“You okay, Sacha?” Alia said.
He smiled down at her. “I’ve only been waylaid. It will still all come together.”
She smiled back at him. “That Kozlov tenacity.”
She squeezed her husband’s hand. His sister-in-law knew all about his family’s tenacity. It had taken that to finally bring Viktor and Alia together. Despite his initial dislike of Alia, she’d turned out to be good for his brother. The man had more balance in his life.
*
Kendra was about to finish her day. A friend was picking Cliff up form after school care. She didn’t have to relieve the aid at her apartment because for a rare treat, she had paid for someone to stay overnight. Kendra planned on meeting Tembi for a drink. Just one. She wasn’t going to get outrageous; one lone drink and a chance at adult conversation that didn’t have to do with preserving buildings.
Kendra wasn’t completely sold on the idea of saving the old building, but that didn’t meant she didn’t give her all to the cause. She was a pragmatist. She had to be. Taking care of her mother and her little brother, she had no choice.
Once in a while she treated herself. Tonight was that night.
Her phone rang. She hoped Tembi wasn’t backing out. She didn’t recognize the number, but her instincts told her to answer it.
“Hello?”
“Miss Elliott?”
“Yes.”
“This is Sacha Kozlov.”
She hadn’t received his report yet. She couldn’t wait to see what he came up with. Smug billionaires rarely backed down from what they wanted. She didn’t think that Sacha Kozlov would be any different. Men that rich thought that they could get away with everything. If they threw enough money at it, all would be right.
“Yes?”
“I’d like to meet you and give you this report in person.”
“I’m about to leave the office, but you can drop it off here in the mailbox slot in the door.”
“No, I want to hand it to you.”
Must not have found anything historical. He wouldn’t be so smug if he did. She’d have to have someone at Preservation One check his work. Not her job. Her job was to grant them time to do it by blocking demolition. Some of the bigger companies could keep it tied up for years. Thankfully the organization didn’t pay her by the case. No, she was on salary. Not a large one, but it kept a roof over their heads.
She sighed. She’d have to send a text to Tembi that she was going to be late. “Where do you want to meet?”
“At the building,” he said.
“Why there?”
“It’ll make sense when I talk to you.”
“Fine. I can be there in fifteen minutes.”
She could walk. She didn’t want to take a bus or move her car. The bar she was meeting Tembi at was close to her office. No need to find a new parking space. She walked in the warm weather of spring, the building that was almost knocked down a week ago. It was a majestic building made of stone with tall windows. It had a certain charm. Wanting out of the heat, Kendra tried the front door. It was open.
She was early so she looked around. Then she heard voices, but something in their tone told her not to yell out. Mr. Kozlov could already be here. She stopped, listening to see what direction the sounds came from. She moved closer, tiptoeing. She peeked around a corner and almost gasped. Standing in the room was Carmen Lopez, a Councilman for the City. He was up for re-election. What was he doing here? Was he meeting Sacha?
She watched for a moment when it dawned on her. She took in the conversation.
“I told you that your men are not making their quotas,” Carmen said.
He paced the small area. A man with tattoos seemed to be the object of his lecture.
“Your crusade has sent the cops down on us. You need to dial back,” he said.
“I can’t. It’s key to my getting elected again. Now we need to get out of here.”
“Why did we meet in this building?”
“I have a key to it and I know it isn’t being knocked down for a while. Preservation One will take care of that.” He laughed. “Now get me the drugs you owe me.”
The man pulled some bags out of his back pocket. “It’s good stuff from what I hear.”
“You haven’t sampled it?”
“No, I don’t use.”
Carmen shrugged. “Donors who are high give more money.”
Kendra must have gasped because both men looked in the direction. She didn’t think they could see her.
“What was that?”
“Maybe a rat. No one should be here,” Carmen said.
“I’ll check it out.”
Kendra ran for it. Her sensible shoes with the rubber soles didn’t make a noise. Her heart beat a staccato in her chest. She had to get out of there. If they caught her, who knew what would happen? She’d be another statistic in a city full of them. She had no idea if he set her up for this or not. It was his building. What if he was part of this? She had to be able to tell someone. Her heart was in her throat as she heard footsteps behind her. She hadn’t thought that she’d wandered this far into the building, but the place was a rabbit warren of rooms. Which way had she come? There was a clear hallway at this point.
Just by chance she saw light and ran toward it. Was this the front door? Maybe. She didn’t have time to pause or get her bearings. She ran to the light. It was the front door. She shoved it open, not caring at that point if she made noise. There would be people on the street. There would be safety if she hid somewhere or pretended she was just walking by.
She shoved out the door, turned left then planned on skidding to a halt as if she hadn’t been running. Pretend she was just a passerby. Instead she ran into someone and her heart skidded around her chest. They’d caught up with her. Damn.
***
Sacha caught Kendra before she fell. Where had she been running to? She fought him like a woman on fire.
“Kendra.”
She lashed out at him and he was afraid she was going to truly hurt him, so he wrapped his arms around her.
“Kendra.”
