The Greek's Baby Bargain (7 page)

She heard his sharp intake of breath but was unaware of the reason as her fingers explored the dark, lightly hair roughened skin of his chest. She was amazed at the texture, the heat emanating from him and wanted to see more. Pushing his shirt to the side, she let her fingers touch everywhere, her fingers floating delicately over his shoulders, then down across his pectoral muscles which jumped at her light touch. When her fingers accidentally moved over one of his nipples and she heard the hiss of his breath through his teeth, she pulled her hands away quickly, afraid she’d hurt him. But his hands clenched at her waist and his head bowed so his forehead was touching hers. “Don’t stop, Emma,” he begged.

With that kind of encouragement, she brought her hands gently back to his chest, her fingers gliding over the nipple once again, enjoying the intense thrill of making this man’s body react.

Suddenly, he pulled her hands away and pushed her gently back to the mattress. “I’m sorry, Emma. But I can’t let you touch me anymore right now.”

At her questioning look, he smiled but there was a strain to his expression. “You’ll understand later,” and without another word, he bent and took her mouth with his. This kiss was no longer soft and coaxing. It was possession, passion and domination all in one and Emma thrilled to the feelings, her body rising up to meet his, desperate for the feel of is hardness against her body.

When his mouth moved lower, covering her breast once again, she cried out and writhed, unwilling or unable to take the torture any longer. But he held her hands with one hand over her head and his other traveled against her body, eliciting groans and cries as his fingers spread heat everywhere he touched.

“No more, Dmitri! Please, you have to stop. I can’t take it any longer,” she begged, her hips moving against his as she fought for a control that had long ago been out of her reach.

“Oh, there’s more, little one,” he said and his head dipped lower, his hands moving between her thighs, opening her up to his gentle exploration. She remembered the glorious feelings he’d given her on the ship so many weeks ago so she was not shy when he moved her legs wider. But when his mouth found her core, she would have sat up with shock and pulled his head away. “No!” she cried out.

A strong hand held her down but he was no longer able to hold her hands over her head. Both her hands delved into his hair, initially intending to pull him away but when his tongue found her core, she fell back against the mattress, sighing blissfully and her fingers no longer pulled him away. “Dmitri!” she called out, her body almost instantly exploding into a fire of delight, waves of pleasure ripping her apart and splintering off as her hands fell out of his hair and clenched the duvet cover.

When her body was satisfied and replete, he lifted his head, his smug smile of satisfaction rising over her. Emma could barely open her eyes but the smile he gave her was too much and she had to smile back, her arms lazily lifting to wrap around his neck. “Thank you,” she said softly. “That was beautiful.”

“We’re not done yet. This time, you’re going to experience the whole thing,” he said softly. His elbows supported his weight as his hips moved between her legs.

Emma’s eyes widened and she tensed, ready for the pain of the initial entry but instead of an invasion as she was expecting, she felt his lips against hers. His kiss was sweet and gentle and stirred her back to the writhing desire she’d thought had been satisfied only moments before. But when he touched her, she guessed that she’d never feel satisfied for long. She wanted this man too much.

“I don’t think I can take too much more,” she gasped when he lifted his head and kissed her neck, his teeth nibbling on her ear. She felt the pressure and instantly responded, somehow knowing that this would end her body’s torment. Her hips lifted, meeting his in expectation and need.

“Emma, you have to be still,” he said through gritted teeth, perspiration spreading along his forehead as he tried to slow their bodies down.

 

“I can’t,” she gasped, moving him in deeper. “Please, more,” she said and pulled him down.

Dmitri couldn’t hold back any more. Her body was so hot, so tight and her movements so erotic, he pushed in to the hilt, burying himself in her heat and groaning as pleasure overwhelmed him. “You’re perfect,” he said as he moved within her. He felt her barrier give way but she only flinched slightly before moving against him, drawing him in deeper.

Setting the pace, he moved slowly at first. But when she refused to let him go slower, her body moving with him and finding a rhythm that they both enjoyed, he quickened, watching her face and knowing exactly when to move, how to move to increase the pleasure. Lifting her hips, he pushed her over the edge and as her body climaxed, he pounded her harder, finding his own release only moments later.

