by Lia Lee
Maksim shot her a warning look that would have made most grown men pee their pants. “Do not make me pick you up and throw you over my shoulder, because I will if I have to.”
“Fine. Whatever. If you need to go stand in front of a mirror and grunt to make yourself feel better, I suppose I can go with you. It’ll be a pleasure to watch you fall flat on your face.”
“Have I done something to you, Nika?” The words slipped out before Maksim could choke them back. Since he’d started, he figured he might as well finish. “Because ever since we got here you’ve been attempting to punish me for something and I would really like to understand what it is.”
“Since we…” She seemed to fold in on herself briefly. Then he saw emotion flare white hot in her eyes and knew he had hit it right on the mark. She bristled like a cat. “What have you done, Maksim? You mean other than the last five years when you’ve been coming into my father’s store and scaring the shit out of us on purpose? You threatened and yelled and threw things and broke things and made my life a living hell for years and you’re asking if you’ve done something?”
Maksim had nothing to say. He had never once considered that she might hold some kind of grudge against him for doing his job. To him it was a job. To her it was her life. Sorrow sat deep in his gut as he realized what following orders had truly done to his life.
Nika wasn’t done. “You know what I can’t figure out? Why everyone thinks it’s all okay now. Why your stupid brother can come in and sweep my sister off her feet and all of a sudden my father doesn’t care that Ivan used to bully him, or that the Petrovs have had us under their thumb for years. All that matters is that precious Katrina is in love with stupid Ivan and they want to live happily ever after. So the rest of us just have to put up with it and move on.” She swiped at her eyes, and Maksim realized she was crying.
He exhaled long and slow. He wasn’t stupid enough to believe there would ever be words to fix what he’d done, but there was an obvious place to start. “I’m sorry, Nika.”
“What?”
“I said I’m sorry.” He knew he had to expand. “I’m sorry that my job involved threats and bullying. I’m sorry that you were hurt. And I’m very sorry that everyone expects you to forget about it. I don’t. But the two of us have to live here for the time being. And regardless of whether or not we like each other, peace is preferable to war.”
“Okay then.” She stuck out her hand. “Truce for now.”
Maksim took it, being as gentle as possible with the delicate fingers touching his. “Truce for now. And go get your shoes because I don’t know about you, but I have to get out of here for a while.”
***
Nika gazed wide-eyed around the gym. It was nothing like the few places she had been near her home. Those had been modern spaces designed for both men and women, with high ceilings, plenty of light, and smoothie bars at the front where people hung about after their workouts to chat.
This was a place that catered to boxers and fighters. There were full-length mirrors in front of mats where beefy guys with tree trunk legs and arms were flinging bars over their heads. This action would usually be accompanied by a fierce grunt or growl. Not to mention they were lifting double Nika’s body weight.
A row of heavy bags sat opposite a set of speed bags. Men of all shapes and sizes pounded away at the things with wrapped hands, and even their knees and feet. Some of them had trainers or coaches screaming at them. It was all pretty intense. And the entire operation functioned under the haze of a scent that reminded Nika of stale sweat overlaid with a layer of ammonia.
“Maksim!” A rail thin man who looked Ukrainian smiled nervously. “I didn’t know you were in the area.”
Nika didn’t need any more information to know what this was. The little man was obviously the gym proprietor. And it didn’t take much imagination to realize that this business was somehow under Petrov authority. Her insides shrank with apprehension as she realized that the expression on the little man’s face suggested he was behind on his payments. The guy was so nervous he was practically dancing in place.
Her hands began to sweat and she felt sick to her stomach. She didn’t know what she could do to help the gym owner, but there was no way she was going to sit back and let Maksim strong arm the guy into coughing up money he obviously didn’t have. Didn’t Maksim realize the place looked dead? Even the snack bar was closed.
“Hello, Yuri.” Maksim’s low voice was neutral and his body language was soft. This wasn’t the way he usually went into a confrontation. Then Maksim glanced meaningfully around. “Things look slow. What’s been going on?”
