Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 129687 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 648(@200wpm)___ 519(@250wpm)___ 432(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129687 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 648(@200wpm)___ 519(@250wpm)___ 432(@300wpm)
The women waited with bated breath for another woman to claim the other billionaire when none came, they simultaneously sighed in relief, thankful that there was still one left they could all pin their romantic hopes on.
Meanwhile, Damen Leventis' wife was doing her best not to have a heart attack as she watched their daughter fearlessly lunge for a vine-like rope before rappelling out of the kid-sized tower. After landing on both feet, Nala turned to her parents with a big smile. "I did it!"
"Yes, you did," Mairi said with a smile, "and you did fantastic."
"I need to be..." Nala's forehead creased in a frown of concentration. "Papa said I need to be on my feet."
Mairi bit back a grin. "You mean on your toes."
"Yes, that's it! Papa said I need to be on my toes because I need to protect the queen."
"The queen?"
"You're silly, Mama." Nala let out a giggle. "You're the queen."
Seeing his wife turn to him with raised eyebrows, Damen said piously, "You are our queen."
"Ha!" Rising to her feet, Mairi said with a grimace, "You two will never let me forget about the old woman, will you?"
Responding to Acheron's curious look, Damen explained dryly, "A con artist in disguise." Sliding an arm around his wife's waist, he continued, "The woman bumped into Mairi while she was at the hospital for Nala's checkup. She gave Mairi some sob story about not having enough money to pay her husband's medical bills, and my lovely wife had fallen for it hook, line, and sinker."
"But Nala didn't, I'm guessing?"
Nala gave her uncle a solemn shake of her head. "She was a bad lady. She lied to Mama."
Hiding a smile at the little girl's air of gravitas - Nala was fast becoming Damen's mini-me through and through - he asked with equal solemnity, "And you knew that how?"
"The lady didn't have a ring. Not like Mama and Papa."
Acheron was more than impressed. "That's amazing detective work, little one." A crooked smile flitted over his lips as he met his friend's gaze over Nala's head. You lucky bastard. Damen definitely wouldn't need to worry about any idiot turning his daughter's head.
Damen's smirk said it all. She's my child, after all.
A group of kids came to invite Nala to join them in a different interactive zone - one where parents and kids partnered up as they went through an obstacle course. "You guys go ahead," Acheron said swiftly. "I'll, ah, sit this one out." He had finally noticed the way some of the other women were looking at him, and it made him feel like he had a large-ass target on his back.
Retreating to the sidelines, he camped on one of the metal seats while watching Damen and his young family skip over old tires.
Years ago, Damen Leventis had been Europe's most eligible bachelor, infamous for bedding only the most stunning women and throwing the wildest parties in the continent. But then an American schoolteacher entered Damen's life, and everything had changed. There was an air of contentment about Leventis that Acheron once thought only belonged to middle-aged family men trapped in a continuous cycle of suburban mediocrity. Late-night outings were replaced with concocting bedtime stories as they tucked their daughter to sleep, and Friday evenings such as tonight were spent in play zones and kid-friendly restaurants.
That was all well and good for married men like Damen Leventis, Acheron considered broodingly, but why the hell had he ended up starting his weekend in the same fucking manner?
It was when the four of them got together again over dinner that Mairi noticed the frown that seemed permanently etched on Acheron's forehead. "Is everything okay? It's unlike you to look so troubled."
"He's traumatized," Damen quipped before Acheron could answer. "He's had his first taste of defeat in a woman's hands, and he's been losing sleep over it."
Acheron scowled. "Fu—-" Mairi and Damen simultaneously shot him warning glares, and he hastily amended himself, saying awkwardly instead, "Fudge off."
Nala's eyes went wide. "That's Papa's favorite expression, too." And as if to demonstrate, she said in a voice distinctly resembling her billionaire's father when he was in a temper, "Fudge off, Manolis. You're just as pudding-whipped as I am."
There were two full seconds of silence at their table, and then the adults were bursting into laughter while Nala beamed proudly at her handiwork. It always made the little girl feel good when she made other people smile and laugh.
After dinner, the couple invited Acheron for a nightcap at their place and he found himself agreeing without understanding why. He only had to check his phone's inbox, and there'd be scores of events to choose from, all of them promising the best and most salacious kind of entertainment that money could buy.
So why was it he was here again, playing third wheel while on his fifteenth day of involuntary celibacy?