Stay With Me (A BWWM Russian Billionaire Romance Novel) (Imani's Russian Billionaire Series Book 1) (7 page)

“Let’s go in the house,” he suggested. “Stay with me.”

Her heart lurched when she heard that, but she quickly convinced herself that it wasn’t what he meant—it must’ve been just a language issue.

Ignoring her confusion, Vlad picked her up and carried her down the driveway, as if she weighed nothing.

Was there anything this man couldn’t do
, she wondered. He’d taken a few steps back to the house when she told him to stop.

“I need my stuff,” she said to the front of his naked neck.

“What stuff?” he asked as he looked around. “Do you mean that bright pink thing?”

“No! I mean my other stuff. You know, my clutch and my dress and my shoes…”

“Well, where are they?” He turned around in circles while he looked for her stuff, and soon she was dizzy.

She told him to stop again. “It’s on the other side of the Berlin Wall.”

“Excuse me?”

“Your gate! It’s like the Berlin Wall! Impossible to climb!”

He still held her, but she could tell he was trying very hard not to laugh.
Jerk
, she thought unkindly.

“The Berlin Wall, huh?” he said, and he burst out with laughter, the sound so rich and satisfying, that she couldn’t help smiling herself.

“How did you get your stuff over the Berlin Wall?” he asked, still laughing.

“I threw it,” she replied and he laughed again.

He walked over to the electronic key pad, punched in a short code, and she felt like she was watching the parting of the Red Sea.

“Well, that was easy,” she said dryly.

He giggled—actually giggled—as he carried her through the gate to find her stuff. He walked over to the grass and put her down gently, and then he went all around to gather up her things.

“Did the Berlin Wall do this?” he asked, as he held up her shattered cellphone.

“Sort of,” she replied, and he hid a smile.

“It seems you have somehow misplaced a shoe,” he said seriously, after depositing the rest of her things in her lap.

“It’s up in the tree,” she mumbled.

“Pardon?”

“I
said
, It’s. Up. In. The. Tree.”

He looked up to where she pointed, saw her sparkly high heel, and promptly went over to climb the tree and retrieve her shoe.

“Thank you,” she said stiffly as he placed it in her lap with her other things.

“What were you trying to avoid?” he asked her seriously, after some tense silence.

“An awkward conversation,” she replied, and then she burst out laughing, and he followed suit. She laughed until her sides ached, and then she felt so much better about the entire thing.

“Come on, Berlin frau,” he said as he swung her up into his arms again. “Let’s take care of you.”

A
nd he did take
care of her. He sat her down in one of his massive kitchen chairs, and dragged out a First Aid kit. She insisted she could do it herself, but he wouldn’t let her.

“What if you stab yourself with these incredibly sharp scissors?” he said as he held up a tiny pair of scissors, maybe two inches long, with a rounded, safety tip.

“Very funny.”

But he’d been very sweet, and cleaned out every one of the cuts on her feet before putting on some antibiotic ointment and wrapping them like she’d broken her ankles.

“Isn’t this a bit much?”

“I’ve realized that with you, I can never be too careful.”

She rolled her eyes at him, and then he made them breakfast. She had been completely relaxed by then, as she ate a delicious omelet and drank some superb coffee.

“This was so good, thank you,” she said sincerely, as she sat back in her seat.

“I’m glad you think so. And you’re welcome,” he replied. Suddenly, the awkwardness was there again, front and center.

“I had such a nice time with you last night,” he said after about a minute of silence.

A nice time?

“Yes, I did, too. I really enjoyed the gala, thank you for inviting me.”

He looked closely at her then, as if trying to figure her out.

“You didn’t have to sneak out like that this morning, Thania.”

“Oh, I know,” she said breezily, determined not to show how much she already cared for him. “I just have so much to do today. I’ve got my new fashion show coming up soon, I think I mentioned that.”

“Yes, you did,” he replied slowly, still searching her face.

She felt herself start to blush, and he finally looked away.

“Can you arrange for your driver to take me home, please? I really have a lot to do today,” she repeated, her feelings way too close to the surface for her liking. She needed to get out of there.

“Yes, of course.”

He stood up slowly and looked down at her for a few seconds without saying anything. Then, he walked over to a phone on the kitchen counter, pressed a button, and had a brief conversation with someone in Russian. After that, she went to the restroom and hung out in there for ten minutes, ostensibly cleaning up, but really she was killing time until the driver was ready. She dreaded saying goodbye to Vlad.

Don’t think about it. At least he hasn’t said he’ll call you sometime
.

