A Deal with Demakis

His mouth closed; he smiled without warmth. “Apparently I do. You kick-started it when you blazed into my life.”

“I didn’t blaze anywhere. You manipulated me.” Tears filled her throat. “You forced the truth on me and then you—” She hit him in the chest. “I have never been so angry with anyone in my entire life, Nikos. I hate you for you doing this to me.”

His arms came around her, his grip infinitely fragile. She felt his mouth on her temple, felt his sharp hiss of indrawn breath. “Not as much as I hate myself, thee mou. Theos, there isn’t a single name I haven’t called myself these last few days. I had a whole speech prepared, liberally infused with begging. And I don’t remember a word of it.

“Every time I come near you, you unravel me a little more. You show me how much I can feel, how much I can hurt. It’s a little scary, Lexi.”

Tears came fast at her and spilled onto her cheeks. She had no defense left to fight him. Not anymore, not when he said things like that, not when the heat of his body was an incredible fortress of warmth around her.

His mouth compressed into a line of pain, he gathered her closer. And she cried. She thought it wasn’t possible for her heart to break again. Apparently it still could. The pain was as sharp as ever.

“Don’t cry, agape mou. I can’t bear it.” He tucked her chin up gently, a flash of indecision in his gaze. “I’m desperately in love with you, Lexi. You were wrong about one thing. This thing...it’s not just taken root inside me, it’s consuming me whole. My life is terrifyingly empty without you. The power you hold over me, over my happiness—I’m not scared of it anymore. I want to spend the rest of my life loving you, yineka mou.”

Lexi’s heart beat so fast she wondered if she was having a heart attack. His hands around her waist, Nikos held her tight, a shudder racking his powerful frame. “You mean it?”

Nikos nodded, his heart shining in his eyes. “I do. I can’t stop giving thanks for the moment that brought Tyler into Venetia’s life and you into mine.

“You are the most wonderful woman I have ever met, and I want to live my life with you. I want to have a family with you. I want to make love to you every night and every morning. I want to hear your incredible stories about space portals and time warps. I want to be the first one who sees every sketch you ever draw. I want to take care of you, and I want you to take care of me. The number of things I feel for you, they are dizzying and invigorating.

“Please tell me you don’t want to have an extremely elaborate wedding like Venetia because that would just about kill me.”

“What?” Her heart pounding harder, it seemed all she was capable of was asking inane questions.

His thumbs moving over her cheeks, he pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I want to marry you, yineka mou, as soon as possible. We will honeymoon on the yacht, I think. I promised Savas we would return in a month so that I can officially take over and be the new CEO.”

Her gaze flew to his. It was too many shocks for one day. “He agreed to this?”

“I didn’t give him a choice. I told him that the CEO position meant nothing to me without you.” He pushed her hands behind her with one hand and tilted her chin up. “Tell me this is what you want, too. Tell me you love me.”

Lexi smiled, but she still couldn’t stop crying, either. “I do love you, Nikos. You helped me discover that I’m just as cool as an imaginary action heroine with a penchant for killing. Or even better—” she choked on the tears again “—you made me want to live my life. And then you left me to do it all alone. It’s a good life, I have realized. It’s just that it’s a lot happier with you in it, and I don’t want to spend another minute of it denying myself that happiness.”

He touched his forehead to hers and whispered the words into her skin. “Then you never will. Your happiness, our happiness together, that’s all I want now, thee mou.” He sealed his promise with a kiss, and Lexi felt the stress and tension leave her body. Her heart thundered inside her chest, and she trembled in his arms, bursting with happiness. “Although I think I have to kill whoever Tony Stark is.”

“What?”

“It says I Love Tony Stark on your T-shirt, agape mou. You’re not allowed to love anyone but me.”

She laughed and stepped back from him, loving the jealous glint in his eyes. She loved him like this—playful and willing to show what he felt for her. It cost him a lot, and she loved him all the more for it. “Sorry, but that’s an occupational hazard of being a comic artist, Nikos. At any given time, I’m in love with at least two to three fictional heroes. Recently, it’s been Iron Man. And it’s not like you can compete with him, so it’s better—”