Page 48

“Did you say that in the heat of the moment?” I ask.

“No. I love you.”

I open my eyes, finally awake. I’m still not recovered from everything that happened. A little discomfort in my body is nothing to the feeling of being possessed by the man I love.

I shudder as I remember his words and actions as he took me.

“I’m crazy for you. Love is too simple a concept to explain, but I’ll borrow it until they come up with a better one.”

I lift my head from his shoulder and look back.

Christos has run me a bath and has been holding me in the lukewarm water for nearly an hour.

We didn’t talk because there was nothing that could explain what had happened.

Surrender, desire.

I am his. I was always his. How could I think there could be another?

“I’m fine with love,” I say, turning around and straddling him but staying on his thighs so I don’t tease him.

“It’s more, . I fought it because my pride demanded that I couldn’t seek you out, but I knew. ”

“Knew what?”

“That no matter how much time passed, we belonged together.”

“If we didn’t see each other again, you would eventually find someone.”

He shakes his head, saying no. “I never loved anyone before you, and I will never love anyone after you,” he says, tucking a strand of my hair behind my ear. “I think I’m like my father. I can’t imagine him getting married again if something happens to Mom. I knew no one would ever replace you since we met.”

“I’m going to say goodbye to Yuri,” I say, pulling up my shorts but still not wearing a top. He walks into the closet, and from the way he’s looking at me, it’s like we didn’t just make love again after our bath.

“Yuri must be gone by now,” he replies, frowning.

We both know it’s a lie. The yacht is still moored in the marina.

I turn my face to the side, trying to understand why he looks so angry all of a sudden. “Are you jealous of your assistant?”

“Of course not.”

I hide a smile. “Don’t be silly.” I approach, still without a shirt or bra. “I’m yours, Greek.”

He holds my breast and massages the nipple with his thumb.

I groan.

“And yes. All mine now.”

I cling to him, my legs wobbly. It’s unbelievable the power he has over my body.

“Are you sure you want to go?”

The self-confidence in his tone makes me, even against my will, push him away.

“Cocky.”

He shrugs his shoulders but doesn’t deny it.

I put on a T-shirt. “I just want to thank him for what he did for my parents. With all the fuss of commercial filming and photo shoots, I didn’t have time. He’s a good friend, and I value people like him.”

“He is. Just don’t say it too much.”

“Jesus!” I laugh out loud, shaking my head. I just finish getting dressed and untangle my hair with my fingers. I don’t even wear sandals.

I run down the stairs and head straight for the marina.

“Yuri!”

He’s stepping onto Christos’s yacht, which will take the team, including the photographers, cameramen, makeup artists, and the two models, back to the shore. He turns back when I call him. “, has something happened?”

“No,” I say, breathless. “I just wanted to say thank you. You were very good to my parents, organizing both the clinic for Mom and the house for them to live in during the lockdown. I owe you an eternal debt of gratitude.”

“It wasn’t a big deal. I just did my job,” he says, seeming uncomfortable.

“That’s my job. Take care of them, I mean. But you were wonderful. Thank you.”

I wave goodbye and turn my back to return to the mansion, but first, I hear the captain shouting that someone is missing aboard and that they have to leave before the storm hits.

I go inside two steps at a time, and after wiping my feet on the mat, I head upstairs to the second floor, where I hear Christo’s voice.

“Get dressed.” His tone is harsh and relentless.

Having no idea what’s going on, I walk to where I think he is—the kitchen.

“You don’t know what you’re missing.” I recognize that the person he’s arguing with is one of the models who participated in the shoot. My blood boils.

Get dressed?

What the hell is going on?

Before I reach them, she speaks. “If it’s a woman you want to vacation with, why not me? I’m younger and prettier.”

“Get out. ”

“She’s crippled. Those scars on her feet, especially the one on the hand, are disgusting.”

For a moment, I’m shaken. I look at my feet. Yes, I still have burn scars because my skin is too thin, but the makeup artist managed to cover it all up. The hand one is a little worse, but not gross.

“Get out, for fucks’ sake! Didn’t you understand what I just said? You are fired!” Christos yells.

