Page 29 of In Love with a Cruel Billionaire

Chapter 9

SHE CRIED OUT, “HOWcan you speakLatin?”

Damen stared hard at Mairi, wondering what the fuck it meant if she was indeed a virgin like she had just said she was. From thinking he had everything planned and under his control, Damen suddenly felt like he didn’t know a goddamn thing. If Mairi was a virgin, if she was not a gold digger...

Just because she was untouched did not mean she was entirely innocent, a snide voice intruded in his mind. Mairi could just be a lot smarter than most other women, biding her time and making sure she offered her virginity to the man who could offer the highest possible bid.

Mairi covered herself when Damen only continued to look at her, his gaze cold.

The hurt on her face made Damen curse silently. “I’m sorry,” he said roughly, pulling her into his arms. When Mairi remained stiff against him, Damen found himself pressing a kiss to her hair – a first for him, actually, since he did not do tender gestures as a rule.

Slowly, she relaxed against Damen. “I thought you’d be pleased I was a virgin,” she admitted, determined to be honest even though she was more than a little confused and hurt. In all the stories she had read, the Greek billionaire hero was supposed to be happy about his woman being a virgin. So why was Damen Leventis different?

Damen could not believe Mairi had said such words. It was as if she truly was admitting that she had deliberately kept herself pure, waiting until a man wealthy enough for her tastes would take it – for the right price.

Could she be that calculating?

But then – hadn’t his mother been just as calculating?

“I am pleased.” He paused and when he resumed speaking, his voice had hardened. “But it will only make me more possessive towards you, Mairi. Do you understand what that means?”

Her heart beat madly. Yes, she knew. It meant he was basically telling her he loved her, but like the Greek billionaires in her favorite stories, he just had some weird hang-up from his past he needed to get over. And when he did, he would realize he was in love with her—-

The truth dawned on her.

Oh dear.

He would realize he was in love with her, just like she was just realizing now she had fallen in love with him...at first sight.

When she didn’t answer, he looked down at her and demanded, “Mairi?”

She smiled up at Damen, still a little overwhelmed at the realization that insta-love was indeed real. It shouldn’t be real. It didn’t make sense. But it had happened, just like it did in her favorite books, and it had happened to her.

His gaze narrowed. “Why aren’t you saying anything?”

She swallowed.

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