Page 176 of Love Among the Ruins
CHAPTERFORTY-SEVEN
DOMINIC
The past few days has been difficult. The idea of doing business with Galatis—his main purpose for coming to Greece in the first place—no longer mattered.
He was so close to getting what he wanted, but he wasn't happy about it, and he’d been grumpier and meaner than ever.
He hated himself for it and had been wrestling with his decision, but he couldn’t in good faith do business with a man like Galatis. Because he was in love with the woman this monster had wished had never been born.
He’d tried, and failed, to forget that she was in love with someone else. He’d tried and failed to forget her.
Maybe his father was right, Alexander was cut out for the ruthless world of business. His brother could disregard emotion in favor of dollar signs.
Dominic thought he could do it, but when his conscience was uneasy, and it was five o'clock in the morning and he hadn't slept, he knew it was time to do something.
Eleni needed to know about Galatis' visit.
There was a chance that the old man wasn't her father, in which case Dominic could go ahead with the deal and not feel guilty about it. But he needed to know the truth—ifEleni wanted to know. If she didn’t, then he would worry about that when the time came.
But first he had to find her and tell her. When Miranda had let slip that she and Eleni were going to Spetses for the weekend, he'd known where to find her. But he hadn’t expected her to be drunk and doing shots in a bar. It made things difficult.
His first concern, when Eleni had collapsed against him, was to make sure she didn’t fall and hurt herself. His second concern was to talk to her in private, but now her two friends eyed him like Dobermans waiting to pounce.
They’d heard, and they knew.
Miranda eyed him like a velociraptor, ready to shred him to pieces. “Can you both leave us?” he growled. “I need to talk to Eleni in private.”
“I bet you do.” Eleni’s protective sidekick from the taverna was on him like a hawk. “What do you want from her?”
“You took Eleni to the wedding in Santorini?” The look on Miranda’s face made him wince. He didn’t need to answer his PA, but he needed to be careful with Stefanos.
“Wedding? What wedding?” Stefanos asked.
Eleni made a moaning noise against him as she snuggled even closer. Her arms tightened around his neck, and down below his cock shot to attention.
For fucks’ sake. This woman had only to breathe on him and he was hard.
“I’m so tired, Dominic. Want to sleep,” she murmured.
“I’m taking her back to my hotel,” he announced.
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Stefanos quipped.
“To do what?” Miranda wanted to know.
“To talk,” he snapped. “And nothing else. I could take her back to her place.” But he knew it wouldn’t be ideal, because what he had to tell Eleni he didn’t want to do under the same roof as her mother. “Here, take my watch.” He scraped his Rolex off his wrist and held it out to Stefanos.
“What am I going to do with that?” Her friend looked at him as if he were an idiot. “What is it? A ransom?”
“That’s not how ransoms work, dickhead.” He tightened his hold around Eleni’s waist. Her face was buried deep in his neck, and his manhood had a mind of its own.
Miranda snatched the watch and pressed it to her chest as if it had more than monetary value for her.
Jesus.
He eyed Stefanos. “Miranda has my number. I’m staying at the Poseidonion.”
“Of course you would stay there.” Stefanos inched closer to him. “If you hurt her …”
