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

by Alexa Davis

  I quickly showered and pulled my hair up into a loose chignon at the nape of my neck before Viv came into the bathroom and applied my makeup, all the while scolding Anna, who wound her body around Viv's feet as she danced and chirped. "Get out from under my feet, cat!" she laughingly scolded before bending down to scoop up the small kitten and kiss her head.

  When she was finished, she stood back and surveyed her handiwork and pronounced me gorgeous. I donned the dress and sandals, and as I looked at my reflection in the mirror, I conceded that the overall effect was stunning and smiled as I thought about how Max would respond to all of this fussing and pampering. And yet, I felt like something was missing. Suddenly, I realized what it was and I dashed into the bedroom and rooted around in the top drawer of my dresser for a long time before finally locating what I was looking for; it was the pendant that Max had given me the first day of work. I quickly attached the clasp and then stood back and nodded.

  Viv let loose a low wolf whistle as I walked into the living room, then she made me walk the length of the room and turn and walk back. She nodded her approval and gave me a thumb’s up just as the doorman rang to let me know that Mr. Malin was waiting downstairs for me.

  When the elevator doors slid open, I turned and looked back at Viv. Her wide smile told me everything I needed to know, and I smiled back as the doors slid shut and the elevator carried me down to Max.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE

  Max

  I'd spent the morning calling to have everything set up for lunch, and then headed over to see Papa. I wasn't looking forward to the visit, but I knew that the longer I avoided him, the worse it would be when we finally talked. I also needed a favor – one that I wasn't sure he was going to grant, but I had to ask.

  When I arrived at Ursus, Feliks warned me in a hushed whisper that Papa was in a bear of a mood, and that I might think about coming back later once he'd had a chance to calm down. I thought about it for a moment and then shook my head. I would take my chances.

  "Maksimka," Papa said as he poured two shots and offered me one. Sitting and drinking with my father was the last thing I wanted to be doing, but to refuse would have been an insult that would taint the rest of our conversation and I knew he was just trying to find common ground.

  I accepted the shot and we quickly tossed them back before I said, "Papa, what happened?"

  "Maksimka, I'm going to tell you this one time and one time only," he said in a weary voice as he rubbed his eyes with one hand. "There are some things that I did while in the KGB and afterwards that I am not proud of. They were things that I should probably spend time in jail for having done, but I did them for the sole purpose of protecting you, your brother, and your mother."

  "Papa, I'm not here to condemn you," I said quietly. "I just want to know what happened and whether I need to be worried about you. Or me."

  "You're a good boy," he said as he reached across the table and patted my hand. "You've always been a good boy. I never meant for any of this to ever touch you. Kristov knew what he was getting into and I gave him the option of walking away many years ago, but he wanted to be in the life. I swear on the grave of my father."

  "Then, why did the two of you work so hard to try and blackmail me back into the fold?" I said through clenched teeth. I could feel my blood beginning to boil as I realized that everything they'd done had been a lie. In fact, I wondered if what Papa was telling me now was also a lie. "I didn't want to be a part of it and you knew that, but you bullied me into coming back. You threatened me, Papa, or have you forgotten that."

  "No, I have not," he said as he hung his head. "I will never forget that."

  "Why did you do it?"

  "There is no easy answer, Maksimka," he said, lifting his head and looking at me in a way that made me shudder. "I did it because I love you. Because I loved your mother and your brother. It was love."

  "You have a very sick way of showing love, you know that, don't you?" I hissed. I could feel myself getting angrier and angrier at him as I listened to yet another useless excuse. He wasn't apologizing for his cruelty, he was explaining it away. He was rationalizing it as love, and I wasn't going to buy the lies. "You are a cruel man who has done cruel things to the people who loved him."

  The pain in Papa's eyes almost convinced me to stop and drop to my knees to beg for forgiveness, but then the image of my brother lying in his bed with a hole in his forehead swam in front of me and I fought the urge. His death was my father's fault. No matter what he said, it was my father's fault. And, I was finally going to ask the one question I most wanted an answer to.

