Master Of Games Read online

  I wanted more.

  One of his hands slid to the back of my neck, and the next thing I knew, he’d unfastened the halter strap of my gown.

  He broke our kiss to trail his tongue down my throat and over my collarbone.

  “Pierce,” I moaned, arching into his touch.

  He pushed my dress down, exposing my breasts before latching on to one straining nipple while rolling and tugging on the other with his fingers. He wasn’t gentle. There was a bite to his ministrations. He nipped and sucked as he sent shock waves of pain and pleasure into my body. My pussy wept and spasmed with each pull of his mouth. He tormented both tips until I was writhing under him.

  “I need more.” His voice was thick with desire.

  He bunched my dress upward, settling his body between my thighs. He rubbed his straining erection against my clitoral nub. I squirmed to get away and at the same time wrapped my leg tighter around him.

  “I have to see you come.” Pierce gazed down at me. “I will see you come.”

  He didn’t give me a chance to respond and covered my lips with his. We continued to eat at each other as his fingers slipped past the gusset of my underwear and to my soaked core. He stroked up and down my damp cleft, spreading my juices over my sex, and then pushed a finger inside, curving it upward to graze the sensitive area of nerves hidden at the top. His thumb glided up and teased my throbbing clit.

  My back bowed as my pussy flooded with my arousal, soaking his hand.

  “That’s it,” he murmured as he bit down on the juncture of my neck and shoulder. “Let’s see if this still makes you go over.”

  Another finger joined the first and then a third, adding a bit of the discomfort I craved.

  He began to thrust, setting a pace that was rough and measured. My core quickened, and before I realized what was happening, I slid over the cliff of ecstasy. My body thrashed as my pussy clamped down on his pistoning fingers.

  “Pierce. Oh God. Pierce,” I cried out while digging my nails into his back.

  He kept the pace of his hand until he wrung out every drop of my release and I was limp underneath him.

  He pulled free of my body and held my gaze as he licked my essence from his fingers. There was raging desire burning in his eyes, reigniting the trembling of my pussy.

  Sliding my hand between us, I cupped his straining cock. I circled his bulging head before I squeezed his hard girth. He was thick and long, just as I remembered.

  I’d thought he’d torn me in half the first time we’d made love. We’d been so frenzied to get it on that we’d skipped foreplay so I could accommodate his size and jumped to penetration. We’d both been virgins then, not having any clue what to do besides the mechanics of the act.

  Pierce was no longer an inexperienced man. He knew what he was doing and how to ready my body.

  A stab of jealousy hit me as I envisioned all the women he’d been with over the years. I knew it wasn’t fair or rational, but I couldn’t help it.

  Pierce cupped my chin and peered down at me. “I’m going to fuck you now. I would have preferred for our first time again to be in a bed, but this will have to do.”

  I jerked my face free as some semblance of sanity returned.

  “We can’t do this. It’ll complicate things. I already let it go too far.”

  He gripped my wrists and pinned them above my head as he looked over me.

  My heart pounded into my head, and the feel of his hard grip opened another lock on a desire I shouldn’t explore.

  “No, it’ll uncomplicate it. This sexual tension between us is too distracting. I know you’re going back to Greece, so there won’t be any expectations. We fuck, you submit, and we get each other out of our systems. Then we return to our lives.”

  His words were like a bucket of cold water thrown on me.

  I jerked out of his hold and pushed him back. “No. I can’t do this. I don’t do casual sex.”

  I tugged on my dress, and with unsteady fingers, I refastened the strap around my neck. Then I rested my arms on my knees while covering my face with my hands.

  My body ached for him, both physically and emotionally. I took a few deep breaths while trying to hold in the sobs of frustration and need.

  I lifted my face to see the hard expression on his.

  “Bullshit. You were fucking Thanos while we were together.”

  I held his stare but kept quiet, suppressing the urge to defend myself.

  He would learn the truth soon enough. What just happened now made it clear it was imperative I talk to Pierce about Christopher.

  Breaking eye contact, I slipped off the sofa and straightened my clothes.

  “You shouldn’t have come in here. I shouldn’t have let it get this far. It was a mistake. I’m sorry.”

  I rushed to the door, but as I grabbed the door handle, Pierce asked, “Did you ever love me or was it only one-sided?”

  Without thinking I answered, “I loved you so much that it destroyed me to break your heart. You can hate me all you want, but circumstances made hurting you the only choice.”

  “Like being knocked up and marrying another man.”

  I flinched and my voice grew hard as I said, “That is something we will discuss at another time.”

  “When is the right time? I have a right to know what happened.”

  “Tomorrow,” I said, knowing it was time and there was no way of getting out of it. “Meet me here at two. I have training sessions to oversee until one.”

  “No, meet me at my hotel. I don’t want anything or anyone distracting us.”

  “Fine.” I tugged the door open.

  Just as I crossed the threshold, Piece said, “I’m going to fuck you, Ame. Make you beg and feed every craving you try so hard to hide. It’s inevitable. I’d rather it be with everything laid out on the table.”

