‘You can look up the sordid details online. But it all boils down to the same thing – he’s a billionaire who cares too much about himself. But he did teach me a good lesson, and that is it’s better to expect less from everyone so they do not end up disappointing you.”
And considering that line of thought, Velvet supposed she couldn’t blame Mykolas’ father for thinking she was a gold-digger. After all, no one had heard of her and here she was, suddenly engaged to Mykolas Sallis – and their marriage set one week from today.
Grinning at Velvet’s look, he cut off his father’s furious tirade – which consisted mostly of dire warnings about getting fleeced of half of his wealth – he said, “We have an iron-clad prenup, Papa. You have no need to worry. She may be my wife in name, but it is only so I can buy her as my permanent sex slave.”
Velvet picked up a piece of cucumber and launched it at his face with perfect aim. Unfortunately, Mykolas also had perfect aim and he caught the cucumber handily and munched on it instead. Asshole, Velvet thought, but if she was honest, she was thinking of him more fondly than irritably. He very well knew that the amount she had asked was beyond reasonable. What was a hundred grand to him when he had billions?
And if he finds out that the hundred grand is to start a non-profit foundation, her busybody inner voice demanded. What then?
By the time that happened, she answered herself stoutly, Mykolas should well be on his way to falling for her. She didn’t know how she was going to make that happen, but she was determined it would.
When Mykolas ended the call, Velvet told him succinctly as she placed a plate of sandwich in front of him, “Asshole.”
Since she was within reach, he pulled her into his lap and nuzzled her neck. “I plead guilty. But you must admit. It’s good retaliation after you told your friend Mandy I was so in love with you I gave you a hundred grand on the spot—”
“But you did,” she pointed out innocently.
“While I was completely naked, with a rose between my teeth.”
“I guess I must have exaggerated.”
“You also sent a text message to your friend Mairi about how I ripped you apart with my c**k that you had to be professionally treated.” That one had him grimacing.
“You are a financial expert and you cleaned me up, right? So technically,” she told him piously. “I didn’t lie. Besides, I thought you’d be flattered that I’m boasting about your big hard cock.”
When she fluttered her eyelashes outrageously at him, Mykolas couldn’t help but smile even as he pulled her close to give her a punishingly hard kiss. “I’d rather you not talk about it at all if the alternative is that you’d make me sound like an unfeeling ra**st.” He gave her a reprimanding look. “You must stop with the antics.”
“Okay. I promise. No more lies or exaggerations. You can even listen to me make my final call.” And Velvet then dialed her employer’s number to let Rose Thorn know of her decision to marry Mykolas Sallis, stepbrother to one of her students.
She tried to be very professional about it, prepared to work whatever kind of notice Rose needed because she did like her job, but all thoughts of being nice and accommodating fled when Rose started calling her several names.
Velvet started mentally counting sheep.
But then Rose made the mistake of mentioning Mairi.
Mykolas knew the exact moment Velvet lost her composure. She didn’t shout or scowl, but the flash of pain in her eyes told him the other person must have said something that hit her on the raw. In a perfectly sweet voice, Velvet began weaving a tale.
“Thank you for the sermon about my loose morals. It would have been so much more believable if I didn’t know that you’ve also accepted bribes from parents to get students in your oh-so-highly-esteemed school. It would have been so much more believable if I didn’t know for a fact that you want a Greek billionaire for yourself. At least I want mine for the super-hot, mind-blowing, earth-shattering sex. You just want one so you can finally stop working…”
Mykolas didn’t know whether to laugh or grimace when Velvet ended with “…and let me tell you this. While you’re having fun with your vibrator, I’m ha**ng s*x twenty times a day because my fiancé can get it on anytime!”
Chest heaving, Velvet pressed the button to end the call with relish. When she looked back at Mykolas, he raised an eyebrow at her. No more lies or exaggerations, eh?
“It was not an exaggeration. We can do it twenty times, right?”
He just looked at her.
She said defensively, “It’s her fault, really. I hated how she made Mairi sound like a scheming gold-digging bitch when she’s not one at all! Just because she dreamt of marrying a Greek billionaire doesn’t make her a gold-digger!”
He said truthfully, “I’m sure what you say is true but from where I’m standing, that does sound a trifle suspect.”
“You’ll know what I’m saying is true when you get to know Mairi,” Velvet said dismissively, used to everyone’s initial misconceptions of her friend. “And you know,” Velvet added hotly, “she even refused to give Mairi a proper reference—”
“But she had a right to do so, agape mou,” he pointed out gently. “What Leventis and his new fiancée—”
“His only fiancée,” she corrected sharply, bristling. She didn’t like the insinuation that her friend was a momentary infatuation and the other Greek billionaire could very well replace Mairi for another woman just as quickly as he had dumped his first fiancée.
She had seen how much Mairi loved Damen. It would be heartbreaking for Velvet if the two were to break up. Especially now, Velvet thought. If those two didn’t make it, then it was like a bad omen for her and Mykolas as well.
“Let’s not argue about them,” Mykolas was saying. “I’d rather we concentrate on our own upcoming marriage.”
His serious tone had her looking up at him. She still felt a little awkward sitting on his lap. It felt too wanton, but Mykolas seemed to consider this as a favorite position for them so Velvet tried to be blasé about it.
“You have seen how people have reacted to our engagement. It won’t get any easier or better when we do marry. Do you think you would be able to handle it?”
Mykolas tried not to hold himself too stiffly as he waited for her answer. His father’s third wife, Chantal, had been unable to. Chantal had been like a second mother to him – the only one of his father’s wives who had truly treated him like a son. But in the end, she had been unable to handle all the snide and backbiting remarks that had gone with the territory of being Mrs. Sallis No.3. When she had left, she never looked back – never attempted to contact him even once, and that had been one of the most painful things Mykolas had ever experienced.