  "Did you kill Mama?" I blurted out. Papa's face twisted into a mask of pain and rage as the words hung in the air between us. He raised his hand and then dropped it into his lap.

  "You have no idea how painful that question is," he said slowly. "But the truth is that I did not kill her, Maksim. She was collateral damage in a war that should never have been fought, but I did not kill your mother. I loved her more than I loved myself, and I would have died trying to protect her."

  "Then, why didn't you?" came the anguished cry from my lips. "Why did you let my Mama die?"

  "I will never be able to give you a satisfactory answer to that question, Maksimka," my father said as he dropped his head into his hands and shook silently. Even in grief, my father was a bratán who didn't let his emotions show. I watched him with tears in my eyes, but I didn't make a move to comfort him. To do that would be to break the code of the vory v zakone, and although I wasn't one of them, I did respect the fact that he was. After a few minutes, he regained enough control to say, "Someday, when you love someone that much, you'll understand."

  "I do, Papa," I said. "I do love someone that much."

  "Miss Wallace?"

  "Yes," I replied. "I want to make a life with her. She matters more to me than anyone in the world."

  "Then, you will need this," he said as he reached into his shirt and pulled out a long chain on which hung a thin band encircled with small diamonds. He undid the chain and pulled the ring off of it, offering it up to me. "It was your mother's wedding ring. I bought it for her when we lived in Moscow. I had to eat out of garbage cans for a month after buying it, but I wanted her to know she would always be taken care of if she agreed to marry me."

  I took the ring and studied it. It was worn and scratched, but the etching on the inside was still readable. It said, Lyublyu, chest' leleyat. I read the words aloud, "Love, honor, cherish."

  "I did, you know," he said quietly. "Despite what you think, I loved your mother more than anyone."

  "I'm sure you did," I agreed, trying to find a way to meet him in the middle of our individual pain.

  "Go find Miss Wallace and ask her to let you be the one to love her more than anyone," he said with a wry grin. "Women like that."

  "Thank you, Papa," I said before I turned and headed out the door and back to Lexi.

  CHAPTER SIXTY

  Lexi

  When I walked out the door of the building, the first thing I saw was Max standing next to the car, holding a huge bouquet of red roses. I gave him a confused look, but then quickly smiled as he explained, "I know it's cliché, but I have always wanted to walk into a flower shop and say 'Give me all the red roses you have!'" I laughed loudly at his silly explanation and then stood on my tiptoes to kiss his lips.

  "Why do you always pull your hair back?" he asked as he slipped his hand to the nape of my neck as he gently kissed me before tugging on the pins that held my hair. "I like it down!"

  "Well, fine then," I laughed. "I was trying to be professional!"

  "Why on earth would you want to be professional on a day like this?" he asked as he ushered me into the waiting car and we were whisked off to the harbor. When we arrived, he popped out of his side and came around to mine, opening the door for me with a small flourish.

  "Max, what are we doing?" I laughed as he offered his hand and helped me out of the car.

  "We're going to do thin
gs that I've never done before today," he smiled. "Today is going to be a day full of firsts."

  "I find it very hard to believe that you've never been on a boat before," I said warily.

  "Oh, I've been on plenty of boats," he agreed. "I've just never owned one before."

  "What?" I exclaimed as he took my hand and pulled me down the dock toward a large white vessel docked at the end of the row. "What did you do, Max?"

  "I bought a boat!" he said with no small amount of glee. "It's mine!"

  "Did you hit your head?" I asked, partly serious.

  "I did not," he laughed. "I have spent my life doing everything that was expected of me and never breaking any rules, until I met you. And now, I feel like I want to do things that don't conform."

  "Oh, Max!" I cried as we walked toward the boat and I saw that he'd had the bow painted with the name "Anna."

