Nikolai hadn’t talked to Mark’s wife in a few weeks either. He had to stay in touch. She was grieving as he was. She might be the only one who could understand how he felt. And what Mark had meant to him.
Mark’s pension would take care of the kids, but Nikolai wanted to deliver her revenge. Let her know that there was justice in the world. That people like Luis Esposito couldn’t get away with things because of their money.
Ironic that Nikolai was just as rich as Luis, but he was using his money for good.
When the dinner was over, Nikolai drove out of the city thinking about Destiny. It was late, but he really wanted to talk to her. Maybe all that talk of domestic bliss was getting to him.
But Destiny didn’t represent domestic bliss for him. She represented a good lay and a good assistant in the office. Still, he might be treading on touchy ground. He might be heading in the wrong direction to keep his single status.
No, he was pretty sure he could handle things with Destiny. They were of the same mind. She’d said she didn’t want a commitment. He was going to believe her.
*
Destiny was in bed, but she wasn’t asleep. She couldn’t seem to sleep, thinking about Nikolai. What was his angle? What did he want from her?
Her phone buzzed. She turned on the light to look at it. Nikolai.
“You up?”
She contemplated, not answering, but lying always bit her in the butt. She isn’t good at it.
“Yes.”
“Can I come over?”
Was he asking for a play date? Seemed odd that he needed to see her. “Is there a problem?”
“No, I'm just not ready to go home yet. You can turn me down,” he texted.
She thought about it. She could throw on some clothes. She was here alone and sometimes that bothered her. “Come over. Do you know where I live?”
“Yes.”
Of course he did. He’d probably looked up her address. He was a control freak that way. What would he think of her apartment? It didn’t really reflect her salary, but she hadn’t gotten around to moving out. She hoped he wasn’t driving an expensive car. Might get stolen in this neighborhood.
She dressed and a few minutes later there was a soft tap on her door. She opened it to see Nikolai in a suit. A going-to-dinner suit, not one she’d seen him wear in the office. He’d loosened his tie. God, he was sexy. Sex on a stick.
She moved out of the way to let him in.
“Interesting neighborhood.”
“Well, yes. I just haven’t had a chance to move and my grandmother hasn’t really wanted to. She raised me in this apartment.”
He nodded, then sat on her couch as if he stopped by most days to see her. She wiped her sweaty palms on her jeans, then sat on a chair opposite him.
“I was out having dinner tonight in Manhattan,” he said, his gaze on her.
“I had leftovers.”
He laughed. “I should have brought you with me. The food was excellent. The wine was good, also.”
“Did you drive?”
“I prefer to drive.” He patted the couch next to him. “You’re all the way over there. Come sit with me, Destiny.”
“I’ll think it’s better if I stay here.”
“Chicken.”
Yes, she was. She wasn’t sure she could resist his charms. He was good in bed and with his hands and her body tingled at the thought of what they could get up to in her bed. No one was here. With her grandmother in rehab, she had the place to herself.
Someone knocked on the door. Nikolai stood. “You expecting anyone?”
“No.”
He strode to the door as if he owned the place. He looked through the peephole. “It’s a woman.”
“Destiny?” the woman yelled.
“Holy shit.”
“You know her?” Nikolai said.
“It’s my mother.”
Nikolai glanced at her as if he didn’t understand the significance.
She sighed.
“I haven’t seen in her in three years.”
“Do you want me to open the door?”
Her mother banged on the door.
“Go ahead.”
She would like to hide and pretend she wasn’t home, but that wasn’t going to happen with Nikolai here. She might have if she was home alone. Her mother could only bring trouble.
Nikolai opened the door and there stood Keisha Brown. All five feet eight inches of her with a large belly. Her mother was pregnant. She waddled in flashing a glare at Nikolai.
“You getting up to something? You have a man in your apartment? Shame on you, Destiny.”
Destiny crossed her arms. Where to begin? “Mother, it’s long past time for you to give up trying to mother me and given your current condition, you have no room to speak.”
Nikolai held out his hand. “I’m Nikolai Alman. I work with Destiny.”
Keisha looked at his hand, but just brushed by him. Nikolai showed no reaction. Destiny wanted to die. Would this affect her employment if Nikolai thought she came from trash like this?
“What are you doing here, Mother?”
“What? Can’t a mother want to see her daughter?”
Keisha plopped on the couch. Destiny wasn’t buying her maternal feelings.
“Let me guess, you’re hungry and had no place else to go.”
Another reason she had to move out of this apartment. Her mother wouldn’t be able to find her. What the hell was she supposed to do? She couldn’t kick her mother out while Nikolai was here, but she was afraid that her mother would bring her friends over.
All of them did drugs or dealt drugs and Destiny didn’t want that in her home.
“I’ll go make you something while you and Destiny catch up,” Nikolai said.
What the hell? He was staying? Her mother hadn’t scared him off? “You don’t have to do that.”
“I’d like to.”
He put his jacket over the back of a chair then rolled up his sleeves. His arms were sexy. Sculpted muscles.
“I guess that’s okay.”
