Lucy Gordon - For the Greek Tycoon's Pleasure - The Greek's Pregnant Lover

Piper laughed.

Then silence fell for several seconds. It wasn’t an uncomfortable silence, but she felt like she wasn’t supposed to break it.

“I wanted to offer to play at your wedding, if you’d like.”

“Are you serious? I thought you didn’t perform anymore.”

“It’s not a performance, it’s a gift. I’m…” Cass’s voice trailed off then she took an audible breath. “I’m working on a song for you both.”

“As in composing us a song?” Piper asked in shocked awe.

“Um…yes. Is that all right?”

“That’s fantastic. I don’t know what to say. Thank you seems so inadequate.”

“I’m really happy to do it. Zee helped Neo see what was important and stopped the stubborn idiot from breaking my heart.”

“Zephyr did?” Piper asked in even more shock.

“Oh, yes. I think men are just smarter about other people’s relationships than their own.”

“Maybe not all men.”

“But definitely our men,” Cass said emphatically.

Piper wasn’t sure she considered Zephyr hers even though they were getting married. “Is Neo smarter about others then?”

“He knew you were special to Zee the minute he told us he was bringing you to dinner. It took Zephyr considerably longer than a single comment to figure out you were special to him.”

“I can’t argue with that.”

“Are things okay with you two?” Cass asked delicately.

“Better than. He may not love me, but he wants me and really wants me to be the mother of his children.”

“You do love him, though.”

“So much.”

“That’s good. I think Zee deserves lots of love and a very special woman like you. Maybe he’ll learn to trust in love by living with it and the positive results of it on a daily basis.”

Piper was certainly hoping that was the case. “Thank you. Ditto Neo about the love of a special woman, even though I’ve just recently become convinced he’s human.”

Cass’s laugh was sweet and light. “Don’t worry. He just figured that out himself recently.”

“You’re awfully good for him.”

“And you’re fabulous for Zee.”

“I’ll try to be,” Piper promised.

“Just be you…that’s all he seems to need.”

And even without the love, Piper thought Cass just might be right.

She had to hope so, because losing Art had devastated her. Losing Zephyr would kill her.

The day sped by as Piper tried to catch up on her work while still coming to terms with the huge changes in her life. Little more than two weeks ago, she had just acknowledged the fact that she had fallen in love with a man who, while having sex with her, did not consider himself her lover. Now, she was pregnant with his baby, engaged to be married and moving in with him.

Love her or not, she trusted Zephyr to be faithful. Her billionaire tycoon was nothing like her ex.

If anything, she felt like she was the one luring Zephyr into marriage under false pretenses. Only she wasn’t. She’d told him she loved him, so it was no secret she had to feel guilty about. Just because she was getting the deepest desire of her heart, or at least its twin, didn’t mean she was taking advantage of anyone. Zephyr wanted to marry her; he wanted their baby as much as she did.

No matter how fortuitous this pregnancy was for her, giving Piper a chance at a lifetime with the most amazing man walking, she had not gotten this way on purpose. Zephyr knew it, too. He even felt responsible.

So why did she still feel as though she was pulling a fast one on him?

Maybe because she knew with absolute certainty that Zephyr would not be marrying her if she wasn’t pregnant. And she wasn’t offering to wait until the iffy first trimester was over, was she?

No.

On top of all that, he had offered her the option of moving to Greece and living on a private island. Was it any wonder she felt like she’d been dumped in a waking dream?

Merely accepting the fact that she was pregnant was hard enough. She didn’t feel any different, but the blood test assured her that she would be soon. Her hand slid to her still flat stomach while she clicked the print function on the presentation she’d just finished.

Brandi had done a lot of the preliminary work and it had only been a matter of changing a few things before it was ready for presentation. Thank goodness. Piper’s mind was scattered to the four winds.

But scattered or not, there was one thing she was sure of: they would be happy together. If she didn’t believe that, she would not be moving in with him, much less marrying him. But she did believe it, deep in her bones. He was perfect for her, even if he had a mental block where love was concerned. And she was perfect for him.

No matter how much everything else scared her, she had to cling to that knowledge.

And right now she had to work.

Giving a final read-through to the design proposal for a local private attorney’s office space, she left her office and headed toward the shop floor in search of her assistant.

“Hello, Pip.”

Piper’s head snapped up at the male voice she had not heard since leaving New York.

Wearing a designer suit from last year’s line and looking years older than the last time she’d seen her ex-husband, Art Bellingham stood not five feet in front of her.

“What are you doing here?” she blurted out, her usual professional persona deserting her completely.

“An old friend can’t drop by to visit?” He tried the smirking half smile she used to find so sophisticated, but now just seemed cheesy.

“You are not an old friend.”

“That hurts, Pip. We were friends once.” Now he was laying on the charm.

It wasn’t working, not even sort of. She shook her head, clearing the cobwebs old memories had spun so quickly the moment she heard that annoying old nickname, and then looked around for her assistant, Brandi. Watching Piper and Art with avid interest, her twenty-two-year-old assistant was standing near a display of sample drapery fabrics.

Piper held the design proposal out to her. “Put this in presentation format and get the color boards we made to go with it. You’ll be presenting it to the client at tomorrow morning’s meeting.”

“You sure I’m ready for that, boss?” Brandi asked, her focus now completely on the designs in her hands.

“Yes.” The younger woman had done supervised presentations with aplomb. She was ready to fly solo.

“Fab! I’ll get right on this.” She rushed toward their work corner.

That took care of one distraction.

“Is this a business or social call?” Piper asked Art, feeling more in control of herself.

“A little of both, Pip.”

“My name is Piper. I hate that nickname. I always did.” And he’d always insisted on using it.

“Hey, don’t get all offended.” He put his hands up in mock supplication. “It’s not always easy letting go of the past.”

She crossed her arms and gave him a look she had learned from Zephyr when he dealt with particularly irritating suppliers. “Funny, after the way you blackballed my name in the New York interior design industry, I had no problem leaving my past behind.”

“Is that why you sicced your billion-dollar pit bull on me?” He frowned and shook his head, signs of his disappointment that had affected her at one time like an arrow to the heart.

Now she felt nothing but some amusement that he thought the guilt card could ever work between them again. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“I was hurt when you walked away from our marriage. I may have said some things that could be taken in a detrimental way,” he said like he was sharing some big confidence, “but that’s no reason for you to destroy a design firm that’s been in my family for three generations. I thought better of you, Pip—Piper, I really did.”