He knocked on the bathroom door, jolting her into turning off the water that had been running the entire time she’d been inside. She opened the door, and Vlad stood there with a small bag filled with the items she’d tried to escape with. He handed it to her and she started to walk to the front door, as he followed slowly.

When she reached the big mahogany doors, she turned and kissed him on the cheek. He looked surprised, but before he could say anything she started down the steps toward the driver and the town car that waited for her. She turned and waved goodbye jauntily.

Don’t say anything. Please, for the love of God, please don’t let him say anything
.

“I had a really nice time,” he called out to her, but she didn’t turn around. “I’ll call you sometime!” he yelled just before the driver slammed the door.

She was heartbroken.

“
H
e said
he’d call me sometime,” she said into her cellphone.

Both Asha and Daya groaned. She knew they would want an account of the gala, so she decided to get it over with on the ride home.

“You’ve got to be
kidding
me,” Asha said, for once sounding animated. “Men are such assholes,” she continued, and Thania heard Daya laugh.

“Vlad isn’t an asshole,” Thania said, and her friends were silent. “He’s really not,” she insisted as she wondered why she was bothering.

She wasn’t going to see him again. At that thought, her chest constricted and she took a deep breath to keep from crying.

“He was very clear that he does not want a relationship,” she continued. “I knew what I was getting into when I slept with him.”

“You
slept
with him?” Daya practically screeched into her ear, and Thania heard Asha’s familiar sigh.

“What, you thought she spent the night so they could play Jenga?” Asha said.

“Yes, I did,” Thania said, feeling defensive. “And it was amazing,” she added, and even she could hear the wistful tone of her voice.

“Was he uncircumcised?” Daya asked unceremoniously. “I’ve heard most Russian guys are uncut.”

“Stop this line of questioning, right now, Daya,” Thania hissed into the phone.

“Oh, shit,” Daya said, more somber now.

“She’s in love with him,” Asha announced.

“Yup,” Daya immediately concurred.

“Wait a minute…” Thania tried to interject.

“Well, I can’t really blame her,” Daya said, as if she were only speaking to Asha. “He’s handsome, rich, and he’s got that good guy shtick going on.”

“It’s not a shtick,” Thania protested, and then it occurred to her that she should not care what her best friends said about Vlad. She didn’t need to defend him, or proclaim his virtues. They’d had one night together. One fabulously memorable, sexy as hell night, but that was all it would ever be. “Don’t worry,” she interrupted her two friends as they continued to discuss her and Vlad as if she weren’t on the phone. “I know the score,” she continued. “It was one night of fun, and it’s over. Now, I can concentrate on the fashion show.”

“That’s right, honey,” Asha said, and the conversation moved on to her friends’ lives.

Thania listened, and made all the appropriate comments at the appropriate times, but inside she was reliving last night with Vlad. She would not regret that she’d spent the night with him because it had been the most amazing night of her life. And she’d known before she had slept with him that he wasn’t looking for anything more than one night.

So, even though she knew all of that, why was she still so sad?

V
lad played
his night with Thania over in his mind as he listened to her voicemail tell him she was unavailable for the fifth time. It had been a week since their night together, and all he could do was think about her.

He didn’t understand why she was avoiding him, because by now it was clear that she was doing just that. He had been so sure that she felt something for him, too. It was more than just sex, although frankly, for him, the sex had been life altering. Life altering, meaning, he couldn’t imagine touching another woman besides Thania ever again.

Before the gala, he had been very interested in and intrigued with Thania. After the gala, and the night they had spent together, he was consumed with her. She was all he thought about, night and day. He was driving his friends crazy. He couldn’t concentrate on his work, and he was having trouble sleeping.

He hesitated to think of the L word, even to himself, but that was because he had never told a woman, outside of his family, that he loved them. It was a huge deal to him to say the words, and he did not take it lightly.

Even so, he was pretty sure that he was in love with Thania. A friend had once told him that you know that you are in love when you feel physically ill at the thought that the other person didn’t love you back. He said that’s why it’s called ‘falling in love’, because you feel unmoored and out of control, especially at the very beginning when you are unsure of the other person’s feelings.

Well, he certainly felt unmoored and out of control, and he hated it. He was miserable.

“Just call her, already,” Maks said from across the conference table, when it became apparent that Vlad was not paying attention once again.

“I did. I have,” Vlad responded impatiently, not even trying to pretend that he didn’t know to whom Maks was referring.

Vlad knew that his friends were sympathetic, but only up to a certain point. Neither of them had been in love, so they had no first-hand knowledge to share with him. In addition, they had never seen Vlad act like this before, and they had no idea what to say to him.

“Well, it’s five o’clock in homeland,” Maks said, as he pushed his chair back and headed for the built in bar.

