He thrust into her at once, filling her to the hilt, feeling her slick walls cling to him. She gasped, but didn’t waver. Instead, she arched into him, only to move backward a bit, undulating her hips to deepen their connection. “More,” she begged.
He withdrew midway and returned harder, thrusting into her again. She moaned, and he continued drilling out of her and into her for minutes without a break. Soon, she bucked against him and mellowed, calling his name, sweat covering her forehead. When he finally let go, he emptied himself inside her.
He took her back to the party, and just in time. A few minutes later, Seth and Mary came to them, and Mary offered to give Amaya a tour of the property.
“So what’s the deal with Amaya?” Seth asked the minute the women left.
Theo glanced at the champagne in his hand and took a swig. Then, he glanced at his friend. Curiosity flickered in Seth’s blue eyes. “I care for her. A lot.”
Seth patted his shoulder. “Nice. Does your father know yet?”
“My father knows there’s a woman in my house. But he’s dead set on me marrying Talia.”
Seth sighed. “You know I’ve always been against this ridiculous idea. Not that it’s any of my business.”
Theo looked at the clear, starless sky, searching for answers. “Trust me, it’s a ridiculous idea to me too. I just realized I can’t go through with it.” He rubbed his forehead, anxiety cooling his thoughts. “I don’t know if I want to be in a relationship if it’s not with Amaya.” He’d agreed to his family’s imposition because he’d never met someone he truly wanted to spend the rest of his life with. Hell. He hadn’t met anyone he wanted to spend a lot of time with. He’d kept that side of him closed because why go out looking for someone you don’t get to keep?
Seth glanced around them, then inched closer and tapped his back. “Then do what you want.”
“Doing what I want means a lot of other people will pay the price. Not just my family,” he said. The company and its employees would suffer under Horace’s selfish and moneygrubbing ruling. Until the day Theo became the biggest stockholder, nothing would change.
…
“Beautiful,” she said when they entered the Diomedes Botanic Gardens located outside of Athens.
Theo studied her profile, then followed her gaze, darting between the colorful flowers and trees from all over the word outlining the stone walking path. His heart filled with joy, and he took a nice inhale of the clean air. The place promised an escape from the busy streets of Athens, but that hadn’t been the main reason why he brought her here.
“I brought my grandfather here once. I mean, technically, he drove, but I asked him to take me,” he said, removing his sunglasses. “I told you he’d been sad after my grandmother’s death, right?”
“Yes.”
“This was the first place he agreed to visit. With me.”
Amaya reached for his hand, giving it a light squeeze of encouragement. She nodded at him, a touch of gratitude softening her expression and lighting her eyes. “Thank you for sharing this with me. Did seeing all this,” she said, gesturing at the purple flowers blooming not too far from them, “help him heal?”
“I like to think so. I was a gullible kid and believed I had something to do with his going back to his normal routine and feeling less sad.” The cynical adult in him second-guessed his former child self, and he wondered which part of him knew the truth. “Now I wonder if he didn’t pretend to feel better so as not to disappoint me.”
A couple of elderly tourists speaking in Italian strolled by them. To give them more space, he let go of her hand and quickened his pace, cutting in front of her for a moment. Maybe his grandfather loving his late grandmother and suffering so much after her death had subconsciously showed Theo that pragmatic relationships fared better than the ones based on endless love. A restlessness traveled through him, stiffening his limbs so he had to wrestle with himself to keep going.
“Theo,” she shouted behind him. “Don’t do this.”
The uneasiness in her voice halted him, and he turned around. She jogged lightly to keep up with him, and now, strands of hair strayed from her ponytail. “What?”
She shook her head. “You brought me here. Don’t push me away now.”
“I’m not,” he started, but whatever integrity he had left in him stopped him from continuing. “You’re right. I wanted to bring you here, Amaya.”
She stretched out her hand, and he took it. His pulse spiked when he threaded his fingers in hers, and they walked side by side in silence for several minutes. Another emotion took flight inside of him, another type of restlessness that made him want to run around the garden. Freedom.
“When I’m with you, I have to battle between being who I’m supposed to be and who I want to be,” he said, the words leaving his brain too quickly before he could stop himself.
“When you’re with me, just be you.” She pulled him into her arms and stood on tiptoe. “Because you’re pretty amazing.”
No. He was a selfish son-of-a-bitch who wanted to have the cake and eat it, too. But she believed otherwise, and damn, why not let her? Why not let himself believe even for just a moment? He cupped her chin and kissed her, thrusting his tongue into her welcoming mouth. She encircled her arms around him, massaging the back of his neck and sending shivers down his body. Then she wrenched her mouth from him, her breath as labored as his.
“What happened?”
She placed her index finger on his lips. “I don’t want to cut this sightseeing short. So, no more kissing.”
