The Russian's Proposal (Friends Forever Book 3)

by Elizabeth Lennox

  “What’s wrong, Katia?” Sergei asked as he watched her approach. His body tensed, ready for battle. If Sosta had found them…But no. The look in her eyes told him that her wariness had nothing to do with her father.

  “Sergei, I understand what you’re trying to do here,” she started off, folding her hands in front of her.

  He didn’t like the look in her eyes and reached out, taking one of her hands and pulling her closer. “What do you think I’m trying to do?” he asked, basking in her brown gaze for a few more minutes.

  She smiled carefully and he hated the polite expression. He wanted that genuine smile just one more time.

  “You’re trying to poke the bear, so to speak.”

  He smiled down into her soft, brown gaze, just enjoying this time with her. “Who would that bear be?” he asked, amusement breaking through his grim thoughts.

  “You are trying to get someone to take pictures of us here so that my father will see them. Right?” He opened his mouth to reply, but her hand on his chest stopped the words. He felt her gentle touch all the way down to his groin and the effect was powerful.

  “Don’t worry. I understand what you’re doing. You want my father to lose his temper because you’re touching me. You’re even staging things so that the pictures will look more intimate than what the reality is. Am I right?” She laughed at his stunned expression, taking that as validation of her assumption.

  Sergei felt her soft fingers pat his chest and had to grit his teeth to stop himself wrapping his arms around her and kissing her like he wanted to. That would scare her, he reminded himself. No kissing, no more touching, and…

  Whatever he’d been about to tell her was knocked out of his head when she continued.

  “So, as much as I appreciate your efforts to pretend as if we’re a real couple and that you’re interested in me, there’s really no need.”

  He stared at her for another long moment, his mind struggling to function since she was still touching his chest.

  When her hand started to pull away, his own slapped over hers, keeping her fingers right there on his chest. Hell, he wanted to rip off the linen shirt he’d grabbed after his shower, just so that he could feel her fingers against his skin. He hated the material that blocked her fingers. With a growl, he pushed away from the railing, feeling like a predator about to pounce on his prey.

  “Let me get this straight,” he growled and pulled her even closer. “You think that I’m only pretending to want you, Katia?” When her soft lips formed a surprised “O”, he shook his head. “Oh, no, my dear. My desire for your body is completely real. And you coming in here and telling me that it isn’t only means that I should prove it to you.”

  He ignored the soft sway of her hair as she shook her head. “No, but…”

  His arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her forward until she was pressed against his body. “Pretending?” he growled. “I only wish that I was pretending.”

  Then his head lowered, his lips covering hers. There was no response to her claim other than to prove her wrong in the most fundamental way.

  Even as he devoured her lips, he told himself that this was wrong. But she felt so incredibly right in his arms…and the taste of her…! It was amazing! Sweeter than he could have imagined and he tangled his hands in her hair, pulling her head back so he could deepen the kiss. He swung her around so that he could press her against the wall, lifting her up so that she was cradling his erection against her hips. It was a twofold effort. He needed to prove that his desire for her was real. And he just couldn’t stop himself. He needed her. He needed the innocent taste of her, the way she kissed him back, startled at first, but as he deepened the kiss, she changed. When she allowed herself to feel, to accept his kiss, her response was nearly as voracious as his own.

  His tongue invaded her mouth, tasting her, feeling her, and he’d never tasted anything so amazing as Katia. She was intoxicating. He thought about tasting her in other ways, finding out if she tasted this good all over her body. And especially…!

  He pulled away, both of them breathing heavily as they stared at each other. Sergei wasn’t sure which of them was more shocked.

  Slowly, he lowered her feet to the floor, his hands still holding her around her waist. Steadying her…or maybe he was steadying himself, he wasn’t sure. Gently, he leaned his forehead against hers. “I don’t want your father to see this,” he told her softly, his voice a rough caress. “I’m not touching you or kissing you in the hopes that your father will see pictures of us. Just the opposite,” he growled. “In fact, we convinced everyone that we were going to a different country for our honeymoon. Your father’s men are looking for us in Alaska right now.”

  Lifting his head, he took a deep breath, trying to regain control. But as long as he was touching her, he couldn’t. And he wasn’t willing to relinquish his hold just yet. Her skin was so soft and…he realized that his hands had somehow made it underneath her shirt. Damn, she felt soft, smooth, and amazingly good.

  Then her fingers shifted from his shoulders down his arms, her fingertips gliding against his skin and he grabbed her hands, pulling them away. When he saw the startled look in her beautiful, brown eyes, he just about lost whatever control he had left.

  “Katia, don’t ever think that I don’t want you. Just the opposite. I want you too much. And that’s not good for you.”

  “Why not?” she asked, licking her lips and causing him to focus on her mouth again.

  Because of her innocently honest response to his kiss, he couldn’t give her anything less in return. “Because you weren’t in the plan.” She might be only twenty-three years old, but Sergei knew that the events of her life, her efforts over the past six years to not just survive, but to thrive and even thwart her father’s companies with her computer skills, made her seem much older. Significantly wiser. And yet, he knew that she was still inexperienced in so many ways.

