The Greek Billionaire and I (2 page)

“Do you have a private room here where I would not be disturbed?” he asked the librarian upon entering the library, which was thankfully empty. Waiting at the school hall had proven to be too exhausting, with school girls tittering all around him.

The librarian answered nervously, “The faculty room of the library is currently unoccupied, Mr. Sallis.”

“That will do. Please let my sister know where I am when she comes.”

The faculty room was at the far end of the library, tastefully decorated and with one side made entirely of glass, allowing Mykolas to see those who entered the library. Taking one of the chairs, Mykolas absently scanned the room, and his gaze eventually fell on the iPhone next to a heap of books. Reaching for it on impulse, he found the phone without a password, causing him to grimace as he was very big on security.

Idly deciding to check the phone’s messages, Mykolas almost choked when he read the one sent by someone named Andrew to the phone’s owner.

10:01
Can I borrow the keys?

10:01
You already have it.

10:02
What?
 

10:03
The keys to my heart.

10:07 Velvet?
 

10:08 Sorry for the late reply. Busy killing myself coz your stupid jokes drove me to suicide.

Keys to my heart?
Mykolas didn’t blame the phone’s owner for attempting suicide at that. He moved to the next message, which was sent by Thomas, yet another seemingly ardent admirer.

13:15
How about going for a movie tomorrow night?

13:16
Thomas, you’re a good guy, so I’m going to tell you the truth once and for all.

13:17
What is it?

13:18
I’m a lesbian. I want your dick – but not for the reasons you’re hoping for.
 

The next one came from a third admirer, Greg.

14:24
I’m serious, Velvet. I don’t think I’ll be able to live without you.

14:25
But I CAN live without you, and that’s the problem.

Mykolas shook his head, reluctantly impressed by the woman’s answers, which were always snarky but witty. It would be interesting to find out who this Velvet was, and a second later, an idea came to him, causing a smile to play on his lips as he pocketed the phone.

****

“I think I left my phone somewhere,” Velvet admitted unhappily to Mandy as she fell in step next to her friend.

Mandy groaned. “You just almost lost it yesterday. See? You should have taken my advice and used a strap or chain to keep it with you at all times.” A slim dark-haired girl, Mandy was a very practical sort, the kind that would accept charity even from her worst enemy if she was down on her luck.

Velvet hated spending for unnecessary things, but maybe Mandy was right and that strap was more of a necessity than a frivolous purchase. “I’ll buy it soon as I find my phone. I think I left it…” She had a light bulb moment, which caused Velvet’s jade-colored eyes to flash brightly. “I think I know where I left it! I was at the library this morning and I must have forgotten to take it with me when I was called to sub for Andrew’s class.”

“Want me to go with you?”

“No, it’s okay,” Velvet said over her shoulder. “Let’s just meet later for dinner.” When she got to the library, she was hailed by the librarian even before she could take another step past the counter.

“Ms. Lambert? A gentleman found your phone in the faculty room.”

Velvet accepted the phone, bemused at the way the librarian was looking at her with interest. “A
gentleman
?” That seemed an odd way to refer to one of the male teachers, so she asked the younger girl, “Who is it?”

“He says he’ll call you.”

“Oh. Okay. Umm, thanks.” Slowly, she turned around and left the library, feeling like she had just had the oddest conversation in her life, and that was saying something. As she headed to the teachers’ dorm, her phone buzzed in her pocket, startling her.

Fishing it out and seeing an unidentified number, Velvet answered the call. “Hello?”

Mykolas leaned back against the plush cushions of his yacht’s custom-designed sofa. He had hoped to meet the intriguing Velvet Lambert – a little digging in her phone allowed him to figure out her name – but his meeting with his stepsister had to be cut short because of an emergency back in Athens.

Velvet’s frown was evident in her voice, and this made his smile widen. “You have found your phone then.”

The voice at the other end of the line was decidedly Greek, a deep accented baritone filled with sensual confidence and natural arrogance.
Oh no
, Velvet immediately thought. Her friend Mairi’s Greek billionaire sounded exactly like this, and look what had happened to her. Granted, Mairi and Damen Leventis were a couple now – they had just gotten engaged last night, in fact – but even so, the sheer amount of drama the two had gone through to earn their happy ever after was too much for Velvet.

And so she said crisply, “Yes, I did. Thank you for handing it to the librarian. Goodbye.”

Mykolas gazed at the phone in amusement. That was the first time a woman had hung up on him.

Velvet’s frown became more pronounced as her phone vibrated, signaling an incoming message.
Persistent just like Mairi’s Greek billionaire.
This really wasn’t good.
 

I have a confession to make, Velvet Lambert. I went through your phone and read a couple of your messages.

About to cross the street to get to the dorm, Velvet abruptly stopped walking with an infuriated gasp. How dare he?

All of them had come from your ardent admirers. Their devotion to you makes me want to see you and find out whether you are as desirable as they make you sound to be. However, I am not like most men who are easily swayed by appearance. I want my woman not only wonderful to look at but wonderful to spend time with as well.
 

I am sure that you are the same. So I propose a bet.
 

And that was that.

