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“Being soft hasn’t served me,omorfiá mou. Any weakness I’ve shown has been exploited. You’re already a vulnerability on my part. I have to be careful how great a weakness I let you become.”
She couldn’t help her small sob of hurt.
His gaze filled with consternation. “Look at the way I coerced you into marrying me, so I could have this.” He slid his big body against her, domineering and thrilling as he withdrew and returned, every bit as overwhelming as always. “I want you exactly where you are, Stella. I’ll give you anything you want to keep you right here. That’s not the behavior of an honorable man.”
“I don’t want things, though. I only want you.”
She couldn’t have him, though. Not in the way he had her. She could see it in the way his expression remained impervious as he moved again, watching her, ensuring her pleasure with each thrust. Inflicting pleasure on her, tender but merciless, until she was digging her nails into his shoulder, cresting the hill, sobbing in joy.
Then he cradled her and murmured Greek endearments into her hair and did it again.
* * *
Atlas kept reminding himself that if he had engaged himself to Iris, Oliver still would have dragged out his retirement plans. The only difference would have been the amount of leverage Atlas would have had to make it happen.
By taking Stella as his wife, and making that declaration at Oliver’s party, Atlas had thrown down a gauntlet, putting pressure on everyone to pick a side. He didn’t have the luxury of patience, not if he wanted to strike that deal with Zamos.
Oliver, in typical fashion, didn’t see the wisdom of jumping on an opportunity. He was fighting Atlas’s efforts, gathering his forces and leaning on allies, trying to convince the board that Atlas had lost his judgment and that Stella had trapped him with her feminine wiles.
Atlas was on his own charm tour, proving that his leadership continued to be rock-solid, but he couldn’t help wondering if there was a grain of truth in Oliver’s snide accusations. He had married Stella for carnal reasons. He wanted herall the time.
He wanted to believe this frustrated urgency, this sensation that something remained beyond his reach, was caused by the tenuousness of his future with DVE. That once the board backed him, and he had what he’d sought for nearly two decades, he would finally feel settled.
But he had this feeling that Stella wasn’t his, even though she was at his side unfailingly. They spent two weeks in Australia where he shored up his position there and in the Asian sectors, then visited America on their way back to Europe.
Stella did everything she could to assist him. She dressed the part, played gracious hostess, learned who was who, and was always so sincerely curious about people they fell straight under her spell.
Her support felt strange to Atlas. He had never had a partner. He’d had a grandfather and mother who had sacrificed too much on his behalf. He had had coaches and teammates who encouraged him, but he alone had done the work in the water. His sister had always undermined him out of fear and his father had held him back out of a similar sense of vanity and threat. Even his allies on the board were more concerned with their own interests than his.
Stella wanted him to succeed. Not for her sake, but for his.
It was a disconcerting dynamic, especially because Atlas saw himself as her protector. He remembered what it had been like to come into the world of high society, of boys’ clubs and catty cliques. She might not be chronically shy, but she was sensitive and private and, because of his celebrity status, much of her life was already on display and up for judgment.
She faced all of it head-on with warmth and grace.
And, as of tonight, was helping him achieve a small win he doubted he would have had otherwise.
“Stella,” Alexandra Zamos greeted them as they entered the ballroom of an Athens hotel. “We’re so glad you two were able to make it. Hello, Atlas. It’s good to see you again. Congratulations on your recent marriage. How lovely.”
“Thank you for inviting us.” He kissed the cheeks she offered while Rafael did the same to Stella. He heard Stella ask after their son and Rafael assured her he was well.
“This is not my first fundraising event, sir,” Alexandra admonished cheekily. “New husbands are notoriously generous. I’ll leave you to peruse the jewelry in the silent auction while I introduce your bride to people she absolutely must meet.”
Alexandra pulled Stella into the crowd. The itch of her absence immediately got under Atlas’s skin.
“This invitation really was about raising money, then?” Atlas asked Rafael. He had made it clear he wouldn’t work with DVE so long as Oliver was in charge, but things might have changed on his end.
“Sasha is very passionate about helping teens and young women who’ve been preyed on by powerful men. She’s been wanting to check in with Stella.” Rafael brought his flinty gaze to Atlas, telling him those two statements were not unrelated. “Your marriage was very sudden.”
Atlas held his gaze, not flinching at the insult even though it felt like a spit in the face. “I just let her walk into the jungle with your wife. Should I be worried?”
“No.” Rafael’s gaze flashed with affront. “Sasha likes her.”
“So do I,” Atlas drawled. “We had our reasons for moving quickly.” One of which was definitely Rafael’s business, but he wouldn’t show all his cards.
“There are rumors your father is on his way out.”
“We’ll see.” Eighty percent of executive conversation was poker, but this was too important to bluff. “We’re heading to London next week for quarterlies. Announcements will be made then.”