  She blinked and he pulled her against his body again. It served to keep his eyes from seeing her pretty gaze and also helped to keep him from kissing her again. But he felt her soft breasts against his chest, the sweet swell of her stomach against his groin. His hard, obviously aroused, groin.

  He was just about to push her away for fear of his arousal scaring her off when her sweet arms wrapped around his waist. After that, there was no pulling back. He even kissed the top of her head, needing to touch her in so many ways.

  Katia shivered, thinking that it was definitely a heady sensation to know that this intimidating, yet generous, kind, wonderful man wanted her. He was so strong and powerful, and yet, she could make him act like this with just a touch! He wanted her! His body more than showed her that he felt the same way towards her.

  And that kiss!

  It was nothing like the other times he’d kissed her. That kiss was voracious kissing! It was pounding desire and rampaging lust kissing!

  “So…if I wasn’t in the plan, and you didn’t bring me here to rub salt into my father’s wounds,” she hesitated, enjoying being in his arms like this, “what is your plan?”

  She sighed at the feeling of his hands sliding sensuously up and down her back. Just her back, but she thought it was a good sign!

  “My plan never included coming here with you, Katia. It was to marry you, then protect you by heading to Moscow, and finishing up my plan to destroy Sosta.”

  That gave her more hope. “So…what’s the new plan?”

  He pulled away, but took her hand in his as he led her over to the table situated under an awning, holding out one of the chairs. “How about an update on what’s happened over the past twelve hours?” he offered.

  Katia sat down in the chair, then waited until he’d sat down opposite her. “I think that would be great. What’s been going on?” she asked.

  But he paused, waiting as one of the waiters stepped through the door, serving their meal. There was a delicious fruit punch to drink as well as a seafood salad and crispy sweet potato fries for dinner. T
he man bowed his way out of the area, and closed the door, giving them privacy.

  “Just before you came back out here, I was going to call my pilot, fly you to a safe place, and put armed guards around a home that I will buy for you, then fly to Moscow, so that I could finish things with your father.” He lifted a hand to stop her protests, only continuing when she leaned back against the chair. “My team has already moved in to take over his corporate headquarters, frozen his assets, and switched out all of the executive management at every business he owns. All company accounts are locked out now. I have guards who have moved into each of his homes and swept out the current staff. If there are any homes that you would like to keep, you need to let me know, because as of tomorrow, every property that your mother inherited will go on the market for sale. And I’ll accept the cheapest price for each of them, unless you have other wishes.”

  Katia’s admiration for him increased even more. “You’ve done all that? But we were just married yesterday.”

  “I’ve been planning this move for months, Katia.”

  A bit of her happiness diminished. “And I messed things up for you?”

  He threw back his head and laughed. “You definitely are an unexpected pleasure.” He lifted his fork, indicating she should do the same. “Let’s eat and we’ll talk.”

  She picked up her fork as well, but frowned at him across the table with a large dose of skepticism. “You’re trying to avoid the question.”

  He laughed again as he stabbed a shrimp. “You’re very perceptive, Katia.”

  She rolled her eyes as she looked at the meal in front of her. Suddenly, she realized how hungry she was. “This looks delicious,” she admitted as she took a bite of calamari, enjoying the tangy flavors of the spices. “But the distraction isn’t going to get you out of the conversation.”

  He chuckled as he stabbed a scallop. “You are determined, aren’t you?”

  “Yes. Answer the question.”

  “And definitely not easily distracted.”

  She pointed at him with her fork. “You’re still trying to change the subject. Sergei, why are we here?”

  He sighed, watching her carefully and she waited patiently, able to figure out that he was working things through in his mind. She read his expression perfectly, knowing the moment that he decided to be honest with her.

  “Everything changed the moment I met you.”

  “How so?”

  “You weren’t anything like what I was expecting, Katia.”

  “What were you expecting?”

  “Someone like your father,” he replied.

  She laughed. “I hate my father. I always have. He treated me and my mother brutally.”

  He nodded. “I understand that now. I wasn’t expecting that. I thought you might have some loyalty towards your father. But I should have known better.” He shook his head ruefully, obviously aware of his miscalculations. “Your father alienates just about every person he comes into contact with. Why would his daughter be any different?” he asked rhetorically.

  “There’s no way you could have predicted what my father put me and my mother through.”

  “Not true, Katia. Your father is a misogynist pig. He treats all women poorly. I should have anticipated your innocence, considering the way he kept your mother imprisoned in his house and only brought her out to display her occasionally. But even when she was still alive, your father loved to parade other women on his arm.”

  She looked down at her plate, losing her appetite as she thought about her sweet mother and the sacrifice she made to get Katia out of that house safely. “It was his way of hurting her.”

  “She loved him?” he asked.

  She paused, carefully setting her fork down beside her plate. “In the beginning, I think she loved him very much. She never would have married him if she hadn’t. My mother just wasn’t the kind of person who could marry a man she didn’t love.”

