“I’m—“
Before he can get another word out I hear, “A dead man,” cut through the air beside me just as a fist connects with his jaw and immediately his grip on my arm goes limp, and that’s not the only thing.
His entire body crumbles as he falls to the cold, hard, concrete beneath our feet.
“Alexei. Ivan Ivanov is just a name I gave to the nanny agency for reasons that will soon become clear,” the man who just delivered the knockout punch says, as he turns to face me. “You’re safe now, Crystal, but let’s get out of here nonetheless.”
My entire body freezes as I take in the sight of him from head to toe, lingering a little too long on his groin. And I thought the concrete below our feet was hard.
He’s tall, dark, and handsome if there ever was such a thing. His body is still but his hand is reaching out toward my backpack, but not touching it. He’s waiting for me to make a motion to hand it over, versus just grabbing it.
A gentleman too. But right now I’m anything but a lady.
The man oozed a kind of sexy confidence that I’d never seen before, let alone felt. And by felt I mean the pool that was quickly forming in my panties.
If just looking at him…just witnessing his act of heroism did this to me then I can only imagine how masculine and dominant he’d be in the bedroom…not that I had a lick of experience in that department.
But my mind sure had a lot of ideas right now.
I swallowed hard, my heart racing as I could feel my hands shaking.
“We should go,” his deep baritone informs, the sounds from his throat are like steel dipped in honey and I can’t help but agree.
“Okay,” softly escapes me as I reach for my backpack, which he takes as a cue to grab it by the straps and slide it off my shoulders as he offers me his hand.
I don’t even think. I give him my hand and feel the spark of energy shoot right through me. This is all happening so fast I can’t even process it, and apparently that jolt of electricity has short-circuited him too.
He freezes, just staring at me, before his head shakes slightly and he blinks before quickly leading me to the same Range Rover I was just admiring.
“In Russia is it normal to hold hands with a stranger?”
“I’m holding your hand so everyone knows you are with me. No one will be foolish enough to so much as look at you, let alone think of approaching you or bothering you, again. And you’re not a stranger.”
“What am I then?”
“You’re mine.”
CHAPTER 3
Alexei
Her scent in the Range Rover on the way home was so intoxicating I damn near drove off the side of the road. And it wasn’t perfume either. I know what perfume smells like. Every woman here in Moscow leaves her house each morning with about a half gallon on her skin and clothes.
This was pure, unadulterated, woman…her natural scent and I had to have more of that sweet smell.
I wanted to get to know her on the ride back but we have this connection that’s so immediate and so deep I feel like I’ve known her my whole life already. She’s a bit shy, which I was too. It’s strange to think I was ever shy considering I’m surrounded by thugs and vory y zakone now, but I was. I became the man I am today.
And damn if I don’t want to make her a woman…my woman.
There should be bells going off in my head that this is a honeypot trap. It’s too good to be true, but I believe her. My very survival revolves around reading people and understanding their true intentions from the get go. If I miss small tells, small microexpressions, I can quickly become a dead man.
But my ability to size her up is only half the equation.
“I want you to meet my son, Vitaly,” I say, seconds after we’ve pulled into the garage and then we make our way into my house.
I want her to meet him right away because he’s the most important thing in the world to me. And I know she’s going to be equally as important real soon…if she isn’t already.
Vitaly’s little head is peering out from around the corner of the door.
“Come here, son.”
He’s never disobeyed me. Not when I was his uncle, and not this first week being in my home.
Until now.
His eyes are fixated on Crystal just as mine were. He’s not scared of her or anything like that. It’s just that her beauty captures a man and immediately holds him captive.
I’d never let someone else stare at my woman like that…no one except Vitaly.
“Hi Vitaly. I’m Crystal.” I watch as she moves closer and Vitaly stays still. As she approaches him she bends over at the waist and my eyes can’t help but check out her candy apple ass. Damn, how I want to sink my teeth into those perfect circles.
She holds out her hand but Vitaly does nothing…just standing there staring at her.
Suddenly he bolts out from around the side of the door and throws his arms around her.
She scoops him up in her arms and plants a big ‘ol kiss right on his cheek.
He quickly returns the favor.
The little guy has been through a hell of a lot and I’ve found him despondent too often to count this week. Not now. He’s totally dialed in…because of her.
I see the life back in his eyes and the interest that accompanies it. He’s still got a long way to go, but is this ever a big start.
“Hello. I’m Ludmila,” Vitaly’s prior nanny says as she enters the room.
