“Are you truly so unlikable? Do you not expect anyone to enjoy your company?”
There was something in his tone that made her lips twist. He sounded almost affronted on her behalf.
“Would it surprise you to learn that I enjoy your company, kitten?” he added. “Or is that not allowed?”
The corners of her mouth curved, and she felt that whisper of hope return, even stronger than before. “It is allowed. I get fuzzy on the rules, but that is most definitely allowed.”
* * *
The sun was still relatively high in the sky as Damen’s yacht neared Adras. The weather remained almost unbearably perfect, and the colors of the Aegean were so clear and true it almost made Kassiani’s heart hurt. The blue overhead teased the blue of the sea, and in the distance, she could see the dark green of the groves dotting the island. For a moment Kass was reminded of California’s Napa Valley, and how the grapes rolled up and over the hills, but then the sun reflected brightly, blindly, off the water, and she was firmly back in Greece, with this intense brooding husband of hers who overwhelmed her in every possible way.
Feeling a prickle of awareness, she turned her head and discovered that Damen was watching her, and just like that, heat enveloped her, and an awareness of how he made her feel, and all the ways he pleasured her, and how easily he dissolved her defenses. Even without touching her, she felt breathless and weak. Or maybe that’s because she remembered how he held her down on the couch and claimed her last night, taking her with slow, deep thrusts before withdrawing and slowly entering her again. It had been maddening and exciting and she’d begged for him to thrust faster, but he’d held off until she was panting and writhing and trembling and only then did he finally let her come. The orgasm had been intense, and he’d held her after, and in that dreamy place between pleasure and reality, she’d felt so close to him, so much a part of him, as if they were two halves of a whole, and whole only when together.
She knew it was an arranged marriage, but the lovemaking and sexual intimacy only served to make her feel more...more of everything, both good and bad.
“We’re here,” he said, breaking her reverie.
She blinked and focused on the island, and yes, they were close. The yacht was slowing down, too, carefully approaching a narrow dock that extended out into the water.
“It must be quite deep here,” she said.
“It’s not a good swimming beach, no,” he answered. “But there is a fantastic view from the house.” He gestured above, pointing to a mass of white buildings set among the green covering the slope. “My villa and pools are just there.”
It took a little bit of time for the crew to moor the yacht, and while the crew was tying the ropes and dropping anchor, two open-air Jeeps came tearing down the mountain.
Damen offered his arm to Kassiani as they disembarked, and then thanked the staff before walking her to one of the lifted Jeeps with the large off-road tires. There was no step stool, or low sideboard to step on, and before she could even ask for help, Damen wrapped his hands around her waist, and lifted her into the vehicle.
Just the feel of him against her back, and his breath against her nape, made her breath catch and her skin sensitive.
“Could your mother please join us for dinner tonight?” Kassiani asked as he slid behind the steering wheel.
“No.”
“Or at least, could she join us for drinks?”
“No. You’ll meet her before we leave, but there is no need to introduce you right away.”
“But there is! She’s your mother, Damen. I’d like to have a good relationship with her, if possible, and it’s disrespectful of me not to reach out to her early—”
“She’s not going to be a big part of your life, Kassiani, and I’m becoming annoyed that you keep pressing the issue.”
Kass balled her hands into fists. “So it doesn’t matter what I want?” she said huskily. “It only matters what you want.”
“Discussion closed.”
She stared at him, hurt, and frustrated, and more than a little furious. What she felt didn’t matter to him. She was not a real person, or a valuable person. In his mind she was just another thing he owned...another person to command. “I’m not your employee,” she answered lowly, fiercely. “You cannot issue commands. Correction, you can, of course you can, but I don’t have to listen, or respond to them. In fact, you’ll discover I respond so much better when you treat me like an equal.”
“I am not going to do this here,” he ground out. “Not in front of my staff.”
She averted her head, angry, and furious and hurt, so hurt, so impossibly hurt, and she didn’t understand how in just a week he could make her feel so much when this was just an arranged marriage, and it was only a business deal.
Except that maybe she’d forgotten it was business.
Maybe the nights of intense lovemaking had done something to her head, and heart, because he was not a “business deal” to her. He was her husband. He was the man she wanted and needed. The man she craved. The man she...loved.
Her eyes burned and her throat ached. She’d been trying to fight the feelings, but they were just growing stronger.
“Buckle, please,” he said as he started the engine.
She did as she was told, but her heart was somewhere in the pit of her stomach. Was it possibly true? Had she inadvertently fallen in love with her husband?
CHAPTER TEN
THE VILLA WAS EXQUISITE, and massive, sprawling in every direction, towers and squares, and courtyards with individual pools and fountains. It was also all new construction, elegant and contemporary without being cold. The white rooms had high ceilings and huge windows and every room seemed to have a sweeping view of the sea. The only color in the rooms were the touches of blue from the mosaic tiles in a pool, to the glazed pottery on an end table, or the woven textile pillows on chairs or the low linen sofas, while outside color came from the profusion of purple and pink bougainvillea blossoms.
Damen gave her an excruciatingly brief tour of the house before leaving her at a suite of rooms that he said were hers. “We’re not sharing?” she asked as he headed out the door.
He paused in the doorway and glanced back at her. “I know where to find you every night.”
She kept her tone light. “And where am I to find you? The villa is considerably larger than the yacht.”
“Staff always know where to find me.”
“I suppose that’s preferable to your wife knowing.”
“You’re picking a fight.”
She opened her mouth to protest, and then stopped herself. “You’re right. I’m just...anxious.”
“Why?”
“I want to make you happy—”
“Stop trying so hard. Just let things be.”
“And I want to feel like we’re family.”
“That won’t happen overnight. It will take time. When we have the children it will be more natural.”
She knotted her hands at her sides, emotions running high. “What if it takes us years to have children? What if we can’t—”
“We haven’t even been married for a week yet. Why think the worst? It’s just going to make you unhappy.”
“You’re right. I agree.” She drew a breath to slow her racing heart. “It’s just that I want us to feel married. I want us to be a real family.”
“We’re married. We are a family—even if it doesn’t yet feel like it.” His brow creased. “This is the danger of relying on feelings. They cloud facts.”
“But I feel like you use facts to keep me at arm’s length.”
“Kitten, you’re in my arms all night long.”
Her eyes felt hot and gritty and her throat ached with all the emotion she was trying to hold in. “It might surprise you to learn that I hate conflict. I do. I don’t argue with you to push you away. I’
m not fighting with you to win some imaginary war, I’m fighting to get closer to you—”