Maisey Yates - Greek Mavericks - At The Greek's Pleasure

There was no panic. There was not even any rage, though he had expected it. No, there was nothing but cold, clean determination. He knew exactly what he was going to do. What he would demand.

“I...”

“Yes, I think I can guess.”

“I don’t know what we’re going to do.”

“I know exactly what we are going to do.”

Her eyes widened. “You do?”

“Yes. You will be coming back to Athens with me. And then, agape, you and I are going to marry.”

* * *

Elle was dimly aware of the fact that she was sitting in Apollo’s limo, essentially in a catatonic state. But she had just found out she was pregnant with the baby of a man who despised her and her family, a man who had left her jobless and broken when he had ended their affair.

She had never really thought about being a mother. Her own mother had abandoned her early on and not bothered to keep in touch at all. Her stepmother was a lovely woman, but often silent next to her husband.

And Elle’s father was so...imposing. He didn’t bend. He didn’t show affection. It was like loving a rock.

She had never imagined trying to re-create that parent-child relationship with herself in the parenting hot seat. It seemed...completely unappealing. It also meant she was linked to Apollo. Forever.

As if you weren’t before.

She gritted her teeth. She had no idea what to say. No idea what to do next. And as far as she knew she was being shanghaied and sent to Athens again.

That thought sent her into action. “I’m not going to marry you.”

He chuckled, a dark, humorless sound. “Then prepare yourself for a custody battle that will drain you of your every resource.”

She blinked. “Who said I would fight you for custody?”

The moment she said it, she realized that she would. Not because her parents had been wonderful, not because they had made her long for a parent-child relationship in her own life. But because they had demonstrated in a million small ways how unimportant she was. She would be damned if her own child would walk through life feeling like their mother couldn’t be bothered with them.

Just the thought made her stomach clench in agony. Her own little one, believing that she didn’t want them. She wanted to apologize to the little life inside her. As though it had somehow sensed her hesitance.

“If you don’t feel strongly enough about our child to stand and fight for them, then I would gladly have you step aside.”

“I won’t,” she said, her tone infused with conviction.

The numbness was starting to wear off. And even though she couldn’t quite imagine what it would be like to have a child, even though she wasn’t sure if she was devastated or happy, she knew that she wouldn’t stand aside.

“You just said—”

“Yes, well, I am trying to figure out exactly where I stand. It might surprise you to know this but I didn’t exactly fantasize about a life with a picket fence, a husband and children.”

“It doesn’t surprise me. A woman with as much white in her apartment as you have doesn’t seem to be planning ahead for sticky fingers.”

“I wasn’t. You can be sure of that. But I’m also not one to walk away from my responsibilities. And I don’t want any child of mine going through life imagining they aren’t wanted.”

“Then, marriage it will be.”

Her mind was ticking over at a million miles a minute. “I would have a few conditions,” she said.

She could not believe she had just said that. She knew that you weren’t supposed to negotiate with terrorists or superalpha Greek billionaires who had far too high of an opinion of themselves. So, she didn’t know why she was attempting it.

“Conditions, agape?” He sounded...angry. But interested.

“Yes. Conditions.” Now she had to quickly think of her conditions. “New York is my home. I’m not leaving New York.”

“I have a villa in Greece.”

“I daresay you have homes all over the world. I know you don’t have a permanent residence in New York, but I do.”

“Your apartment is the size of a postage stamp.”

“It’s big enough.”

“For you. There is no room for a child. No room for a husband.”

She gritted her teeth. “I did not agree to taking a husband. Not yet. I have conditions, but I won’t make my final decision until I’m certain that the situation is to my liking.”

“I’m not certain you want to challenge my authority. I am a well-respected billionaire, after all, and you are unemployed. The daughter of a businessman on the verge of being washed-up. If your mother hasn’t spent all of his payoff money by now, she’s certainly close to it. What could you possibly give a child that I can’t?”

“Love. Warmth. Human emotion?”

“I’m sure the court will be more impressed with my net worth.”

“I don’t think so. Everyone agrees that a child needs love above anything else.”

“And you feel you are more qualified to give a child parental love that I am?”

She shifted in her seat. “Yes. I do.”

“On what grounds? Prior to being unemployed you were a workaholic.”

“I was not.”

“Did you have a single friend who was not also a coworker?”

She didn’t even have to think about that. She knew the answer to the question. But whether or not they were from work Suki and Christine were real friends. Suki had brought cupcakes after Elle had been fired. Friendship.

Though the thought of cupcakes made her stomach turn right now.

“You’re a workaholic, too,” she said.

“I’m also a man and a billionaire. No one will judge me for the amount of time I spend working. It is irrelevant. Not so for you.”

“The point is, I am the child’s mother and I don’t think I’m going to have an issue retaining custody.”

“I disagree.”

“You will have to wait, Apollo,” she said, her voice infused with iron, with a strength she wasn’t sure she truly felt right now. “I’m not afraid of fighting you in court. To hear you tell it your mother was manipulated into a relationship with my father and now you want to do the same to me? How are you any better?”

“I’m not,” he said, his expression bleak, cold. But only for a moment. Then his walls went back up.

“Name your conditions clearly.”

“I want to stay in New York. I wish to have the child here. I wish to raise him here.”

“The child will be Greek. He should be exposed to his homeland.”

“Exposure is fine. But I want him raised here. I want to stay here. Because that leads me to my next requirement. I want my job back.”

“The new CEO has only been there for a month. If I let him go I will seem capricious.”

“There is a cost to everything. And that is the cost to having me without muss or fuss. Do you accept, or not?”

She wasn’t certain if she wanted him to say yes, or if she wanted him to refuse. She wasn’t sure what she wanted at all.

“I accept.”

A strange mixture of relief and terror washed through her. “Excellent.”

He pulled out his phone again. “Alethea,” he said. “I require some real estate. A penthouse, Manhattan. Something large, but secure. No rooftop balconies or anything like that. Or, if there are balconies, they need to be secure. Childproof.” He hung up.

“Is your assistant finding you a house?”

“No, agape,” he said, smiling a smile that was not friendly at all. “My assistant is going to find us a home. Now do you agree to marry me?”

Elle took a deep breath and met that coal-black gaze. “If I find the conditions are met to my satisfaction. And if I feel you won’t spend my whole life making me miserable. You said I was your revenge, Apollo. Until you see me as a woman—a whole woman, not your stepsister who you harbor rage against, not an instrument of vengeance to use against my father—you will not have me. Not in your life, not as your wife. That’s a promise.”