The Russian's Proposal (Friends Forever Book 3)

by Elizabeth Lennox

  “You’re awake,” he rolled over, pinning her underneath him. He lowered his head, kissing her neck.

  She smiled and pretended to push him away. “I need to shower. I stink,” she argued. But Sergei felt her body curling around him. As he cupped her breast, her nipple was already hard and ready for his mouth.

  “I think you smell delicious,” he replied honestly. A moment later, he took that nipple into his mouth, sucking and flicking the tip with his tongue until he heard her cry out. Damn, he loved that sound.

  Sliding his finger into her body, he wasn’t surprised to find her already slick and ready for him. Grabbing a condom, he rolled it down, then came back to her. He pushed her knees further apart and watched as he slid into her, loving the way her body tightened around him.

  Rolling over, he pulled her along with him so that she was on top, giving him better access to her breasts. “Go for it,” he urged, lifting his hands to cup both of her breasts as his thumbs flicked against the hard tips.

  “I thought this was your show,” she groaned, but she put her hands on his chest and started moving.

  “It’s definitely my show,” he teased and tweaked her nipples. He laughed softly when he saw her reaction, but since she’d stumbled in her movements, he changed tactics, grabbing her hips and lifting her up.

  “I can do it,” she gasped, feeling everything all the way down to her toes.

  “Then get to it,” he ordered and smacked her playfully on her bottom.

  Katia laughed, but she’d learned over the last several days that Sergei was an incredibly playful lover. She never would have guessed that more than a week ago, but she loved it. She loved him! It was the most incredible feeling, having him like this. Every time he filled her up, it felt like she was finally whole. And when he brought her to pleasure? She could barely breathe as the intense bliss hit her. Every time. Sometimes, over and over again.

  Moving against him, she shifted and enjoyed the friction, ignoring him for the moment. Ignoring him, because he’d taught her that he liked it when she used him for her pleasure. It turned him on when she found her pleasure. Although, most times, he took over, unable to endure the way she moved for too long.

  Goodness, Katia loved it when she got him to the edge like that. So instead of trying to please him, she pleased herself, moving in ways that gave her the friction her body needed to get her close, so very close. And by doing that, she found herself on her back again, her hands pinned up over her head as he took over, thrusting into her and taking her the rest of the way until she was screaming his name.

  And when it was all over, he pulled her right back into his arms, holding her gently as his strong hands massaged her head and shoulders.

  When her breathing finally slowed to normal, she shifted, looking up into his eyes. “Was that your way of avoiding answering my question?”

  He laughed, his hands tangled in her hair pulling her head back further. “Nope,” he grinned. “That was my way of saying good morning.”

  And with that, he stood up, then lifted her into his arms. She yelped slightly, but quickly wrapped her arms around his neck. “One day, I’m going to jump out of bed first, so that you can’t do that to me,” she warned.

  He only laughed, shaking his head. “No you’re not. You don’t wake up fast enough to avoid me.” He set her down on the marble floor of the shower and kissed her forehead. “But it’s cute that you think you can.”

  With that, he turned on the water, causing another yelp as the water rushed down over her. It was warm already, but still a shock.

  Katia soaped up her body and hair, trying to figure out what was wrong. Yes, he’d woken her up and made love to her, just as he had every morning since they’d become intimate. But something was wrong. He hadn’t answered her question earlier, and his arms squeezing her had woken her up, sure signs that something was going on in his mind.

  A half hour later, they were downstairs, sipping coffee on the stone patio and she looked over at him as he read through the reports from last night’s activities.

  “What’s going on?” she asked.

  Bingo! His hesitation warned her that she’d been right. “Something is wrong and you’re not telling me. That scares me, Sergei.”

  He put the electronic notepad down and looked over at her. “Sosta is getting desperate,” he admitted.

  She was silent for a long moment as that news hit her. There was joy for a moment, followed by the knowledge that her father was more dangerous now.

  She set the china cup down in the matching saucer, her mind whirling with all of the possibilities. Neither of them said anything for a long moment. Katia was thinking about things, trying to figure out a new plan. A desperate Sosta was…

  An idea occurred to her, but she wasn’t sure if it would work.

  “You fired all of his executive personnel, right?” she asked, her eyes sharp as she watched him, waiting for a sign that he was holding back, trying to protect her. Thankfully, there were none of those signs. He answered her openly and honestly.

  “Yes. I didn’t want them undermining the running of the companies. There were too many innocent people in those businesses that didn’t deserve to be unemployed simply because of our revenge.”

  She nodded slowly, still trying to figure out if her plan would work. And if Sergei would go for it. “So, we don’t want Sosta out in the world, right?”

  “No, but I’m not going to stoop to his level of violence.”

  Katia smiled, warmed by Sergei’s words. He’d said them so matter of factly. It only proved once again that Sergei was a good man. Despite everything that had happened to him in his life, he’d grown up to be honest, with integrity.

  “Good. And just so you know, the way I’ve built my software program…” her smile widened as she thought about her idea, “I basically control all of the computers. And…since I own the companies, I own all of the data in those companies, correct?”

