“That’s fine.”
“Who will we be dining with?” he asked, wanting to run a background check on them to ensure they were the right type of people for Ava to be associating with.
“Laurette Jones and her fiancé, Paul Briscoe.” She stared up at him.
“You’re staring again.”
She flushed. “Will we be lovers?”
“We will be married.”
“I can’t be intimate with someone who doesn’t trust me.”
“You were before.”
“I’m different now.”
Yes, she was. There was an inner strength and core to her that the girl she’d been hadn’t had. Before, she’d been a kitten who’d come when called. Now she was a tigress who might come when he called or might turn on him with her claws bared.
And he’d had no idea that the differences in her would make him want her more than ever.
Chapter Five
Mykonos was exactly as she’d remembered it. Bright, whitewashed buildings seemed to sparkle from the hills over the deep blue Aegean Sea. Theo’s little hand in hers gave her the strength to step off the plane when she saw Ari Theakis waiting for them. Christos’s father had never liked her and the situation with Stavros and Christos hadn’t exactly helped.
To be honest, she’d been intimidated by the man from the first moment she’d met him. He carried himself with the kind of arrogance that could only be honed in confidence and self-security. Even confined to a wheelchair, now, he still exuded that arrogance and power.
That utter self-confidence was something she wanted for Theo, and even if she wasn’t still attracted to Christos she would have accepted his offer of marriage in the hopes that living in his presence and the presence of Ari would somehow rub off on Theo and give him that.
“Come on, Mama.”
“Be careful going down the stairs,” she said.
“I’m not a baby,” he reminded her, bounding down the stairs and stopping in front of Ari.
“What are you waiting for?” Christos asked from behind her.
“Your father doesn’t like me.”
“He doesn’t like many people, it’s not personal.”
“You know what I mean,” she said.
Christos put his hand on her shoulder. “You can’t change his mind about the past, but you can influence how he sees you in the future.”
“You think so?”
“Yes. And he will be grateful to you for giving him a grandson.”
She glanced back at Ari in his wheelchair, an attendant close behind him. Theo was standing in front of him, shuffling his feet around and looking a little nervous.
Ava hurried down the stairs to her son’s side but before she reached him, Ari reached out to Theo and pulled him into his arms.
She stopped for a moment, seeing what Christos had meant just moments ago—the intense love this man had for her son. He hugged Theo tightly to him and buried his face in Theo’s thick black hair.
Ava was touched and turned away to give Ari the privacy he needed to deal with his feelings. Christos slipped his arm around her shoulders. “You okay?”
“Yeah. I forgot Ari was human.”
