"I can't decide if that's incredibly romantic or borderline stalker behavior."
Yuri laughed and slid his arm around my waist. His lips brushed my temple. "You have such a way with words, Yelena."
His playfully sarcastic reply coaxed a smile from me. As we neared my apartment, I reached into my purse for my keys. I was still digging around for them when the door suddenly opened to reveal Vivian in a paint-stained tank top and shorts. Paint splatters dotted her bare feet and hands. Her expression turned comical and it was all I could do to bite back a laugh at the shock on her face.
"Oh!" She glanced at me with wide eyes. "I heard voices and thought you were on your phone. I didn't want you to have to juggle your keys and purse." Her gaze turned to Yuri again. "Anyway. I'll…uh…I'll just go now."
Yuri chuckled softly as she scampered out of view. "Ten dollars says she's running to her phone and calling Erin or Benny."
Smiling, I agreed. "Definitely." Feeling a bit awkward, I said, "So…"
"So this is goodnight." His fingers tangled in my hair and he dragged me close for another one of his sensual, toe-tingling kisses. When his lips finally left mine, he traced my swollen pout with his finger. "I'll see you Monday night."
I couldn’t speak. I simply nodded. Yuri stepped away from me but didn't leave immediately. We stared at one another, both of us desperate to take this to the next level but fully aware that waiting would make our first time even hotter and more significant.
Gulping, I turned my back toward him and stepped into the apartment. I shut the door with shaking hands and flipped the deadbolt. Overcome by the night's strange turn of events, I pivoted toward the living room and collapsed back against the door.
My gaze met Vivian's questioning one. Curiosity radiated from her in waves. Grinning, she said, "I'm going to grab a bottle of wine and two glasses. You kick off your shoes and get comfy. I have a feeling we're going to be talking late tonight."
"Girl," I shook my head and toed off my pumps, "you aren't going to believe this…"
Chapter Three
"We headed home, Boss?"
Yuri caught Jake's gaze and shook his head. "Take me to 716."
"The back door?" Jake's expression told Yuri that his bodyguard had overhead what that pig had done to Lena.
"Da." Yuri slid into the back seat and fastened his seatbelt. He interlaced his fingers and tried to calm the rage threatening to overtake him. That any man should put his hands on any woman was despicable enough but for that prick Danny to put his filthy paws on Lena was unforgiveable.
He finally understood what Ivan and Dimitri had experienced when faced with defending their women. The fury burning his gut stunned him. He couldn't get Lena's brave, beautiful face out of his mind. She'd spoken so calmly about being violently manhandled, as if was a common occurrence, and it pained him.
Yuri knew only too well the environment of Lena's childhood. His own had been just as miserable. At an extremely young age, he'd learned how truly cruel other people could be. He'd grown hardened and callus and angry. Luckily, he'd been smart enough to listen to a mentor who urged him to turn that anger into fuel that drove his ambition and got him out of the shithole of his youth.
Lena seemed to have done the same thing. When he'd first become enamored with her, he'd gotten her old address from Nikolai and had instructed his driver to take him through the neighborhood where she'd been raised. The place could have easily served as the backdrop for a post-apocalyptic movie set. Broken-down cars, ramshackle houses, drug dealers and whores on the street corners—it sickened him to think she'd had to navigate that hellish landscape every day of her young life.
But it also made him so incredibly proud of her. There weren't many success stories to come out of places like that and she was one of them. This mess with her current job situation was only a bump in the road. He had no doubt she would find her way around it and on to better things.
Not that she would ever work for him, of course.
He didn't like being told no by anyone, but when Lena did it, he found it oddly exciting. He believed her when she said she didn't play games. There was something enticing about taking it slow with her. He'd get her in his bed eventually but that wasn't his overall goal.
With other women, sex had always been the ultimate, final step—a romp or two in the sack and he'd send them along with some expensive gifts to remember him by. With Lena, making love seemed like a step along the path. One they would both enjoy immensely but a step nonetheless. It was everything else that he craved with her.
Their impromptu, casual date tonight had convinced him that she'd been worth the wait. He couldn’t remember the last time he'd been so relaxed and at ease with a woman. There were no expectations from Lena. She truly didn't have any interest in his money. In fact, he suspected it made her wholly uncomfortable.
He'd heard that line from other women—that they weren't interested in the cold, hard cash stacked in his bank accounts—but Lena was the first one he'd ever believed. With one swift strike, she'd taken away his most seductive power. His usual M.O., to shower a woman with wildly expensive gifts, wouldn't work on her. It occurred to him that his initial plan to fly her to New York for dinner at the city's best restaurant probably wouldn't have the same effect he desired. At best, she'd find him pretentious. At worst—well, he wouldn't think about that.
So what to do about their Monday night date?
He continued to mull that over as the car wound its way through traffic. When it slowed to a stop in the alley running behind 716, his thoughts turned darker. He wanted nothing more than to give Danny a taste of the pain he'd probably caused Lena but he recognized the risk in doing such a thing. A man like Danny would want to sue and make problems. Lena would be furious with him for interfering in a situation she considered already handled.
But he couldn't let Danny get away with manhandling her and leaving bruises on her beautiful skin.
When one of the bouncers watching the rear entrance to 716 approached the vehicle, Yuri rolled down his window. The man bent down for a better view. His eyes widened. "Mr. Novakovsky!"
"Tell your boss I want to speak to him."
"Uh—out here?"
"Yes." He rolled the window up and unbuckled his belt. Comfortable in the back seat, he waited for Danny to make his appearance. As expected, the scuzzy bastard practically ran out the rear entrance. Derek, Yuri's other guard, was waiting near the car. He stopped Danny and frisked him. From the way Danny jerked from side to side, it was clear Derek was purposely being rough with him.
The door opened and Danny slid inside. Breathless, he ran a hand through his hair. Yuri caught the scents of perfume, sex and alcohol wafting from him. Was this how he conducted business? Such a disgrace!
"To what do I owe the pleasure, Yuri?"
Yuri arched an eyebrow at the impertinence of the man using his first name. They weren't peers. They weren't colleagues. They definitely weren't friends. "I wanted to discuss some business with you."
"Business?" The weasel-eyed bastard grinned. "Why don't we take this into my office?"