She stopped struggling. He realized that he liked the feel of her against him. He didn’t want to let her go. The softness of those large breasts reached him through his suit and shirt. Nice.
She looked up at him with big, soft, brown eyes. They had some green in them. “Mr. Kozlov?”
“Sacha. I think we’re past the mister stage.”
She looked down as if just realizing he was holding her. “Let me go.”
When he loosened his grip, she shoved him away. “You rat bastard.”
“Hey, you ran into me. I was just making sure you didn’t go ass over teakettle,” he said.
So much for being grateful, okay, maybe he’d held onto her longer than he needed to, but she’d felt good: soft in tall of the right spots; curvy where he was straight. He’d never been so acutely aware of how another human felt. This included the women who had been in his bed. Kendra could have been in a ski suit and he still would have felt her curves. She was that stacked and wonderful.
“You brought me here.” She looked over his shoulder frantically. “Tell me that they’re going to shoot me in broad daylight. On the street?”
He glanced in the direction her wild eyes were looking. He didn’t see anything that should cause alarm. “Who?”
“The men sent to kill me,” she said.
He blinked having no clue what she was talking about. “I didn’t send anyone to kill you. I’ve brought you the report my people compiled.”
She looked over his shoulder then at the briefcase by his feet. Her shoulders relaxed. “Then the men in your building weren’t sent to kill me because I blocked demolition?”
He smiled at her and hoped it would be warm. “I’m a businessman, a legitimate one, and a lawyer. I have no need to kill people. I can either throw money at the problem or bring them to court.”
She seemed to digest that. “But I saw something.”
&nbs
p; “Whatever you saw has clearly upset you. Can we go inside out of this heat?”
She backed away from him. “Not in there.”
He put his hands up in surrender. “There’s a coffee shop down the block.”
“I think I need something stronger.”
“There’s a bar next to the coffee shop. I’ll buy you a drink.”
“Fine.”
She spun in the direction he’d pointed then looked back at him. “I don’t want you behind me.”
“I’ll walk next to you and not touch you. I promise.”
He wasn’t sure his libido could handle her touch again anyway. She eyed him as they walked. She almost stumbled. He held the door for her when they arrived at the bar.
The place was quiet for happy hour, but Sacha figured this might be for the neighborhood people and they might not be out until after dinner. Either way they didn’t have to fight for a table. Only three people were inside. He directed her to a booth so they could talk in private. She was clearly still shaken up. She’d jumped when he put a hand on her lower back. What had she seen that had her this upset?
She sat, but faced the door. He didn’t care which side of the booth he had. He just wanted her to tell him what she saw. This was his building they were talking about.
The waitress came.
“We’ll take two vodkas on the rocks,” he said.
“Vodka. Of course,” Kendra said after the waitress left.
“I drink other stuff, but I think it might calm your nerves quicker. Now tell me what you saw?”
She took a large sip of her drink. He watched as she wiped her mouth with the cocktail napkin. “I heard voices. Then I was able to get close enough to listen. Councilman Carmen Lopez was telling another man that he wasn’t reaching his drug quota. Then he asked the man for the drugs he owed him and they exchanged a bag of white powder.”
“This was in my building?”
“Yes, Lopez said he had a key.”
“First I’m going to get the locks changed. I don’t want that stuff going on in my building. Then we need to get you in to talk to a cop.”
“You know a cop? Because they love Lopez. No one is going to think he did anything wrong. It will be my word against his.”
“Did they see you?”
“Not that I know of, but I can’t be sure. They might have been looking out when I ran into you. They could know me by now.”
Sacha had no choice. It was the code he’d been raised with. If a woman was in trouble he had to help her. Kendra was certainly a woman who needed help. She was in deep trouble. If Lopez figured out who she was, Kendra would have a price on her head. He couldn’t leave her. He had to take her in. Just like Viktor had taken in Alia when she’d seen a murder, Kendra was now his responsibility. And everyone she was connected with.
“Then you need to come home with me,” Sacha said. His current building had great security -- the benefits of living on the top floor. No one could come up to his floor without his permission.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
Kendra was no longer ashen. The brown of her eyes was sharper, in fact those green flecks stood out against the brown.
“Kendra, you’re in danger. I can’t let you go home.”
“I have people who I have to take care of. People who need me.”
“A husband?”
She seemed to be hesitating in telling him.
“Kendra if I don’t know the whole story I can’t protect you,” he said.
Chapter2
Kendra licked her lips. She didn’t know what she could tell him. She wasn’t convinced that he wasn’t part of this. “How do I know I can trust you?” She’d always kept her private life private. She never brought her troubles into her office. He looked at her with his gorgeous eyes and slight stubble on his face.
He looked rugged and capable of anything. That made her nervous. “You don’t, but do you want to chance going home and having them track you down?”
She pressed her lips together. If she really was in danger, and she suspected she was, then she had no choice. She had to trust Sacha. Not something she liked to do. “I don’t like depending on a man.”
He let out a sigh. He’d clearly dealt with women like her before this. “I see.”
“No, I don’t think you do. Every man in my life has failed me.”