Yuri looked pained. “They opened one of those national chains less than a mile away. Business has been slow ever since.”
“And the snack bar?” Maksim’s expression turned mischievous. “I know that was a big draw for the teenagers who used to come in here after school to watch and learn.”
“Eh, we’ve been having some issues with the fryer, but I can’t afford to buy a new one or have a repairman out to fix the old one.” Yuri couldn’t seem to make eye contact, folding and refolding a towel instead.
“Hmm.” Maksim bobbed his head as if he were completely unconcerned with those things. “I think I’m going to work off some steam. I’ll catch you in a little while.”
Yuri looked surprised, but nodded hastily and then sped off as though he’d been given a stay of execution. Nika didn’t know what to say. Wasn’t this usually where Maksim started throwing things and yelling?
Maksim didn’t do any of that. He simply carried his bag toward a bench then sat down. He unzipped a pocket and pulled out a roll of tape. As Nika watched, he began wrapping his hands. The movements were a little on the awkward side, as if it had been awhile since he’d done this. Somehow that made him seem more human.
Feeling vulnerable without knowing why, Nika took a seat on the bench and swung her leg over so she could face him. “Here, let me.”
Maksim didn’t protest when she took the tape. Gently setting his hand on her bent knee, she wrapped it snugly. After tying the first one off she began to be aware of how incredibly warm his hand was against her skin. His fingers twitched briefly. The feather light touch made her shiver. Her mind began to wander into forbidden territory. She wondered what it would feel like to have that big palm pressed against her ribs, or even cupping her breast. Would his thumb slide over her nipple? Would she like it?
Nika tried to cover the sound of her ragged breathing by wrapping Maksim’s other hand. She used efficient motions and tried not to linger over the task any longer than necessary. When she was done, she realized he was staring at her. Something in his gaze suggested he knew exactly what she had been thinking.
She swallowed the lump that had suddenly appeared in her throat. “All done.”
“Thank you.”
Then he got up and headed for the weight benches. Nika couldn’t move. He was wearing sweat pants and a T-shirt with the sleeves ripped out. Had she not noticed that until just now? He had been dressed more casually at the safe house than she’d seen him when he had come into her father’s shop, but now his arms were practically the only things she could focus on.
Maksim placed a bar on the rack and began loading free weights onto the ends. His muscles flexed as he moved and Nika’s mouth went dry. He was so powerful. She had been railing at him earlier and he could have squashed her with one finger. But he hadn’t. The sheer restraint that revealed beggared her ability to describe it.
Once he had settled himself on the bench, Nika watched him place his hands on the bar and then lift it off the rack and into position. His golden skin glistened with perspiration as he began a set. His legs were spread slightly around the bench, knees bent and feet braced on the floor. She could see his abdomen lock up as he used his core muscles to help lift the weight on his arms. Everything about him was so finely tuned. In fact, he was absolutely beautiful.
And I want him.
Nika stu
mbled toward a rowing machine, determined to work her muscles until she could no longer even think about Maksim Petrov. Settling on the seat, she strapped her feet into place and pushed a button on the display. She didn’t care how long or how far or how many calories she burned. All that mattered was forgetting the crazy thoughts she kept having about Maksim.
Chapter Five
Maksim was surprised that he hadn’t yet managed to drop the weights right on his chest. His brain was barely focused on what he was doing. Nika would not stop staring at him and it was damned distracting. Worse, he kept feeling the urge to preen. What was he? Some kind of hormonal teenager?
At least she was focused on her own workout now. It had been bad enough having her soft little fingers touching him while she wrapped his hands. Her touch was magic. It woke up every nerve in his body. Each time he felt her brush his skin he nearly trembled with the desire to stroke her in return. It was insane.
A drop of sweat stung his eye and he was glad for the reality check. He needed to stay with what he was doing. Perhaps burning a few thousand calories and wearing out his muscles would help him stay in control of his thoughts.
