Dimitri (10 page)

"I don’t think it's his forgiveness that's the
issue." Dimitri grew uncomfortable talking about their friend's
private business and changed the subject. "Do you have time to
speak with me?"

Yuri whacked his back and grinned. "Always.
Come."

He followed Yuri into his spacious office. One
of Yuri's many assistants tailed them into the room. Ever
solicitous, she offered him a drink that he turned down. Yuri asked
for water and she hurried to bring it to him, tottering on her
heels and barely able to move in the skintight pencil
skirt.

There was a time Yuri would have watched her
every move, his hungry gaze glued to her wiggling backside or the
soft jiggle of her breasts. Today, he seemed to be completely
unaware of her. Dimitri studied his friend for a long moment after
the assistant exited and shut the door behind him.

"What?" Yuri sipped his water.

Dimitri leaned back in his seat and got
comfortable. "You didn't flirt with her."

He looked unhappy. "I don't flirt with every
woman who works for me, Dimitri."

"No? Because you have a certain
reputation—"

Yuri made an irritated growling sound. "People
change."

"Some do, but you?"

Yuri glared at him. "Yes. I can
change."

Dimitri considered how defensive his friend was
acting. "Are you changing to better yourself or to make someone
else happy?" He laughed as it all started to make sense. "Who is
she?"

Yuri got a far off look in his eye. "Someone
who despises me."

"I find that hard to believe."

Yuri gave a little self-deprecating laugh.
"Well believe it, Dimitri, because it's happened."

"Does she work for you?"

He shook his head. "I tried to headhunt her but
she shot me down. She's brilliant and everyone talks about her keen
eye for PR. Then she walked through that door," he gestured to
entrance, "and I couldn't think. I couldn't breathe. I just gawked
at her like some stupid little boy…" His voice trailed off and he
frowned. "Apparently my reputation makes me the kind of man she
won't work for or date."

Dimitri sensed Yuri had been hurt by the
rejection. He wasn't a man used to hearing no from anyone. "I'm
sorry, Yuri."

He waved his hand. "And the worst part of the
whole sad affair? She's Erin and Vivi's best friend so I have to
see her anytime I'm around Ivan or Nikolai."

Dimitri blinked as the pieces fell into place.
"Wait. Lena? Lena Cruz?"

Yuri nodded. "You know her?"

"Sure, she's close with Benny. They're working
together on a project at the bakery."

Yuri got a mischievous glint in his pale eyes.
"Ah, yes. How is your sweet little landlady?"

Dimitri shot him a warning look. "She's
fine."

"Still chasing after her like a puppy
dog?"

Dimitri shifted uncomfortably. "Not
exactly."

Yuri laughed. "Oh, I see. Did we finally work
up the courage to make our move?" He waggled his eyebrows. "How was
she? It's always those petite quiet ones who turn out to be the
real firecrackers between the sheets."

Dimitri's jaw tightened. He would let Yuri bust
his balls about a lot of things but Benny was off-limits. "Don't,
Yuri."

His friend's eyes widened. "I see. That
serious, huh?"

"It's complicated," he said finally. "I'm not
sure we're on the same page yet."

"Well I'm sure you didn’t come here for
relationship advice. You'd better look to Ivan for those
answers."

Dimitri snorted at the thought of seeking
advice on long-term relationships from a billionaire oligarch
playboy, but the suggestion to bounce ideas off Ivan was a good
one. "No, I'm not here for that kind of help. What do you know
about UpStreet Properties?"

Yuri's playful demeanor fled. "Nothing you'll
like to hear. Why?"

"They want to buy Benny's bakery so they can
put in a retail center. She said no and they sent around one of
their men to scare her this morning."

Yuri's eyes narrowed and a flash of anger
darkened them. Like Dimitri, he had a real problem with that
particular scare tactic. Going after women was weak and
cowardly.

"Jonah Krause owns the real estate development
company. He has deep pockets. Not as deep as mine, obviously, but
deeper than yours. It's not the money that makes him dangerous,
Dimitri. It's his connections."

"To?"

"Anyone and everyone important in Houston,"
Yuri continued. "Make no mistake. If he wants that property, he's
going to get it. He owns a lot of people in the city government.
He'll put pressure on them to use imminent domain. If she beats
that, he'll find a way to stop the permits she needs to do repairs
or improvements. If that doesn’t stop her, he'll blacklist her with
contractors and make it impossible for her to get any work done.
Push back hard enough and he might use some of the knee-breakers he
keeps on his payroll to bring her into compliance."

Dimitri rubbed the back of his neck. His
muscles tightened painfully as the picture of what Benny stood
against became clear. "What do I do? How do I help her?"

"You tell her to raise the fucking price and
sell out while the money is still good."

"She won't. That business and that building are
her family's history."

"The business can be moved. A building is
simply a building. It's bricks and drywall and wires. It's
nothing." Yuri jabbed the air with his finger. "You'd better change
her mind or she's going to get totally fucked on this. These are
not the kind of people she wants to take on, Dimitri. This will be
a nasty fight—and it's one you will not win."

Yuri's ominous warning made his stomach pitch.
While he respected Benny's feelings on the matter, he worried that
she was letting her emotions cloud her judgment. With enough money
from a sale of the building and a sale of her home, she could start
over in a better location. He'd help her with funds, if needed, to
make sure she stayed solidly in the black.

Getting her to agree to that proposal wouldn't
be easy. He never wanted her to feel like he didn't have her back.
He feared she'd see it as a betrayal if he urged her to sell but
what else could he do? Yuri never exaggerated. If he said this
Jonah Krause was trouble, it was true.

"Shit." Dimitri wiped a hand down his face. "We
haven't even had a full twenty-four hours together as a couple and
we're going to have our first huge fight."

