Alexei (Her Russian Protector #8) (21 page)

“Aren’t they gorgeous?” She gingerly picked up the cascade necklace and draped it around her neck to show it off under the lights. “This was hands-down my favorite piece to design this year. I chose to keep the earrings simple so the main focus is on the necklace.”

“It’s perfect.” He didn’t even bother looking at the sky high price tag. All he could think about was how incredible the white and yellow diamonds would look against her gorgeous skin. “I’ll take it.”

But as he left the jewelry store with his neatly wrapped packages, Alexei couldn’t shake the feeling that diamonds simply weren’t enough.

Chapter Ten

“Shay, I’m going to the store.” Stas poked his head into the master suite where I sat waiting for Kylee to model her next design. “That front door locks behind me and it doesn’t open again until I get back. Understood?”

“Yep.”

“If you need anything call me, okay? If I don’t answer, call Alexei.”

“Got it.” I thought he was going way overboard. Here in Alexei’s apartment, I was perfectly safe. No one could get onto this floor without one of the keycards and the two keys were currently in Stas and Alexei’s wallets. “We’ll be fine.”

“I’ll be back in less than an hour.”

“All right. Bye.”

“So what do you think about this one?” Kylee announced as she paraded out of the master bathroom and modeled one of her designs. She walked the length of the bedroom and circled back. The camisole style of the top and the feminine flounce suited her thin frame. “I was a little worried about the length but I think I’m sold on this mid-thigh hem.”

“It looks really good,” I agreed. “That fabric is amazing.” I touched the shiny metallic dots printed on the black background. “It reminds me of fireworks.”

“It’s fun, right?” She gave a whirl and laughed. “Speaking of fireworks, I want the whole story about you and Alexei. Now that your bodyguard is gone, you can tell me all the juicy details.”

I sat down on the bed and leaned back against the mountain of pillows. “There are no juicy details.”

“Bullshit.” She flopped down next to me and wiggled into place. “The guy came to your rescue, brought you to this million dollar apartment and
nothing
happened? Come on, Shay. I know you’re, like, a Super Virgin, but you expect me to believe you weren’t the teeniest, tiniest bit tempted by that hot Russian?”

“I was tempted, but after what Lalo tried to do to me?” I touched my neck and felt the bruises there. “I really wasn’t in that kind of mood, you know? Alexei is always so respectful toward me and gentle. He was careful with me last night.”

“If I ever see Lalo, I’m going to run over him with my truck.” She made a sad face and cautiously traced one of the ugly bruises. “He’s such a piece of shit. It’s too bad I broke it off with Eli. He and the rest of his MC brothers would have put the hurt on Lalo for this.”

“Are you kidding me? Lalo has a hundred heavily-armed drug dealers and gang members on his team. I don’t want anyone to get hurt because of me. It’s bad enough that I put Alexei in this position.”

“Honey, that man would have come running if you had stubbed your toe. I know I’ve teased you about the way he watches you, but I’m being serious now. It’s clear to anyone who has ever seen you two together that he’s head over heels for you. After last night, what other proof do you need?”

I didn’t dare believe Kylee. It would hurt too much if she was wrong. “I kissed him last night,” I finally admitted. “And then he kissed me this morning. Like
really
kissed me.”

“I knew it!” she exclaimed triumphantly. “And then?”

“And then nothing,” I said with a shrug. “He went to work.”

“Well, maybe that’s for the best after this,” she said, gesturing to my neck and cheek. “Slow and steady has always been your preferred mode. It’s always steered you right in school and money so it’s probably the best choice for a relationship.” She hesitated before asking, “I mean, that is what this is, right? You two are dating now?”

“I don’t know,” I confessed with a rush of emotion. “I don’t know what he wants or expects. He said this apartment was for his mistress, right? You know, like his kept woman or lover or whatever. But then he told me that it’s been vacant since February so I thought he was trying to tell me that he’s been waiting for me or maybe he wants something different this time.”

“But?”