More weight, a few more reps, and then he was ready to move on to his cardio routine. Maksim snatched up a jump rope from the hook and stood in front of one of the mirrors. He settled into rhythm, gradually speeding up. His reflection showed not one iota of the discomfiture he was feeling inside. That was good, right? Maybe if he could fake it, he would eventually get to a point where Nika didn’t bother him at all.
Damn. There she was. Apparently she had finished her rowing. He could see her in the mirror sitting on the bench. She had pulled her knees up to her chest and was watching him as though she’d never seen such a fascinating sight. Did she hate him? Was that why she couldn’t take her eyes off him? Or could she possibly want him as much as he did her?
Maksim stumbled, catching himself at the last second to prevent his falling flat on his face. It was embarrassing. In the mirror he saw Nika hide a smile. He wondered if she was laughing at him, or if it was for something different. He would have liked to see her smile for real. He had seen her laugh before. It was a beautiful laugh and she had a pure expression when she was truly amused. Maksim hated that he was so fascinated by her, but he couldn’t manage to stop.
“Maksim?” Yuri Pavlovich interrupted Maksim’s inner musings. “Can I have a moment of your time?”
Maksim sighed. He knew what was coming and he hated it. “Certainly. What can I do for you?”
“I cannot make this quarter’s payment.” Yuri wrung his hands together. “I am sorry, but the gym is just not making the revenue we did three months ago.”
“Is this because of the new gym or the snack bar?” Maksim wanted to know.
Yuri seemed hesitant to speculate and Maksim couldn’t blame him. “I would like to think that things would be tight if the snack bar was still open, but I think we could make it through.”
“Then perhaps that is the answer.” Maksim set the jump rope back on the hook. “Let’s have a look at your fryer, shall we?”
“Yes! Yes!” Yuri said eagerly, looking shocked. “I will show you.”
Maksim sighed. He really wasn’t that much of a handyman. Hopefully it wasn’t something really serious. Feeling a little self-conscious, he followed Yuri into the snack bar area.
The little Ukrainian slipped between the wall and the fryer. “See, I think the problem is back here. Yes? The machine is not getting any power.”
Okay. There was no way in hell Maksim was going to fit in that space. He couldn’t even imagine trying. He would get stuck and they’d have to get a crane in here to winch him out.
Bracing his shoulder against the machine, Maksim took a deep breath and shoved. The metallic grinding noise made every single person in the gym turn and stare, but at least the fryer moved enough to give him the necessary room to take a look.
“It’s the power cord.” Maksim squatted down and brushed his fingers over the frayed portion of cord. “It looks like the thing got pinched when the machine was moved.”
“We moved everything to clean a few months back.” Yuri frowned. “I guess we must have done it then.”
Maksim didn’t bother to mention that Yuri was lucky he hadn’t set the place on fire. It looked like the cord had just shorted out. That was much better than arcing or something and becoming a bomb of sorts.
“So, I call an electrician to get it fixed. Yes?’ Yuri looked tense. “How expensive is that do you think?”
Maksim shoved the fryer back into place. “I know a guy. I’ll have him take care of it, Yuri. The fryer will be working by day after tomorrow.”
“Thank you.” Yuri grabbed Maksim’s hand and began pumping it up and down. “Next time we will pay what we owe with interest.”
“Forget the interest,” Maksim grunted. “Just get your business up and running and pay what we’ve agreed on. All right?”
“Thank you, Maksim.” Yuri kept nodding. It was making Maksim uncomfortable. “This is why we are loyal to the Petrovs.”
“I know, Yuri. And Ivan and I both appreciate that.” Maksim patted the guy on the shoulder, careful not to use enough force to send him flying.
Yuri wandered off to help a customer up at the front counter get some clean towels, and Maksim headed back to the bench to unwrap his hands. It was time to go home.