  Chapter Nine

  Pierce

  * * *

  “Mr. Lykaios, I have Mrs. Thanos seated at the corner table as you requested.”

  I nodded at Nico Maxim, the manager of Marmara, the three-star Michelin restaurant in the Aegean.

  “I’ll show myself in. Make sure you keep this section closed.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  As I worked my way around a slate and multicolored pebble waterfall wall, I noticed a group of diners who looked eerily similar to Draco Jackson’s men.

  From the way they watched me and then glanced in the direction I was heading, they were keeping an eye on what went on in my world. A world that had no ties to Draco’s.

  I had to remember to ask Hagen about it. Right now, I had to focus on the woman waiting for me.

  I came around the corner from where she sat and stopped to study her.

  God, she was beautiful. She wore a light dusting of makeup, and her black hair was loose. Her pink-and-black suit with an open collar gave the perfect hint of sexiness without looking trashy. This wasn’t the fighter I’d fallen for but the savvy businesswoman with a reputation for playing hardball.

  She scrolled through her phone as she sipped her drink, probably sparkling water. She’d been addicted to the stuff when we were kids. She licked her lips, and I nearly groaned.

  I could still taste her on my tongue. Watching her go over was like falling into the past. The right touch and she’d surrendered all her control.

  We’d been so naive when we played as barely grown teens. Neither of us understood the dynamics between us.

  She was so controlled in the outside world, knowing one wrong move could cost her a match, or worse, a dangerous injury. I, on the other hand, had no control of my world. The only thing I was good at was swimming, and even then I had to learn to handle the disorder of my family life, a mother and baby brother I wasn’t allowed to contact, a father who tried to control my life but had thrown me out the second I’d turned eighteen, and a career that demanded so much of my time that without Hagen to guide me I’d never have been able to handle it.

  It wasn’t until Amelia and
I started seeing each other that I lost my reputation as a reckless, combative teen who would challenge anyone who told me no.

  She’d given me a way to handle my chaotic life.

  Almost a decade later, I clearly understood we’d played in something neither of us had any business exploring. We were too young, too ignorant of the do’s and don’ts, too unaware of the dangers. I cringed thinking of the lines I thankfully never crossed but no doubt would have if Amelia and I had stayed together.

  It had taken me years of training to hone the desires that came naturally to me. When I took Amelia again, she would have a very different experience.

  As if she felt my gaze, she looked up from her phone. She swallowed, and a shadow of wariness entered her eyes.

  Slowly approaching, I let her take me in. There was always a slight change in her breath whenever I neared her. She more than likely wasn’t even aware of it.

  “Sorry for keeping you waiting, Ame,” I said, grazing a finger behind her neck and then moving to the seat opposite her at the table.

  She shivered and clenched her glass, making me almost smile.

  “It’s fine. I ordered you a whiskey.”

  I glanced at the tumbler of amber liquid on my side. She’d noticed what I liked within the few interactions we’d had.

  Why did the thought of that please me?

  Snap out of it, man. You’re not a lovestruck teen anymore.

  I picked up the glass and took a sip before setting it back on the table. I remained quiet as she rubbed her fingers along the stem of her glass.

  “Pierce,” she began, “I need you to listen without interrupting me. Once I’m done, I’ll answer any questions you have.” Her hands shook as she tucked her hair behind her ear.

  “Okay.”

  “When I left you, there were more things at play than you knew. Hell, more than I knew. Some of it I haven’t learned about until recently. I always assumed Collin hated us together because I wasn’t good enough for you. And threatened to fire my father to break us up.”

  “It did break us up.”

  “No. There was more to it.”

  Okay, that sounded ominous. I leaned forward. “Go on.”

  “I’m going to tell you a story. There was an heiress named Rhea who fell for Collin, an older businessman. Their romance was a whirlwind, passionate and intense. It was perfect for years. They had three children. Sons. These boys were their world.”

  Her painting my parents in a storybook romance had my back up. I opened my mouth to ask what this had to do with my son, but she lifted her hand.

  “Please, Pierce. Let me finish, and you will understand.”

  I nodded.

  “A year after their youngest child was born, the couple moved to Las Vegas with their children. Collin wanted to create a legacy for his family, so he began to work nonstop, not realizing he was neglecting the very people he worked so hard for. The relationship between Rhea and Collin became strained, and Rhea turned to Collin’s best friend for comfort.”

  “Anthony,” I said without thinking.

  She didn’t acknowledge my words. “Then one day, Collin’s offices were raided by federal agents, looking for evidence against—” she paused before continuing, “—Anthony. It turned out Collin was one of many victims of an embezzlement scandal. An investigation revealed that Anthony had seduced Rhea to gain access to Collin’s financials.

  “Reeling from the discovery, Collin confronted Rhea. She admitted the truth and begged him for forgiveness. They tried to fix their marriage for their sons’ sakes, but a month later she discovered she was pregnant with Anthony’s child. A child she gave up after a secret birth. A child I didn’t discover was a friend of mine for most of my life until a conversation I had with my mother.”

  Holy fuck. She knew Anaya was my sister.