“Crystal.” She smiles. “I’d shake your hand but…” She looks at Vitaly and just smiles.
“No problem. Can I get you something to drink?”
Ludmila is great at her job and the perfect host. She shows Crystal to the kitchen and it gives me a chance to sit down again. I can barely take this. I feel dizzy standing, thinking of her, being fixated on her.
I let Ludmila know this morning that Crystal would be coming in to “help out” with Vitaly. I didn’t tell her she would quickly assume all responsibilities with him. Ludmila’s been with Vitaly since he was born, and she’s been great with him, but I think it’s time for a change. I want Vitaly to have a fresh start in every way.
And I need to freshen up myself right now. I feel beads of sweat running down the sides of my face, my back, and even my leg. It’s not even hot today, but I’m burning up inside.
Not to mention I’m going to have to put on an athletic supporter or something. Hell, I haven’t worn a jock strap since I boxed years ago, but I need it now. I probably need a cup too, although I know neither will contain my need for this new woman who’s entered my world and flipped it completely on its head…completely upside down.
I make my way to my bedroom and do some handstand pushups, trying to get the blood to flow out of my groin and to other parts of my body.
Not happening. Now I’m just the world’s weirdest guy, doing handstand pushups with a raging erection.
I knock out twenty with strict form and go right into shadow boxing.
My energy levels are skyrocketing. It’s her. All these changes that have taken over my being are directly attributable to her…the woman who will be mine, whether she knows it or not.
She came here on a short-stay visa. Little does she know she’s not going back. As a matter of fact she’s not going anywhere…until I slide a ring on that beautiful finger of hers and let the whole world know she’s mine.
CHAPTER 4
Crystal
I turn back and see Alexei is no longer in sight, but still his presence looms large.
I can picture the possessiveness in his eyes clear as day. The way his nostrils flare when he stares at me. The way his neck muscles tighten.
I’m still processing how he just knocked that guy out back at the airport, and how no one came to do anything to him.
And now that I’ve seen his house, and after he told me his real name is Alexei, and not Ivan, on the ride here…I know this isn’t what I signed up for.
This is so much more.
I thought I was coming to help out some sort of upper middle class Russian man and his child. I’m clearly dealing with an oligarch, or someone of equal importance.
But I don’t think he’s just a rich guy in a suit. The man has balls, and a mean right cross. Part of me thinks he might be mafia, especially with the way he displays so much possessiveness whether over me in front of a stranger, or the way he talked about his son.
My heart beats faster at the idea of what I’ve fallen into. I’m not scared per say, but…excited. My life has nowhere to go but up, and I’ve already been through hell, so what can he do to me that I haven’t yet experienced?
Although I can sure think of one thing.
Life may have tried to rip me up and spit me out on multiple occasions, and it’s lead to a whole host of crazy experiences, but never one with a man. Being an orphan I’m slow to trust, and even more so to actually give myself to someone. No one’s ever meant enough to me to even consider the idea.
Until now.
I just can’t believe this is moving so fast. Sometimes I read these over the top stories by this crazy author with some Italian sports car surname and roll my eyes. The books are good fun, but they’re practically over before they even start. “Come on Ms. Flora Ferrari…love doesn’t happen that fast.” I’ve said it on more than one occasion, but I never thought I’d actually believe it could.
Until it happened to me.
And I’m in the eye of the storm as we speak.
And something about Ludmila’s line of questioning tells me my presence is like a menacing, dark cloud that unexpectedly rolled in on a clear summer’s day.
She’s polite, but more inquisitive than normal conversation requires.
Instinctively I feel myself pulling Vitaly closer to my body with each additional question she asks. “Where are you from? Why are you here? How long ago did Alexei know you were coming?” She quickly caught her own mistake on that one and changed it to, “When did you get your ticket?”
Calling Captain Obvious.
Ludmila takes me through the house as I continue carrying Vitaly. I’m surprised he’s so quiet and never asks to be put down. Aren’t I a stranger to him? I thought I’d need a lot of time to win his trust, yet he seems more comfortable with me than Ludmila…which makes her that much more suspicious. Of what? I don’t know.
We finish off inside and eventually I do lower Vitaly to his feet. He scampers off somewhere as we head out the back of the house into a garden area.
There must be a security guard on every corner of the property and their head’s stay locked forward, but I feel their eyes quickly congregate on me.
“Nyet, Dimitry!” My shoulders rise up as a shiver of fear shoots through me as bass from the voice that delivered the command, causes the vibrations in the air to echo off the stone walls surrounding us and echo back into my body, hitting me square in the chest.