I go into the kitchen, and, at the same time, the girl puts on the top she had taken off, showing her breasts to my man.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I ask.

I see her bottom lip trembling.

“Get out!” My boyfriend orders again.

“Wait a moment. Let her answer me. What do you think you’re doing, Hanna? You said you’re younger than me, but you must be at least eighteen, or you wouldn’t be here. I’ll be twenty-one soon, but that’s not the point. I’ve lived a lifetime longer than you.”

“, I—” she starts, but I cut her off.

“Do you think offering to have sex, getting naked in front of a man, will make him appreciate you? In ten years, if not sooner, your ass and boobs will start to sag. Gravity, love. No one escapes that. At this rate, you will be known not for being photogenic but for having sex with your bosses. An easy fuck, as it’s called in our country.”

“I’m sorry,” the phony says.

“I’m not done.” I take two steps closer to her. “The one who spoke to you just now was the old . There’s still a little bit of her in me. She is kind and compassionate. She forgives easily, too. But unfortunately, that silly girl stayed behind. The one in charge now is the angry . You are disgusting, someone who uses the fact that I have scars to try to make me smaller.”

“You’re jealous because you know I’m right. He’ll get sick of you,” she growls, her face transfigured with hate.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m angry, yes, because he’s mine , but Christos is a big boy and knows how to shoo women like you. The main reason I despise you is for talking about my scars.”

Yuri comes in, out of breath. “Hanna, what the hell are you doing here ?

“Offering herself to my boyfriend, but she missed a trick. Bye, Yuri.” I turn around and run up the stairs. I’m really angry, maybe more at myself than her, for letting her make me lose control.

I barely reach the room, however, when Christos grabs my arm.

“.”

“I’m not upset with you. I’ve been modeling for almost two years now. I know how it goes in the industry. It’s not the first time I’ve seen a girl show her boobs to a guy as some sort of business card, but it’s the first time I’ve seen one do it for my man. I lied. I wanted to smack the living shit out of her.”

He approaches, like when someone does a wild animal; I don’t think he knows what my reaction will be.

“Are you jealous?”

“No. Jealousy doesn’t begin to define it. I want to kill her.”

“It wasn’t what it looked like,” he says, wrapping me around the waist. “I was worried when she talked about your hand. I don’t care. I?—”

I place my fingers over his lips. “I know. And neither do I. I could have lost my parents and my best friend, Christos. These scars are nothing. It wasn’t my self-esteem she hurt. It was jealousy at its worst, but I didn’t want to give in.”

He laughs, which makes me relax despite all the stress from a few moments ago. Seconds later, however, he gets serious, pressing our foreheads together. “I have a gift. I was going to wait until your twenty-first birthday, but I don’t want to leave anything else on hold when it comes to the two of us.” He gives me a light kiss on the lips and walks away. “Don’t leave.”

“Yes, sir.”

I hear him going down the stairs. A minute later, he comes back with a paper in his hands.

“What is it?”

“Open it.”

I read, my mouth getting huge. “A farm ?”

“Yes. In North Carolina. Your dream of being a farmer will now come true.”

“It was a distant plan. I don’t know what to do with a farm. ”

“We will have many employees, but we can also learn together.”

I look at him in disbelief, and I think he sees the question on my face because he nods in agreement.

“Yes, that’s right. I’m asking you to be mine.”

“I thought we were past that part. I am yours.”

“Let me try to do better, then.” He goes to the bedside table and takes out a jewelry box.

Then he kneels at my feet, and my heart races into a mad rush.

“I planned to do this with our parents present, but nothing between us follows a script, .” He opens the Tiffany’s box, which contains a princess-shaped diamond ring. “I had to find you and then lose you to be sure you’re the one I’ve been waiting for my whole life. I was your silent pursuer. I loved you, even when I still didn’t know it was love and?—”

I don’t wait for him to finish talking; I pull him by the hand, and he gets up.

“I love you,” I say, “and I want to live by your side for as long as I have left in this world.”

“You still didn’t answer.”

“Yes. Yes. Yes! There’s nothing I want more than to be your wife.”