The Greek Billionaire and I

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 f*ck 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.”

“You know it’s inevitable that we meet, agape mou. The chemistry between us is too hot and too rare to ignore.”

“You and I,” she said sweetly, “we’re like negative and positive forces. Ne’er shall the two meet.”

“Two words, my soon-to-be-lover: opposites attract.”

Velvet…grinned. She couldn’t help it. Practically every man who had tried to hit on her only had lame comebacks to give whenever she rebuffed them. But Mykolas was…different.