Stingray Billionaire: The Complete Series (An Alpha Billionaire Romance) (71 page)

CHAPTER
FORTY

Lexi

The
next morning, I walked into the kitchen and found Max fixing coffee as usual.
He seemed tired and withdrawn, and when I said good morning, he gave me a wan
smile and handed me a cup of steaming hot coffee.

"Are you
okay?" I asked.

"Yeah, just a
lot on my mind this morning," he said as he poured himself a cup and
pulled out the business section of the paper. I took the front page and we sat
reading in compatible silence until I ran across a local story that made me
gasp.

"Max, did you
see this?" I asked as I held up the paper. "Local bar owner beaten by
thugs. It says that they think these guys are part of the mafia and may be
connected to a shooting that took place earlier in the week. What the heck is
going on over in Wicker Park?"

"It's a crazy
city, Lexi," he said, never taking his eyes off of the paper in front of
him. "I have no clue what's happening on the West Side, but it doesn't
sound good, does it?"

"I just
thought maybe you'd know since you know some of the Russians who come and buy
jewelry," I ventured. I wanted to ask more questions, but he didn't seem
to be in the mood to answer them.

"I really
couldn't tell you," he said as he looked up and flashed me one of the most
fake smiles I'd ever seen.

"Don't pull
the salesman smile on me, Mr. Malin," I scolded in a joking tone.
"I'm not buying."

"Then, what
are you buying, Ms. Wallace?" he shot back in an irritated tone.

"Sheesh,
sorry, I was just trying to lighten the mood," I muttered. I sipped my
coffee and continued reading the paper. There was something going on, and I
knew it, but I also knew that trying to drag it out of him wouldn't get me any
good result and might actually backfire.

"No, I'm
sorry," he said after a few minutes of silence. "I'm tired and it was
a rough night."

"Yeah, I'm
sure that your girlfriend doesn't make things easy on you," I blurted out.

"Huh?"
he said as a look of genuine confusion crossed his face. "My
girlfriend?"

"Yeah, Miss
Socialite that you went to the theater with last night?" I said
incredulously. "The one who was wearing my entire year's salary on one
arm? Duh!"

"Natalia?"

"Who else did
you think I was talking about?" I asked. My voice became higher and more
irritated as I continued. "I mean, really, Max, why didn't you ask her to
marry you? It seems like it would have been a whole lot easier to marry the
girl that you're actually dating, rather than hire an actress to play a
shopgirl and then be your fake bride!"

"Lexi, what
in God's name are you talking about?" he shouted.

"I'm talking
about how you had sex with me on the balcony even though you have a
girlfriend!" I yelled back and then inhaled sharply as I realized what I'd
just said.

"Is that why
you're mad at me?" he asked dropping his voice.

"I'm not mad
at all," I shrugged.

"Nice, nice
shrug," he said sarcastically.

"What?"

"Nothing says
I don't give a shit like a good old shrug," he replied.

"So, what?
Maybe I don't," I shrugged again for good measure.

"My mother
always said that if you really didn't care, you wouldn't cry or feel
defensive," he said. "And, it seems to me that you're pretty darn
defensive."

"Don't turn
this on me, Malin," I warned. "I asked you a question and you're
refusing to answer it."

"What
question?"

"God, you are
infuriating!" I yelled. "Why didn't you marry your girlfriend?"

"Because I
don't have a girlfriend," he said as he continued reading the paper. I knew
he was pretending, but I let him have that one.

"Then, who is
Natalia?" I asked.

"She's my
friend from high school," he said. "Just like I told you last
night."

"But she
treats you like you're her boyfriend," I accused.

"She does
sometimes, but mostly, she treats me like her best friend," he replied as
he looked across the table and fixed his gaze on me. Those icy blue eyes were
like lasers and I couldn't look away.

"Do you have
sex with her?" I asked, feeling emboldened by my self-righteous anger and
wanting to know what was really going on.

"Sometimes,"
he said. It was an honest admission that took me by surprise.

"Did you have
sex with her last night?" I probed.

