by BWWM Club
“Not so bad, huh?” he said and she nodded.
“I mean, I can’t really be the best judge of…character,” she waved her hand over his chest.
“So, that’s what you are going to call me now, character?”
“For lack of a better word.”
He kissed her forehead again and then lowered his head to brush her lips with his. She looked into his eyes when he pulled away as she ran her fingers down his chest again, tracing over his scars.
“You want to ask about it, don’t you?” Evgeni suddenly said as if he was reading her mind. She nodded and ran her hand down his chest again. “I want to tell you because I want to have you with me forever…for the rest of my life.” And she frowned.
“But isn’t it too soon to make that decision?”
“Why would you say that?” he asked and she shrugged.
“I am simple old me and you are this hot man of Eastern European descent who has everything…and can have any woman he wants and…” her voice trailed off.
“Why do you think I wanted you?” Evgeni asked as he ran his hand up and down her upper arm. She looked at him and shrugged again.
“Path of least resistance, I guess.”
He pulled away and looked down at her shaking his head.
“Path of least resistance?” he echoed as he looked at her and she nodded. “Why would you think that?”
“At the risk of ruining the moment, Evgeni, you are a freaking billionaire and a hot one at that,” she started and a smile played on his lips. “You are the kind of people who would rather be with some skinny Brazilian model or something not a plus size African American woman….” She never got a chance to finish what she was saying. He had lowered his head and kissed her.
“A woman who can be acquired by money is not worth having,” he said in a whisper. “And I chose you because…you might not know it and I don’t even understand why but Athena, you are a spectacular woman and I am scared out of my mind because I am falling in love with you.”
She looked up at him, her lips slightly parted.
“You are falling in love with me?” she asked.
“I fell in love with you that first time I saw you at the Aquarium and…” he held the side of her face and gently caressed her cheek. “That was just the one time in a long time I felt like everything was right in the world.”
“Don’t just say things to me to butter me up, Evgeni,” she said and he smiled.
“Look at us. You are in my bed and I just made crazy love to you…no, I just fucked the living daylights out of you and I am going to do it again over and over and over, Athena. I do not need to butter you up.”
Athena felt her cheeks flushing.
“You really do have a way with words, Markovic,” she said in a soft voice. She got up from the bed and pulled one of the sheets, covering herself with it before she walked to the bathroom. He got up and followed her to the bathroom where he cleaned up as he looked at her doing the same. He then walked up to her and pulled off the bed sheet.
“Don’t hide yourself from me, baby,” he said as he slipped an arm around her waist. He pulled her to him and she gasped silently when she felt his already semi-hard cock against her thigh. She looked at him and once more, she caught a glimpse of his scarred tattooed body.
“I don’t want to sound like a broken record or anything but I am just wondering why you have so much scar tissue.”
“I told you, I don’t want to scare you…I don’t think I want to find out what life is without you,” he said in a soft voice.
“How about I tell you something about me and you tell me something about you. But it has to be something big,” she said. “Something that you wouldn’t normally say lightly.”
He nodded and led her back to the bedroom. He climbed into bed and held his hand out. She placed her small hand in his and snuggled up into him. He pulled the covers over them when she shivered slightly. He could not have known whether she was shivering because of the cool air or the fact that she was scared of revealing her biggest darkest secret.
“So tell me,” he said as he pressed his lips on her forehead. “What is this big secret you have?”
Athena took a long deep breath and sighed.
“Remember that time I told you that I used to work for Jameson & Klein?” she started and he nodded. “Well, I met someone there…my fiancé actually.”
Evgeni raised an eyebrow over the other.
“Whoa…I didn’t know I was crossing a line here…” he started and she shook her head with her hand on his chest.
“No, not anymore,” she said. “But I met him while working there…actually it was on a business trip to Miami.” She smiled. “Which was actually weird because I didn’t originally want to go on that trip in the first place.”
“So, what’s his name?” Evgeni asked. Athena couldn’t help but hear the jealousy in his voice.
“His name was Evan,” she answered.
“Was?”
“He died. He died on our wedding day,” she said as a tear rolled down her cheek. She didn’t think that after this long, she would still get emotional talking about him. “Talk about being left at the altar, right?”
“I’m so sorry, Athena” Evgeni said. “I didn’t know.”
“Please…don’t be. It’s been quite a few years anyway,” she added. “Okay just two…actually a little over two years. Twenty six months.”
“There is never enough time to get over someone you loved,” Evgeni said and she nodded.
“Yeah, I guess. So, anyway, being at Jameson & Klein was just a constant reminder of what I had lost and anyway, you could only eat so many muffins.” She smiled. “I needed to be in a place where people didn’t constantly give me those pitiful looks. So I moved out of New York to Virginia and my best friend moved out here with me.” She sighed. “And that was that.”
Evgeni looked down at her and ran his hand up and down her upper arm again.
“I’m so sorry,” he said as he looked at her. “I would not have thought…I just don’t…” his voice trailed off and she looked up at him. She kissed him gently.
