A Tale of Two Cousins (A Papaioannou Novel Book 3) Read online

  He stared at me for a good half minute, the muscles in his jaw working again; then he pulled out his cell phone and handed it to me, saying as he walked away, “Call your brother. I am going to beat the hell out of Jake’s punching bag for ten minutes. Possibly longer if I start thinking about what sorts of things you’re going to tell the lawyer to include in your list of demands.”

  “Don’t think I’m going to give in to you just because you’re quirkily adorable, and I want badly to lick you,” I called after him when he disappeared down a hallway, smiling to myself for a few minutes while I thought about how wonderful he was. Really, he couldn’t be more perfect if he tried. I dialed Chris’s number, thinking about how just the touch of Dmitri’s hands had made me melt all over him. “And really, if he can do that to me while I was frolicking on him, just how am I going to survive when he really unleashes all that sexy ... er ... Chris?”

  “Hullo. I was wondering if you were going to remember that you had called me. Who is unleashing his sexiness on you?”

  “Of course I remembered I called you. It was only a few seconds ago that I dialed, and you know full well that I talk to myself. Mr. Sexy is Dmitri.”

  “Ah. Sounds Greek.”

  “He is Greek.”

  “I take it your trip to Athens is a success, then?”

  “On so many levels. I have a cat now. His name is Valentino, and he likes to go for walks. How are you? Have you heard anything from Kardom? Or Maggie, for that matter?”

  “I’m well, and no on both fronts. Why? Is he bothering you again?”

  “You could say that.” I debated telling Chris about the drugging, but decided that it would make his policeman’s soul extremely unhappy, and since there was nothing I could do (or even prove) about it, I decided to withhold that information for a bit. “I wanted to let you know that I’m getting married in three days.”

  Silence filled my ear for a good fifteen seconds. “Dmitri?” my brother finally asked.

  “Yes. He’s a very nice man. I think you’ll like him. And he knows about us, and doesn’t care.”

  “What’s his name?”

  “I told you, Dmitri.”

  “Full name.”

  I sighed. “Chris, you don’t need to do a background check on him. He’s the man I was sent to interview, as a matter of fact, so not only does he make me laugh, and he doesn’t mind that I’m overly curvy; he’s a very successful businessman.”

  “Full name. Do you happen to know his date of birth?”

  I knew well that I wasn’t going to be able to get by without giving Chris the bare minimum of info on Dmitri, so I didn’t fight it. “Christos Dmitri Papaioannou. Yes, I know it because I saw him fill in the marriage license application, and no, I’m not going to tell you. He’s not a weirdo. He’s not trying to use me. He doesn’t give a damn about Beck. And for the record, I asked him to marry me.”

  In hindsight, that might not have been the smartest thing to say. Chris had an awful lot of suspicion about people, and if he thought that I was being slighted or used in any way, he’d take umbrage. A big, burly six-foot-two sort of umbrage.

  “He must be the Christos Papaioannou who is thirty-eight, born in some town with an unpronounceable name in Greece ... what did you say? Why didn’t this man who is so awesome propose to you?”

  “Because neither of us believes in marriage. You know how I feel about that. It’s just a state-sanctioned legality, nothing more.”

  “And yet you saw fit to ask this man to marry you, rather than him doing the asking? How long have you known each other?”

  Hell. I really didn’t want to get into that. “Long enough to know that I want to live with him.”

  “Allowing him to do all sorts of things to you, evidently.” I could hear Chris breathing heavily through his nose, as well as the faint tapping of computer keys. “What’s going on, Tee?”

  “Nothing other than I’m marrying a perfectly nice, very successful man, and I thought you would like to know so you can be happy for me. I didn’t know you were going to give me the third degree!”

  “Where are you now? Is this your phone?”

  “I’m in the apartment of Dmitri’s cousin and his wife, both of whom are also nice, although I have to admit that Iakovos intimidates me. But Harry is nice. She’s going to have her fifth child in a few weeks.” I added that last bit of trivia in because I wanted Chris to understand just how normal everything was here.

