“I’m not marrying Talia anymore. We called it off. We’re business partners, that’s it.”
“Why didn’t you marry her?”
Specks of silver twinkled in his eyes, and there was something intimate and warm about his expression. “I love you. I couldn’t see myself married to anyone else.”
Whoa. He…loves me. “What about your family?” The old saying of when you marry someone, you marry their family popped in her brain. If they wouldn’t accept her, how could this work?
He caught her hand in his, threading their fingers together. A delightful warmth shot up her arm, heating her up. “I told them I chose you, and I don’t care about what they have to say. Turns out, now that I’m not marrying Talia anymore and we’re business partners, they support me. My brother likes you. So does my mother deep down. My father doesn’t know you yet.”
She withdrew from him. She tuned out the background noise: the chime on the door whenever a new customer arrived and a waiter talking to the manager not too far from them. Her heart thrummed in her ears, so loud she could barely hear her own thoughts. “What about your uncle? I’m trying to get him in prison.”
“Me too. We’ll do it together.”
“Great, but my life is here. I mean, I love Greece, but I can’t move there and leave my brother. He doesn’t speak Greek and has his team of therapists here and was accepted into a group home. I can’t walk away from him.”
He bridged the gap between them, caught her hand, and squeezed her palm against his. “You don’t have to. I’m moving to Vegas.”
He was moving to Vegas? Her heart stopped beating altogether for a second, and she lifted her free hand to her chest to make sure she was okay.
“What?”
He caught one of her curls and tucked it behind her ear. She resisted the temptation to lean into him and soak up the caress. A frisson went through her. “Since Talia and I are partners, she’ll oversee the Greek office and I’ll be here, a direct contact to North America. My idea.
I’m not saying there won’t be trips in my future, but my home will always be with you, agapi mou.”
She pulled him to her and went on tiptoes to kiss him. He embraced her, and soon, the patrons began clapping. She made a hand gesture for them to shush, without breaking the kiss. Theo nipped her lower lip, sucking it until it popped. Her nipples puckered, desire hitting her like an arrow. “I love you.”
He gave her a devastating smile that melted her panties automatically. “Me too.”
A bubble of happiness burst inside her. “I should never have agreed to work today. All I think about is fucking you.”
“Well then, let’s make the most out of your next break.”
She smiled. “I like the way you think.”
“I’m thinking of you, my love. Always.” He caressed her cheek, then grabbed her hand and placed it over his heart. “You know why?”
“Why?” she asked, feeling his rapid heartbeat—knowing this was as important to him as it was for her. Happiness, and a future together.
“Because you deserve the world, and I’m going to give it to you,” he said and captured her lips with his. She circled her arms around his head, bringing him closer, her own heart galloping out of her chest. Yes, she’d lost her family. But, with Theo, she’d make a new one.
Epilogue
Two years later…
“Quick, he’s asleep,” Theo said, joining her on the bed.
Amaya rubbed herself against him, to tease. Theo had just put their one-year-old, Drako, to sleep, which meant they could either indulge in sex or sleep until Drako woke up again in about three hours. Yup, their son loved to wake them up a few times at night.
She couldn’t complain, though. She’d opened her restaurant, Casa de Amaya, a year prior, around the same time she was due. Craziness ensued, but Theo had been a present father, always making sure she had enough time with Drako but also time for herself to manage her eatery.
She wouldn’t have it any other way. They lived in a beautiful mansion just outside Vegas, and Diego had liked Theo from the start. Theo impressed her with his kindness every day.
He cupped her breasts with one hand, while sliding the other down her underwear. “I’m not the only one with bad intentions,” he said when he parted her folds, already wet for him.
“Never, my love.”
He flicked her clit with his thumb, and she arched into his hand, encouraging him to explore her pussy. God, how she treasured these moments. She loved nothing more than bedtime with him—whether here or in Greece when they visited his family. His parents had welcomed her into the family like a daughter, and Amaya suspected Drako had them wrapped around his little finger. They visited every couple months to spend time with their grandson. Drako’s birth had also inspired Theo’s father to take better care of himself, and he’d been healthier ever since.