When they had their breathing back under control, Dmitri rolled over and tucked her against his side. Emma snuggled against his chest, amazed at how wonderful this sex thing was. “That was far more amazing than anything I could have imagined,” she said. “Is it always like that?” she asked, turning her head to look up at him.

“No,” he said seriously. His eyes looking down into hers with an odd light in them.

“Oh,” Emma frowned. “Well then, I guess I’ll just have to limit my entire sexual experience to this one night,” she said and turned back to rest her cheek against his chest. But her hand fluttered on his stomach, amazed at how solid he was. There were actually ridges on his stomach and his biceps. They were hard and well defined, topped off by broad shoulders. Her hand was touching him everywhere, as Emma was unable to stop herself.

Dimitri laughed, captured her hands and held them over her head. “If you don’t stop doing that, you’re sexual experience is going to be increased immediately,” he growled.

Emma wriggled underneath him, already more than willing, desperate even, to feel him inside her, moving against her. “When?” she asked, her tongue darting out to wet her dry lips.

Dimitri’s laughter stopped and he shook his head. “You can’t. It is too soon,” he said.

Emma pulled her hands out from his loose grip and let her fingers trail down his arms, fascinated by his body and all the muscles, the different textures and, more interestingly, the reactions when she touched him. “I don’t want to wait. I know you’ll be heading back to Greece soon, or wherever you might be going next. And I don’t want this night to end,” she said, looking up into his dark, passionate eyes. “I want you, Dimitri. Show me what I’m missing.”

He proceeded to do just that, his mouth exploring her already sensitized body and her third orgasm was even more intense than the ones before it. Each time she felt as if she was going to fall asleep, she would wake herself up and look at him, feel him with her hands and each time, Dimitri would show her again what a masterful lover he was.

She didn’t fall asleep until the early hours of the morning. By the time she woke, she was alone but rolling over, she saw Dimitri walking into the bedroom, already showered and dressed in a dark suit, minus the jacket. “What are you doing for the rest of the week?” he asked, sitting down on the edge of the bed, his dark eyes looking into hers with some sort of hidden message she couldn’t decipher.

“Mmmm,” she thought, her fingers touching his silk tie, admiring the beautiful design. “I’m attending boring classes and working on papers that are also boring and working in a boring library checking out boring books,” she replied. Looking up at him shyly, she said, “Want to make it less boring for me?”

His smile made her stomach flip over. “Yes. How about if you come back to Athens with me and pick out a wedding dress?”

 

Chapter 4

 

Emma’s fingers froze and her eyes snapped up to his. “What do you mean?”

Dimitri shook his head and took her hands in his. “I mean, I have tried, but I can’t stop thinking about you. Nothing worked. So I’m trying the opposite. Come to Greece with me, marry me. Have a family with me.”

It only took Emma moments before she threw herself into his arms. “Are you serious?” she asked, her arms already around his neck and tears streaming down her cheeks. “Because if you aren’t, I don’t think I’ll ever forgive you!”

His arms closed around her waist and he held her close. “I’m very serious. I want lots of children and from what you’ve told me, you want them as well. We have many things in common so I don’t think it would be difficult to forge a marriage between the two of us,” he said.

Emma wished she’d had a more romantic proposal, but she’d take what she could get. She loved this man desperately and knew that she loved him enough for the two of them. “When?”

“Will one month give you enough time to plan a wedding?” he suggested.

Emma pulled back and looked at him happily. “I can’t see why not. I mean, how many people really need to be there besides you and me?” she laughed. “We don’t need a large wedding so it should be a simple event to organize.”

Dimitri laughed. “Ah, Emma,” he shook his head. “I’m afraid you have a rude awakening coming to you. Nothing is done simply in my family. I can estimate that probably five hundred people at least will be attending our wedding.”

When they arrived in Greece and Emma was introduced as his fiancée, with a huge diamond ring obtained earlier that day, Dimitri’s mother wept ecstatically. When she was told the wedding would be in a month, her tears stopped and she shook her head in horror. “It can’t be done! There is too much to do, flowers to order, a dress to be made, caterers to get food. Goodness, deciding on a menu alone might take a whole week, Dimitri.”