  If you could call my life normal. Which I certainly didn’t.

  “I still want to get to the bottom of the reason this man didn’t ask you to marry him.”

  “Really, Chris! It’s not important!”

  “Most men would think it was. Aren’t Greek men supposed to be very macho? What sort of man lets a woman ask him?”

  “One who is extremely secure in his masculinity,” I snapped in return. “For God’s sake, Chris, I didn’t call to argue—I just wanted to tell you what I was doing. Oh, and before you ask, Dmitri is signing a prenuptial agreement that says he doesn’t benefit in any way from Beck or our family.”

  “Christ, I didn’t think of that. You’ll need a new will to exclude him from all that. He’s probably figured out that you’re an easy mark, and he has some way to gain from marrying you.”

  “Gah!” I yelled into the phone. “It’s like you don’t even know me!”

  “Of course I know you. I’m simply trying to establish why you feel it necessary to ask a man to marry you when you, yourself, just stated that the legality of marriage has no meaning for you. Did you promise to get this man a residency card?”

  “No, of course not. His mom was Irish, so he probably could live in the UK if he wanted. And no, marriage doesn’t matter, but Dmitri does. I like him a lot. I think I could very easily fall—” I stopped, swearing to myself.

  “Fall in love with him? You’re not in love with the man who you’re marrying, and who does things to you, sexual things, that make you wonder how you are going to survive?” I had to hold the phone away from my ear. Chris was always a shouter when he got angry. I mused that Dmitri held on to his temper better, although he, too, evidently had limits.

  “I’m going to have to go now,” I told my brother, ignoring his sputtered protests and demands that I answer his questions and tell him just what the hell I was really up to. “I’m borrowing Dmitri’s phone, and just in case he doesn’t have free international calling, I don’t want to rack up too big of a bill. I’ll talk to you after the wedding, OK? Big kiss. Love you.”

  “Thyra, I forbid you to hang up your ph—” I tapped the phone symbol, ending the call despite what I knew would be Chris’s dire threats.

  “My brother can be a boob at times, but he really is a love,” I told Valentino, who had been sitting and watching me with an unblinking gaze. He rose, crooked his tail, and marched down the hallway in the direction Dmitri had disappeared. I followed, not wanting to open doors to find him, since I didn’t know which were family rooms, and which weren’t, but I needn’t have worried. Valentino stopped in front of a door. I tapped on it and opened it just enough to peek in.

  It was clearly some sort of a home gym, with the standard elliptical machine, a weight bench, and in the corner a big punching bag. Dmitri had his back to me, his suit jacket and tie hanging over the bars of a stationary bike, his shirt clinging to his back as he punched the bag, moving in an oddly graceful rhythm. I watched for a few minutes, then opened the door wide enough for Valentino and me to enter.

  That’s when I realized Dmitri was muttering under his breath as he danced around the bag, jabbing at it, then suddenly unleashing a flurry of blows that, I had to admit, looked pretty damned impressive. “No wonder your biceps make me weak at the knees. Do you box?”

  He stopped, glancing over his shoulder at me, little curls clinging to his damp forehead. “I used to. Why? Don’t tell me—you are the premiere female boxer in England, and you’d like to challenge me to a fight. Well, I won’t do it. I�
�ve learned from Jake and Theo.”

  I gave a little laugh and shook my head. “I don’t know anything about boxing other than I’ve always assumed it was a sanctioned way for men to beat the crap out of each other, and that most boxers end up with some sort of brain damage. Were you, by any chance, swearing at me in Greek?”

  “Not you, the man who drugged you.” He was out of breath, his face rosy with exertion, his big chest heaving. I admired the way the shirt caressed the planes of his chest before I moved over to help him with the boxing gloves he wore. He waved away my help, peeling them off and tossing them onto a chair. “Did you make your call?”

  “Yes,” I said slowly, feeling like I should warn him. “If someone with a Scottish accent calls your office, don’t be startled. My brother is most likely doing a background check on you.”

  “I’ll tell Alexis not to dismiss such calls,” he said, grabbing a small towel and wiping his face.

