Page 28 of Billion-Dollar Baby Shock

The fire was raging between them in seconds, no words spoken as Dion pulled open her shirt and palmed her breasts, finding those hard peaks and pinching them gently, making Tara moan.

She was leaning back against Dion’s desk and reached for his shirt.

She pulled it apart too and thought she heard ripping, buttons popping, but she didn’t care.

He opened her shorts and pulled them down, taking her underwear with them. He lifted her, sitting her on the edge of his desk. ‘Open your legs.’

She did, feeling like a goddess as Dion fumbled with his clothes.

His face was flushed. She reached up and pushed that lock of hair back and for a moment he looked at her, but then he was moving into her and then filling her with his hard body, making her back arch.

She put her hands behind her, head thrown back as Dion caught her up against him and moved in and out, taking them higher and higher.

It was fast and explosive. Over in minutes.

Both gasping for air, skin slick. Clothes half on, half off.

Tara clung to Dion and thought to herself, As long as we have this…there’s hope.

* * *

But that hope felt very elusive the following day when Tara stood, with Niko in her arms, in a vast penthouse apartment in an exclusive suburb of Athens. Not far from Dion’s villa.

She turned around, taking in the huge open-plan living-dining area. There was also a separate living room with full media centre.

There was a state-of-the-art kitchen. Three bedrooms, all en-suite. The master suite had a dressing room and small private sitting room. There was an outdoor terrace. A gym. A home office. It was stunningly modern and sleek and impressive and… Tara turned to Dion. ‘Why are you showing me this?’

‘I bought it for you.’

Tara nearly dropped Niko. She had to tighten her grip on him and he squirmed a little, reaching out for Dion, who took him easily, perching him high against his chest. The little boy snuggled in. Traitor.

‘You bought it, for me,’ Tara echoed flatly.

Dion nodded. ‘This is one of Athens’ newest developments. Easy access to the city. Parks nearby. Lots of cafés and restaurants. There’s a concierge downstairs.’

All that she could possibly need for her independent life once Dion cut her loose. She looked around, feeling a little bewildered. She noted, ‘It’s not very child-safe.’

‘I’ll have people come in to make sure it’s safe, but it shouldn’t cause problems in the short term. Niko is barely crawling.’

No, he was pretty stationary. Tara looked at Dion again. ‘You didn’t have to buy this… I could have rented for a while, bought my own place eventually.’

‘You’re the mother of my child, Tara. I will provide for you. It’s in your name, yours to do with as you wish.’

Her gaze narrowed. ‘You mean I could sell it?’

He shrugged minutely. ‘If you wished, of course.’

Because, on some level, Tara was sure that Dion still believed her capable of disappearing. Maybe this was a test, to see how she would react? She forced a smile. ‘Well, it’s lovely, and far too generous. But thank you. When is it available?’

Dion held up a key. ‘It’s yours as of now.’

Tara blanched. She hadn’t been expecting that. In the normal world people didn’t just move into new houses or apartments the minute they saw them.

Dion went on, ‘I’ve arranged for your things to be packed and moved over tomorrow.’

Tara felt winded again. ‘And how…how will we do this?’

‘You’ll be living here, you can come and see Niko as often as you like, or have him here if and when it suits, maybe when I’m away, working.’

‘And you’ll be in your villa.’

His gaze got darker, golden, igniting every nerve-end in Tara’s body. He said, ‘I’ll visit you here.’

‘I can’t see you at the villa?’

‘I think it would be best for Niko to minimise that association, of you and me together in his domestic sphere.’

‘But what if he’s here and you come here and we…?’

‘I don’t really envisage that happening. Not in the long term.’

Because it would be over. She really did need him to spell it out for her, didn’t she? She castigated herself—this development was unexpected but not inevitable. It wasn’t as if she could continue living with Dion, she knew that. But to be faced with it so abruptly was jarring.

Things moved swiftly after that. They went back to the villa and Thea gave Tara a sad look—she obviously knew.

Dion disappeared to work and sent a text later.

I’ll be back late, don’t wait up.

Tara packed up her meagre belongings. It seemed like aeons ago that she’d travelled from Dublin to Athens to find the father of her baby. She had, and she’d found so much more.

Maria had been due to do the night-shift but Tara told her she could go home—she wanted to spend as much time with Niko as possible. They agreed that Maria would work the following day while Tara moved out.

The next day, movers appeared in the morning and she rode with them in the van to the apartment. When she got to the apartment, she was surprised to see that the dressing room had already been filled with the clothes from the island and also new clothes.

After the movers left, Tara was standing alone in the huge sleek space, feeling hollow inside.

She heard the melodic chime of the bell.

Her heart started pounding. Maybe Dion had come to tell her it was all a mistake and that she could stay with them at the villa, even though she knew that wasn’t really— She pulled open the heavy door, a tentative smile on her face, which faded as she took in three women, one older and two about her age.

An efficient-looking blonde stepped forward, hand out.

‘ Kalimera , Miss Simons, I’m Athena, Mr Dimitriou’s executive assistant.

’ Tara shook her hand a little dumbly. The woman indicated the older woman on her left.

‘This is Sara, she will be your housekeeper and you can give her instructions on your wishes, and this—’ she indicated the other woman, an attractive brunette with a nice smile ‘—is Georgia, she’s an interior designer and will have a consultation with you about how you’d like to do up the apartment. ’

Tara felt an absurd urge to giggle. The apartment couldn’t be more ‘done’.

Georgia said, in an American accent, ‘Apparently you need to baby-proof the place?’

Tara’s urge to giggle faded to be replaced by something much sadder as the full enormity of her new life here hit her squarely in the solar plexus. She nodded and stood back. ‘Please, come in. I’m afraid I don’t have anything to offer in the way of drinks yet.’

Sara smiled and said, ‘That’s my job. I’ll see what’s here and arrange for shopping to be done.’ She bustled off in the direction of the kitchen.

Athena said to Tara, ‘Do you have a driver’s licence?’

Tara nodded. ‘Somewhere… I’ll have a look.’ She went to her bag and dug it out and handed it to Athena, who said, ‘Thank you, I’ll be back soon.’

Tara forced a smile at Georgia, who was taking in the apartment with a low whistle of appreciation. ‘Wow, this is some place.’ She turned to Tara. ‘So, what do you envisage exactly?’

Tara knew exactly what she envisaged but it had nothing to do with soft furnishings and everything to do with a life with the man she loved and her son.