The Renegade Billionaire

Relief swept through her. “It’s healing, Stavros. There’s almost no drainage.”

“That means I can do my own walking tomorrow.”

“Within reason,” she reminded him. After discarding the old dressing, she washed her hands and came out of the bathroom to affix a new one. “Is there anything else I can do for you?”

“Stay with me tonight, Andrea,” he asked in a compelling voice. “Lie by me.”

“Stavros—”

“I swear I won’t do anything you don’t want me to do. We don’t have a lot of time left before you’re gone for good.”

She knew that a lot better than he did. She’d had nightmares about never seeing him again. But what he was asking would be a mistake for both of them, a voice inside warned. Stavros had no idea how much she’d come to love him. To spend more time with him was only going to make it harder to leave. After losing Ferrante, she was terrified of loving another man again.

“Can’t we at least have this night together like we had out in the woods when we were looking for Darren? I don’t know about you, but I remember every moment of it lying next to you. I remember your fragrance. You always smell divine, did you know that?”

Andrea could hardly breathe. “Let me think about it.” She darted toward the door that separated their two rooms. Once inside hers, she reached in the duffel bag for her nightgown and robe. During her shower, her brain screamed at her to remain in her room until morning. But by the time she’d brushed her teeth and was ready for bed, her heart had won out. Stavros was right. This would be their last night together before she had to fly back to Thessaloniki.

On legs that trembled, she turned off the light and went into his bedroom. His light was off too. She drifted through the semidarkness to the bed. Without removing her robe, she got in on the other side. No sooner had she rested her head on the pillow than she felt his arm snake around her waist and roll her into his strong body.

“Finally,” he said in an unsteady voice and buried his face in her hair. “I’ve been willing you to come to me. I love you, agape mou.” His hand roved over her arm and back possessively. “I fell in love with you that day on the mountain. I’m a different man because of it. Don’t tell me it’s too soon to say those words to you.”

Tears trickled out of her eyes. “I won’t. I love you too. But you already know that, in the same way you know everything else,” she murmured against his lips. “I adore you.” She kissed him over and over again. “I knew it when you got out of your car to castigate me for losing one of my students.”

“Forgive me, darling.”

“There’s nothing to forgive. I didn’t think a man like you existed, yet there you were, bigger than life and so handsome I didn’t think my heart could take it. When I thought I might never see you again, I asked if I could look for Darren with you. It was so bold of me I should be ashamed, but I couldn’t help myself.”

“Do you think a lesser woman could ever hold me?” Stavros kissed her long and hard before he lifted his head. She moaned in protest. “We need to talk, my love. About us.”

“Let’s not ruin tonight with talk,” she begged.

“There are other ways of communicating.” He covered her face with kisses. “It’s all I can do to keep myself from making love to you, but I made you a promise.”

She loved him more fiercely for honoring it. Once again, she was the one spinning out of control. This wasn’t fair to him.

“If I stay in this bed any longer, then I’ll pay a price for giving in to my desire. It’ll be too heavy a price considering I’ll be gone soon. It’s already tearing me apart to imagine leaving you. But my agony will never end if I sleep with you tonight. After knowing your possession, nothing will ever be the same for me again. I know myself too well.”

Stavros propped his head on his hand to look at her. “You’re talking about Ferrante.”

“No. When Ferrante found out I’d never been intimate with a man, he said he wanted me to be his wife before he took me to bed. I loved him for loving me that much. For several months after his death, I was angry because I felt I’d been cheated and it was my own fault.

“But because I didn’t have that memory, I’m convinced it helped me to heal. Otherwise, how can I explain falling in love with you so fast? After meeting you, I can’t imagine loving another man again whether we sleep together or not.”

He smoothed some hair off her forehead. “So what are we going to do about us? Does your father expect you to stay with him for always?”

“It isn’t a case of expect, Stavros. I’m the one who doesn’t want him to be alone.”

“Why? It’s normal for a grown woman to fall in love with a man and set up her own household.”

She buried her face in his neck. “I know, but— Oh, you just don’t understand.”

“Try me. Please.”

“He’s so selfless and has never asked for anything for himself. I can’t bear to think of him alone to live out the rest of his life. His parents were killed in a train accident when he was young. He had to live with an aunt, but she died before he met Mom. Then she died giving birth to me. I’m all he has left in this world.”

The words came out in heavy sobs. Stavros held her closer, kissing her hair and cheek. Ferrante had loved her enough to know what he had to do to keep her. Maybe there was another way around what seemed to be an insoluble problem, because Stavros flat-out refused to lose her.

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