  “You’re not ... annoyed?” I asked, a little surprised.

  “About your brother checking me out?” He shook his head. “I’d do the same for a sister if I had one. No, hang on to my phone for a few minutes. I’m going to grab a quick shower. I had a lot more frustration to work out than I thought.”

  “Won’t your cousin mind you just ... you know ... taking a shower?” I asked, Valentino and I trailing after him when he headed for the side of the apartment. He stopped at one of the rooms.

  “No. This is Theo’s room. I’m sure he’s left some clothing behind. I won’t be but a few minutes.”

  I pursed my lips when he entered the bedroom and went through to an attached bathroom. I looked down at Valentino. He gazed through the door, then looked up at me.

  “Yeah, we’d be crazy to let that opportunity escape us,” I told the cat, and started to enter the room, but Valentino clearly had the same idea. I stood back to let him go first, and he led me straight to the bathroom, where I perched myself on the counter, watching as Dmitri’s slightly blurred shape took a shower.

  He emerged from it looking momentarily startled at having an audience.

  “We have tallied up your shower scores,” I said, applauding lightly. “I give you a seven point five for that shower. Valentino is a kinder judge. He gives you a nine point one.”

  “Damn,” Dmitri said, reaching for a towel. He eyed me with a speculative look while I let my gaze crawl all over his wet, steamy body. I damn near salivated looking at all those muscles and long, sleek stretches of flesh that I knew were like velvet over steel. “I was hoping I’d score enough for a silver medal, but it sounds like bronze again.”

  “You’re going to have to work harder at your enticing shower moves,” I told him, making a little face of disappointment when he started drying himself. “For instance, there wasn’t enough flexing of your butt muscles, not to mention hardly any stroking of your hands down your chest and belly until you got to your penis. There needs to be a whole lot more stroking if you want the gold medal sorts of scores, Dmitri.”

  “I was rather hoping you would do the stroking,” he said with a little waggle of his eyebrows that, for some reason, charmed me to the tips of my toes.

  “Any time, any day, for as long as you want,” I said, moving around behind him, snagging another towel in the process. “As a good personal assistant, I believe I’ll start my duties by drying your back and your spectacular butt. Wow. It’s really ... it’s even better than when you’re lying down, and it’s pretty magnificent then. You’ve got those indentions on your cheeks that drive me a little wild.”

  I spread my fingers across his butt cheeks, moaning softly when my fingers mapped out the contours.

  “Thyra,” he said, having stopped drying himself the moment I began touching his butt.

  “I mean, really magnificent. If there was a coffee table book of butts, yours would be in the first chapter. It’s like a classical statue’s butt, which I guess makes sense since you are Greek ... hmm?”

  “If you don’t stop touching my ass in the next three seconds, I am going to put Theo’s bed to a use that he’d probably object to.”

  Reluctantly, I released his cheek. “All right, but I get to do this later, at your place.”

  “It’s my turn next, since I let you have the morning romping,” he told me, and finished drying himself before he strolled into Theo’s bedroom and dug out of a chest of drawers a pair of jeans and a T-shirt.

  “Yes, but you took over before I was done romping on you, so that means you have to share your time tonight, and I’m going to want to do a lot of butt fondling during my part of the evening. You’re phone’s there.” I pointed to where I’d put it on the dresser top. Dmitri donned his shoes, taking his wallet and keys, and leaving his clothing in the bathroom. “Are we going to your apartment now?” I asked when he collected his phone and herded Valentino and me toward the door.

  “Jake asked us to stay to dinner. Harry has taken quite a liking to you, it seems. If you wanted to go home right away, I’ll make our excuses, but if you have no urgent reason—other than giving me my turn at driving you wild, and no, you do not get part of my time being in charge, since you willingly gave up control this morning—then I’d prefer to stay. I’m very fond of both Jake and Harry, and with the baby due soon, I know she’s going a little crazy having to rest so much. Did she tell you about the auction tomorrow?”

  “Yes,” I said after a moment’s thought. “I don’t mind staying for dinner. I like Harry, too.”

