The Billionaire's Unexpected Wife

KristoI grabbed my swimming stuff and headed down to the pool, my body craving the cool water despite my exhaustion from the trip. Making my way into the locker room, I was glad to see the place was quiet enough. I guessed the hotel was nearly booked out for the gala that evening, and everyone else would be getting ready to rub elbows and schmooze their asses off. I should have been to, but I needed a minute to myself first, just to get my head in order.When I came out into the pool area, I inhaled the scent of chlorine, let the warmth of the room coddle me, and at once started to feel better. Slipping below the water, I did a couple of laps before I noticed I wasn’t the only person in the area.She was sitting on a lounge chair set ten feet from the edge of the pool, reclined like the model in some Renaissance work of art. She was holding a book—I couldn’t make out the title, but there was a watercolor image on the front—and sipping on a cocktail, wearing a one-piece suit that was

AmayaWhen I stepped out, it took me a moment to figure out where he had wandered off to, but then he emerged from the crowd, and my heart nearly stopped as I realized he was coming toward me. I half-expected someone to step in and pull me away at the last minute, that some pretty young thing would draw his attention from me before he could get too close, but nothing did. His eyes were locked on mine, even brighter and bolder than they had been before.Before I knew it, he was in front of me, those eyes burning deep into me as he came to a halt a foot from me. I could smell his aftershave, something strong and sharp and masculine that filled my senses and sent me floating a few feet off the ground. He was a lot to handle. He was even hotter closeup, like, male-model perfect, and I was struggling to remember how in the hell I was supposed to introduce myself.“I’ve been watching you all night,” he remarked, and the words sent a shiver down my spine. A waiter passed by us, and he plucke

Kristo“I don’t remember anything about last night,” she sighed, flashing me a playful smile. Any other time, I might have taken that as an invitation to slide beneath the covers with her and see if we could spark any memories, but I didn’t have time for that. I lifted my hand in front of her, spreading my fingers, and showed her the ring.“You know anything about this?” I asked, and her eyes widened.“You didn’t tell me you were married,” she protested, and I reached down to pick up her hand and show her she had the exact same one on. Her face dropped.“What the fuck?” she asked again, but this time there was a little more panic in her voice. That was more like it.“You don’t remember anything?” I pressed her, and she shook her head once more.“Just, like, fuzzy memories,” she frowned. “I remember leaving the party with you and that was it…”She lay for a moment, looking like a movie star surrounded by the luxurious pillows and the comforter, as though she’d been dropped into a cloud

AmayaI thought of Jolene, who was probably at home wondering where the heck I was right now, and my stomach twisted. A few thousand dollars alone would make her life a hell of a lot easier. And I would have done anything to assure my sister’s life was a little less difficult.It had been so hard for both of us since Mom and Dad had passed away. Every time I thought of them, I still felt that twist deep in my stomach. A car accident had robbed both me and my sister of our family when she had been nothing more than a few years old. And, in the midst of the grief and working on my undergraduate degree, I’d had to move back home to step up and take care of my sister. Jolene had been born with severe physical disabilities that had required basically full-time care around the clock to keep her functioning, and when Mom and Dad had died, I’d been the only one who knew her well enough to step in and take care of my sister. I loved her, I did, and so I moved back home from the dorm rooms wher

KristoHow long had my family been getting on me to get married? Longer than I could remember. And things had taken a major uptick as soon as I had stepped up to take over the business. They thought it would look better to our investors and everyone involved with us if I could project this image of a settled-down family man, someone who could prove he was consistent and reliable and trustworthy. It had gotten to the point now that every time I flew over to Greece to see my grandparents, my grandmother would have zeroed in on some other helpless young girl she was sure would make a perfect wife for me. The woman would be dragged along to some family gathering while pretty much every one of my relatives spent the entire evening trying to push us together, and I would have to politely explain at the end of the night that I wasn’t looking for a relationship like that. And it would play out over and over again as though they were just waiting to find the right woman and thought that as soo