“The man wants to feed your starving mother. How can that be bad?” Keisha said.
Oh, it could be very bad. Nikolai went off in the direction of the kitchen while Destiny stood in her living room, not sure what to do. She wrung her hands. Why had her mother picked tonight of all nights to return here?
And she was pregnant.
“Have you been getting prenatal care?” Destiny said finally.
“You’re more worried about an unborn child than your own mother?”
That unborn child didn’t desert her. That unborn child hadn’t flitted in and out of Destiny’s life making promises she wouldn’t keep. But Destiny said none of those things. They would fall on deaf ears. She was saved from saying anything by Nikolai’s entrance. He brought her mother a sandwich.
“I’m going to go. I’ll see you in the office tomorrow?”
“Bright and early,” Destiny said with a little too much perk. She wasn’t feeling any of it.
He smiled at her, but didn’t touch her. He left. Her mother had watched the exchange, but Destiny wasn’t going to talk to Keisha about Nikolai. That was none of her business.
Keisha devoured the sandwich. “Can I crash here tonight?”
“I wish you wouldn’t.”
“I’ll take the couch. You won’t’ even know I’m here.”
Destiny did an inventory of her valuables. She didn’t have any to steal and she’d bring her purse to bed with her. History had taught her that her mother would take anything she felt she could sell to get money.
“Fine. I’m going to bed. Turn the lights off when you’re done.”
She left her mother in the living room. She didn’t have any desire to take the inevitable trip down memory lane with her. It was only pleasant for Keisha because she didn’t remember things correctly.
She didn’t remember that she left her daughter with her grandmother. Or that she’d never really ever been a
mother to Destiny.
Destiny remembered. She remembered all of it.
***
Nikolai had gone home, disappointed with how the evening turned out. He needed to take matters into his own hands and tell Destiny how he felt. What he wanted from her. They could juggle the two relationships. He was sure. No strings. No emotion. A business arrangement of sorts.
That’s how he would present it to Destiny. She’d be his arm candy. She could decide what perks she wanted. He’d move her into his place and make sure her grandmother was taken care of. That could be his angle. That’s probably what she wanted. She wouldn’t want material things. Too much like paying for sex.
He couldn’t imagine actually paying for it. He had a badge. There were enough badge bunnies in the world to satisfy his sexual appetite, but he didn’t want any of those. He wanted Destiny.
She was due in any minute.
Then he heard her. He stared at his screen as if it had the most interesting text on it. Not so. It was some financial reports that were dry as hell, but he liked the bottom line on them. She poked her head into his office.
“Good morning.”
He looked up as if surprised to see her. As if he hadn’t just been fantasizing about her naked. She looked a little frazzled. “Morning. Everything okay?”
“No, but let me get some coffee. You have a few minutes to talk?”
“Sure.”
He could talk to her all day if she wanted. She returned with her mug in hand. She sat down and seemed to be collecting herself. He waited. He could easily be patient for Destiny.
“I’m sorry about my mother last night.”
“Why are you sorry?” he said.
The situation didn’t seem that odd compared to ones he’d come in contact with. Not everyone had the fairy tale mother. More likely they had the fairytale stepmother which wasn’t a good thing. “I’m not sure I follow.”
Destiny sighed. “My mother is, uh, I'm not even sure how to describe her. She wreaks havoc wherever she goes.”
He leaned back in his chair. “Okay.”
“To say I’m embarrassed by her would be an understatement.”
“We all have parents that do stuff.”
She shook her head. “You don’t. Your father was an angel to me.”
An angel? Maybe. He was certainly supportive of her. “He has his faults.”
“But he never abandoned you.”
“No, that he never did.”
“Well, mine did. So her showing up last night was not welcome. And she’s pregnant. What a nightmare.”
“Has she gotten prenatal care?”
“I doubt it, but here’s the problem. She was gone when I woke up this morning. I don’t know where she is and I need to find her.”
“You want to find your mother?”
“Less so for her sake, but for that child’s sake. It is my sibling and my grandmother taught me that family is more important than anything.”
Her grandmother was a smart woman. So what did Destiny want from him?
“So how do I fit into this?” he said.
“I heard a rumor that you had been in law enforcement.”
Her gaze was steady as she looked at him. No fear. “Well, yes, I was. I’m an FBI agent on leave.”
She nodded. “Then I need your help finding my mother.”
“It’s not really my jurisdiction. I might have some pull with some people here, but let me think on it. Let me think about what I can do for you.”
She pressed her lips together. “I guess that’s all I can ask.”
“It is for now, but I’d like to have some time today and then let’s talk about this over dinner.”
She gazed at him a suspicious look in her eye. “Dinner?”
“Of course. You know that meal that you have at the end of the day?”
“I know what dinner is. Why are we sharing a meal?”
“Because I want to talk to you. Get to know you. Discuss this issue.”
“Can’t we do that in the office?”
“No. I want to go to dinner with you,” he said.
Was she going to fight him every step of the way? He wanted to shake her. Just go to dinner with me. She licked her lips. God, that was sexy. Her lips were full and kissable.
