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

by Alexa Davis

  "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 maddeningl
y 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 e
vidence 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.

  CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

  Lexi

  Despite Max's early morning breakfast distraction, I managed to make it to the store on time to open for business. I couldn't stop replaying the morning's sex over and over and as a result, I was a little distracted when Mrs. Zakhrov rang the bell. I let her in and failed to notice the three young men loitering behind her as she entered. They pushed their way into the store and began loudly arguing over which necklace to buy their girlfriends.

  I smiled at Mrs. Zakhrov, walked over to the boys, and asked if I could help them make a good choice. The leader had a strange look about him. He was dressed in a business suit that looked slightly too small for his enormous frame and was sporting a faux-hawk that looked like it had been smoothed down with an enormous amount of product. The other two were similarly dressed, but their suits fit them a little better. All in all, they looked like foreign bankers and since we had a lot of them downtown, I didn't think much of it.

  "Can I help you gentlemen decide on something?" I asked as I approached. The leader suddenly whipped around and pulled a gun out from under his jacket.

  "Yeah, bitch, you can help me decide whether or not to kill you," he growled as he reached out and grabbed my arm. Mrs. Zakhrov screamed as the other two grabbed her and yanked her purse out of her hands.

  "You don't have to do this," I said, trying to maintain a calm demeanor, despite the fact that my heart felt like it was pounding out of my chest. "I'll give you what you want. Just tell me what you want."