My Billionaire Boss
Page 46
CHAPTER ELEVEN
IGOR
“Stop fidgeting with that tie!” Ivan was once again hovering. I’d never been so close to punching him as I was today.
“It’s too tight.”
“It’s fine, breathe.”
“I can’t breathe because the fucking tie is too tight.”
He laughed. “You can’t breathe because you’re nervous.”
“Fuck that. I’m Igor Usmanov. I don’t get nervous.”
“I wouldn’t have laid odds on that six months ago. But since Jessica came into your life you’re a different man. So much so that I’m thinking of making a career change.”
“What are you talking about old man?”
“I was thinking about starting up one of those matchmaking services. Who knew I was so good at it?” I rolled my eyes at him. The truth be told sometimes I’m so grateful to him for Jessica that I want to kiss the old geezer, but I’d never admit that to him.
“Maybe you should concentrate on your own love life.”
He laughed. “I gave up women when I turned seventy. I only meddle in other people’s affairs from now on.”
Ivan was standing next to me not simply because he was hovering, but because in the absence of my beloved brother, he was my best man. We both stood at the altar in St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Cathedral and waited for my bride. For the past six months, I begged Jessica to run away with me and get married in Las Vegas. She wouldn’t hear of it. She told me she’d dreamt of her wedding day since she was five and now that we were productive members of the community we owed it to our acquaintances and friends to have a big party. I rolled my eyes at her too, but I gave her what she wanted. She would always get what she wanted from me. I was so deeply in love with her that sometimes I could hardly see straight.
“When is this thing going to begin?” I was glaring at the priest. He raised an eyebrow at me and I felt Ivan poke me from behind.
“Patience,” he said, “She’s worth waiting for.”
I knew that she was but it didn’t make the waiting any easier. By the time the music began to play and I turned to look past the three hundred guests to the alcove she would walk out of I felt like I would explode. Jessica’s friend Kendra was her maid of honor and she came down the aisle first. She was a beautiful woman and she looked great in her soft lace dress and flowers in her hair, but I didn’t want to see her. I wanted to see Jessica. I was about to demand it when the wedding march started and the guests all stood up.
My bride appeared in the alcove then and my chest actually hurt when I saw how gorgeous she looked. Not that she wasn’t beautiful all the time, but today she was dressed in a white dress that hung off her pretty shoulders, molded to her sexy breasts and tiny waist and then flared out in a wide skirt that made her look like a princess. A tiny little satin hat sat atop the pile of blonde curls on top of her head and a long, lace veil spilled down her back. As she came toward me holding a bouquet of white roses and smiling so brightly she was glowing I had an incredible urge to take her right there in the middle of the church with everyone watching. Thank God for the modicum of impulse control I still had.
When she reached the altar I held out my arm and she took it. As she stepped close I whispered, “God Jessica you are the most beautiful woman on earth.”
She gripped my arm tighter and said, “I must be, I’m marrying the most handsome, sexiest man.”
The priest began the ceremony and as I stood there and listened to his words I marveled at the thought of me even being here. I’d promised myself years ago that I’d never get married. I promised myself that I’d never be with only one woman. I promised I’d never give up my lifestyle for anyone. Now I stood here ready to promise Jessica the opposite of all of that and happy to do it. When it came time to say the I do’s the only regret I had was that my father and my brother hadn’t lived to see this day. Igor Usmanov in love. Who would have ever guessed it?
JESSICA
The ballroom buzzed with excitement as Igor and I walked in. As soon as we were spotted people got to their feet and there was a standing ovation. I’d never been so happy. I was officially Mrs. Igor Usmanov and from this day forward I belonged to one man only and he belonged to me. During the ceremony I’d been thinking back on the unconventional way, we’d come together and all of the things that have happened since. We lost Andrei and although I honestly hadn’t known him that well I knew in my heart that he’d been a good man. Igor still grieved for him but he was healing and he and I were moving on. Last week we went upstate and looked at an actual home. It’s a huge home, a mansion some might call it. It has seven bedrooms, ten bathrooms, a gourmet kitchen a formal dining and living room and a foyer that my old apartment could have sat down inside of. But none of that was what had sold me on it. Igor had taken me out the back door and showed me the playground and the pool in the back yard. He’d put his arms around me and said, “Can’t you just picture our children playing here?”
I’d never given much thought to having kids. I guess I’d always been a little too self-centered. But now that I had everything I ever wanted, it seemed like the most logical next step. I was surprised at how warm and fuzzy I felt when I thought about holding a baby in my arms that Igor and I had made together. We decided to wait another six months to start trying, but I was excited at the prospect. In the meantime, practicing was so much fun.
I took the job as CEO of the firm. I had no idea what I was doing at first, but with Ivan’s help and Igor when he found the time, I was learning fast. I realized that I loved being in charge almost as much as my husband did. He’d even started deferring to me about most things. The one place where he was still absolutely the boss in our house was the bedroom and I doubted that would ever change. I can’t see a reason to mess with perfection.
The guests sat down and Igor and I made the rounds and accepted their congratulations. We were handed a delicate flute of champagne and with heart-warming words Ivan talked about Igor as a child and how proud his father would have been of the man he has become. He talked about his relationship with his brother and although Andrei hadn’t been blood and had taken some of Igor’s father’s attention away, Igor had loved him all the same and no two brothers could have been closer. I could attest to that.
Dinner was elegant, lobster, salmon and king crab. We cut our cake and did our silly little pictures feeding it to each other and then once everyone had a piece and was preoccupied, Igor licked what was left of the decadent chocolate off of my lips. By the time he finished my whole body was flush and hot and I wanted to rip off my beautiful dress right at that moment and fuck him right here in front of three hundred guests. I guess being married doesn’t automatically make your sexual thoughts less deviant, but that was okay. We had an explosive sex life and I loved every second of it.
The band began playing and Igor and I made our way out to the dance floor. He took me into his arms and while three hundred people watched, my husband twirled me across the dance floor. The room may as well have been empty for all I could see at that moment. I was in the arms of the man that I loved, arms I wanted to stay in forever. There was only one thing about all of this that bothered me. I had nightmares about that day that Andrei was shot only in my nightmares it’s Igor instead of him, lying there dead in a pool of his own blood. His “business” was constant danger and although Ivan had insisted on beefing up his personal security and mine as well after that incident, I still worry. I’m not sure what it says about me that his safety is all I worry about. I guess I’m in denial of the fact that what he does is also criminal. When that thought tries to sneak into my head I just remind myself of all of the worthy causes he gives to every year and all of the people that would be out of work if not for him. Sometimes doing well has to be sprinkled with a little bit of the other to balance it all out. It’s not like he’s a killer or anything. And now that Mikel Rapava had that terrible car accident, things in his business should begin to settle down….
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