  “The reason Collin wanted us apart was that he was afraid your mother’s secret would be exposed if we stayed together. My parents were the ones who arranged for your mother to deliver without anyone suspecting.

  “At the time, my father worked for one of Collin’s resorts near Athens and wanted desperately to move to America. Knowing this, Collin made a deal with him. In exchange for hiding Rhea in Greece for the duration of her pregnancy, Collin would sponsor work visas for my parents and a green card for me, give Papa a job as a gaming manager in one of his casinos, and pay for my education. And once the baby was born, my parents would arrange for Anthony’s wife to take the little girl.

  “Once we moved to Las Vegas, Rhea maintained a friendly but distant relationship with my parents. Collin was formal and all business, although he had helped me with the application process for my American citizenship.

  “For years, Collin and Rhea’s secret was well maintained.

  “It wasn’t until they learned you and I were in a relationship that everything changed. They feared our involvement would cause my parents to slip and reveal their secrets and…”

  “And they forced you to break up with me. I know what happened ten years ago. What’s the point of this long story?” I couldn’t hide the hard edge in my voice. “Except to waste my time.”

  It killed me inside to see my mother as anything other than the amazing woman who adored her children. She’d cheated on Collin, and because of her affair with Anthony, Draco had orchestrated the destruction of my childhood.

  I pushed the hurt down. I couldn’t go there right now.

  “Because you needed to know Collin’s reasoning for pushing me to my decision and why I forgave him.”

  I slammed a fist on the table, making her jump. I was done with the pretense.

  “A decision that had me losing nearly ten years of my son’s life.”

  I pulled out a set of pictures from my jacket and threw them on the table.

  I positioned two of them side-by-side. “You see this picture? This is me. And this one is Christopher Thanos. We look identical. Tell me he’s not mine. I dare you.”

  “I…I can’t,” she stuttered, and then after a deep breath, she said, “He’s yours.”

  “Did you know you were carrying my child when you broke up with me?”

  A tear slipped down her cheek. “I didn’t know until three weeks later.”

  “You didn’t think it was important to let me know?”

  “I did. I was going to come to your apartment and lay out everything that happened, but you’d moved on. A tabloid had caught you in a hotel with two models.”

  I ran a hand through my hair. “What did you expect me to do? You ripped my heart out of my chest.”

  I was fucking nineteen with women throwing themselves at me. I had to forget Amelia and I had taken what was offered. The fact I felt dirty and disgusted with myself afterward was another matter altogether.

  “Not jump into bed with anything that would spread her legs,” she said through clenched teeth.

  “And when was the first time you slept with your billionaire?”

  “Six months after I had Christopher.” Her eyes blazed. “You see, I was in love with your pompous ass and couldn’t imagine touching another man, whether we were together or not. Something you had no problem with.”

  All my anger disappeared. “I still had a right to know.”

  “Were you really going to be able to step up? You had just won six medals and had a long career ahead of you. The only thing that grounded you was swimming.”

  She was the only thing that grounded me. When I’d lost her, I lost the ability to control my rage, resulting in a fight with an official and disqualification from the sport for three years. In the sporting world that had been a death sentence.

  “It wasn’t your decision.”

  “I can’t change the past. All I can say was that I was a scared, pregnant eighteen-year-old. My parents had lost their jobs with no choice but to return to Greece. We had no money, and a good man offered to accept my unborn child and me.”

  “Why? No one does that. What did he get out of it?”

&n
bsp; She looked away again, closing her eyes for a brief second. “He got Christopher. Stavros couldn’t have children.”

  “So you’re telling me my son is the heir to a shipping fortune.”

  “Legally, he is Stavros’s son.”

  “Bullshit. No court in America will agree to that.”

  “He’s not American. He’s Greek.”

  “Wrong. Both his parents are Americans. Therefore he’s American.”

  “As far as the world knows, he’s only half American.”

  I clenched my jaw. “Is it about the money? Are you afraid Christopher will lose his inheritance?”

  “No. Stavros made sure nothing in his will or the company bylaws could contest Christopher’s claim to the company.”

  “You sold my child.”

  “It wasn’t like that, and I won’t let you taint Stavros’s memory with your anger. Stavros loved Christopher more than anything.”

  “I have rights, Amelia.”

  “Are you going to fight me for him?” I could feel the fear radiating from her body.

  I wanted to scream at her “yes” but instead I said, “Only if you keep me from him.”

  “I won’t prevent you from getting to know Christopher or being in his life, but for now, he will only know Stavros as his father. He’s too young to understand what happened between us.”

  The determination on her face made me want to shake her. I was his father. I had a right to give my son a life I’d never had.

  “Then who will I be to him?”

  She pinched the bridge of her nose. “I don’t know.” Then her gaze locked with mine. “How did you find out? Was it Penny or the magazine?”

  “Not Penny.” I laughed, unable to hide the bitterness I felt toward my soon-to-be sister-in-law. “That woman is loyal to you through and through. Just so you know, Hagen confronted her about it once we learned about Christopher’s parentage.”

  “Then you saw the magazine. That was the only way.”