“You want to have dinner with me?”
“Yes, Destiny. Why do you find that so hard to believe?”
“So we can have sex afterward?”
“I won’t turn it down if you’re offering, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Look, I have a few functions in the future I have to attend. Black tie. If I don’t bring a date, every cougar for miles around will sniff me out and I’ll have to dance with women who reek of desperation. You would save me from that.”
He’d just thought of that. On the fly. That was genius. She was doing him a favor.
“How does going to dinner help with that?”
“Word will get out that I’m involved and women will leave me alone. You can pretend to be my girlfriend, but we have to spend some time together to make it look real.”
She seemed to mull that over. “This is in addition to my duties as your assistant?”
“Of course, and you still have a job even if you turn me down.”
She cocked her head. “Pretend to be your girlfriend?”
“Think about it Destiny. You’ll get Krevchenko off of your back. You’ll get to go to dinners and wear pretty dresses if that’s what you’re into.”
“What’s my compensation for this?”
He almost laughed out loud. Very shrewd, Destiny. He’d give the girl credit. She wasn’t going to do anything for free and he doubted that his promise of sex was going to suffice.
“I’ll give you a stipend, but let’s talk about this over dinner and I can decide if I can help you find your mother,” he said.
He would help her. In fact, he’d put in a few calls to have some cops he knew keep an eye out for her, both in New jersey and New York. They’d find her if she wasn’t hiding. They might find her even if she was.
“Dinner it is. What time?”
“I’ll pick you up at seven.”
“Okay.”
She studied him for a moment longer before leaving him to his work. He didn’t get right back into it, but made the necessary calls to track down Keisha Brown. How did such a lovely, intelligent and sexy woman come from that person? Genes were a funny thing.
His calls made, he turned back to the financial report in question. No doubt in his mind someone was stealing money, but who could it be?
Chapter7
Destiny didn’t want to dress up, but this might as well have been a date. She was going to dinner with her boss. A man she’s seen naked. A man she’d like to see naked again, but knew that wasn’t the way to conduct business. He’d agreed to her compensation package for posing as his girlfriend.
What would Yuri think? Would he be happy to have her as a potential daughter-in-law? It was one thing to promote her because of her job skills. Would he think she was seducing Nikolai to get ahead? She really had no further to go in the company as a secretary. She was at the top of her game.
If she wanted a raise, she would have to go elsewhere. She didn’t want to go elsewhere, and Yuri had already been generous about what he paid her. And now Nikolai was going to pay her to pretend to be his girlfriend.
Considering benefits made her think about getting her Master’s Degree. The company would pay for it. They had a generous plan, but she’d liked working for Yuri. That’s why she hadn’t gone back to school.
Now with Nikolai here and the future of the company up in the air, she should probably do something to ensure she’d be able to get another job somewhere. Her employment, as much as Nikolai denied it, could be taken away on a whim.
Nikolai knocked on her door at seven as he’d said. He brushed past her as if he owned the place, finding her bedroom as if he had radar. Well, there were only two of them so he had a fifty-fifty shot of getti
ng it right.
He was pulling dresses out of her closet. He frowned at one then put it aside.
“We have to take you on a shopping trip,” he said.
“Tonight?”
“Not tonight, but soon. To be seen with me, you’ll have to have more expensive clothing. Your work stuff is great, but you need better dresses.”
He finally pulled out a red one. She hadn’t worn it in years. She wasn’t sure it still fit, not that she’d really put on much weight.
“Try this one.”
She went into the bathroom and came out with it on. It revealed more skin than she liked to show.
Nikolai’s face lit up. “That’s the one.”
“Really?”
“Yes. It’s smart and sexy, just like you.”
He thought she was smart and sexy? She swallowed then looked up at him. “I think I can shop on my own.”
He shook his head. “No, I’ll have someone come in. We can do it at my house so no one at the office knows.”
“Everyone at the office is going to find out that we’re dating,” she said.
She used her fingers to make air quotes around dating. They weren’t really dating. She knew that, but they had to make it look that way. Or at least Nikolai wanted it that way. And he was paying her well to make it look that way.
“That’s okay. I’m only a temporary head of the company. My father will be back.”
Destiny wasn’t so sure that his father was coming back, but she wasn’t going to argue. She let the conversation drop as they walked to his car. He held the door open and all that gentlemanly stuff. The car looked out of place in her neighborhood.
She really needed to move, but not until her grandmother was better.
“How is your grandmother settling in?” Nikolai asked.
“She’s going okay, but she’d rather be home.”
The restaurant was the nicest that Destiny had ever been in. Her dress wasn’t out of place, but she felt she was. She expected someone to stop at their table and tell her to leave. That she didn’t belong here. Nikolai was at ease the whole time.
Of course he would be. He grew up in money. She’d been making decent money working for Yuri, but not the kind that Nikolai was used to. What did he see in her? He could probably have any woman in the room and many of them were giving her nasty looks, wondering why he was having dinner with her.
Her Russian Billionaires - The Complete Billionaire Romance Collection Page 45