The word gave him pause. Home. Did he even know where or what that was anymore? He hadn’t had his own place in a decade or more. Sometimes he thought it would nice to be out from under his brother. Maybe he could get his own house and make his own decisions. But that wasn’t the way the life of a Petrov enforcer worked.
***
Nika kept stealing glances at Maksim in the car on the ride back to the safe house. She had fully expected him to threaten that skinny little Ukrainian man when he didn’t pay up what he owed. When it hadn’t happened, Maksim knew Nika was left to wonder why. Why had Maksim strong-armed her father all those years, but chose to go easy on Yuri?
“You might as well say what you’re thinking. It’s more or less written all over your face,” Maksim informed her.
“What am I thinking then?”
Maksim didn’t miss a beat. “That you don’t understand why I didn’t bleed that guy for the money he owes.”
“Why didn’t you?”
Maksim thought about what Nika had shared with him earlier that day, whether it had been intentional or not. She had been emotionally scarred by the methods of intimidation he had used on her and her father over the years. He knew it. And whether she would care, or whether it would even matter to her, Maksim had been scarred by those incidents as well.
He pursed his lips, trying to choose his words carefully. “I don’t particularly enjoy being an asshole, Nika.”
“Could have fooled me,” she retorted.
She wasn’t going to make this easy, but nothing was ever easy with Nika. “When I was young, my father would take me along when he went to collect money.” Maksim detested the memory of those excursions. They brought a sour taste to his mouth. “My father only bothered himself with collecting when there was a long debt or something large and complicated that required intimidation. He started me very young with my fists. If I didn’t do the job to his satisfaction he would take me into a room when we returned home, and show me exactly how I should have done things.”
Nika brought her hands up to her mouth to cover a gasp. Her blue eyes were wide with horror. “So he made you beat people?”
“My father was a real asshole.” Maksim couldn’t even begin to explain it to this young woman who had already seen so much in her short life. “Even Ivan doesn’t know how bad our Papa was.”
“Maksim, I’m sorry.” She reached out hesitantly and brushed her fingers over his arm. The touch seared him on the inside.
“Don’t be.” He thought of everything he had done. “I don’t deserve your pity. I’ve done so many things I’m ashamed of.” A
nd then he thought of Yuri. “And now I just want the opportunity to do things differently. Ivan wants that too. No more threats. No more breaking fingers or busting up shops. Cooperation can be just as much of an incentive.”
Nika’s expression settled into something he couldn’t read. “Except some people only understand fear. That’s what motivates them. Kindness encourages laziness and then the whole system falls apart.”
“Yes.”
“I wouldn’t want your job if you paid me a million bucks a week,” Nika said dramatically.
“That’s fifty-two million dollars a year, Nika,” he teased. “I’m pretty sure you could get used to a lot of things for that sort of money.”
“I definitely spend a lot of time obsessing about money and possessions,” she agreed. “But I hate to think that I would sell out my integrity to get them.”
“It is a very fine line.” She surprised him with the clarity of her thinking. There was a lot more to Nika Sokolov than he had first thought.
Then she smiled. It was like the sun had come out on a cloudy day. Maksim felt gut kicked, as if the wind had been knocked out of him. Her full lips curved and her eyes brightened. She reached very slowly across the interior of the SUV and laid her palm on his bare shoulder. He glanced down, shocked at how arousing it was to see her hand on his body.
“I’ve always wanted to do that,” she admitted.
His ego swelled to mythic proportions. “Your hand is soft. It feels good.”
“You’ve always sort of scared me with how strong you are.” Her words were soft, her tone almost pensive. “I used to think that if you ever really decided to let go, you would be able to utterly destroy anything you touched. But you didn’t.”
“I’m not a violent man by nature.” He willed this to be true. “But I’m capable of things that horrify even me.”
She traced the very edge of the tattoo that peeked out from under the arm of his T-shirt. “I think we all are, Maksim. Look at everything humans have done to each other. It wasn’t like we were forced to do those things. Someone had to think of it and then put the ideas into action.”
