Page 49 of Forbidden Greek Mistress
This had been theirhome,a safe place for both of them.
It had been that for a long time.
Until, that was, she had decided that he must think less of her. Because if he didn’t, why would he keep hiding her away?
But now that she had nothing but time and space to look back at those days—and how hurt she’d been, and how determined she’d been to hurt him too—Saskia realized that there had been a safety in it. Because even then, she’d had absolute faith in the fact that she could shout at him, throw things, act up in any way she liked. That they could roll all over that bed and seemingly never come up for air, and that he would never leave her.
And now he’d left her twice.
Once because she’d made up the very worst version of him and used it against him.
This time because she’d showed him the very worst version of herself.
Having been more versions of herself than she was comfortable with, Saskia couldn’t say she enjoyed just…sittingwith all that. But she did.
Because it was the least she could do. It was the bare minimum she owed this great love that had somehow gotten so twisted and torn. It was what she had to do, she understood, because once she was done looking inward after the tumult of regaining her memory and coming back here and New York, and then finally wrapping herself up in Thanasis again…
Once all thesitting with itwas done, she would have to act.
And she needed to decide what that would look like, now that she knew everything.
Including her own failures, this time around. Because the Saskia she was now, the Saskia who had been Selwen, would never dream of wasting that much time with manufactured fights and hurt feelings.
This time—if there was athis time—she didn’t intend to waste a single second.
All told, it was more than a week before she heard his keys in the door one evening. She didn’t believe it at first. Saskia had dreamed this very thing too many times already, rushing out into the lounge to find herself completely alone—
But this time, when she heard the door open and then shut, she raced down the hall from the study the way she always did—
Then skidded to a stop when she saw him.
He looked different tonight. Taller, somehow. And sterner, as if every stray bit of emotion had been flayed from his bones.
She thought,this is it. He’s come to officially break up with me, tell me to get out of his flat, and carry on with my life.
“Saskia,” he began, in a voice that seemed dark and heavy.
And she couldn’t bear it. She couldn’ttakeit.
“Don’t!” she cried out.
He stopped, looking startled.
Her chest hurt from all the wild breathing and her poor heart besides, but she understood that this was her chance. She had to take it—before he could say the things she didn’t want to hear.
“I’m so sorry I lied to you,” she said, swift and to the point. “I don’t know why I did it. It was unfair, but then, so were all the things I said to you when I was Selwen. I didn’t have to remember everything that happened between us to know—at an immediate glance—that you’re not the kind of man who would do those things.”
“That isn’t—”
Saskia cut him off. “A man as scary as I made you sound doesn’t stand around listening to a character assassination from a woman who claims she doesn’t remember him. So I can tell you with total confidence that even when I was Selwen, I knew better than to claim you were that kind of man.” He was scowling at her, so she took a breath and kept going. “I think, somewhere deep down I couldn’t remember, that my feelings were hurt. Ithought you’d been ashamed of me, back when we lived here together. Maybe I wanted you to be ashamed of yourself.”
He stopped scowling. He sighed instead. “I don’t think that this has any—”
“All of this is ridiculous,” she said, cutting him off again, because maybe she was a little bit desperate. Or a lot. “Because the truth of the matter is what I told you before you left this time. You’re the only man I’ve ever wanted. Only you, Thanasis. Only and ever you.”
“Saskia,” he said again, his voice even more intent this time.
She rushed toward him then. And when she got to him, she took his hands in hers and she held him tight, staring up at him as if her intensity alone could change this.