He reached out his hand and covered hers. “I’m sorry, Kendra. I’m sorry that every man has done that to you. I’m not that man.”
She looked own at his white hand on her dark hand and wondered if it could be that easy. That he really could be the first man she could depend on. It mattered to her and it mattered to her mother and her brother.
“I have a mother who has Alzheimer’s. She needs either me or someone to take care of her.”
“We can find a top-notch facility for her.”
“I don’t want her in a nursing home.”
“This would be specifically for Alzheimer’s patients, much better than your average nursing home.”
“Yeah and who is footing the bill?”
“I am Kendra. I’m a single man who makes boatloads of money. I have a boatload of money. I can afford it.”
She swallowed. “I also have a five-year-old brother.”
“I have plenty of room in my penthouse.”
“I can’t imagine that it’s equipped for a five-year-old.”
“I can get it equipped. You tell me what I need.”
“Someone needs to get him to school and I’ll need to go to work.”
“We can work out the details, but I’m sure that we can figure all of this out. Finish your drink.”
“I have to send a text. I was supposed to meet a friend tonight.”
“Don’t tell your friend where you’re going,” Sacha said.
She eyed him. This was Tembi. She’d ask questions, but after mulling it over, Kendra nodded. She sent the text to Tembi. In that moment, Kendra knew her life was going to be different. Having to rely on Sacha was going to chafe, but she had to for her family’s sake. Cliff was only five.
Sacha pulled out his phone. He pushed one button. “I need the car.” He gave the name and address for the bar then hung up.
“You ready?”
“You have a car waiting?”
“Yes, Kendra, I have a car waiting.” He then dialed his phone again. He spoke into it. “I also have an ambulance picking up your mother. I need your address. Does she have a nurse?”
“Yes.” Kendra gave him her address. This was all surreal. Had she really seen what she’d seen? Now her life was upside down. She had work to do and a race to plan. This was all nuts.
“Then we’ll have that nurse go with your mother and I’ll get her a ride home.”
She wanted to keep her mother with her, but she couldn’t ask Sacha to put up with her. Her mother was not coherent often and if she was, she didn’t have any idea where she was or who she was. She had stopped recognizing Kendra ages ago. Broke her heart, but she hadn’t wanted to institutionalize her mother.
“Where is this place?”
“Outside of the city. I understand it is the top place for Alzheimer’s patients on the East Coast. If it isn’t right for her, we’ll move her.”
“Why are you going to all this trouble? You only just met me a week ago. I blocked the demolition of your building.”
“You were doing your job, Kendra. As you’ll see from my report, your injunction was merely a bump in the road. The reason I’m helping is because that’s how my mother raised me. As a Russian, I cannot let a woman be in trouble without helping her. It goes against my code.”
She finished her vodka. It had done well by calming her down. She was hungry, but that could wait. “I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.”
Her heart fluttered in her chest. Her life was not completely in her control right now and she didn’t like it one bit. If she’d stayed outside, instead of trying to get out of the heat, she wouldn’t have see
n Lopez make his drug deal. She could have done without that information. She’d worked on his campaign as a volunteer. She didn’t think he’d remember her, but now she was sorry he’d been elected.
Water under the bridge for sure. She braced herself for the outside heat. A large limousine with darkened windows awaited them. Sacha opened the door for her. “Your chariot.”
“Feels more like a paddy wagon,” then she realized how ungrateful that sounded.
Sacha laughed. “I promise this won’t be as bad all that. Where do we need to go?”
“I need some clothes.”
He waved a hand as he sat next to her. “You can’t go home. They might follow you or us. You can’t risk it. Where is your brother?”
“At a friend’s house.”
“Have that friend meet us somewhere.”
“What are we supposed to do for clothing? Toiletries.”
“I’ll get you new clothes.”
With each passing minute she was becoming more and more beholden to Sacha. This would not do. This was not going to be easy.
***
Sacha could feel the tension rolling off of Kendra. What happened to her for this mistrust to be so strong? He wished he could punch every one of those men who had let her down. He wasn’t that way at all and he’d have to work twice as hard to gain her trust. And he wanted to gain her trust. He wanted to see himself in her eyes, even if they only ended up as friends after this.
Still. He wouldn’t mind her in his bed. He’d bet when she did trust, she did it with all of her heart. When she let loose, it would be a storm. He liked storms. He’d never liked doing things the easy way.
No, he’d been a C-section baby. His mother said he’d never gone in the birth canal. He wasn’t content to do it the way he was supposed to; the story of his entire life since law school. Instead of studying political science he’d gone for business before law school. Then he’d taken a year off to work for Viktor. Law school had been good and he’d passed the bar exam on the second try when most of his classmates, who’d had better grades than his, took three and four tries.
Despite offers from various high-powered law firms, Sacha had chosen to work at Legal Aid. He didn’t need the money. He’d invested well during his college years and had plenty of money. His next project was the nightclub, but he wanted to do this properly.
Her Russian Billionaires - The Complete Billionaire Romance Collection Page 21