"No, I did
not," he said as he held my gaze. I could feel the tension building between
us as he held my gaze. The familiar flame of desire had been ignited and now, I
felt the heat creeping up through my veins. I squirmed uncomfortably in my
chair, but refused to look away.

"Why
not?" I asked quietly.

"You want to
know why I didn't have sex with Natalia last night?" he asked.

"Uh
huh," I nodded.

Max set the paper
down and pushed his chair back from the table. His eyes never left mine as he
stood up and walked around to where I sat and tugged at the elastic band that
held my hair in a ponytail, releasing it so that it cascaded down over my
shoulders. He slid one hand behind my neck and gently pulled me to my feet.

"I didn't
have sex with Natalia last night…" he whispered as he wrapped his other
arm around my waist and lowered his face so that he was within inches of mine.
"Because all I could think about was how much I wanted you."

My eyes widened as
he bridged the gap and gently kissed my lips.

"Lexi,"
he murmured as he softly kissed me again and again. "I don't know what
happened the other night, but I can't stop thinking about you. About your body,
about how much I want to touch you and feel you. It's terribly distracting, you
know."

"Oh,
Max," I sighed as I wrapped my arms around his neck and returned his
kisses.

His hands slowly
roamed my body and I felt a fierce need welling up inside me as he lifted my
thin t-shirt up over my head to expose my naked torso. His fingers captured my
already-hard nipples between his fingers and squeezed, drawing a long, low moan
from my lips.

"Ah yes,"
he whispered as he repeated the action and smiled when I moaned again.
"I've been thinking about this for the past two days. How all I wanted was
you naked again."

He quickly yanked
down my pajama bottoms and discarded them on the floor as he wrapped an arm
around my lower back and lifted me up on to the edge of the counter, where he
rested his hands on my knees for a moment before pushing them apart. He tipped
me backwards onto the surface as he dipped his head and began slowly running
his tongue across my lower abdomen as he worked his way lower and lower. I
fought him for a moment, but he was stronger than I was and had the advantage
of leverage.

His tongue traced
a light path down between my legs before he branched out and began licking and
stroking my inner thighs. I moaned as he traced a line of fire from my knee to
the upper edge of my groin, but didn't move inward. It was deliciously
excruciating, and I was rendered helpless as he tongued and teased me into
submission.

Once he was
certain I wouldn't fight, he moved his attention inward and began by lightly
blowing on the curls between my thighs. I shifted and tried to close my legs,
but he held them apart and began gently stroking my outer lips with his tongue.
Light licks were followed by long strokes with his flattened tongue, causing me
to writhe beneath his mouth.

"Max-" I
gasped as he dipped the tip of his tongue between my lips and slid it into the
slippery wetness. I couldn't breathe and yet, I didn't want to. I lost myself
in his ministrations and before long, he'd run his hands up my thighs and was
parting me with his fingers as he began licking and sucking more intensely. I
cried out, "Max! Max! Max!" but he didn't stop or even acknowledge
that he'd heard me.

His fingers played
in my wetness, slipping and sliding up and down as his tongue circled my
aroused and erect nub. I heard him softly groan as he closed his lips around it
and gently tugged. I arched my back to grind myself into his lips. He spread me
wider as he slipped two fingers into the outermost edge of my entrance and
began to tease by pushing them in an inch or two and then slowly withdrawing. I
moaned and arched my back as I tried to drive his fingers in deeper, but he
maintained his position and teased until I was begging him to push them in.

"Oh, Max,
please! Please! I need it!" I cried as I thrust my hips up to meet his
hand.

"Oh no,
no," he murmured as he drew another long lazy circle around my clitoris
and pulled another moan from somewhere deep inside me. "I'm not even close
to done with you."

"Max, I'm
going to lose my mind," I begged.

"Good, I'd
like to see that." He ran his tongue down between my lips until he could
push it inside of me and tease a little more. I groaned and pounded my fists on
the counter as he teased, and then in an instant, he was above me, pulling me
up so that I was sitting and looking down at him as he knit three fingers
together and slowly drove them deep inside of me. I gripped his shoulders and
leaned heavily on him as he pushed his fingers deeper then stopped and waited.
I could feel him buried deep inside me while I pulsed around his hand, and when
he slowly began pulling out, I let loose a scream as he stroked the tender skin
of my inner walls and brought me close to climax.