  "I thought it was fitting since she's the reason we're both here," he smiled. He helped me up onto the gangplank and held my arm as we walked across the swaying connection from the land to the water. He introduced me to the captain who would be navigating our trip around Lake Michigan and then gave me a quick tour of the boat. It was a grand extravagance, and I had to keep reminding myself that Max was more than able to afford these kinds of toys. We ended the tour back up on deck where a table had been set; as the captain steered us away from the harbor toward the deeper waters of the lake, we were served a lunch like I'd never eaten before in my life.

  There were oysters on the half shell swimming in lemon and parsley, a fresh, crisp salad made of the most tender greens and lightly coated in a raspberry vinaigrette dressing that made me want to sing, and the main course was poached salmon with lemon dill fingerling potatoes and fresh, steamed green beans tossed in garlic butter and topped with toasted almonds. Every bite was more delicious than the last and we marveled at the talent of the chef with every offering as we sipped the cold, crisp white wine that the server poured.

  When we were finally stuffed to the gills, Max stood up and walked to the back railing and watched the water spread out in rippled waves behind us as we sped across the lake. He held out his hand to me and I joined him. He wrapped his arms around my waist and held me against his chest as he looked into my eyes. I shivered as I held his icy blue gaze, knowing the heat and passion that lay on the other side. I could feel his desire swelling as it pressed against my stomach and I felt my own warmth begin to spread.

  "Lexi, I don't know what I'd do without out you," he said as he raised a hand to my face and gently stroked my cheek. "You have changed my world. You've expanded it and made it bigger and brighter, and you've made me realize that there's nothing more important in life than love. I love you, Lexi Wallace."

  "I love you, too, Max Malin…Malinchenko." I gazed up into his face and decided that there was nothing I loved more than staring at it.

  "I don't ever want to be without you again," he said as he let go of my waist and lightly kissed my lips. The next thing I knew, he had dropped to one knee and was holding up a small black box as he said, “Will you do me the great honor of agreeing to marry me, Lexi Wallace?"

  "What?" I replied, shocked and not sure if I had suddenly hallucinated this whole scene.

  "Will you marry me?" he repeated as he opened the box and offered me the most exquisite ring I'd ever seen in my life. I looked at the ring and then back at him, scared that it was all going to disappear.

  "Yes, Max, I will marry you!" I cried as he stood up and took the ring out of the box, placing it on my finger and kissing me deeply. I wrapped my arms around my neck and returned his kiss before throwing my head back and laughing. "I love you, Max Malinchenko!"

  CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE

  Epilogue

  I watched Viv step out into the aisle as the music began to play, then I took a deep breath, centered the bouquet of perfect red roses, and began my walk toward Max. He was standing at the end of the aisle with a wide smile on his face, waiting for me to join him. The venue was packed with hundreds of people who wanted to wish us well, but I only had eyes for Max.

  After he'd proposed, we'd spent the next several weeks turning our fake publicity stunt into a real wedding, figuring that it was better to do it now rather than later. I'd given up working in the store for rehearsals with the theater company and they'd agreed to give me a few days off to get married, despite the fact that we were under a great deal of pressure to get the show up and running. Max had offered to underwrite the show so that they wouldn't have to worry about the expenses, but I'd quickly put the kibosh on that, knowing that he would understand how I hard I'd worked for this.

  We had agreed that we'd take a long honeymoon as soon as the three-month run of the play was done, but we hadn't decided where to go. The night that Max took me to meet his Babi and his father, Max's father revealed that he had arranged for us to tour Moscow and St. Petersburg, before heading to the Ukraine to see the wonders of Kiev. I could tell that Max was angry, but I could also see that his father was trying to offer him an olive branch, so I declared it was the best trip anyone could have given us and Max softened.

  At the end of the evening, as we were preparing to leave, Babi pulled me aside and hugged me tightly saying, "You are just what we need in this family. Ty nasha radast."

  "And I need a family, so it looks like we're a good fit," I smiled as I hugged her back.