  He tilted his head, staring at her. “Yes. Why do you ask?” Sergei leaned forward.

  She leaned forward as well, resting her forearms on the table. “This is just a possibility. But if there’s all of that data in the companies, and if we have the contact information for the people that worked directly for Sosta, we could…” she paused, seeing the understanding light his eyes.

  “Use that information against him,” Sergei finished for her.

  Katia nodded her head. “And against the executives. I’m sure those people broke a lot of laws, assuming that they would get away with everything while working for Sosta. Why would they worry? It was a privately held company. And my father wasn’t particularly good about hiding his crimes. He was arrogant enough to think he’d never get caught.”

  Sergei nodded, thinking ahead. “We could hand that data over to the authorities,” he added on.

  “And convince the executives to testify against him in exchange for a lighter sentence.”

  He smiled and Katia grinned right back at him. “Think we can do it?” she asked.

  “Hell yes!” he laughed as he lifted his cell phone. He made calls for the next several hours while Katia asked the housekeeper to pack up their bags. She used Sergei’s computer to log into her computer systems back home. Now that she didn’t have to be careful, she could use the programs she’d developed to get into the databases of her father’s, now her, companies. It wasn’t even illegal now and her fingers flew over the keyboard. She downloaded huge amounts of data, and pulled up another program to sort it into more organized and understandable information.

  By lunchtime, they boarded Sergei’s private plane, still hard at work. They flew to London, neither of them stopping their work as they continued to call out information to each other. Katia would find data that looked suspicious, payments that didn’t make sense, employee files on people that didn’t seem to have a job, or payments to companies that produced nothing. Sergei would then work with his team at whichever company had produced whatever she’d found. His
executives would then harness that data and format it into something they could present to the authorities.

  When they landed in London, it was close to two o’clock in the morning. But Sergei’s offices were hopping with everyone still hard at work. Sergei and Katia stepped into what looked like chaos, but was really a hub of brilliance. All of the information she’d given to Sergei on the flight was staring down at her from the walls of the conference room with more notes, strings connecting activities, companies, and employees. Sticky notes were plastered everywhere.

  And by the time the sun peeked over the Thames River, the mood from everyone bustling around was exhausted, but exhilarated.

  Most of the staff had gone home, but Sergei stood in the middle of the room with Katia and several of his directors and accounting staff, all of them looking at the information they’d pulled together in just over twenty-four hours.

  “It’s done,” one of Sergei’s vice presidents said, hanging up the phone. His triumphant expression told everyone that they were victorious. “Scotland Yard is coordinating with the Saint Petersburg Police department.” He turned to Katia, nodding slightly. “The payments you found at the warehouse in the Saint Petersburg suburbs were linked to three different known assassins. The president in charge of that warehouse confirmed that Sosta ordered hits on three witnesses that year. They even have recordings of his voice ordering the hits and outlining exactly how he wanted the executions to happen.” There was a moment of silence as everyone in the room thought about the deaths of those three people. But then they also realized that the impact of the evidence would send Sosta to prison for a long time.

  Slowly, a sigh of relief rolled through the room. “The police will also be bringing racketeering charges, obstruction of justice, money laundering, and a slew of other charges. And that’s just from this one particular witness,” he explained. “They guarantee that Valissi will be in custody within the hour.”

  There was a round of applause as everyone celebrated. Katia didn’t clap though. Instead, she threw herself into Sergei’s arms, hugging him with what was left of her strength. “Thank you!” she whispered into his ear.

  “Thank you!” he whispered right back. “This was your idea. I’d only taken it to the point of ruining the man. You are the one who figured out the final step.” He pulled back, looking down at her. “This will ensure that he can’t hurt anyone else. You’re brilliant,” he told her. “We’ll continue the investigation, turn everything over to the authorities, and ensure that more charges are brought against him. Just in case he somehow wins one trial, we’ll make sure that other charges are pending in different countries.” His smile widened. “And since he has no money to pay for a good lawyer, I think we have a good chance of keeping him in prison for a long time.”

  Katia beamed, thinking his praise was better than chocolate.

  People were starting to filter out of the conference room, but Katia had eyes only for Sergei.

  “Come with me,” he commanded, but didn’t wait for her agreement. He took her hand and led her out of the room, then out of the building.

  “Where are we going?” she asked.

  “To bed,” he answered, pulling her into a waiting limousine. “You’re exhausted and we need to rest. Food first though.” With that, he lifted his cell phone and gave someone instructions to have breakfast ready, but no coffee. They’d definitely had enough of that over the past several hours!

  With that, he slipped his cell phone back into his pocket and lifted her onto his lap. Katia yawned and laid her head on his broad shoulder, closing her eyes for the drive to wherever they were heading. “I think you’re a wonderful man,” she told him. The soft rocking of the vehicle lulled her to sleep. One night of very little sleep, followed by intense focus and no sleep, not to mention, a change in time zones. Suffice it to say, they both were fighting exhaustion.