"Oh no, you don't
get it that easy," he said as he slipped his free hand into my hair and
raised my head so that I was looking into his eyes while he slid his fingers in
and out, slowly and deliberately. He brought me to the edge over and over. Each
time, just as I thought I was about to fall, he would slow down and hold my
gaze until I was back with him, and then he'd resume his maddeningly sensual
stroking.

I had no idea how
long he'd been doing this when I let loose and began to cry. I begged him to
set me free. He pulled back and then with a few strong thrusts of his hand, his
fingers stroked my inner walls while his thumb pressed my clitoris and pushed
me toward release. When I climaxed a few moments later, I felt Max's lips on
mine as he pulled the orgasm from my body. I pulsed and throbbed around his
hand while he gently maintained a rhythm that drew all the sensations out of
me. He kissed me softly and held me against his chest as he slowly and gently
withdrew his fingers.

I moaned in
disappointment as I felt the emptiness where his fingers had been and wrapped
my arms tightly around his neck as our kiss deepened. I could smell my scent in
his fingers when he ran them across my cheek and through my hair, and I knew I
wanted more, so much more.

"More,
please?" I whispered into his lips as he wrapped his arms around me and
held me tightly against his chest.

"Oh yes,
there's so much more where that came from," he whispered back.

CHAPTER
FORTY-ONE

Max

I
was ready to pick Lexi up off of the counter, carry her back to my bedroom, and
spend the day exploring every inch of her incredibly responsive body — when my
phone rang. I tried to ignore it, but whoever was on the other end was
persistent. When I finally answered it, it was Feliks telling me that Papa had
grown angrier about the attack, had strapped on his pistol, and was threatening
to go out and find the punks who'd attacked him. I told him I'd get dressed and
be there within the hour, but that he was not to let Papa out of the house.

"Who was that?"
Lexi asked. She looked like a fantasy come to life as she leaned against the
counter completely naked with a dreamy look on her face. I'd never been a man
who spent a lot of time focused on giving a woman pleasure the way I'd just
done with Lexi, but then, I'd also made a habit of picking extremely dominant
women who liked it rough and hard and none of them had ever responded to what
I'd just done.

"My father's
second-in-command," I said. "Papa is not doing so well today, so I
need to go see him."

"Is that
because of your brother?" she asked innocently. I winced knowing that this
was part of the reason Papa was enraged, but I couldn't tell her the whole
story without risking everything. She'd never understand how someone like me
could be involved in my family's business and all the violence it begat.

"Something
like that," I said. "Are you okay opening the store by yourself
again?"

"Oh God! The
store!" she cried as she gathered up her clothing and made a dash for the
bathroom to get ready. She yelled on her way down the hall, "You made me
forget everything!"

I chuckled as I
ran a hand through my hair and caught a whiff of her scent on my fingers and
face. I had lost myself in the act of pleasing this woman, and now, I was going
to have to go try and reason with my father and convince him that seeking
revenge in the state he was in was not wise.

#

Less
than an hour later, I walked through the door of the house I'd grown up in and
saw my father sitting in a lounger looking angry.

"Papa, what's
wrong?" I asked, trying to hide the fact that I'd been summoned.

"You know
exactly what's wrong, Maksim," he said narrowed eyes. "Don't play
this bullshit game with your father. I won't have it."

"Yes,
Papa," I automatically replied. "Then, tell me what it is you want to
do and let me help."

"I want to
kill the
sookin syn
who murdered my
son," he said in a voice that was so deadly calm it frightened me. My
father was a big, loud man who bellowed and yelled at everyone. When he was
calm, it was a sign of very bad things.

"I know you
do, Papa," I nodded. "We all do. And, I'm going to find the man who
did it and make him pay. I promise. But you can't go out there and wave a gun
around. Not here in the city – you'll be arrested and thrown in jail for
endangering the public, and then I'll have to spend my time and money getting
you out of jail. It's best if you stay here and rest while I do the leg work,
okay?"