  Looking around, I saw Babi's smiling face and Vladimir standing next to her, smiling proudly. My own parents had not been able to make it back to the States in time for the wedding, but they had promised to be home in time to celebrate Christmas with us at the penthouse. As I looked up at the front of the aisle, I saw Viv facing me and her smile lit up the room as she held tightly to a small, gray kitten that looked only mildly irritated about having to play the role of bridesmaid bouquet. Viv planted a kiss on Anna's head and the little fur-ball chirped as I came into view.

  I smiled and focused my attention on Max as I reached his side. He held out his hand and as I took it, I knew I'd found my forever home in his smile.

  #

  After the ceremony, Lexi and I spent the evening dining, drinking, and dancing with our guests. There was an outpouring of love and gifts, and by the time the night was over, Lexi and I had kissed and hugged hundreds of people, some of whom we didn't know at all, but who were close friends of Sergei Petrov and his investment partners. Petrov told me that he had a new deal he'd like to share with me, and I agreed to meet him for lunch the following week to discuss it.

  Out on the dance floor, I held Lexi close and swayed to the music as I counted the minutes until we could escape back to the privacy of our home. "I want to take you home now," I whispered in her ear as I let my hand roam a little farther than was entirely appropriate.

  "Mr. Malinchenko, please, we have guests," she giggled as she wrapped her arm around my waist and pulled me tightly against her, daring me to protest.

  "Mrs. Malinchenko, please, you are being highly inappropriate!" I protested.

  As Lexi threw her head back and laughed loudly, I leaned down and kissed her neck. The scent of her was intoxicating, and I felt my body responding to her warmth as I kissed a path up her neck to her lips, where I received a low moan as a reward for my efforts at seduction.

  "When can we leave?" I asked very seriously.

  "Soon," she replied as she looked up into my eyes and smiled.

  We exited through the crowd as they tossed rice and rose petals at us, wishing us well. I grabbed Lexi's hand and we made a run for the car waiting out front, and once inside, I put my arms around her and kissed her deeply, tasting the wine and sweet sugar frosting from our cake on her lips. By the time we arrived home, we were both vibrating with desire, so I scooped her up in my arms and made a mad dash for the elevator, much to the surprise of the doorman.

  Up in the penthouse, I carried Lexi to the master bedroom and gently set her down on the bed before stepping back so I could take one more look at her. I dropped to my kn
ees in front of her and pulled her hands to my lips as I whispered, "You are the most beautiful woman in the world, Lexi Malinchenko, and I will spend the rest of my life trying to prove myself worthy of your love."

  "Oh, Max," she sighed as she pulled me to her and placed her hands on either side of my face. "I love you more than you will ever know."

  I gently kissed her lips as I unzipped her dress and slowly pushed it off of her shoulders, exposing her bare skin. I heard her sigh as I ran the tips of my fingers over her shoulders and down her chest. As I slipped her dress off and left it puddled on the ground in a pool of white satin and shining beads, I laid her down before quickly shedding my own clothing.

  I had been aching for her for hours, and I knew she had been doing the same when I slid a hand between her thighs and felt the fierce heat radiating from between her legs. I pushed myself up so that I was positioned above her as she pressed her lips to mine and moaned loudly. With one quick thrust, I was deep inside her and I heard her cry out as she raked her nails down my sides and arched her back to meet my pounding rhythm. I could hear her begging me to take her to make her mine, so I lost myself in the rhythm as I steadily pulled back and then thrust into her again and again.

  It didn't take either of us long to reach the peak, and as soon as I slid a hand between us and began firmly stroking her clit, I heard her cry out and felt the familiar clenching and release as she climaxed. Moments later, I joined her as I let go and released all the desire and tension I'd been holding in all day. I groaned loudly and felt her hands on my face as I looked down into her beautiful eyes and smiled.

  “Don’t ever stoya, Mr. Malinchenko,” she smiled up at me.

  “Never,” I promised. “Not ever.”