  “He could have coerced her,” he pointed out.

  Katia thought about that, but then shook her head. “I don’t think that was what happened. She would have told me. But she didn’t say anything like that.”

  “You two were close?”

  “Very close. Too close sometimes.”

  “What does that mean?”

  Katia looked out at the ocean, not even aware of the beauty around her now. “Whenever my father perceived that we might be conspiring together against him, he would take one of us away. We’d be separated for however long he thought would help us hate each other, or teach us that we needed to remain on his good side. Then he’d bring us back together and treat us as if our separation was a punishment for whatever sins he thought we’d done against him.”

  His scowl intensified. “Your father is more of a bastard than I’d thought.”

  Katia laughed, picking up her fork again. “I’m guessing that’s pretty bad, since your opinion of my father was pretty low to start with.”

  “Yes, but separating a mother from her child goes against the laws of nature.”

  She chuckled. “If that was the worst thing he’d done over his lifetime, I wouldn’t hate him so much. But the man truly loved to hurt people. There was a vent in my bedroom that somehow connected to his office or the living room, I’m not sure which. But he discussed business and I could hear him through that vent. I heard some of the things he did over the years. It was truly horrible.”

  “Such as?”

  She shrugged. “I heard him order people to be murdered. Beaten.” She looked down at her plate. “He had no mercy. No soul. He was simply evil, Sergei. Which was why I was so careful to stay hidden over the last six years. And why I didn’t take large sums of money from his accounts, hoping he wouldn’t care and it would only annoy him. But taking his money, even small amounts, was the only way I could figure out how to get back at him for some of the crimes he committed. I gave it all to his victims. I didn’t want any of his money. Every penny was tainted.”

  “I agree with you. Dismantling his businesses should include compensating all of his victims. For the families who lost a loved one, money won’t help. But there are families who lost their homes after their parents were killed. Giving them money to help might ease some of the burden.”

  She agreed. “That’s very nice of you. My father is worth millions.”

  His smile grew hard. “Yes, and all of it is yours now.”

  She shivered. “Actually, it’s yours since my father stipulated that my husband controls everything.”

  “I only control the stocks. You own them.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t want them.”

  “Then you can sell them when everything is over and done with.”

  She sighed, rubbing her forehead. “I can’t sell them. My father would somehow gain control again.”

  The triumph on his handsome features completely obliterated the scar. “He can’t if he doesn’t have the money.”

  She sighed, shaking her head and trying to restrain herself from leaping across the table to sit in his lap. “You don’t know how wily my father is. Nope. You’re just going to have to keep control of everything.”

  He shrugged, dismissing the issue for now. “However things play out, Katia, know that a sexual relationship was never part of the bargain. I’m a bastard, but I don’t go so low as to use people.”

  She stared at him, twirling her fork absently. “What if I want a sexual relationship?” she asked softly, startled that she’d actually asked the question. Thought it? Yeah! Absolutely! But saying the words hadn’t been her plan. She looked up into his blue eyes and caught her breath with the heat that was there, intensifying as he watched her.

  “You don’t.”

  His denial only increased her desire for him and obliterated her embarrassment over asking the question. “What if I do?”

  He didn’t answer. But she could see that he wanted her just as much as she wanted him. It was just up to her to convince him that she was sincere.

&nb
sp; “Let’s eat. We’ll head back to town and then I’ll show you around the butterfly farm.”

  She blinked and the moment was gone. He wasn’t going to entertain the possibility of a more intimate relationship with her. As she watched him carefully, her admiration, right along with her desire for him, grew exponentially. He wanted her. She could see it in his eyes, but he was trying not to hurt her, everything about the man screamed respect. And all she had to do was look at him for her mouth to go dry with desire.

  Katia knew that he considered himself to barely be one step above her father when it came to evilness, but she knew differently. Sergei might be harsh and demanding, but that made him a good businessman. His core was good and kind. She doubted he ever abused his staff, most likely paid them extremely well, he definitely didn’t kidnap women and hold them as his personal sex slaves, he didn’t send “enforcers” out to beat or kill his competition, and she’d bet that he obeyed every law in each country in which he worked. He probably found all the loopholes in those laws, but that was different than flouting them.

  Yep. The man was going to be her first lover. Now that she’d made the decision, Katia just had to figure out how to make it happen.

  Decision made, his previous comment finally registered. Blinking, she refocused on the conversation. “Butterfly farm?” she asked, confused and not sure she’d heard him correctly. “A place where butterflies grow?”

  His laughter, as always, sent a thrill of anticipation through her body. She hadn’t recognized what it was yesterday. But today, she was older and wiser.

  “Yes. You’re going to love it.”

  She tilted her head as she surveyed his expression. “How in the world do you know about a butterfly farm? You don’t look like the type who would enjoy looking at butterflies, much less the kind of man who would even research where to find butterflies.”

  He shrugged, conceding her point and a sheepish expression crossed over his harsh features. “I didn’t. My assistant did.”