The Tycoon's Marriage Exchange (13 page)

Instead of dreading the night ahead as he’d been anticipating, he was now eagerly looking forward to testing out how much he really could make his new wife feel.  If only a fraction of what she’d admitted last night were true, he was going to
transform those feelings of fear into desire and show her how to embrace them instead of running from them. 

He moved to the exit, slowly
but determinedly
making his way
through the crowd
with her on his arm.  It was slow going since so many people were still trying to wish them both happiness.  But Aella and Demetrius came to the rescue, intervening
on their behalf with
the other guests and allowing
H
ector to guide
Kallista
out the door without the normal tossing of the rice. 
No one seemed to mind though as they waved their final goodbyes with applause behind them.

“Aren’t we staying here?”
Kallista
asked when he led her out his front door and into yet another limousine. 

He picked up her voluminous skirts, helping her into the car and trying to hide his impatience.  If she knew how much he wanted to have her alone, where no one could interrupt them, she would be running back into the reception and refusing to leave the security of the crowd. 
“No.  We’ll stay the night in a hotel room before flying out to my private island tomorrow morning.”

“Oh,” she said, surprised but not sure why.  He hadn’t consulted her about any of the other arrangements, why would their honeymoon be any different?  She supposed she’d almost convinced herself that they would just eliminate the honeymoon
so he could get back to work on Monday morning
.  He’d been so distant over the last two weeks and there had been no intimation that they would be intimate
until last night’s dinner conversation
. 

But there was no denying the intent in his eyes now. 
Kallista
wished she’d come more prepared, had done something special for the night, but she’d been so overwhelmed by the whole wedding
preparation
, she hadn’t let herself think about the wedding night. 

“You’re nervous,” he said, stating it instead of asking her the question. 

“A little,” she replied, then cleared her throat and tried to sound stronger. 

“Why are you nervous?  I won’t hurt you.”

Kallista
felt the tears well up in her throat.  If only she’d kept her mouth shut
last
night, maybe he wouldn’t be so confident right now and that would give her some measure of
poise
.  But right now, he held all the cards.  He knew how he affected her, it was their wedding night and he was going to have sex with her.  That was all there was and she couldn’t stop it no matter what she said or did.

She looked out the window, unable to see anything but the darkness and an occasional passing street light but she couldn’t look at him. 
“I think you know why I’m nervous,” she said with as much calm as she could pull out of her.  Which wasn’t very much, she accepted. 

They arrived at a beautiful hotel in downtown Athens more quickly than she would have thought possible.  They had been quiet during the ride and she realized now she should have been asking questions, talking to him and trying to find some measure of peace with what was going to happen tonight. 

The hotel manager met them at the door and handed Hector the room key, explaining that their luggage had already been delivered to their suite. 

Kallista looked up at Hector, confused. “I didn’t pack anything for tonight,” she said, horrified that she’d been so out of it that she hadn’t packed an overnight bag for her wedding night.

“Your mother sent your luggage on ahead.  I believe she bought your
trousseau
as well, with my compliments.”

That caused her face to turn a bright red, wondering what her mother might have bought for her wedding night and honeymoon.  Her mother’s taste ran to the romantic and she worried about what might be in those bags, what she might be forced to wear for however long their honeymoon would last. 

The private elevator swept them up to the top floor and Hector took her hand as he led her through the penthouse suite.  He didn’t let her stop and smell the flower arrangement in the foyer, guiding her right back to the bedroom. 

She shivered as she looked around, her eyes only seeing the lovely bed. The lovely, large bed right in the center of the bedroom. 

Her entire body was shaking, terrified of what was to come but she couldn’t form any words that would tell him of her terror. 

“Any chance of a reprieve for tonight?”

“Why do you say you need a reprieve?” he asked gently as his fingers moved up to take the pins out of her veil.  With agile fingers, he tossed the pins onto the dresser, then worked on her soft, brown tresses, letting them fall around her shoulders, his fingers trailing down as he ran his hands through
the length
and gently untangling the curls that had been piled on top of her head for the past several hours
.  “Tonight isn’t a punishment
, Kallista
.”

She laughed, but it came out sounding more like a hiccup.  “Why does it feel that way?”

“I don’t know.  Why don’t you tell me what you’re thinking will happen tonight?”

“I think we’re going to have sex.”
             

“You don’t think of it as making love?”

“Not when it’s with a stranger.” 

He kissed her gently on the shoulder where the lace of her wedding dress stopped.  “We’re not strangers.  I’m your husband now, although you might have missed some of that.  I noticed you weren’t paying a great deal of attention
during the ceremony
,” he commented, amused at the memory.

She took a deep breath and stepped away.  “I’m sure this is all hilarious for you but look at it from my perspective.  I don’t know you and you don’t really know me.  We don’t understand what makes each other tick so how can this be a good night for me?”

He let his morning coat slide off his arms and he tossed it over a chair.  “That sounds to me like you think I have sex with strangers all the time.”

“Don’t you?”
she challenged, her stomach clenching at the jealousy she felt at the idea of anyone else being with him. 

“No.  What makes you think that?”

Kallista
looked up at him, trying to determine if she was making him angry or what he was feeling.  But there was no emotion on his face, other than the obvious intent that he was going to get her into that
enormous
bed. 
She felt a bit silly for trying to delay this.  Maybe she should just pull off her dress and get it over with. 