“But then last night, before we fell asleep, he made it pretty clear that he sees me as just his next mistress.” I bit my lower lip and tried to ignore the ball of disappointment clogging my throat. “I told him I didn’t know the first thing about being a mistress. He gave his list of ground rules, kissed me and left.”

She winced with sympathy. “That’s pretty cold.”

“Right? It’s like there’s this wall,” I said while drawing one in the air, “between him and everyone else. Last night, he asked me what I wanted. I swear it was as if he was afraid to ask for what
he
really wanted.”

“What? Like it might make him too vulnerable? Because I could
totally
see that from him,” Kylee commented knowingly. “That man is driven by some powerful need to be successful and wealthy. He’s all battle-hardened from his years working on the streets. Can you imagine how hard it must be for a man like that to let his guard down? To let someone like you inside? To put his heart at risk?”

The disappointment and fear dissipated as I listened to Kylee. “If I hug you right now, I’m going to squeeze the air right out of your lungs.” I laughed and let all that pent-up stress escape. “You are seriously the best friend who ever lived.”

“I know,” she said and jokingly polished her nails on her dress. “I am pretty fucking amazing.”

“You really are.”

“You know,” she said, leaning back against the pillows, “this is probably why he’s so drawn to you, Shay. You two are exactly alike. You’ve always been afraid to get involved with a man because you saw the way your mother got knocked around and the way she let her boyfriends hurt you and Shannon. You’ve always been driven to be something great, to be somebody, to break away from your humble beginnings, and I bet it’s the same for Alexei. He’s been in prison and ran the streets for a Russian mob boss. God only knows what he’s seen. I’d be damned afraid of falling in love, too, if I had seen how truly terrible people can be to one another.”

Everything Kylee said made sense. “But how do I get through to him? Because, Kylee, I really, really care for him, but I can’t be just a mistress. I can’t be this pretty little thing he dresses up in jewels and parades around town. I need to matter.”

“You do matter, Shay. He’s just fooling himself if he thinks he can keep you locked away up here like a fairytale princess. Deep down inside, he knows you aren’t kept woman material.” She sat up suddenly, as if a thought had struck her. “You need to be the best damned mistress he’s ever had. You need to show him what he’ll be missing when you walk away.” She climbed off the bed and crossed the room to grab her cell phone. “Because you do have to walk away, Shay. At some point, if he doesn’t give you what you deserve, you have to get up and walk out.”

“I know,” I murmured sadly. “I thought about that all morning. It’s so tempting to get caught up in this fairytale he’s offering, but that isn’t real life.”

“No, it’s not.” She tapped away at her phone. “Okay. Seriously, you would not believe how many articles there on how to be a kept woman! This is wild, Shay.”

“No.” I pushed off the bed and shook my head. “I’m not playing by those rules. If I’m going to do this, I’m doing it
my
way.”

“Yeah, but these women are like professional about it, Shay. They have tips and tricks and—”

“No. He told me that he wants me, just as I am, so that’s what he’s going to get. Me. Simple, quiet, unadorned me.”

“That’s all well and good,” she said, tossing aside her phone, “but what are you going to do about the sex? Because last time I checked you’ve only rounded second base and that was when you flipped out on Luke Garcia the night we graduated high school and he stuck his hand in your panties.”

“That wasn’t the only place he stuck his hand,” I muttered unhappily. “It
hurt
.”

“He was a jerk. You shouldn’t have let that one bad experience put you off sex forever. There were so many great guys you dated in college. They would have been good farm team sex partners, you know? Now you’re in the big leagues, and you’ve never even hit a base run!”

“It’s too late for what-ifs, Kylee. I’ll just have to figure it out as I go.”

“If I had to guess, Alexei is one of those one-in-a-million lovers. Let him take the lead.”

I laughed nervously. “Like I have any other choice!”

“Maybe we should watch some—”

We were interrupted by my ringing cell phone. The sound of my sister’s ringtone had me flying out of the bedroom and racing through the living area to reach my phone in time. I snatched it off the counter and answered in a breathless rush, “Hello? Shannon?”

