Page 43 of Modern Romance December 2025 1-4

‘Coffee?’ she asked when they stepped into her open-plan living area that somehow seemed to have shrunk since he’d last stood in it.

‘No. But thank you.’ He attempted some brevity. ‘I can feel jetlag coming on so caffeine probably isn’t the best thing to feed it.’

She didn’t smile. ‘You’re ending it, aren’t you.’

He sighed heavily and closed his eyes. There was no beating about the bush with Athena. He would not allow himself to think that her directness was one of the many things he adored about her. He was firm in his mind that they had to end their affair now, and would not allow himself to be diverted by rogue thoughts and feelings.

He’d already succumbed to weakness on the plane when he’d held her in his arms that one last time.

‘We both knew it wouldn’t be for ever.’

‘Can you at least look at me while you’re dumping me?’

‘I’m not…’ He shook his head and locked his stare back onto hers. ‘We both knew before we started that it wouldn’t be for ever.’

‘I know. You don’t have to repeat yourself. You’ve had your fun with me and now we’re back on home soil you want to walk away.’

Her brittleness struck him like a slap. A brittle Athena meant she was hurting, and it hurt his heart to see the flicker of pain in her eyes, but it was a pain that reinforced that he was doing the right thing by ending it now. The way she’d made love to him that last night…

He wasn’t the only one who’d got in over his head with their affair.

‘You know it isn’t like that.’

Athena just stared at him. The beats of her heart, strangely calm since he’d given the short, sharp ring of her doorbell that had confirmed her deepest fears, were getting quicker and weightier.

The broad chest she’d kissed every last millimetre of rose slowly. ‘This thing between us…it’s become heavier than I think either of us anticipated, but what we have isn’t sustainable, we both know that. We could drag it out for the last few weeks of your contract but—’

‘Drag it out? My, you do have a way with words.’

His lips tightened. ‘You know what I mean.’

‘I know that you made your mind up about us yesterday morning. That’s why we came home early, isn’t it—you didn’t want to share your bed with me again. You’ve had your fun.’

‘Stop saying that. I think you’re great, Athena. You’re beautiful and sexy and smart and funny—’

‘Don’t forget to add bilingual to your checklist of my attributes. I can create a CV with them.’

Ramming his hands into his trousers pockets, he rested his head back against the wall. ‘What do you want me to say? We both knew when—’

‘If you saywe both knewone more time I’m going to punch you in the face.’

A pained smile flickered on his face. ‘You’d break a nail.’

‘It would be worth it.’ The weightiness in her heart was increasing, panic and agitation spreading through her like a tsunami. ‘I assume you were listing my attributes for a reason—what was it? It better be something good.’

‘Only that as great as you are, we’ve gone as far as we can go.’

‘Not as good as I was hoping, but something I completely agree with.’

He eyed her warily. ‘You do?’

‘Of course.’ Fixing the Athena-everyone-loved-to-hate smile on her face, she crossed her arms over her painfully thrashing heart. ‘Did you seriously think that giving you my virginity meant anything more than sex? I’m Athena Tsaliki, remember? The slutty socialite who can be relied on to behave disgracefully in any given situation. You’re a sexy man, Draco, but ultimately, that’s all you are—a man, and like all men you think with the appendage between your legs.’

His flinch should have made her smile. Instead, it slashed a burn through her chest and unleashed even more of the heavy sickness destroying her through her tongue. ‘What, do you think you’re something special? That you’re somehow more than other men? Because, I hate to tell you, you’re exactly the same as the rest of them, and I include my father in that…’ She laughed at the flash of anger he fired at her even as the walls surrounding her closed in tightly, compressing her into a fight or flight mode where the only option was to fight. ‘You don’t like to hearthat, do you, Mr Morally Superior. Well, ask yourself this—if you’re so much better than him, what the hell were you doing sleeping with his daughter? You were thinking with your dick and letting yourself be guided by it, that’s what you were doing, just like my father’s always done. I was a bit of fun while we were far away from those who know what a slutty socialite I am, until Diego Guardiola came along, and now that we’re back on home ground…’ She shook her head in mock understanding. ‘Can you imagine what people will say if it’s confirmed that the rumours about us are true?’ She widened her eyes and clutched at her throat. ‘The scandal! People you respect will question your judgement! Your fellow billionaires, the ones you do business with who are all perfect paragons of virtue, might think a little less of you!’

‘That’s enough,’ Draco dragged out through a throat that felt as if it had a jagged boulder lodged in it. Athena was right about Diego Guardiola, not for the reasons she thought but because his feelings for her had led him to throw away a business deal potentially worth billions. He was in too deep and needed to get out, now, before he lost the last of his control and drowned. ‘I know we’re ending things sooner than you thought we would and I’m sorry if that hurts you, but what you’re saying…this isn’t you.’ Not the Athena she’d become.

He’d known this would be a difficult conversation. He’d known it would hurt her.