  “Good.” He smiled down at me, his lips warm and sweet and so seductive when he kissed me. “I’m glad you like them. They’re my closest family, and mean a lot to me.”

  I was warmed, not only by the look in his eyes, but by the way he valued family. “Chris and I just have each other.”

  “Now you have me,” he whispered in my ear before turning and answering Iakovos, who had emerged from the living room to ask if we were staying for dinner. “We would be happy to, although you have to take us as we are.”

  I cherished the feeling of belonging when Dmitri escorted me to the dining room, his hand warm and solid on my back. I wasn’t sure where things with us were going, but I was beginning to think that in Dmitri, I’d found not just a respite from the threat Kardom posed, but paradise itself.

  NINE

  Dmitri woke to the sensation that he was being watched. He opened his eyes and found that indeed he was. Thyra was on her side, propped up on an elbow, watching him with eyes that were as pure as the clearest amber, while the cat Valentino sat on his belly, his orange front feet tucked under his chest. The look he gave Dmitri was one of intense speculation.

  “Either someone let you in, or you’ve learned how to open doors, and if the latter is the case, I’ll be getting new cat-proof locks,” he told the animal.

  “I let him in when I got up to use the bathroom. He was sticking his paw under the door, which I assumed meant he was lonely, and since I know he’s probably still upset about being rehomed, I figured he could cuddle up with us.”

  “I am not opposed to cats in a general sense, and will agree that this one seems to be very little trouble,” Dmitri said, sliding out from under Valentino, lifting him up and plopping him down on a low sea-green chaise that sat in the corner. “But I do object to them being on the bed with us when we’re indulging in carnal acts.”

  “Are we going to have carnal acts?” she asked, sliding a hand along his arm when he climbed back into the warmth of the bed. “I sure hope so, because I believe it’s my turn to be bossy.”

  “On the contrary,” he said, rolling her over onto her back, and settling himself between her thighs. “I’m claiming the right to take the lead, because you drove me insane last night and I didn’t get to do all the things that I wanted to do.” He dipped his head to possess her mouth, thoroughly tasting her, teasing her tongue until she started teasing him back, a fact that delighted him. For someone who talked a lot about wanting to be the one in charge, she was relatively submissive when it
came to lovemaking. He knew she liked him kissing her, but most of the time she waited until he initiated the contact. He put it down to her innate shyness, which made it all that much more pleasing when he could drive her so wild with desire that she took control.

  Not that he minded having the dominant role, he mused as she moaned when he moved his kisses over to her neck and shoulders. With all other lovers, he preferred that situation, but there was something about Thyra that made him encourage her wild side, praising her and telling her how much she pleased him when she did so. With time, he decided when she dug her fingers into his shoulders, wordlessly urging him with soft little cries and the restless movement of her legs alongside his, with time she would be so comfortable with him that she would be able to do all the things she told him she wanted to do.

  “Dmitri, you’re making me flat-out insane,” she said in short, panting breaths. “And you’re not letting me touch you at all.”

  He was about to tell her that she would have to wait when he changed his mind. “All right, but that just means I get a whole week of being in charge,” he told her, rolling off her to lie on his back.

  She looked surprised for a moment, then disconcerted. “Oh. Uh ... wait, a week? Are you insane? I’m not making that sort of a deal! If you’re going to be that way, you can just finish what you started, and I’ll have my turn the next time you want to do the sheet tango.”

  She wasn’t quite ready to open her wings and fly, he noted, and proceeded to make sure that she was driven wild with need before he sank into the warm, welcoming depths of her. She bit his shoulder, she drew shapes on his back with her nails, and she wrapped her legs around him in a grip that would have done a boa constrictor proud, and by the time she arched up beneath him, her face flushed, and her eyes all but glowing with pleasure, he knew that the feeling of being in over his head wasn’t going to fade away any time soon.

  He poured himself into her, the feeling going beyond one of mere sexual satisfaction. There was something about Thyra herself that seemed to bind him with a thousand silken threads connecting them together in an unbreakable bond.