"Of course." She rolled her eyes. "Please. Just because I told my mom I didn't want a bodyguard any longer doesn't mean she listened to me, but at least with them as silent and distant watchers, I have a little more privacy than I did when my bodyguards remained within touching distance."
"Not that much privacy."
He meant not enough for her mother not to know if she had a man stay the night or had done so with one. "I don't have to sleep over with a man to have sex with one."
"But you would have to have had a relationship that went beyond a few casual dates because you are not the type of woman to sleep with a man on a whim."
"You're so sure about that?"
"Yes."
She couldn't deny it because he was right. And she did not lie. Like him, she hated lies. Like the lie when a person told you they loved you but didn't. Not really.
"So…I have had more than one relationship that lasted a few months. I'm twenty-three years old, after all."
"But none of those relationships were deep."
"How do you know? My mother said so," she guessed. "You can't trust the judgment of a woman who thinks that balance sheets are more comprehensible than people. She doesn't know me."
"Like I do not know you?"
"I'm afraid so, yes."
Nikos shook his head with an impatient jerk. "You are wrong."
But she wasn't. Nikos did not know her any better than her mother did, which meant he couldn't care for her any more deeply than her mom. While the knowledge hurt, it also really begged the question why Nikos wanted to marry her.
He was looking at her as if he expected another argument, but she didn't have to convince Nikos of her point of view. In this instance, it was her opinion that mattered and his confident insistence wasn't going to change it.
"I am not relying on her word alone," Nikos said. "I had you investigated." His expression showed not even a hint of remorse at the claim.
"What?Why? "
"When I first started considering you as a potential wife, I thought it prudent."
"You are kidding."
"No."
"I would have thought you too arrogant to believe you needed anything besides your own reading of a person in a situation like this."
"You have called me arrogant before."
"Have I?"
"Yes, the time I told you who would win the Super Bowl."
"You were so sure you were right and you aren't even a football fan."
He shrugged. "And yet I was right."
"Well, you're wrong about me being a virgin." And as much as the memories of the reason for her lack of innocence hurt, she felt a certain grim satisfaction in catching him in the wrong.
Maybe she should be offended he'd had her investigated, but she wasn't. She was, however, bothered. If Nikos wanted a relationship with her, why hadn't he made the effort to get to know her better rather than having her investigated? Maybe it wouldn't be so worrisome if he'd done it in addition to the investigation, but he hadn't.
The similarities to her mom were piling up and not in a good way. She'd been raised by a woman who would have done the exact same thing in such a situation, who even now kept her under constant surveillance—ostensibly for her safety's sake. After all, she was the daughter of a very wealthy and influential woman. However, she wasn't above using that so-called security to monitor more than her safety. She didn't know what her mother thought her knowledge was going to do for her.
If she wanted a better relationship with her, she wasn't going to have it via a silent security detail. Only maybe that was just the way she liked it. She felt like she was doing her motherly duty without getting emotionally involved.
"My investigator is very thorough," Nikos said, breaking into her derailed thoughts.
"Even the best investigators make mistakes."
"Perhaps." But she could tell he didn't believe her.