"Maksim,"
he said in a voice that was so full of pain it took everything I had not to
look away to avoid his eyes. "They killed my son."

"I know,
Papa," I said as I gently patted the arm that was not encased in a cast.
"I know, Papa. They killed my brother."

"No, you have
no idea," he shook his head as his voice climbed until he was bellowing,
"They can kill a lot of people, but they cannot kill a man's son!

"Papa, calm
down!" I begged as I sat down next to him. His face was red and he was
sweating profusely as he pounded on the arm of the chair with his good hand.

"They cannot
kill a man's SON!" he yelled over and over. Then, as suddenly as it had
started, the rage was over and my father sat in his chair with one hand over
his face, sobbing like a heartbroken child. I put my arm around him and waited
for the storm to pass. I had no idea what to say to him and knew that until he
gave me a sign, I should remain quiet because if I said the wrong thing, I
might wind up at the losing end of his pistol. It was how my father had always
operated, and there was some comfort in that.

"It's okay,
Papa, it's going to be okay," I said softly as I sat resting my hand on
his arm when he began to rock back and forth, sobbing his anger and
frustration. I waited until he had calmed down before I summoned Feliks and
told him that Papa needed to be driven up to see Babi. I sat back down next to
Papa, and said, "Papa, I'm going to have Feliks take you to see Babi. You
can have a nice meal and talk to her about Kristov. No one's told her
yet."

"Oh no, no,
no," he said as he shook his head. "I can't tell her about Kristov.
She'll be broken."

"Papa,
someone has to tell her," I said, trying to be sympathetic, but also
needing to get him out of the range of danger for a little while. "I think
it would be good for you to be with her."

"She will
blame me," he said, looking up at me with eyes that were full of pain.
"She will tell me that it's all my fault."

"Papa, she
will not," I said, suddenly unsure about whether that was true or not.

"She blames
me for your mother, too, you know," he said sadly. I inhaled sharply as he
said it. My father and I never discussed my mother's death, but I'd always
blamed him for it. Kristov had been the one who'd tried to convince me that it
wasn't Papa's fault, that Mama had been sick and she'd simply taken a way out
that offered less pain. I'd always doubted his account, but my father's
admission made me wonder. He looked up at me and said, "And, I know you
do, too, Maksimka."

"Papa…"
I started to say something, but stopped because I had no idea what to say. I
did blame him, but telling him so wouldn't do anyone any good right now. I
needed him to be rational and reasonable, not emotionally driven by rage and
pain.

"It's okay,
Maksimka, your brother told me," he said as he patted my hand. "You
do blame me, don't you?"

"Yes,
Papa," I admitted.

The blow that hit
my cheek was so fast and hard that I didn't have time to prepare. The pain
exploded across my cheek and drove me to the ground. I hit my head on the edge
of the coffee table as I went down and felt the blood began to flow from the
gash. I looked up at my father, dazed by the hit. He was looking down at me
with disgust.

"You
ungrateful
sookin syn
," he
hissed. "You are the worst kind of son – the one who believes the worst
about his own father. I will tell you this, I helped bring you into this world
and I can take you out of this world just as easily. I would feel no remorse
for taking an ungrateful son like you out of this world."

I reached up and
touched the spot where I'd hit the table, when I drew my hand away, I saw the
fresh red blood dripping off of my fingertips. I looked up at my father and
then pulled myself off of the floor. I walked into the kitchen, grabbed a
fistful of paper towels, and pressed them to the wound before walking back into
the living room and facing my father. I stared at him for a long while before
finally speaking.

"I will find
the man who killed my brother," I said in a voice void of emotion. "I
will find him and I will make him pay for what he has done. And once I have
completed that task, I will bring you the evidence that I have done it. Then,
and only then, will I shut the door on you. You will be dead to me, and I to
you. I am done with this. I am done with your anger and your rage. I am done
with you."

I turned and
walked out the front door as he called after me, cursing my birth and screaming
that I was always an ungrateful
sookin
syn
and would always be one.

I shut out the
sound of his voice when I closed the door to the car and instructed the driver
to take me to the store. On the drive there, I vowed to tell Lexi the truth
about my past and let her in once and for all.