Total pages in book: 29
Estimated words: 28033 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 140(@200wpm)___ 112(@250wpm)___ 93(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 28033 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 140(@200wpm)___ 112(@250wpm)___ 93(@300wpm)
Everyone thinks I’m living the dream—married to Leonidas Gazis, a former racing champion who looks like a modern-day god and commands empires with a single glance.
But they don’t know about the eight years of separate bedrooms. The mistress in Milan. The marriage that was never anything more than a pit stop for him.
I asked my husband for a divorce, thinking he’d wave the checkered flag and let me go.
Instead, Leonidas refuses to sign—and demands I give him a chance to make our marriage real.
The only problem? He didn’t want me until he found out I invented the technology that could get him back on the track.
Note: This book also includes a bonus copy of The Greek Billionaire’s Email Bride
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
Part One
Leonidas
These two were good together, Mrs. Sanchez thought fondly as she watched her billionaire boss gently wake his wife from her nap.
The young Mrs. Gazis had fallen asleep somewhere over the Atlantic, her head tilting toward the window of the private jet, a tablet still clutched in her hands. Something technical on the screen, full of diagrams and equations that Mrs. Sanchez couldn’t begin to decipher. The girl was always working on something, always lost in her world of machines and calculations.
But now Leonidas was crouched beside her seat, one hand carefully removing the tablet before it could slip, the other brushing a strand of dark hair from his wife’s face. The gesture was remarkably tender, so unexpectedly soft from a man who commanded boardrooms with the mere lift of an eyebrow.
In the decades she had been working for the Gazis family, she had seen Leonidas grow from a reckless young racing prodigy into the controlled, leonine figure he was today. Golden-haired, tawny-eyed, with that single streak of silver at his temple that only made him look more untamed rather than older. A modern-day monarch, ruling his billion-dollar empire with quiet, absolute authority.
And yet here he was, handling his sleeping wife like she was something precious and delicate.
It would have made more sense if their first stop from Athens had been Monaco. That was where the business waited, after all. But Leonidas had always been protective toward the young Mrs. Gazis, and so Mrs. Sanchez and the rest of the staff had simply exchanged knowing smiles when they’d seen the flight plan.
Athens to New York, and then the crew was to enjoy a paid leave while Mr. Gazis flew commercial (first class, of course) to Monaco, and only upon his return to New York would the couple use the private jet to fly back to Athens.
All this trouble, Mrs. Sanchez thought with quiet amusement, just so his wife wouldn’t have to deal with the hassle of flying commercial.
“Lexy.” His voice was low, patient. “We’ve landed.”
Mrs. Gazis stirred, blinking those serious dark eyes. For a moment she looked disoriented, a small crease forming between her brows. Then she registered her husband’s face, and something in her expression settled.
Not joy, exactly. Not the swooning adoration Mrs. Sanchez had seen from other trophy wives. Just...calm. Recognition. Like he was a familiar landmark in an unfamiliar landscape.
“Already?” Lexy sat up straighter, reaching automatically for the tablet Leonidas had already set aside. “I was in the middle of—”
“It can wait.” The billionaire’s tone was gentle but firm.
“I guess.” Hers was of quick acquiescence, and hearing this had Mrs. Sanchez struggling to keep her face blank. The truth was, the young Mrs. Gazis might look innocent and biddable, but she could be surprisingly stubborn on most things...except where her husband was concerned. What Leonidas said, Leonidas got...because Lexy trusted her husband to always have her best interests at heart.
Leonidas rose to his full height with the unconscious grace of a man who had been impeccably dressed since birth. “Come. The car is waiting.”
Another round of discreet smiles were exchanged among the staff as they listened to their handsome and normally aloof boss betray his humanity in the next few minutes, with Leonidas acting more like a parent would with a forgetful child as he reminded Lexy about keeping her belongings safe and warning her against talking to strangers.
“But I’ve never been the friendly type,” Lexy protested. “You know how much I hate talking to anyone—”
“Ah, yes.” His tone was sardonic. “My mistake. You don’t enjoy talking to anyone indeed. You just prefer to open your wallet and sign checks for anyone who asks you for money.”
His wife frowned, he raised a brow in challenge, but when she opened her mouth to protest, Leonidas held his hand up and turned to face Mrs. Sanchez and the rest of the staff, and...oh dear. Had their boss known all along that they had been watching and listening?
“Do tell, Mrs. Sanchez,” the billionaire drawled. “Am I right or am I right?”
Mrs. Sanchez and the others smiled apologetically at Lexy. As much as they wanted to take their young mistress’s side, they wanted her safe even more, and so—
“I’m sorry, dear, but I’m afraid Mr. Gazis is indeed right.”
Lexy did make an easy mark for most people, with her stubborn desire to give everyone the benefit of the doubt...even if all signs pointed to the other party being a con artist.
Just last month, she’d nearly wired fifty thousand euros to a “charity” that turned out to be a front for money laundering. The month before that, she’d given her credit card number to a caller claiming to be from the bank. And the incident with the “stranded tourist” in Mykonos had required actual legal intervention.
It was remarkable in a way, how someone as academically brilliant as Lexy could be so...disconnected with reality. Perhaps it was because of her sheltered upbringing that Lexy seemed constitutionally incapable of believing anyone would lie to her face.