"Now this is something I can help you with,
Dimitri! I may not be a relationship expert like Ivan but I know
exactly what to do in this situation."

Dimitri eyed him warily. "And what's
that?"

"You stop at the jewelry store on the way home
and you buy something obscenely expensive. Diamonds are always a
good choice. It softens them up and makes it less likely you're
going to need a trip to the emergency room."

Dimitri scowled at Yuri. "I can't imagine why
Lena thinks you're such a womanizer."

"That hurts, Dimitri." Yuri put a hand to his
chest and feigned injury.

His pocket vibrated and he grabbed his phone. A
text message from Benny made his chest flutter. He felt like a damn
teenager as he opened the message. A grown man shouldn't feel this
much excitement from something so simple—but he did.

Having dinner with the girls
tonight. Hope that's okay.

Before he could type an answer, Yuri asked, "Is
that from Benny?"

"She's just letting me know that she's having
dinner with friends." He didn't mention Lena because he didn't want
to touch that sore spot.

"Is that all she says?"

"Well…"

"Because it's probably a test,
Dimitri."

He laughed. "It's a message, Yuri. That's
all."

"Except when it isn't," Yuri replied. He held
out his hand. "Let me see."

Dimitri pulled the phone closer to his chest
but Yuri was able to bat it out of his hands. He glanced at the
screen and hummed knowingly. "See? A test!"

Dimitri narrowed his eyes. "Give me the damn
phone."

Yuri slapped it back onto his palm. "She's
feeling uncertain, Dimitri. I know I joked about the shy, quiet
types earlier but I'm being serious now. Women like Benny need to
be reassured. She's funny and sweet but she's not the most
confident woman. This message?" He pointed at the phone. "That's
her way of establishing boundaries."

"Boundaries?" Dimitri rarely felt out of his
depth but Yuri's knowledge in the field of women trumped
his.

"You have a dominating personality. Like me,
like Ivan, like Nikolai," he said. "Some women love that, yeah?
Some women are put off by it. Some women aren't quite sure. Benny's
somewhere in the middle right now. She loves it and fears it. She's
telling you that she's going to have a night with her friends to
remind you who makes decisions for her. But," he emphasized, "a
small part of her wants to know if you'll be bothered that she made
a decision without you. She's feeling you out. She's trying to
figure out how this relationship is going to work."

Dimitri stared at the screen and considered
Yuri's advice. Last night, he'd been a bit forceful in getting her
to stay the night with him. He'd also put her in restraints. She'd
loved them, obviously, but maybe it was a bit too much for one
night. Was she feeling skittish now?

He ran his thumb over the touchscreen and
thought about what to type. After erasing his message twice, he
settled on one that worked.

Have fun. I'd like to see you
later?

With his message sent, he looked up to find
Yuri eyeing him. He tucked his phone into his pocket and let loose
an irritated sigh. "What?"

Yuri's shoulders bounced and he stood. "I was
thinking that soon you and Ivan will be having couples-only
weekends."

Dimitri shot him the finger but didn't try to
deny it. For all he knew, Yuri was right. Ivan had been with Erin
only a few short months but he'd already witnessed a dramatic
change in his friend. It was probable he'd soon be following in
Ivan's footsteps.

Yuri made his way to his desk and plucked a
business card from the tray there. "Have you given any thought to
the proposal I made last week?"

Dimitri thought back to their dinner at the
Samovar. Yuri had blindsided him with a new business venture he
wanted Dimitri to head. "You were serious about that?"

Yuri looked amused. "Have you ever known me to
joke when it comes to money and business?"

"No."

He scribbled something on the back of the card.
"I think you're the perfect person to head a personal security
firm. We can roll Front Door Security into a bigger company. I
think you have something unique to offer, especially to the heavy
international clientele that's pouring into Houston." He
straightened and dropped the pen back into its holder. "You and I
have always stayed clean so we wouldn't have any problems
there."

When he said clean, he meant on the right side
of the law. Unlike Ivan and Nikolai who had both done time and had
rap sheets a mile long, Dimitri and Yuri had stayed out of the
criminal fray. That wasn’t to say they hadn't crossed the line a
time or two when it was absolute necessary but they'd been careful
about it.

"Let me consider it." Dimitri rose from his
chair. "When do you want an answer?"

"The end of next week?" Yuri extended the
business card. "The sooner we make our move, the
better."

Dimitri took the business card and flipped it
over. "What's this?"

"It's the name of a jeweler here in Houston.
The only one I'll use. He's one of us."

By one of us, he meant a Russian. Dimitri tried
to hand back the card. "I don't need this. I'm not going to buy
Benny jewelry just to avoid an argument."

Yuri pushed his hand back. "Keep it. You might
need it sooner than you think."

Dimitri started to object but nodded instead.
He slipped it into his pocket. With a smile, he asked, "Do I get a
discount if I mention your name?"

"Hell," Yuri said with a laugh, "he'll probably
mark up the price!" He slapped Dimitri's back. "Hey, come out to
the club on Saturday. Ivan and Erin are coming. It will be nice to
see you and Benny together."

Dimitri wasn't so sure Benny would enjoy the
wild scene at Faze, Yuri's decadent Houston nightspot, but he
accepted the offer. "Sure."

"Good." Yuri walked him to the door and glanced
at his watch. "I'd ask you to join me at the Samovar for lunch but
I've got a helicopter coming in ten minutes. Next time?"

"Yeah."

Yuri's fingers tightened on his shoulder. "Be
careful, Dimitri. I know you love this woman but don't let that
love make you stupid. Ivan walked into the middle of a damn gang
war for Erin and barely survived it."

"Have you ever known me to be
reckless?"