“It’s five o’clock
here
,” Mick pointed out, and Maks laughed.

“So it is. That must mean something.”

“Yes, it means pour me a drink,” Vlad said darkly, and Maks soon complied. He placed a crystal glass in front of Vlad, and from Vlad’s estimation, it was a double.

“Trying to tell me something?” he asked sardonically, after he had knocked back at least half of the drink.

“Yes. You need to contact her,” Maks said again.

“
I have
!” Vlad roared, and then he smacked one fist down upon the table, causing all of the glasses to jump dangerously.

Neither of the other men had any outward reaction, but they did exchange glances with each other.

“Take it easy on the two-hundred year old crystal,” Mick said mildly, and Vlad looked sheepish.

“I apologize for my behavior,” he said, as he swirled the vodka around in his glass some more, before downing the rest of the contents.

“It’s fine, Vlad,” Maks insisted. “We just don’t know what to say to help you. This is not exactly our area of expertise,” he continued with a laugh, managing to coax a smile out of Vlad.

“Alright, let us look at this like we would a business situation,” Mick said, and Vlad raised an eyebrow at him but remained silent. If his friends were willing to help him, he would take whatever he could get.

“If this was a business deal that you really wanted to land, what would you do?” Mick asked, already knowing the answer.

Maks smiled and brought the vodka bottle over to the conference table, and filled everyone’s glasses again. This might be a long meeting.

“I would keep at it, going around whatever obstacle was in my path, until I had what I wanted,” Vlad answered without looking up from his glass.

“Exactly!” exclaimed Maks, and Vlad looked over at him, not quite understanding the point yet.

“You need to track her down, remove all of the obstacles, and not stop until you get what you want,” Maks explained.

“Thania’s not a business deal, Maks,” Vlad replied with a sigh.

“Of course, she isn’t. But the same principles apply,” Mick said. “You can’t be the only one that felt something when you two were together—my guess is that she felt the same things. You said it yourself, you have amazing chemistry…”

“Be careful,” Vlad warned, his voice curt.

He had made the ‘chemistry’ comment earlier in the week, and his friends had been trying to get him to explain exactly what he meant ever since. But he would never speak about Thania that way, and it pissed him off that they thought he would. As the week wore on though, and his friends could see that he wasn’t changing his mind about Thania, they had started to take the whole situation a lot more seriously.

“I’m not asking you for details, don’t worry,” Mick said. “I got the message when you practically punched me earlier in the week when I told you I liked the dress she wore to the gala,” he continued, with a pointed look at Vlad.

“I’m sorry,” Vlad replied, flushing under Mick’s gaze.

“It’s alright, my friend. I just don’t know what it is like to want to protect a woman so much. But to get to the point—if this were a business deal that you absolutely wanted to close, you would let nothing stand in your way to get it.”

“I can’t exactly kidnap her and force her to spend time with me,” Vlad responded, taking another sip of his vodka.

“No, but you can stop calling her phone, only to get her voicemail twenty damn times a day,” Maks interjected.

“It’s not twenty times a day…” Vlad protested weakly.

“It doesn’t matter,” Mick interrupted them both. “You need time with her, and what you’re doing right now is not working. Right?” At Vlad’s curt nod, Mick continued, “She has a new fashion show in a few days, right? She must be incredibly busy with that. I suggest that you get a ticket to the show and surprise her there. The hard work will be over by then, and she might be more receptive to you.” Mick finished and pushed back from the table to stand up.

Vlad knew from experience when Mick was done discussing a subject, and that time had just come and gone.

“I think that sounds like a good plan. A good first start, if you will,” Maks said, taking over where Mick had left off.

“Maybe. I don’t want to bother her at her business, though.”

“Do you even
hear
yourself?” Maks asked. “These are not the words that my friend Vladislav Sakharov would normally say. You need to get into business mode. Then go out and get what you want.”

“Okay. I’ll try it,” Vlad said. He had nothing to lose by attempting to see her.

Except your pride
.

He was past the point of caring about his pride, however. That was something else he’d learned about love this week.

T
wo days later
, Vlad was feeling more in control. He had managed to get a ticket to Thania’s fashion show the next day, and he had taken some other steps in the hopes of showing her that she was extremely important to him.

His assistant, Karen, buzzed him on the intercom.

“Yes, Karen?”

“The event organizer you wanted to speak to is on Line One. Also, I’ve arranged for the flowers you requested to be delivered this afternoon. The shop would like to know what you want the card to say.”

Vlad dictated a quick message out to Karen. His plans were coming along nicely. He picked up Line One.

“Elsa, it’s Vladislav here. How are the plans we have discussed coming along?”