It doesn’t take a translator to know that word was a no, or some sort of negative.
And it doesn’t take anyone to tell me who delivered it.
But before I turn around to confirm, Alexei is already marching across the grass where he grabs the jaw of the security guard member he just reprimanded, squeezing it as he yells something at him in Russian. He finishes with Dimitry, addressing the man personally, but intimidating the entirety of his security personnel at the same time.
His eyes are certainly to the front now, as are the other guard’s.
“Moy,” Alexi grumbles in an animalistic tone right up in the grill of the giant who stands well over six and a half feet tall.
Alexi isn’t shorted in the height department either, but he has more of a GQ cover model’s body, not the shape of a man without a neck who looks like one gigantic muscle.
I store that word, “moy,” away to find out what it means later. I already know I’m going to be getting my money’s worth out of Google Translate.
Alexei’s eyes turn to me and, the blackness of his pupils and irises send chills racing up my arms and legs.
Like a man on a mission he moves toward me quickly, his hand finding the small of my back, my body melting into his long, thick digits as my lips part and a small whimper escapes me.
He smells musky, like an animal that wants to mate. How in the world would I know that?
Primal. This entire thing is so primal.
“Are you getting acclimated okay?”
“Yes. Ludmila has been great. She’s showing me everything.”
“Good.” His eyes stay focused on me. Out of my peripheral I can see my guide grinding her teeth. “Are you jetlagged?”
“I feel good, but I guess at any time that could change.”
“Ludmila, why don’t you show Crystal to her quarters.”
“Of course. Right this way.”
My quarters? The last time I slept horizontally, two nights ago, was on a cot. I don’t have a room now. I have quarters.
And I have a huge void that needs to be filled as Ludmila takes my arm and guides me back to the house.
I turn, looking back at Alexei a moment longer. His eyes are still locked on me and his hand is still extended in the exact position it was when his hand was on my back.
I’m not sure if he’s waiting for me to come back, or trying to relive the moment. He’s acting as if time stood still the moment I walked away, which is very ironic. Because my heartbeat is flying…and I want time to speed up so that I can learn everything about him…the real him.
The man with the fake name, the palace, and who knows what else?
CHAPTER 5
Alexei
“I catch anyone touching her, I snap off their fingers.”
“Yes, sir,” comes in over the comms in unison.
“I catch anyone looking directly at her I gouge out their eyeballs.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good. I’m glad we’re clear.”
I pull the device from my head and toss it on my desk.
I log into my Panamanian bank account and set up an unsecured loan for Sergei Roldugin, Vladimir Putin’s best friend his entire adult life. He’s a famous cellist in our country, and better known as Putin’s moneyman from the leaked Panama Papers.
“How much today, Mr. Roldugin?” I say it quietly, as if to amuse myself. “Let’s go small. How about ten million?”
I hit the button and the loan appears on the balance sheet of the bank I control. I can’t believe how easy this is. I set up the unsecured loan, meaning he can pay it back if he wants, or not, and boom…just like that Putin has access to another ten million dollars. It’s not even his money. It’s a loan. So whomever they send into whatever branch of our bank to make deposits won’t even be suspected. They’re not putting money into a bank account. They’re paying down a “loan.” No one will bat an eye over amounts even greater than ten thousand U.S. dollars.
But suddenly I care about batting eyes.
Hers.
The way she blinked that forest of eyelashes at me today made me hard as a rock, as if I wasn’t already.
It’s taking everything in me not to go in the shower right now and paint every fucking Spanish tile in the place a brand new color of cream. I know I wouldn’t even need to touch myself to climax so damn hard I’d probably shoot my load straight through the “unbreakable” ceramic.
That’s the crazy part about all of this. All these years I’ve been the brains behind the Bratva, and the Kremlin. And I’ve gotten very, very rich in the process.
I could heat this oversized estate with ruble notes all winter and still be worth ten figures.
But the money, and the vehicles, and everything that goes with it…what does it all matter?
Life sure comes at you fast, and it took a five-year-old orphaned boy and an eighteen-year-old orphaned woman to show me what life is truly about.
Fuck, I’m getting soft at my old age of thirty-one. I should be dead right now. I’ve already well exceeded the life expectancy for someone in my position.
And I think that just might be what’s going to happen at some point in the future.
Something’s wrong with the way my brother in law, Boris, and his wife, my sister Nastya, died.
Nanny for the Russian Mafia (A Man Who Knows What He Wants Book 102) Page 2