Velvet waited for another incoming message, but none came. If he thought leaving her hanging like that would make her call him—

Velvet’s phone rang, and she froze.
Don’t answer it, Velvet,
an inner voice cautioned inside her head. To distract herself, she resumed walking, crossing the street to get to the teachers’ dorm. She took the stairs steadily and tried to keep her heartbeat at pace with her steps.

Her phone stopped ringing just as she slid the key into the knob and unlocked her door.

Good,
Velvet told herself. He’s lost his patience. She pushed the door shut with her hip and after dropping her bag to the floor, she threw herself on her bed and gazed up at the ceiling. Seconds ticked by. Slowly, she placed her hand on her heart, which was still thudding. Restlessness built inside her, and Velvet realized that she hadn’t been this annoyed – or this intrigued – in ages.
 

The librarian had called the person who found her phone a
gentleman.
Most likely, he wasn’t working for the school then. Was he a visiting professor? The thought had her wrinkling her nose.

Her phone rang again.

Before she could think twice, Velvet answered the phone. “Hello?”

Mykolas purred, “You sound breathless.”

Damn it, but she was. “Don’t take it personally,” she managed to quip. “I’m always like this when talking to potential stalkers.”

“You’d be lucky if I stalk you.”
 

Damn it, damn it, damn it but why did this man’s voice sound so sexy to her? He was arrogant as hell, which was usually a turn off for her but right now, it was the opposite. There was just something about his voice that told her this man had every right to be arrogant. He was that...
desirable.

She gripped the phone more tightly, needing a few seconds to make sure her voice was
not
breathless as she said, “Dream on.” It was a lame ass reply, and Velvet knew it. By the way the man chuckled, he seemed to know it, too. And to rub salt into the wound, the sound of his chuckle was also sexy as hell.
Damn it.

“While I’d love to keep talking to you more,
agape mou,
I unfortunately have an urgent business meeting to attend to. May I talk about our little bet?”

“It’s not
our
little bet.”

But the man only continued to speak as if she hadn’t spoken at all. “While I know your name is Velvet Lambert, I chose not to look you up online. As such, I do not know what you look like. All I know is that men find you…
irresistible.”

The way he spoke the last word made it sound like both a promise…and a threat. He would find her irresistible like the other men, but
unlike
the other men, he would do something about it. Thinking about what that “something” was caused Velvet to scowl. It was that – or shiver, which she would do only when hell froze over.

“And now, let me tell you a little about myself. My name is Mykolas Sallis.”

Mykolas Sallis.
Her lips parted, moving to mouth it silently as if his name alone was irresistible. The thought had her shaking her head. What was wrong with her? This man was a stranger, and here she was, mentally sighing his name!

“I gave you my name so that we both know what to call each other. But like me, you shall not look me up.”

“And why wouldn’t I do that?”

“Because that’s the bet,
agape mou.
The way you have men enslaved intrigues me. I want to see if you can do the same to me even if I have not seen you.” He paused. “And I want to know if I can do the same to you without you seeing me.”

“If I see you—”

 
“—you will want me to fuck you.”

Velvet choked.
 

Mykolas smiled. “The loser of this bet is the one who asks to see the other first. If I win, I will have the pleasure of making you mine to command in the bedroom.”

“And if I win?” Velvet wanted to smack herself the moment the words came out.
Asking means you’re interested, dummy!

“Trust me,
agape mou
,” Mykolas purred. “This is not something you would not want to win.”

Chapter Two

“Are you done yet?” Mykolas murmured the question two days later over the phone while reading a draft for a shipping contract his secretary had given to him. He was at his Athens office, working overtime, and he couldn’t remember the last time he had enjoyed himself this much. And it was all, surprisingly enough, because of Velvet.

“Nope,” Velvet answered as she tallied the correct answers and wrote the student’s final score on the top margin of the answer sheet. She was alone in her bedroom – and probably also the only one right now inside the dorm. It was a Saturday after all, and most teachers generally took advantage of the weekend to leave the island and have fun elsewhere.

But here she was, happily checking her students’ tests. She had even turned down Mandy’s invitation to go out, and it was all because of
him.
“What about you?”

“In an hour, I’ll be finished with the draft and have to meet a business associate over dinner.” They had been talking for over an hour now, a record for him. Mykolas kept waiting to be bored but instead, he had only found himself more and more intrigued. Maybe it was because most of the women he had dated were too self-absorbed, and as such almost everything they had to say was about them.

But Velvet was different. Getting her to talk about herself was like pulling a tooth, but by now, he had talked to her long and often enough to figure things out. And so he asked in a deceptively casual voice, “Why did you choose to become a schoolteacher?”

She answered absently, “Because I wanted to give hope…” Velvet caught herself in time and scowled at her phone. “Ha-ha. Very funny.”

“There’s nothing wrong about me getting to know you better,” he responded even as he mulled her words over. Whenever Velvet lost herself in her work, she was prone to slip and reveal things about herself. And so now he knew she wanted to be a teacher because she wanted to give hope. Was this because her parents were the same – or the opposite? It usually was one or the other.

“There’s
no need
to get to know me better because we are not meeting, period.”