Listening to Sophia, Emma was horrified at all the preparations a simple wedding would entail. She started to step in and explain that all the fuss wasn’t necessary but Dimitri interrupted before she could speak.

“No more than one month, mother,” Dimitri said, kissing Emma’s hand.

Sophia knew when her son would not budge. Exactly one month later, Emma walked blissfully down the aisle to the most handsome man in the world, oblivious to the one thousand other people in the church as well as the paparazzi hovering outside waiting to get pictures of the young bride who had snared one of the wealthiest men in Europe. She loved him so much and cherished every moment spent with him.

He lived in a penthouse apartment in Athens but after their honeymoon on the family’s private island, he brought her home to a magnificent house complete with ten bedrooms, living room, a dining room with a table large enough to seat at least twenty people comfortably, swimming pool and even a ballroom.

“Do we really need ten bedrooms?” she asked as he showed her around the enormous house.

 

“Of course. You’ll fill them up with children soon, don’t worry.”

Emma hoped he was teasing about having so many children but laughed anyway, enjoying the amusement in his eyes. If he was serious, she’d talk to him later. Although she wanted a large family, nine children was too many, she thought silently.

From that moment on, she worked hard at becoming the wife he needed by his side. She took all of Sophia’s advice, spending her days shopping for the right clothes for every event, hiring the right decorators so entertaining Dimitri’s business and social acquaintances would not be embarrassing to him, moving from manicurist to hair stylist to lunch with all the right people. Emma thought all of it was silly but if that was what was expected of her, she was more than willing to learn all that was necessary.

It was difficult at times because Dimitri traveled often, sometimes being gone for several weeks at a time. During those lonely periods, Emma would work diligently at managing the enormous house but as soon as he walked through the door, she threw herself into his arms, thrilled all over again to see him and feel his arms close around her. When he was home with her, or at least working in Greece instead of traveling, Emma knew she could not be happier.

Everything was generally blissful until the day she’d gone in for her annual gynecological exam. The exam was normal and Emma was just about to leave the doctor’s office when the doctor walked in. “Emma, you have been married for over a year now. Any chance you might be trying to get pregnant?” he asked.

Emma smiled shyly. “Yes. We’ve always planned on having children. But it seems that Dimitri’s work schedule just seems to….” She hesitated, trying to find the right words to admit to the elderly man that Dimitri just wasn’t around at the right times of the month lately, “I mean, he…”

A knock on the office door interrupted her thoughts and a nurse suddenly appeared, handing the doctor a sheet of paper. The nurse’s expression was obviously worried but once she glanced at Emma, her face brightened forcibly.

The doctor read the paper, his expression turning from curious to concerned almost instantly. “Oh dear,” he said and glanced up at Emma. It was almost as if he weren’t really seeing her. “Excuse me a moment, Emma,” he said and stood up, dropping the paper to the top of his desk.

Sitting alone in the office, Emma could no longer contain her curiosity and, with shaking fingers, she picked up the piece of paper. For some reason, it was in English and she quickly skimmed the data, her eyes fixing on the one word that shot a pain of fear through her body. “Infertile,” was all it said at the bottom, clearly the result of some sort of tests.

Emma’s heart shattered. She was infertile? But how? Why? Skimming the information, she could absorb only one other word since the rest of the data was about the various tests which might as well have been in Greek for all they told her. The word “Endometriosis” seemed to jump out at her, like a snake ready to strike at her happiness and overwhelm her with desolation.

She had endometriosis? When had that happened? She knew very little about the disease but wracked her brain to remember what little she’d read. She’d never had any monthly pain, no indication that anything wasn’t functioning correctly.

Stumbling up out of her chair, she left the office, barely aware of her surroundings as she made her way home that afternoon. Emma remembered that awful afternoon, wondering how she was going to break the news to Dimitri. It would break his heart, she knew. He loved his nieces and nephews. He wanted children and each month when she reported that she wasn’t pregnant, was taken with a grim acceptance. Now, knowing that something inside her was not right, that she’d never be able to give him the children he desperately wanted, she wasn’t sure how to go on.