“Don’t….this, right now, is perfect.”
He smiled as she snuggled even closer to him.
“So, a deal’s a deal.”
“Yes it is.”
“Your turn,” she said in a soft voice. He held her tightly as if he was afraid that she would disappear if he did.
“I told you, I’m scared that I am going to lose you so soon after I got you,” he said and she shrugged.
“Just tell me,” she said.
“A lot of the scar tissue on my body is basically stray bullets…four to be exact and I have a number of stab wounds too,” he started and she looked up at him. “My family has, in the past, been involved in…things that I am not so proud of. I’ve been trying to get my life straight…away from that kind of life because I honestly love the sound of my heart beating.”
“Maybe you were right to be afraid to come clean,” she said without looking at him.
“To be honest,” he started as he looked down at her. “You are the first person I have told that to. Even my ex-wife didn’t know the whole story.”
She pulled away from him and looked up.
“You were married?” she asked, surprised.
“Well, yeah but all she ever cared about was shopping and my cousin Ivan,” he said, forcing a smile.
“Oh,” Athena said, feeling a little awkward. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be. I am so much better without her in my life actually,” he said.
Athena sat up and looked at him as she held the bedding to her breasts.
“So, she didn’t know about the scars, about the bullets and everything?” she asked and he shook his head. “Wait, didn’t she ever see you naked or something?”
Evgeni laughed.
“Of course she did but she just didn’t care. Before we got married, I only had a couple of scars from when I was younger but
by the time everything changed, Natalya was already warming Ivan’s bed. So, I guess she didn’t give a flying fuck.”
“Whoa…language, mister.”
“Pardon my French.”
Athena put a hand on her neck and sighed.
“I’m not sure it’s my place to ask, but, bullet wounds and stabbings…” she shook her head and sighed again. “Should I be scared for my life?”
Evgeni looked into her eyes and for a minute, he wanted to tell her everything. He wanted to tell her the real reasons for all his scars and the real reason why he preferred the US to Moscow. He held the side of her face and leaned forward to kiss her softly.
“If anyone tries to hurt you, they will have to kill me first. Because I am not going to let anyone lay a hand on you, Athena,” he said as he pressed his forehead to hers. “Even if it kills me, I will protect you. From anything and from anyone.”
She slipped an arm around his neck and closed her eyes.
“I don’t know why I feel like I can trust you so much,” she whispered.
“That’s because you can.”
Evgeni pulled the sheet from her and looked at her naked breasts. He gently forced her down on the bed and got on top of her.
“I want to have you again,” he whispered before he kissed her gently. She spread her legs and held on a lock of his hair as he pushed himself back into her still wet pussy. She gasped and bit her lip as she felt him once again pushing himself further and deeper into her.
Chapter 7
On Monday morning, Evgeni was still excited about the great weekend he’d had with Athena. It had not only been a couple of days but he had lived his fantasy with her, done everything he could possibly think of to her, with her, and for her. He was all smiles when he walked into his office that morning. As far as Evgeni knew, she was supposed to sleep over for just one night but they had ended up spending the entire weekend together and it had been magical. Sure, he was a bit drained but it was worth every single minute of it.
He had just sat down when Viktor knocked on his still open door.
“Mr. Markovic?” he asked as he walked in.
“Viktor. Come on in.” He switched on his computer and looked up at him. “My assistant is just about to bring me my breakfast. Can I ask her to bring you something?”
Viktor shook his head.
“I just had breakfast. Thanks.”
Evgeni raised an eyebrow over the other.
“It’s seven in the morning and you had breakfast already? What time do you get up?”
Viktor shrugged as he sat down.
“Depends. Back in Moscow I am usually up by eight because my day doesn’t begin until ten but here…I don’t know why but I just can’t seem to sleep as well as I do back in Russia.” Evgeni smiled.
“But that time in Cape Town, remember? You were the only one who seemed to sleep through the jetlag,” he said and Viktor smiled.
“What can I say, I have a kind of gift,” he said just as Evgeni’s assistant walked in.
“Dirty soy latte, bagel and breakfast burrito,” she said as she put his breakfast on the desk. Viktor looked at the food and then at Evgeni.
“A bagel and a breakfast burrito?” he asked as the assistant walked out.
“What can I say? I’m famished.” Evgeni started as he bit into his breakfast burrito. “Damn that Taco joint down the street sure knows how to spoil its clients…this is almost as good as Inez’s.”
Viktor looked at him and smiled.
“You know, I call you Mr. Markovic out of respect but I know you well enough to guess that the only time you eat like this is after a late night at the club or…” his voice trailed off when he saw a smile playing on Evgeni’s lips. “If I didn’t know any better I could have sworn you were recovering from one very long night.”
Evgeni took another bite and then took a sip of his coffee.
”I don’t want to talk about it,” he said before he took another sip.
Viktor forced out a laugh.
“I never thought I would see the day,” he said with a smile.
“What are you talking about?”
“Well, it is quite simple really,” Viktor started. “You are seeing someone.”
“No comment,” Evgeni said as he took another bite.