“Shay!” She sobbed my name. “Oh my God! Are you okay? Please tell me you’re okay!”

Sagging with relief upon hearing her voice, I leaned against the counter. “I’m okay.”

“I heard about what happened to you last night, about what Lalo did to you.” She wept. “I’m sorry, Shay. I never meant for any of this to happen. We just thought… We never… It wasn’t supposed to go this way.”

My earlier anger with her vanished. “It’s all right. I know you didn’t mean for me to get hurt.”

“But you did,” she sobbed. “You did, and this is all my fault.”

“It’s too late for that, Shannon. We don’t have time for this. Where are you?”

“I’m hiding out in a hotel in Pasadena.”

“Pasadena?” I was already calculating how fast I could get there. “Where is Ruben?”

“I don’t know.” She started crying again. “He went out to get some money, but he didn’t come back.”

I had a bad, bad feeling about that. “Listen, Kylee and I are going to come get you. Okay?”

Appearing beside me, Kylee nodded vigorously as she tugged on her boots and slipped into her jacket. She raised her voice, “We’ll drive all night if we have to, Shannon, but we’ll get you out of Texas. We can hop on the interstate and get her to New Orleans.”

“I’ll need money, Shay. I’ll need to go underground and stay off the radar.”

“I’ll get it. Just hold on and wait for us, okay?”

“Okay. I love you, Shay. Please be careful.”

“I will be.” After hanging up, I glanced at Kylee. “Where the hell am I going to get cash this late on a Saturday afternoon?”

“Do you have your checkbook in your purse?”

“Yes. Why?”

“We’ll go see Abby at Kirkwood’s Pawn. She’ll give you a fat chunk of cash. She knows you’re good for it.” Kylee grabbed my arm when I started to run for the door. “Shay, are you sure you want to do this?”

“What are you talking about? Of course! She’s my sister. She’s scared. She’s alone. She needs me.”

“Yes, she does, but you promised Alexei you wouldn’t leave the apartment.”

My heartbeat pounded against my eardrums as I realized I had to choose between my sister, my flesh and blood, and the man who had risked his life to save mine, the man who had offered me protection and security, the man I had been secretly in love with for almost a year.

“If I don’t help Shannon get out of Texas, they’ll kill her. Nikolai Kalasnikov sat right here in this kitchen and told me that last night. Shannon is a dead woman if she stays here.” My heart broke as I accepted that I was going to ruin everything with Alexei even before it had really begun. “There’s no choice here, Kylee. I have to save my sister.”

“Then we need to move,” she urged and thrust my hoodie into my hands. “We need to get out of here before Stas gets back.”

Like a couple of spies trying to escape a covert operation, we took the stairs down eleven floors rather than risk running into Stas. By the time we reached the parking level, we were breathless and promising each other that we would take up CrossFit because we were so weak. Somehow we managed to avoid seeing anyone in the garage but that didn’t stop Kylee from racing out of there like a bat out of hell in her truck.

“This is one of those times where you really want to thank your lucky stars we’ve networked so much,” Kylee said as we pulled into the parking lot across the street from Abby Kirkwood’s pawn shop. “Bet you never thought all those business major mixers we went to would lead to this.”

“No, I sure didn’t.” I hopped out of the front seat of her truck and waited for her to join me before dashing across the street and into the shop.

Thankfully, it wasn’t very busy. There were a handful of customers milling around the place, most of them in the electronics section. I had hoped to run into Marley, my neighbor and a longtime employee of the pawn shop, but I didn’t see her anywhere.

“Shay! Kylee!” Abby Kirkwood stepped out from behind the jewelry counter to come over and give us big hugs. “It’s good to see you! Are you here to pick through my vintage handbags again?”

“Oh, don’t tempt me!” Abby had some really fantastic fashion items come into the shop. I had been lucky enough to grab a vintage Chanel 2.55 last Christmas for a steal. “But, actually, um, I was hoping you could cash a personal check for me.” I didn’t see any reason to beat around the bush. “I recognize it’s asking for a big favor but—”