, as if she intended to bury herself in the same cold grave…
“No!” Eve screamed. “Please!”
“Eve!” She suddenly felt a man’s strong, protective arms around her, his voice anxious as he enveloped her with his warmth. “Wake up. Wake up.”
With a choked gasp, Eve opened her eyes. And saw Talos’s face.
“What—what is it?”
“You were screaming.” He held her tightly, stroking her face, stroking her hair. His dark eyes were full of concern. “Did you have a dream?”
A dream?
Pain racked through her, and suddenly her head was pounding as if her skull had been fractured into pieces. She pushed away from him as tears streamed down her face. For some reason, she suddenly couldn’t stand his touch.
“I remembered my father’s funeral,” she whispered.
She pushed away, standing up, then realized she was naked. She froze, remembering their night together. Remembering how happy she’d been sleeping in his arms…
She took a deep, ragged breath, pushing her hair out of her eyes. “I’ll go take a shower.” Before he could reply, she added quickly, “Alone.”
Talos’s eyes darkened. He turned away from her, reaching into his closet. “Fine.”
She took a quick shower, trying to wash away the sharp pain of her memory. She quickly dressed in clothes for the hot Greek sun—a pale pink tank top, a short knit skirt and white flat sandals. Brushing her hair, she stared at herself in the mirror.
All these days she’d been so desperate to remember her past. And now…
What if she didn’t like what she found?
“Are you hungry?” Talos asked quietly when she came out into the bedroom. “Shall we have a quick breakfast?”
“That sounds fine,” she said, careful not to touch him. Anything to get away from this place where, just as she’d found happiness at last, she’d been stabbed with pain.
Talos left his hands stuffed in his jacket pockets as they took the elevator downstairs. He opened the back door of the Bentley and helped her inside. But as he sat next to her on the short drive, he kept his distance. As if there were an invisible wall between them.
To think last night, he’d held her so tightly, whispering endearments to her in Greek, covering her body with hot kisses as he pressed his naked body against hers.
How had everything changed so much since then?
“What else don’t I remember?” she whispered. “What if it’s all bad? What if it’s worse?”
He set his jaw. “What could be worse?”
He frowned, staring at her warily with lowered eyebrows.
“I don’t know what happened to your father,” he said finally. “We never talked about your family.”
She stared at him in shock. “Never? In all the time we were together?”
He shook his head.
“How is that possible?”
“We didn’t talk about the past,” he said shortly.
“Never?”
“No.”
“Then…what did we talk about?”
“We didn’t talk. We just made love.”
A cold trickle went down her back.
They’d never spoken about their pasts?
Their relationship had only been about sex?
The car stopped. Silently, Talos got out of the car and opened her door. Looking up, she saw a very elegant French restaurant in a glossy new building with coldly modern architecture. “This is your idea of a quick breakfast place?”
Talos gave her a smile that didn’t meet his eyes. “It was your favorite restaurant in Athens.”
Once inside, they were escorted to the best table, which overlooked the crowded street below. The fancy restaurant was elegant and chilly with sterile airconditioning. There were many waiters but no other diners.
“It’s not very popular in here on a Sunday morning,” she ventured.
“I reserved the whole place,” he said, sounding bored as he opened the menu.
“Why?”
“I wanted you to be comfortable.” He closed the menu. “What would you like?”
With a sigh, she opened her menu. It was written in English and French. This place was entirely too coldly elegant, she thought. Looking out the window with longing, Eve saw locals and tourists thronging a colorful street market.
Outside in the hot Greek sun, she saw people smiling at each other, eating at outdoor cafés, bartering goodnaturedly in the flea market.
The waiter came and took their order, speaking flawless English with a slightly British accent. After he departed, a different waiter brought them drinks. She took a sip of orange juice, then leaned forward with her elbows on the table.
“All right, Talos,” she said quietly. “Tell me why we’re really here.”
His eyes were dark as they fixed on her. “This past summer, I almost lost my business,” he said in a low voice. “A document was stolen from my penthouse which suggested I might be cheating my stockholders of a great deal of money. Of course, I wasn’t. But it cast the company’s finances in a sordid light.”
She stared up at him, shocked. “That’s terrible! Did you find out who did it?”
He looked at her, his eyes glittering. “Yes.”
“I hope you put them in jail!”
He took a sip of black coffee. “That’s not my style.”
“But what does that have to do with me—and this restaurant?”
“This is the last place I ever saw you, Eve. Before your accident.”
She frowned, shaking her head. “Right before I left for my stepfather’s funeral?”
“You left me long before that. Almost three months ago.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Do you recognize this table?”
She looked down at it. “No. Should I?”
“The last time I saw you, you were sitting here with Jake Skinner. Having breakfast with him, just hours after I’d made love to you.”
“What?” she gasped.
His hands clenched on the white linen tablecloth. “Kefalas was following you—”
“Following me?” she gasped.
“Protecting
you,” he corrected. “During the one day I had an unbreakable appointment. He phoned me and I dropped everything. I rushed here like a fool to demand an explanation. You tried to laugh it off as nothing.”
She thought of the American tycoon whom she’d met at the party. “So that’s why you wanted me to dance with him,” she said quietly. “To trick me?”
“I wanted to make you remember betraying me.”
She shook his head. “I don’t!”
“You disappeared from the city. The next morning, I woke to discover my company’s name splashed across the newspapers, and my phone ringing incessantly with calls from press and angry stockholders. Skinner gave the document to the press. But the one who first stole it from my house—” he leaned forward, his eyes black and hard “—was you.”
She drew back in shock. “Me!”
“And so I’ve been waiting for you to remember. Every place I’ve taken you, every memory I’ve hoped to reignite, was so you could tell me why.”
Suddenly, she understood everything.
“Not just that,” she whispered. “You wanted to punish me. It’s what you’ve wanted since the day you found me in London. You wanted revenge—”
“Justice,” he corrected coldly.
“But when you found out I was pregnant, that changed everything, didn’t it?” She gave a choked laugh, then covered her mouth with an intake of breath. “You felt you had to marry me because I was pregnant with your baby. You never loved me. All you wanted—was to hurt me.”
“I spent months trying to find you before you resurfaced at your stepfather’s funeral. You’re a wealthy woman, Eve, so you couldn’t have betrayed me for money. So you must have done it for love. You’re in love with Jake Skinner. It’s the only explanation.”
She thought of the playboy with his bleached-white smile and shook her head. “I could never love him.”
“Then why? Why would you do it? What did I ever do to you?”
She took a deep breath as tears filled her eyes.
“I don’t know,” she whispered.
“Was it out of spite? Did I offend one of your friends? Did I ignore you or hurt someone you cared about? Why? Why would you give me your virginity—then betray me?”
“I don’t know.”
She took a deep breath. “But…I’m sorry.”
He stared at her, his handsome face the picture of shock.
“Just like that?” he whispered. “You admit your guilt?”
“I don’t remember this restaurant. I don’t remember betraying you. I can’t even imagine doing something so horrible.” Her eyes filled with tears and she blinked rapidly. “But I knew you had some reason to hate me. If you say I betrayed you, then I believe you. I must have done it.” She shook her head. “I don’t know why and can’t offer any excuse. Except to tell you that I’m sorry, desperately sorry.”
Talos just stared at her, wide-eyed, not moving.
No wonder he’d been so cold and distant after their marriage. No wonder he’d wanted to punish her. He’d hated her, but he’d felt he had no choice but to marry her because of the baby.