  Sergei stared down at the beautiful woman, amazed at how quickly she’d fallen asleep. She’d been more tired than he’d realized and he cursed himself for not noticing it before. He should be taking better care of her. But then again, they wouldn’t have been able to get some of the information they’d needed today if it weren’t for her. Her fingers had flown over her keyboard, pulling in data that had helped guide their inquiries, making the past thirty-six hours more productive. If she hadn’t been there, giving them needed guidance on where to look and who to talk to, Sosta might have figured out what was going on and gone into hiding.

  Even so, he wrapped his arms around her, protecting her sleep as much as he could. When the limousine pulled into the underground garage of his building, he gently lifted her into his arms and carried her, shouldering the bedroom door closed as he went. Only then did he gently lay her down on the mattress and slide her shoes off, wrapping a blanket around her to keep her warm.

  Chapter 12

  Katia woke up and looked around, pushing her hair out of her eyes to try and orient herself. She didn’t recognize the bedroom or the bed and she was alone. For a moment, she panicked, thinking that her father had somehow found her, but then she remembered what they’d been working on yesterday.

  Pushing the blankets off, she rushed out of the room in search of Sergei. She was fairly sure that their time together would end as soon as her father was captured, but until that moment, she wanted to spend as much time as possible with him.

  But there was no sound in the whole penthouse. Beautiful views of the Thames River, but no Sergei.

  Peering into the kitchen, she looked around, realizing that a meal had been started but the housekeeper or chef wasn’t around. Odd, she thought.

  Her heart began pounding when she realized that one of the burners on the stove was still on. No pan sat over it, and there wasn’t anything on fire, but…

  The familiar sense of doom hit her hard, just like that morning Sergei had walked into her coffee shop.

  Something was wrong.

  With an awful feeling in the pit of her stomach, she turned off the stove, then began exploring, peering into the various rooms. It was in one of the last bedrooms that she found everyone, including Sergei. All of them were tied up and all of them looked exceptionally angry.

  And he was there.

  “Hello, Katia,” her father said, his voice mocking. “It has been a long time, my dear. Too long.”

  Walking over to her, he didn’t stop until he was about a foot away. And without warning, he pulled back his hand and slapped her. Hard!

  Katia doubled over with the force of his blow, but tried not to let anyone see how badly it hurt. Especially not Sergei. Already, there was blood on his forehead, which meant that her father had probably knocked Sergei out. That was the only way she could see that her father, who was about the same height as she was, could have overpowered someone more than a foot taller, and with more than a hundred pounds of muscle on him.

  “Let them go,” she commanded, standing up straight as she glared at her father.

  In response, he swung again. But Katia was prepared this time and ducked, spinning around so that she was out of his reach. When she faced him once again, she straightened, and shook her head. “Don’t ever do that again,” she growled, loosening her stance so that she was more prepared. The trick to fighting back was to be ready, loose, and know all of the soft spots on the human body.

  So far, she’d only fought in a sparring ring, but she knew what to do and how to handle herself. She wasn’t going to let him get away with another cheap shot.

  “So my little girl has grown some claws?” he chuckled as he circled closer, watching her carefully.

  Katia walked over to the dresser, casually glancing around and noticed a nail file with some other toiletries. Turning, she pretended to ignore her father, wanting him close by again. Sure enough, he predictably moved in and grabbed a chunk of her hair. Quickly, Katia grabbed the metal nail file, slipping it under the sleeve of her shirt. But the pain in her scalp from her father’s grip stung, so she spun around and elbow
ed him as hard as she could in the solar plexus. His grip loosened and she hurried over to Sergei, who was tied up next to an older woman who looked terrified, and two of the bodyguards. She slipped the nail file to Sergei, who quickly stashed it under his foot, hiding it from Sosta. The guards realized what she’d done as well and kicked out, tripping the older man.

  In retaliation, her father knocked one of the guards out with the butt of his pistol, roaring with fury as he straightened himself.

  “Sign the damn papers, woman!” he shouted. He then tossed a bound document towards her, following that up with a cheap pen. Katia let the papers fall to the floor, not bothering to even glance at them.

  “Why would I sign anything?” she asked flatly.

  He came at her, moving fast. That was good, she thought. He was too angry to think clearly and she took advantage of that. As he ran towards her, she stood very still, pretending to take what he was going to dole out, but at the last minute, she jerked to the side, put her foot out and down he went. Hard this time!

  Under other circumstances, Katia would have laughed, but this was too dangerous. Her father’s face was turning red as his fury took over. So, Katia played dirty and kicked him. Hard! Right in the groin. The man was silent for a long moment, then he sort of…well…rolled to the side as he writhed in pain from her kick.

  Before she could even react, Sergei was right beside her, his body guards on both sides. One of them grabbed Sosta’s gun, the other twisted the man’s arms behind his back. Katia heard something snap and suspected that her father’s arm had been dislocated.

  She didn’t even care. All her focus was on Sergei as she threw herself into his arms. When they tightened around her and he lifted her up, she burst into tears.

  “Now you start crying?” he teased as his guards dragged Sosta out of the bedroom.