Want me to tell you exactly what you were wearing?” he asked, walking forward, his furious eyes not releasing hers as he said, “It was a brown suit with a cream silk shirt underneath. Your stockings were the simple tan kind and you were wearing the ugliest brown shoes that my grandmother would be ashamed to wear. But even that afternoon as you sat in my office telling me about your filing process and how you manage an office so efficiently, all I could think about was how sexy your legs were and how gorgeous you were. I wondered how long your hair was and why you didn’t wear lipstick since you had the sexiest mouth I’d ever seen in my life. From that moment on, every part of your anatomy figured very highly into my fantasy life. So don’t tell me I didn’t notice you. Not to mention all the other men in the office under the age of sixty were noticing you as well.”
Helen remembered that day well and the suit had been one she’d been very proud of. She hadn’t remembered the shoes, but she knew the ones he was talking about now that he brought them up. “You liked my mouth?” she asked, her voice small and painful.
“Hell yes!” he said. “And I’d like it a whole lot more if you’d say you’ll marry me and forget this crap about the sex. You and I both know that what we have together is more than just sex,” he said, pulling her against him and covering her lips with his own.
Helen allowed the kiss, even participated for several heart-stopping moments, before she remembered her purpose and pulled out of his arms, surprising him with her force. “No! This has to end,” she stated emphatically and turned away. “I can’t marry you,” she said. “It would never work.”
“Why not?” he ground out, furious.
“We’re from two different worlds. You’re from the ultra wealthy and I’m from the working class.”
“And yet over the last two months, you’ve acted as my wife, entertaining and even charming some of the most powerful people in Europe. And you’ve done a fantastic job, I might add.”
Helen’s pride was torn between the idea that he liked her entertaining and her love for him. “Regardless, it’s time we stopped playing house and moved on.”
There was a long, tense silence until he said, “You’re really turning me down? You won’t marry me?” he asked, stunned.
Helen nodded her head. “No. I can’t marry you.”
He watched her, noting the way she’d picked up the towel from the bed and was folding it one way, then whipping it open and refolding it differently. Her fingers were shaking and he knew something was wrong. He just didn’t understand. “Can’t or won’t?” he demanded.
Helen shrugged. “Both apply.”
She turned her back on him, waiting for the end when he would accept her word. When she heard the string of oaths uttered in Greek, then the door slam, she almost fell to the floor. But she had too much to do. Helen dressed quickly and applied more makeup than usual in order to cover the dark circles under her eyes from her restless night and her crying fit. It was hard to apply since tears kept escaping, creating streaks down her cheeks.
Turning to the closet, she pushed open the door with a shaking hand. It was as if the act of packing would make their split official and she didn’t want to do it. Unfortunately, it had to be done. Stepping inside, she turned on the light and surveyed the clothes. It was amazing but most of the clothes she had were from him. She hadn’t realized how much he’d bought for her, their days filled with planning while the evenings were taken up with dinners, parties, and other events and clothes would just magically appear in this large, spacious closet now filled with designer dresses and outfits. They were bright and colorful, all of them making her feel pretty and sexy.
Those days were gone, she told herself. Pulling on one of her black skirts, the ones she’d bought for her new job here in Greece and had thought so sophisticated, now seemed dull and lifeless. It matched her mood, she thought.
Helen fought back the tears, feeling like a part of her body had left with Dimitri when he’d stormed out of his beautiful penthouse apartment. Taking out her old, beaten up bags, she started loading in her clothes, leaving behind the ones that