“Focus,
Kallista
,” Hector said patiently.  “Don’t look at the bed.  Look at me and talk to me.”

“I can’t,” she finally said
and bowed her head with humiliation
.  “It’s a big bed and I know you’re going to pull me into it and I’m feeling like a silly virgin on her wedding night.  So right now, I’m taking the liberty of focusing on things that are ever present and powerful.  That includes you, by the way so don’t think I’m eliminating you as that ever present and powerful distraction that is keeping me from listening to your inane conversation.”

Hector stilled and looked down at the beautiful woman who was practically wringing her hands with fear of what was to come.  Was she….? 

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.  “
Kallista
, are you telling me that you actually are a virgin who is worried about your wedding night or are you just acting like a virgin on her wedding night?”

Her shoulders drooped and she almost fell onto the chair on which he’d just tossed his jacket.  “You’re a brilliant man.  You figure it out.”

Hector was stunned.  This sexy, gorgeous woman with a cloud full of soft, shining hair and a figure that was lush and sexy and had haunted his dreams for weeks, had never been with another man?  Was that possible? 

“I thought you were about twenty five years old.”

“What does that have to do with this conversation?’ she asked irritated that he would bring up something so irrelevant.

He looked down at her curiously.  “And you’ve never experimented with men?  You’ve never had sex before?”
  H
e realized that this was a ridiculous conversation to be having on his wedding night.  His wife’s sexual experience should not be a surprise to him at this point but he’d been so preoccupied by helping
Demitriusus
out of his financial issues as well as his thoughts of getting her into bed that it hadn’t even occurred to him that he should ask if Kallista had been with another man before.  He’d simply assumed that she had some
experience
.  Even a great deal, he thought with amazement.  Until last night’s conversation and revelations, he’d translated her reactions to him as revulsion because she wasn’t interested in him as a man.  To be twenty-five years old and still a virgin…it was unheard of to his knowledge.  Especially with her beauty and sensuality. 

She stood up and began pacing in front of him, walking away and coming back in an effort to get rid of a tiny bit of this nervous energy she was feeling. 
“Of course I’ve experimented.  I just never actually….well, I’ve sort of stopped….”

On her trip back towards him, he took her hands to stop her movement. 
Hector bent down so he was at eye level with her.  “
Kallista
,
its
okay for you to speak plainly.  This conversation would go a lot more smoothly, and quickly, if you’d just tell me about your experiences.”

“My past relationships are none of your business.”

He chuckled.  “If there had been any, they would be none of my business.  But the fact that you’ve never had intercourse is a completely different issue.  And if that’s the case…”

“That’s the case,” she confirmed
almost belligerently
.

“Well, I’d like to understand how that’s possible, but right now, I’m more interested in figuring out how I can make you more relaxed so I can make love to you until you’re no longer worried about tonight.”

“I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

He smiled and moved closer, not letting her escape him even though he could tell that she desperately wanted more space.  Tonight, he wasn’t giving her any space.  He was slowly working towards eliminating all space between their bodies, in more ways than one and in the only way that really meant anything on a wedding night. 
“Oh, we’re going to make love.  Whether you’re going to stop worry
ing
,
that’s a whole other problem. One which I’m more than willing to try and help with but I need your honest
y
now.”

She looked away and shrugged her shoulders.  “I haven’t ever had sex.”

Something inside him unraveled; a tightness he hadn’t realized was there but now that he was about to make love to her, without any interruptions and knowing that he would be the only one to possess her lovely body, to touch her and feel her come apart in his arms, he was in a much more generous mood.  And more willing to go slowly, talking to her if that would get her to relax a bit more. 
“Why is that?”
he asked conversationally, and pulled her slowly over to the sofa so that the bed was behind her.  The way she kept glancing in that direction told him that she was obsessing about the bed, as if that was the only piece of furniture on which one could make love, he thought with secret amusement. 

She took the seat and gathered the skirt of her wedding dress around her, slipping her shoes off.  It occurred to her that she wouldn’t be able to run away like she had last night.  It didn’t matter if she’d eliminated the heels, she still had the voluminous skirt and cumbersome bodice to slow her down.  She also knew that Hector wouldn’t let her get away as he had last night. 
“Because it just never really
felt right.”

She wasn’t going to run away anyway.  She was going to be brave and deal with this head on.  It was going to happen and she might as well just get it over with, she thought with resignation. 

If only she didn’t feel so out of control.  Was there a way?  Could she tell him what she felt and ask him to help her with that kind of panic? 

Hector could see that her mind was flitting around, not still on one thought. 
“And it still doesn’t, does it?”

She looked down at her ring finger
that now wore not only the lovely engagement ring but also his wedding band
, then at his rugged face that had somehow turned handsome over the past two weeks.  She didn’t know how to answer his question without irritating him, so she just didn’t even try.  “Any chance we could just be friends?”

He wasn’t sure if he wanted to laugh or growl at her response.  But his mind went back to the moment in the church when he’d kissed her
.
  She hadn’t wanted to be friends at that moment.  And if it had worked one time, it would probably work again.  “Not a chance in hell,” he replied softly before standing up and pulling her into his arms.