“Finally, we are officially out of Natalya’s shadow,” he said.
“Well, it is about damn time, don’t you think?” Evgeni said as he put the Styrofoam cup down on his desk. “Though I must point out that I came out from under her shadow a long time ago. It’s just that living single…people thought that I was still hung up on Natalya, though that was not the case.”
“I have to ask,” Viktor started as he crossed a leg over the other. “Do you and Ivan…do you have any kind of relationship?”
Evgeni sighed as he leaned back in his chair and then shook his head.
“To be quite honest, there is no reason...I tried but there is no way things could ever go back to being the same. It is virtually impossible.” He took a long deep breath. “It is very hard to be civil to a man who I knew as my best friend for the longest time…and all the time he was sleeping with my wife.” He shook his head. “Even though Natalya doesn’t mean anything to me, I just can’t bring myself to forget what those two did to me.”
Viktor nodded and then shrugged.
“He was…when I left Moscow, he and Natalya had just come back from the UK,” he said and Evgeni shrugged.
“Why are you telling me this? I don’t need to know anything about Ivan and Natalya, much less what they have been up to.”
“But you do know that they were staying at your house in England,” Viktor pointed out and Evgeni nodded. “But she didn’t get the property in UK in the divorce, did she?”
“No, she didn’t,” Evgeni said. “But she was always…that’s where they first hooked up and I really don’t need that on my conscience. Besides, the England property was a lease and it is almost up anyway. Let her deal with that bullshit. I want nothing of it.”
He took another sip of his coffee.
“So, what about the matter at hand?” he asked.
“Yes, tell me why I can’t just walk out of this deal he had with my father,” he asked and Viktor shook his head.
Viktor took a long deep breath.
“The shell companies that all the money from the arms deals and narcotics pipeline have been passing through…he is the final word on all of them. And he has made it clear that the only way he walks out is if he has Markovic Oil.”
Evgeni sighed again. Markovic Oil was one of the only two legitimate businesses he had managed to set up. A business that didn’t have any kind of influence from his family’s illegal businesses and it was a thriving business too even though it was not a very big company. He shook his head and put the burrito he had in his hand down on the desk.
“He wants Markovic Oil?” he asked, surprised.
“That’s what he said.”
“That doesn’t make any sense. It is not part of the ventures father began,” Evgeni said.
“I know but that is his price for letting go of Markovic Trucking and Markovic Freight,” Viktor said and Evgeni shook his head again.
“That is never going to happen. Markovic Oil is my blood and sweat!”
“I know …I know…” Viktor started. “But…”
Evgeni shook his head again. He was not letting this go on much longer.
“I cannot…I will not let go of Markovic Oil. He can have the trucking and freight companies for all I care but not the venture I set up in the Middle East.”
Viktor nodded.
“I knew you would say that. But I needed to let you know what he said before you face him.”
“Face him? Is he here? In Virginia?” Evgeni asked and Viktor nodded.
“I didn’t know that he was. I actually found out a few hours ago,” he said. “I knew he wanted to have a sit down with you but I had no idea he wanted it to be so soon.”
&
nbsp; “Do you have any idea how long he has been around?” Evgeni asked and Viktor shook his head.
“The only people who know everything about him are his inner circle. He always…he is just a strange man, Cromwell.”
“I guess all Irish criminals are,” Evgeni said sighing. He rubbed his temple and shook his head. “What if I give him a check, the equivalent of Markovic Oil’s current net worth? Surely that will be enough for him.”
Viktor leaned forward and shrugged.
“That might just work,” he said. “But that will set you back a few billions, Mr. Markovic.”
Evgeni nodded.
“I know, but it is worth it. I can liquidate a few assets for that particular purpose,” he said. “But I don’t want to ever give that man a stake in Markovic Oil, let alone the whole company.”
Viktor nodded and pushed his chair back.
“I’ll make a few calls and set up the meeting. Hopefully, everything will be well sorted by the time you meet Cromwell.”
“Hopefully,” he echoed. “Keep me posted, will you?”
“Will do,” Viktor said before he walked out of Evgeni’s office leaving him sipping on his latte.
“Fuck the Markovic clan! This is all your fault father,” he thought as he took the last bite of his burrito. “Money was so important to you that you thought the best way to make it was living by the sword? And now I can’t seem to get out from under the spell you put me under!”
He took a long sip of his latte and then stood up before he walked to the window.
“All I want is to be able to sleep through the night without worrying that someone might slit my throat in my sleep. All I want is a comfortable life with Athena,” he thought as he took another sip looking out into the moderately warm outdoors. He could not help but wonder why his life had to be so damn complicated. Why couldn’t everything just be simple? At that moment, he wanted to be anything else, anyone else other than Evgeni Markovic.
*****
Athena interlaced her fingers with Carla’s as they walked into Rubio’s, the only other restaurant the two friend’s considered a major competition for Carla.
“I really don’t understand why we had to come all this way to spend two hundred dollars for something I would have whipped up in my kitchen,” she said.